A Comeback Ten Years in the Making
On the evening of October 11, a red-shirted player fell to the blue court and lay there as the whole stadium stood up. Zheng Qinwen had just won the China Open women’s singles title, the biggest tournament in her home country, and she had done it without dropping a single set in the final.
The final was never smooth. Zheng lost her first two games and found herself two points from losing the opening set. She saved three set points, broke her opponent’s serve at the perfect moment, and took the set 7-5. The second set followed the same pattern until she struck an ace on her last point to win 6-4.
The result made history in several ways. The China Open has been held twenty times, and Zheng is the first Chinese woman to lift the singles trophy. She is also the first player to win the title with a wild card, and this is her first title at WTA 1000 level, just below the four Grand Slams. Before her, only Li Na had won a tournament of this size for China.
What makes the victory so moving is what came before it. Last year Zheng had elbow surgery, and her recovery went badly. She played too soon, her injury got worse, and she missed months of competition. Her world ranking fell out of the top hundred, a long way from the top ten she once held. At the US Open this season she finally began to look like herself again, winning seven matches in a row to reach the quarter-finals.
In Beijing she won seven more matches in a row. Afterwards she told the crowd that she had learned to live with herself and to shut out unkind voices, and that a low period is not always a bad thing because growth shows up in your game. Then she took the microphone and sang for the thousands of fans, turning the court into a concert.
Words to know:
- singles (单打比赛)
- trophy (奖杯)
- opponent (对手)
- serve (发球)
- ace (发球直接得分)
- elbow (肘部)
- recovery (康复；恢复)
- ranking (排名)
长难句拆解 · 让步状语从句与并列谓语
第一句：Zheng lost her first two games and found herself two points from losing the opening set. 主干是两个并列谓语：Zheng lost her first two games（郑钦文输掉了前两局）与 found herself two points from losing the opening set（发现自己离输掉首盘只差两分）。find oneself + 介词短语 是常见结构，意为「发觉自己处于某种境地」；two points from doing 表示「离做某事只差两分」。这类句子没有从句，但用 and 把两个动作串起来，读的时候要盯住主语只出现一次。 直译：郑钦文输掉了前两局，发现自己离输掉首盘只差两分。
第二句：What makes the victory so moving is what came before it. 这句话是典型的「主语从句 + 表语从句」叠加。What makes the victory so moving 整体作主语（让这场胜利如此动人的东西），is 是系动词，what came before it 是表语从句（它之前发生的事）。英语里常用这种结构把重点句写得有分量；写作时如果想说「真正重要的是……」，就可以套用 What matters most is what… 直译：让这场胜利如此动人的，是它之前发生的一切。
同义替换 · 雅思阅读利器
雅思阅读的题干很少照抄原文，它更喜欢把同一个意思换一种说法。下面这些替换在本题材里很常见，先自己盖住右边，试着回忆。
- without dropping a single set → without losing any set at all（不失一盘的同义改写）
- the final was never smooth → the final was far from easy（过程不顺利的两种说法）
- saved three set points → rescued / fought off three set points（挽救盘点的动词替换）
- took the set 7-5 → won the set by seven games to five（比分的两种读法）
- made history in several ways → set several records at once（创造历史的替换表达）
- her recovery went badly → she recovered far more slowly than expected（恢复不顺的改写）
- a low period is not always a bad thing → hard times can be useful too（低谷未必是坏事的释义）
阅读自测 · 3 题
- 判断正误：Zheng Qinwen is the first Chinese player to win the China Open women’s singles title.
- 简答：What happened to Zheng’s world ranking after her elbow surgery?
- 选词填空：She struck an ____ on her last point to win the second set 6-4. (A. ace B. elbow C. offer)
参考答案与解析
- True（正确）。原文说 Zheng is the first Chinese woman to lift the singles trophy，与题干 the first Chinese player 完全对应，属直接定位题。注意题干用 win the title 替换了原文的 lift the trophy。
- It fell out of the top hundred.（她的世界排名跌出了前一百。）原文为 Her world ranking fell out of the top hundred, a long way from the top ten she once held。答案紧跟手术与恢复过程之后出现，定位关键词 ranking 即可。
- A. ace。原文为 she struck an ace on her last point to win 6-4。B 的 elbow 是文中出现过的身体部位词，C 的 offer 属形近词干扰，两者都与发球得分的语境无关，这类干扰项靠「偷换对象」制造迷惑。
中文译文
10 月 11 日晚，一名红衣球员倒在蓝色球场上，全场观众起立。郑钦文刚刚赢得了中国网球公开赛女单冠军——这是她祖国规模最大的网球赛事，而她在决赛中一盘未失。
决赛的过程一点也不顺利。郑钦文输掉了前两局，一度离输掉首盘只差两分。她挽救了三个盘点，在最恰当的时刻破掉对手的发球局，以 7 比 5 拿下首盘。第二盘走势相似，直到她在最后一分轰出一记发球直接得分，以 6 比 4 取胜。
这个结果在多个层面创造了历史。中网已经举办二十届，郑钦文是首位捧起女单奖杯的中国女子选手，也是首位持外卡夺冠的球员；这是她职业生涯首个 WTA1000 级别冠军，该级别仅次于四大满贯。在她之前，只有李娜为中国赢得过这一级别的赛事。
让这场胜利如此动人的，是它之前发生的一切。去年郑钦文做了肘部手术，康复过程很不顺利。她复出得太早，伤势加重，错过了几个月的比赛。她的世界排名跌出前一百，与曾经位居前十相去甚远。直到本赛季美网，她才终于重新找回状态，连胜七场闯入八强。
在北京，她又连胜七场。赛后她告诉观众，自己学会了与自己相处、屏蔽不友善的声音，也明白了低谷并不一定是坏事，因为成长会体现在球场上。随后她拿起话筒，为数千名球迷献唱，把球场变成了一场演唱会。