外电报道如下：

　　Australian Ian Thorpe beat arch-rival Michael Phelps in a nail-biting Olympic men's 200-meter freestyle final on Monday between the four fastest swimmers in history.

　　Nail-biting的原意是“因焦虑而咬指甲的行为; 咬指甲癖”，这里用的是它的引申义“令人焦虑的，令人神经紧张的”。此外，nail-biting作名词时表示“焦虑，束手无策”，例如：Washington's announcement that the trade agreement had been signed ended a week of nail-biting on Wall Street.（美国政府关于贸易协议已经签定的声明结束了华尔街一星期的焦虑不安。）