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When she looked ahead， Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now， at age 34， her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

On the 4th of July morning in 1952， the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense1 that she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised2 toward her lone figure， only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid3 grip of the sea， she struggled on -- hour after hour -- while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats， her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn't much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had until then. With only a half mile to go， she asked to be pulled out.

Still thawing4 her chilled body several hours later， she told a reporter， \"Look， I'm not excusing myself， but if I could have seen land I might have made it.\" It was not fatigue5 or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later， she tried again. This time， despite the same dense fog， she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly picture in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel， eclipsing the men's record by two hours!

弗洛倫斯·查德威克放眼望去;前面濃霧漫漫，什么也看不見。她的身體失去了知覺。她已經(jīng)游了將近16個小時。

在此之前，她早已成為第一個橫渡英吉利海峽的婦女，無論從英國還是法國下水，她都是第一。她已經(jīng)34歲，現(xiàn)在的目標是成為第一個從卡特琳娜島游到加利福尼亞海岸的婦女。

1952年7月4日早晨，大海涼得像一個冰澡盆;濃霧彌漫，弗洛倫斯幾乎看不見救生船只。成群的鯊魚向她孤獨的身影襲來，只有用來福槍才能把它們趕走。成千上萬的人在全美電視節(jié)目中觀看她在冰冷的海水中一小時接著一小時地奮力前游。

在弗洛倫斯身旁的一條小船上，他的母親和教練不停地在給她打氣。他們告訴她沒有多遠了。但是她看到的只是濃霧。他們敦促她不要放棄。但是，在離終點只有半英里之遙的時候，她請求了退出。

幾個小時以后，她還在暖著自己凍僵的身體。她對記者說:“瞧，我不是在給自己找借口，但是如果當時我已經(jīng)看到了陸地的話，也許就已經(jīng)成功了?！睋魯∷牟皇瞧冢踔烈膊皇潜涞暮Ｋ瑩魯∷氖菨忪F。因為她看不到自己的目標。

兩個月以后，她再次發(fā)起挑戰(zhàn)。這一次橫渡，濃霧依舊，但是她滿懷信心，心中目標明確。因為她知道，濃霧后面就是陸地。這一次她成功了!弗洛倫斯·查德威克成為第一個橫渡卡特琳娜海峽的婦女，她把男子記錄縮短了兩個小時!

注釋 :

①dense adj.密集的，稠密的，

濃密的

②cruise v.以快而平穩(wěn)的速度

長距離行駛

③frigid adj.寒冷的，極冷的

④thaw v.軟化，暖和起來

⑤fatigue n.勞累，疲勞