1 . Merle Liivand was born in Estonia. As a child, she had health problems, and began swimming to help her lungs get stronger. She was soon taking part in open water swimming contests, sometimes even in icy water. In 2017 and 2019, she represented Estonia at the World Aquatics Championships.
Eleven years ago, Ms. Merle moved to Miami, Florida. In one training session, she nearly wound up swallowing some plastic floating in the sea. That experience made her think of all the sea animals who faced similar pollution every day. She began swimming with a special single swimming fin(鳍状物) attached to both of her feet. This rubbery “monofin” allows her to swim by kicking both of her legs together. “Swimming with the monofin without using my arms is similar to how dolphins and sea animals swim,” says Ms. Merle. She believes that swimming with a monofin “sends a bigger message”.
Ms. Merle first set the world record for swimming with a monofin in 2019, when she swam 10 kilometers off the coast of California. In 2020, she broke the record again by swimming 20. 6 kilometers, this time in Miami, Florida.
Last year, she set a new Guinness World Record by swimming 30 kilometers, again in Florida. Even though it took her 9 hours and 19 minutes to set that record, Ms. Merle says she knew she could go farther. So for the last year, Ms. Merle has been getting up at 4 every morning, putting on her monofin and going swimming.
On May 7, Ms. Merle broke the record once more, this time swimming the length of a full marathon. It took her 11 hours and 54 seconds to swim 42.2 kilometers.
To keep her energy up, a friend followed her in a kayak and gave her food and water from time to time. Along the way, Ms. Merle picked up all the trash she found and put it in the kayak. By the end of her marathon, the kayak held three bags full of trash.
1. Why did Merle Liivand start to swim?| A．To become physically fitter. | B．To pick up rubbish out of water. |
| C．To satisfy her interest in water. | D．To win swimming contests. |
| A．To help develop her strength. | B．To improve her swimming speed. |
| C．To experience the life of a sea animal. | D．To raise public awareness of plastic pollution. |
| A．Far-reaching influences brought by Ms. Merle. |
| B．Ms. Merle’s amazing achievements in swimming. |
| C．Hardships Ms. Merle experienced while swimming. |
| D．Ms. Merle’s contributions to environmental protection. |
| A．Considerate and modest. | B．Ambitious and proud. |
| C．Kind-hearted and hard-working. | D．Strong-willed and generous. |
