The Sauna World Championships (世界桑拿锦标赛) ended in tragedy at the weekend when one of the two finalists collapsed and died. Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy, a Russian amateur wrestler in his 60s, suffered severe burns in the bizarre(怪诞的) annual event in the southern Finnish town of Heinola. He was pronounced dead late on Saturday after he collapsed alongside reigning (卫冕) champion Timo Kaukonen of Finland roughly six minutes into the final round. The “sport” calls on participants to sit in a 230-degree (110 Celsius) room as water was tossed onto a searing stove, officials and witnesses said. Medical workers pulled both men out of the sauna in front of nearly 1,000 horrified spectators.
Both were shaking and bleeding from what appeared to be severe burns, said Hakon Eikesdal, a photographer with the Norwegian daily Dagbladet. Kaukonen, about 40, was in hospital in stable condition Sunday, contest spokesman Ossi Arvela said. The event, which had over 130 participants from 15 countries, had been held since 1999. It will never be held again, Arvela said. A pint of water is added to the stove every 30 seconds and the last person to remain at the sauna is the winner. There was no prize other than “some small things” Arvela said. He declined to provide details. Arvela said Kaukonen — the defending world champion — had refused to leave the sauna despite getting sick. Sauna bathing is a popular past-time in Finland, which has an estimated 1.6 million saunas for a population of 5 million.
Temperatures are normally kept around 158 to 176 degrees (70~80 degrees Celsius). “I know this is very hard to understand to people outside Finland who are not familiar with the sauna habit,” Arvela said. “It is not so unusual to have 110 degrees in a sauna. A lot of competitors before have sat in higher temperatures than that.” Arvela said all rules in Saturday’s competition were followed and the temperatures and times were similar to those in previous years.
小题1:Which of the following is True of Paragraph 1?
A．Only the Russian amateur wrestler suffered severe burns in the Sauna World Championships.
B．Timo Kaukonen won a world sauna championship though he was badly burned.
C．In the Sauna World Championships Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy was badly burned and then died.
D．Both of the finalists were pulled out of the sauna, then they were horrified to death.小题2:The underlined word “searing” means “__________”.
A．burning
B．comfortable
C．warm
D．extinct小题3:What can we conclude from the situation after the tragedy?
A．There was no prize other than “some small things”, which the world champion would refuse to accept.
B．Ossi Arvela suggested there were great risks in the sauna contest and it never be held in the future.
C．The contest would be continued in which the temperatures were kept around 158 to 176 degrees.
D．It was unusual to have 110 degrees in a sauna and it was hard to understand to some people outside.小题4:We can infer from the news that ___________.
A．sauna is so popular that there are often competitions on weekdays in Finland.
B．the temperatures in usual saunas are too high for most people to stand in Finland.
C．the sauna contest is much too horrible even for the spectators in Finland.
D．there is a sauna for more than three people on average in Finland.
