When she looked ahead， Florence Chadwick sawnothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. Shehad been swimming for nearly sixteen dy she was the first woman to swim theEnglish el in both dires. Now， at age 34，her goal was to bee the first woman to swim fromCatalina Island to the Califo rnia that 4th of July m in the sea waslike ah and the fog was so dehat she couldhardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward herlone figure， only to be driven away by rifle st the frigid grip of the sea， she struggled on hourafter hour－ while millions watched on national televi? side Floren one of the boats， her ******arainer offered e. They told her itwasn’ t much farther. But all she could see was urged her not to quit. She never had， until only a half mile to go， she asked to be pulled thawing her chilled b ody several hours later，she told a reporter， “ Look， I’ m not exg myself，but if I could have seen land I might have made it. ” Itwas not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated was the fog. She was uo see her months later， she tried again. This time， de? spite the same dense fog， sh e swam with her faith intad her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She khatsomewhere behind that fog was land and this time shemade it！ Florence Chadwick became the first woman toswim the Catalina el， eclipsing the men ’ srecord by two hours ！ 热词空间shark n. 鲨鱼； 勒索者， 诈骗者， 放高利贷的人el n. 频道； 渠道； 沟渠； 海峡， 航道 （本章完）