每年四月的第三个星期一，是马萨诸塞州的爱国者日，也是波士顿马拉松定期举办的日子。
波士顿马拉松历史悠久，首届比赛开办于1897年，至今已有100多年的历史。今年的波士顿马拉松，共有27000名运动员参加，比赛途径马萨诸塞州的8个城镇，依次是马萨诸塞州霍普金顿市，亚什兰，弗雷明汉，内蒂克，卫斯理，牛顿，布鲁克林和波士顿。因为参赛者要途径牛顿山，波士顿马拉松赛被誉为是世界上较为艰难的马拉松赛。
1986年，马拉松赛首次颁发奖金。现在，比赛的优胜者们争夺超过80万美元的奖金。
有趣的是，Rosie Ruiz在比赛中乘坐地铁，靠这个手段，她拿到了1980年的马拉松赛冠军。之后事情被曝光，Rosie Ruiz深陷丑闻。

美国波士顿马拉松爆炸目前已导致3死132伤

Following is a list of facts about the Boston Marathon:

* The race is always held on Patriots' Day, a Massachusetts state holiday held on the third Monday in April, which commemorates the earliest battles of the American war for independence.

* The race was first held in 1897 with 18 participants, making it the world's oldest annual marathon.

* The 2013 Boston Marathon, which drew about 27,000 runners, honored the 26 people who died at the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting with a special marker at the end of mile 26.

* The race runs through eight Massachusetts cities and towns: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston.

* It begins in Hopkinton and ends at Copley Square, alongside the Boston Public Library.

* The Boston Marathon is considered one of the more difficult marathon courses because of the Newton hills, which culminate in Heartbreak Hill near Boston College.

* Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason coined the name Heartbreak Hill after John Kelley overtook competitor Tarzan Brown on the Newton hills in the 1936 race, tapping him on the back but ultimately losing his lead to Brown on that final hill.

* Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to unofficially complete the race in 1966. Women were not officially allowed to participate until 1972.

* Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa won the men's division in the 2013 Boston Marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds.

* Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai holds the course record with 2 hours, 3 minutes and 2 seconds, which he ran in 2011.

* The youngest runner to win was Tim Ford, who was 18 when he won in 1906.

* Clarence Harrison DeMar is the only marathoner who has won seven times at Boston. His seventh victory in Boston came in 1930, when he became the oldest winner of the event at the age of 41.

* Prize money was awarded for the first time in 1986 and the top finishers now compete for more than $800,000.

* The Boston Marathon is the only marathon in the United States that maintains qualifying times and specific requirements that generally state a runner must have completed a qualifying marathon within the year and a half before Boston.

* In 1980 Rosie Ruiz created a scandal when she cheated to win by taking the subway part of the way.

重点词汇介绍

marathon[ mer θɑn]

n.马拉松长跑; 长距离赛跑; 持久比赛

adj.需要极大持久力的

v.参加持久比赛

Massachusetts[ m s 't u:sits]

n.马萨诸塞州; 马萨诸塞; 马萨诸塞联邦

Patriots' Day 爱国者日

commemorate[k mem re t]

v.纪念; 庆祝; 成为…的纪念

scandal[ sk nd( )l]

n.丑闻; 丑事; 丑行; 耻辱; 反感; 诽谤; 丑名; 丢脸的事件; 舞弊案件