Liu Xiang's career started as a high jumper. Mr. Sun Haiping encouraged him to move up to hurdles. Without him, Liu’s career would have come to a halt as his parents had withdrawn him from the sports school.
劉翔最開始是一名跳高運動員。他后來的教練孫海平鼓勵他轉跑跨欄。如果不是孫教練，劉翔的職業生涯可能會就此中斷，因為他的父母當時已經讓他從體校退學。

In 2001, Liu won his first world championship at World University Games in Beijing.
2001年，在北京舉行的世界大學生運動會上，劉翔獲得了個人的第一個世界冠軍。

Gold in 110m hurdles at 2002 Busan Asian Games is the first one of Liu's three consecutive titles of Asian Games.
2002年釜山亞運會上，劉翔獲得110米欄冠軍，開始了亞運會三連冠。

The acme of his career came in the summer of 2004. Liu became the first ever Chinese man to win a gold medal in track events at Olympics.
2004年夏天的雅典奧運會上，劉翔迎來了個人職業生涯的高峰，成為中國徑賽項目的第一個男子奧運冠軍。

In 2006, Liu set a new world record at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 seconds.
2006年，劉翔在國際田聯超級大獎賽洛桑站上以12秒88的成績刷新了世界紀錄。

He raced to victory in the 60m hurdles at 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. It is his first and only title at World Indoor Championships.
在西班牙瓦倫西亞舉行的2008世界室內田徑錦標賽60米欄決賽中，劉翔拿到了個人第一個也是唯一一個室內賽世界冠軍頭銜。

Liu suffered injury in his right Achilles tendon, and withdrew from the 110m hurdles at Beijing Olympic Games.
北京奧運會110米欄比賽中，劉翔右腳跟腱受傷，退出了比賽。

Recovering from injury, Liu won at the Prefontaine Classic with a time of 12.87 seconds, matching the world record albeit with wind-assistance of 2.4m/s. Unfortunately, no result can be registered as a record with wind-assistance more than 2m/s.
從傷病中恢復后，2012年普里方騰經典賽比賽中，劉翔以12秒87斬獲冠軍，平了世界紀錄。遺憾的是，當時的順風風速為2.4m/s，超過了規定的2m/s的風速，因此該記錄無效。

In the 110 meter hurdles at 2012 Olympics, Liu pulled his Achilles tendon and fell down. He kissed the last hurdle, left the track, and participated no more competitions.
2012年倫敦奧運會110米比賽中，劉翔跟腱拉傷，摔倒在地。他在親吻了最后一個跨欄后，從此離開了跑道。

On April 7, 2015, China's flying man announced retirement.
2015年4月7日，中國“飛人”劉翔宣布退役。

Vocabulary:

acme: 頂峰

track events: 徑賽項目

wind-assistance: 順風助力

（來源：滬江英語，編輯 Helen）