内容提要：美国著名的肯塔基赛马会的历史与今天。
On May 17, 1875, the first running of the Kentucky Derby 赛马会 took place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. This famous horse race has been held there every year since 1875. People from all over the United States and Europe come to Louisville to watch the race. They bet on their favorite horses to win. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are wagered 押注 on Derby Day.
Horse racing has been a popular sport since ancient times. Horses like to run, and people like to watch them run. Horse racing was an event at the original Olympic Games in 648 B.C.
Modern horse racing started in England in the 1500s. King Henry VIII organized regular race meets. The sport soon spread to other countries. Racehorse owners tried to outdo 胜过 each other by developing thoroughbred 纯种，良种 horses. Thoroughbreds are special horses whose ancestors are known for their speed and endurance 耐力. Eclipse, a horse that raced in the 1760s, was a thoroughbred. He was one of the fastest horses at that time. Many of the thoroughbreds of today are descended 祖传，传承 from Eclipse.
Churchill Downs is just one of many professional racetracks 赛马场 in the United States. Most of them are oval-shaped 椭圆形的 and are from 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 miles around. Only horses of the same age race together. There are meets for one-year-old, tow-year-old, and three-year-old horses.
The Kentucky Derby is held each spring, and the horses are all three-year-old thoroughbreds. The fastest runner so far was Secretariat, who went around the 1 1/4-mile track in 1 minute, 59.2 seconds in 1973. That’s almost 38 miles per hour!
本文选自上海外语教育出版社引进出版的
《听读美国小故事》第5册（五月）
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