on Endurance(持久力 耐久力)3

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I started learning about the world-record holder.

His name is Tom Sietas.

And this guy is perfectly built for holding his breath.

He's six foot four.

他六英尺四。

He's 160 pounds.

他160英镑重。

And his totally lung capacity is twice the size of an average person.

I'm six foot one and fat.

我六英尺一，有点胖。

It's we will say big-boned.

这既是我们说的大骨架。

I had to drop 50 pounds in three months.

我需要在三个月内减重50磅。

So,  everything that I put into my mouth I considered as medicine.

Every bit of food was exactly what it was for its nutritional value.

I ate really small control portions throughout the day.

And I started to really adapt my body.

The thinner I was, the longer I was able to hold my breath.

我越瘦，就能够越长时间的屏住呼吸。

And by eating so well and training so hard, my resting heart rate dropped to 38 beats per minutes. Which is lower than most Olympic athletes.

In four months of training  I was able to hold my breath for over 7 minutes.

I wanted to try holding my breath everywhere.  I wanted to try in the most extremely situation to see if I could slow my heart rate down. Under duress.

I decided that I was going to break the world record. Live on prime-time television.

The world record was eight minutes and 58 seconds, held by Tome Sietas, that guy with the whale lungs I told you about.

I assumed that I could put a water tank at Lincoln center.

and if I stayed there a week not eating, I will get comfortable that situation.

And I would slow my metabolism(新陈代谢), which I was  sure will help me hold my breath longer than I have been able to do it.

I was completely wrong.

I entered the sphere a week before the schedule air date.

 And I thought everything seemed to be on track.

Two days before my big breath hold attempt, for the record, the producers of my television special thought that.

just watching somebody holding their breath, and almost drowling, is too boring for television.

So I had to add handcuffs(手铐).

While holding my breath, to escape from.

This was a critical mistake.

Because of the movement, I was wasting oxygen.

And by 7 minutes i have gone into these awful convulsions(痉挛 抽搐).

By 7:08 I started to black out(昏厥 暂时昏迷).

And by 7 minutes and 30 seconds, they had to pull my body and bring me back.

I have failed on every level.

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1. What might happen had Brain not need to escape from handcuffs?

...he would have been more likely to break the breath holding record.

2. When something si on track, it is ...progressing in the expected way.

完形填空

3.  The thinner I was, the longer I was able to hold my breath. Andy by eating so well and training so hard. my resting heart-rate dropped to 38 beats per minute.

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So, naturally, the only way out of the slum(锐减 骤减) that I could think of was I decided to call Oprah.

所以，自然地，能想到的唯一可以摆脱消沉的最好方式就是我决定打电话给奥普拉。

I told her that I wanted to up the ante(赌注) and hold my breath longer than any human being ever had.

我告诉她，我要提高赌注，我要屏息比任何人都长。

. This was a different record. This is a pure O2 static（静止的 静态的） apnea(呼吸暂停 窒息) record that Guinness(吉尼斯) had set the world at 13 minutes.

这是个不同的记录，这次是纯氧静态窒息记录，吉尼斯世界记录是13分钟。

So basically, you breath pure O2 first, oxygenating（输氧 供养） your body, flushing out(冲洗 冲出) CO2 and you're able to hold much longer.

所以，大体上，你先吸入纯氧，给你的身体输送氧气，排出二氧化碳，然后你就能够屏息更久。

I realized that my real competition was the beaver(河狸).

我意识到我真正的对手是河狸。

In January of  08, Oprah gave me four months to prepare and train.

在一月8日，奥普拉给我四个月去准备和训练。

So, I was sleep in a hypoxic(含氧量低的) tent every night.

A hypoxic tent is a tent that simulates altitude at 15 000 feet. It's like base camp Everest.

What that does is you start building up the red blood cell count in your body, which helps you carry oxygen better.

Every morning, again, after getting out of that tent your brain is completely wiped out.

My  first attempt on pure O2, I was able to go up to 15 minutes.

So, it was a pretty big success.

 The neurosurgeon pulled me out of the water, because in his mind that 15 minutes, your brain is don, you're burned it.

So you pulled up, and I was fine.

There was one person there that was definitely not in surprise.

It was my ex-girlfriend.

While I was breaking the record underwater for the first time, she was sifting through my Blackberry, checking all my messages.

My Brother has a picture of it, it is really...

I then announced that I was going to go for Sietas's record, publicly.

And what he did in response is he when on Regis and Kelly, and broke his old record.

Then his main competitor went out and broke his record.

So, he suddenly pushed the record up to 16 minutes and 32 seconds.

which was 3 minutes longer than I have prepared, you know, it was longer than the record.

I wanted to get the Science Times to document this. I wanted to get them to do piece on it.

So, I did what any person seriously pursing scientific advancement would do,

I walked into the New York Times offices and did card trick to everybody.

So I don't know if it was the magic or the lore of the  Cayman is island, but John Tierney flew down and did a piece on the seriousness of breath holding.

While he was there, I tried to impress him, of course.

And I did a  dive down to a 160 feet which is like, you know, basically the height of 16 story building,

and as I was coming up, I blacked underwater which is really dangerous; that's how you drown.

Luckily, Kirk had seen me,  and he swam over and pulled me up.

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1. What does Blain stroke about competing with Bever Sietas?

....his desire to push the limits of human capability.

2. What delivers Oxygen in the human body?

... Red blood cell

完形填空

3. I did a dive down to 160 feet,  which is basically the height of a 16 story building, and as I was coming up, I blacked out underwater, which is really dangerous; that's how you drown.

听 复述

4. I thought everything seemed to be on track.

5. By 17 minutes, I had gone into these awful convulsions.  

6. Every morning after getting out of that tent your brain is completely wiped out.