Driving for China

At age 22, race driver Zhou Guanyu has already made history and is showing no signs of slowing down.
22岁的赛车手周冠宇已经创造了历史，而且没有任何减速的迹象。

Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen announced on Nov 16 that Zhou would join the team as a race driver for the 2022 season, making him the first-ever Chinese Formula 1 (F1) driver.
11月16日，阿尔法罗密欧车队官宣，周冠宇正式加盟该队，将作为正赛车手征战2022赛季，这让他成为中国历史上首位一级方程式（F1）车手。

“Becoming an F1 driver has always been my dream, and I’m really excited to finally fulfill my dream,” Zhou told China Daily.
周冠宇在接受《中国日报》采访时表示:“成为一名F1车手一直是我的梦想，我真的很激动，终于实现了梦想。”

Zhou took up go-karting at age 7. At age 10, he won all eight stops of the Chinese national go-karting championship. A year later, he left Shanghai for the UK to study and continue training. There, he continued to show off his passion for the sport in European go-karting competitions.
周冠宇7岁开始开卡丁车。10岁时，他包揽了全国卡丁车锦标赛八个分站赛的全部冠军。一年后，周冠宇离开上海前往英国，一边上学一边训练。在那里，他参加欧洲的卡丁车比赛，继续展现对这项运动的热情。

In 2019, Zhou debuted in F2. That’s where most young racers begin their journey toward F1. Zhou finished the year as F2’s leading rookie. However, 2020 brought what Zhou called “by far the most difficult season for me”. Several mechanical failures led to the driver placing sixth in the standings.
2019年，周冠宇首次亮相F2赛场。这是大多数年轻车手开始F1之旅的地方。周冠宇作为F2的头号新秀结束了2020赛季。然而，周冠宇称2020赛季是“迄今为止对我而言最困难的赛季”。因为周冠宇遭遇过几次机械故障，这导致他在积分榜上的排名跌至第六。

But looking back, he sees this as a period of growth that has helped him show his strength. Zhou currently sits in second place in the F2 championship with three F2 wins this season.
但回首过去，周冠宇认为这是一个成长的过程，自己的实力也随之显现。目前，周冠宇在F2锦标赛积分榜上排名第二，本赛季他三次获得F2冠军。

Zhou’s victory in the F2 feature race in Bahrain in March is the driver’s most memorable moment of his career, he told Xinhua. It was “the first time for the Chinese national flag to fly at the paddock”, Zhou said.
周冠宇在接受新华社采访时表示，今年3月F2巴林站的正赛冠军是他职业生涯中最难忘的瞬间。这是“五星红旗首次出现在围场”，周冠宇说。

“The road to F1 is very difficult, all of which takes a lot of time and effort,” Zhou told Xinhua. “For Chinese drivers, the process will only be more difficult because there was no guide to tell me how to choose the best path, so I had to explore all the possibilities with my team.”
“F1这条路非常难走，需要花费大量的时间和精力，”周冠宇在接受新华社采访时表示，“对于中国车手而言，进阶之路更为不易，因为没有引路人告诉我怎么选择才是最好的，所以我和我的团队要自己探索所有可能性。”

The ambitious young man will make his debut at F1 next season’s opener in Bahrain.
2022赛季的F1揭幕战将在巴林进行，届时这位雄心勃勃的年轻人将奉献赛季首秀。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高一851期