Section A A Winning personality

 Li Na started her sporting life with a badminton racket in her hand at age six. When she was eight, her coach discovered that she was using the racket more like a tennis player, and so a big decision was made.

Back home, Li told her mother: "I'm going to play tennis." Surprised, her mother couldn't help asking: "What's tennis?"

1. badminton racket：羽毛球拍

2. coach：教练

3. tennis player：网球运动员

Twenty years later, Li stands out as the greatest woman tennis player in China. In 2011 Li won the French Open singles title, making her Asia's first and only Grand Slam singles champion, and rising to a career high ranking of World No. 4. This is really something to be proud of. Already the Chinese TV stations and newspapers have greeted her as a sporting heroine. Asian Tennis Federation has taken this opportunity to show that Li's success is living proof of Asia's ability to host a grand slam tournament.

1.singles title ：单打冠军

2.Grand Slam singles champion ：大满贯单打冠军

3.ranking：排名

4.heroine：女英雄

5.grand slam tournament：大满贯锦标赛

6. living proof ：有力的证据

 Currently the World No. 5 and Chinese No. 1, Li has become the best of what the Chinese call the "Golden Flowers," a generation of women tennis players includingZheng Jie and Yan Zi, who have won two grand slam doubles titles, and Peng Shuai, who, as of June 17, 2013, is the 2nd ranked Chinese woman player.

However, it is only in 2013, as Li has been interviewed after winning match after match, that the wider world has learned just how winning a personality she has.

Li has a special individualism and a one-of-a-kind humor. When asked what drove her to win in the semi-final over World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, saving a match point on the way, Li answered: "Prize money."

1.one-of-a-kind ：独特的，特别的，独一无二的

2.semi-final：半决赛

Many players, both Chinese and foreign, talk of how they live for their sport. But Li says that once she is off the court, she wants to forget about tennis.

Jiang Shan, the man who talked her into returning to the sport two years after Li had dropped out to study at a university, is now her husband and coach. However, after letting on that her husband kept her awake before a game with his snoring, she said: "I think today he can stay in the bathroom."

1.court：球场

2.awake：醒着的

3.snoring：打呼噜

Another interesting example of what cannot be expected from this surprising woman player is when she is asked about the Chinese men tennis players. "I think they're strong in the body, but not so strong in the mind," Li says. "Right now, they think about, oh, ranking around 300, that's perfect. I mean, 300 is nothing."

1.perfect 完美的

 

As she makes her way on to the grandest stage of her career, is the World No. 5's mother now a fan of tennis? "No," Li says, "she just says: ‘I have my life. I don't want to come with you.'"

1.grandest stage of her career：事业的巅峰