Unit 2   Understanding ideas 2

Last but not least

1 It was the last minute of the 2022 Beijing Marathon. However, 86-year-old Zhang Shun was still about 100 metres from the finishing line. People watched him move slowly. All of them held their breath. Would he make it?

2 Zhang felt confident before the race. But he had a stomachache on the way. This made him fall behind. “Shall I take a rest or stop?” he thought. Either choice seemed fine for someone at his age. But Zhang chose neither of them. He just ran on. With people cheering, he finally crossed the finishing line!

3 Marathon running is Zhang’s lifelong dream.“In 1989, I saw Beijing Marathon runners go past my home. I just wanted to become one of them,” he said. For years, he trained every morning in the park. He filled over 30 notebooks with his running records. None of his family members worried or tried to stop him. They knew he enjoyed every moment.

4 Zhang Shun was the oldest and the slowest runner to finish the 2022 Beijing Marathon. But it didn’t matter to him. He loves the sport and has no plans to stop. “If possible, I will keep running.”