15篇文章貫通大學(xué)英語四級(jí)詞匯第15篇
the Ancient Olympics
With great anticipation, China is busily preparing for the 2008Summer Olympic Games. Beijing will be added to a long list of the great cities that have invited the world to honor the world’s greatest athletes in the modern ear of the Olympic Games. China will also become part of an important, rich heritage that goes back more than 2000 years.
The origins of the ancient Olympic Games tend to be submerged in sea of Greek myths. One popular myth suggests that Pelops, a prince from Lydia, in Asia Minor , won the hand of a princess by unfairly defeating a competing suitor in a chariot race. The loser was to be condemned to beheading. The prince rigged his opponent’s chariot to crash during the race. Later, the chariot did crash, killing the driver. The princess became Pelop’s bride, and he instituted the Olympic Games to celebrate his victory. However, others claimed that the first Olympic event was a funeral festival to honor his dead competitor.
Another myth involved Hercules, the mythical strong man. Hercules was the son of Zeus, the Greek god, and one of the god’s mistresses. Hera, Zeus’ wife, and also his sister, was very upset. She attempted in many ways, to kill Hercules as a baby. Hercules survived. Later, after he had married, Hera successfully put a spell on him, demanding that he kill his wife. Because he was the son of the god, Zeus, Hercules was destined to become a god himself. In order to accomplish this, Hercules had to be cleansed of his wife’s murder. To do this, he was directed to perform twelve difficult labors. If he successfully completed these, he would become an immortal god, like his father.
One of the majestic labors was to clean the stables of the King of Elis, in the impossibly brief period of one day. The king had huge stables with very large herds of cattle. Hercules asked the king to give him one tenth of his cattle, if he completed the task in one day. The king, perhaps humoring Hercules, or perhaps believing that this task couldn’t possibly be done in one day, agreed. In one day, Hercules diverted two rivers through the barns, cleaning them, but he did not receive the cattle that were promised in the deal. Hercules waged a successful war on the King, sacking Elis. He introduced the Olympic Games to celebrate this victory and to honor his father, Zeus, who lived on nearby Mount Olympus. The myth also suggests that Hercules measured out the stade, a footrace event of about 200 meters .
As today, athletes in the ancient world were popular and had tremendous impact on the society of their day. The goal of the well-disciplined, physically trim athletes was to be the best. The champion athlete assumed a position of honor and privilege in Greek society. The status of a triumphant athlete also enhanced the reputation of his home city-state. Every young Greek boy who pursued the dream of being an Olympic champion some day envied the athletes. An important part of a Greek school boy’s curriculum was vigorous physical training in gymnasium.
The ancient Olympic Games, which began in 776 BC, lasted for over 1100 years. In 394 AD, the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished the games, as pagan festivals. At that time the Roman Empire was in decline. The modern Olympics have been around for only a little over 100 years, sine 1896. The Olympics of 776BC was the first, for which there is a written record, but it is believed that these events existed before this. There is evidence to show that athletic contests took place in Ancient Egypt and in the ancient Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.
A plain called Olympia, in the small city-state of Elis was the site of the original Greek games. At the beginning of every four years, a period called an Olympiad, a major religious festival with athletic competition, took place at Olympia. In ancient Greece, the early Olympics did not rotate from city to city, but were permanently hosted at Olympia, the place from which the name Olympics originated. If wars were taking place at the time, as there usually were, a truce would be made during the military conflicts, soldiers would drop their swords and shields and accompany their opponents on a safe passage to Olympia, to enthusiastically participate in the games. After the games, the athletes would return to the battlefields with their companions, pick up their weapons and resume military engagements with their enemies, often fighting to the death, the athletic competitors whom they confronted only a few days or weeks before.
In the beginning, only free Greek-speaking male athletes could participate in the games, women, slaves, and foreigners were banned from competition. Women were even barred as spectators, not for sexual reasons, but for from 720 BC the male athletes were usually naked down to their bare feet when they participated. Olympia was a sacred place for men only, a place to worship Zeus, the principal Greek god. However, women were not completely excluded from competitive sports, as they had their own games, every four years as well, called the Heraea, after Hera, the wife of Zeus.
The first number of Olympic Games had only one event, called the stade. By the late 8th century BC, events included running, wrestling, boxing, pancratium , chariot racing, a footrace with heavy armor, and the pentathlon. The only official prize earned by the champion, was a crown of wild olive branches. Unofficially, some athletes received valuable prizes, including large sums of money from their home city-states. As in modern times, ancient athletes, even though they made pledges of fairness in competition, sought our every advantage, legal or illegal, in order to win. Even then, the concept of amateurism, for which there were no rules in ancient times, and the zeal for the competitive spirit were often sacrificed for the more selfish materialistic considerations.
By the 6th century BC, athletes began to specialize in particular sports, and even began to hire coaches. Special diets and new innovated kinds of physical conditioning became popular. Protein, from meat and beans in particular, became the popular nutritional need of Olympic athletes. The rules for events became more numerous and more strictly enforced. For example, a false start of a running event might have been followed by a whipping of the violator. Penalties usually included fines for most violations. It was said that the elegant, elaborate bronze statues of Zeus that lined the route to the Olympic Stadium in the fourth century BC, were financed by revenue created by fines imposed on athletes. Some athletes even became free agents, negotiating and hiring themselves out to the highest bidder, to win races and money for their sponsors. One rather peculiar practice that surrounded the chariot race event was that the owners, rather than the drivers of the chariots, received the honors and prizes. Some owners entered numerous chariots in the same event to increase their chances of winning. To the amusement of Olympic historians, Emperor Nero apparently entered a chariot race in which he fell from his chariot and did not finish, but still received the champion’s crown of olive branches. Who could argue with the Emperor?
By the 4th century BC, the Greek-only restriction on participation was eased as the Olympic organizers accepted athletes from overseas, from such territories as Egypt and Libya on the African continent. Many city-states even provided financial support and facilities for athletes so that they could concentrate full time on training, sometimes for more that a year before the games.
The ancient Olympics were a strange mix of a religious pilgrimage and a forum for intense athletic competition. As mentioned above,, Emperor Theodosius tried to permanently put an end to the games as pagan exercises, but they emerged again in 1896 after an interval of more than 1600 years. The Olympics maintained a religious theme from the beginning, varying in degree over time. The events were originally dedicated to the worship of gods and heroes, especially deceased heroes. They were, at times, called funeral games , and sometimes fertility festivals. The games gradually in the worship of the prominent cult of Zeus, the chief god. Today, the Olympics Games are secular events.
The most prominent symbols of the Olympic Games today did not originate in classical times. The Olympic torch was an innovation in 1916. The five rings were originally introduced to represent the first five Olympics of the modern era from 1896 to 1912. In 1920 the rings were revived to represent the five continents with North and South America being represented by one ring. The 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, was the site of the first lighting of the Olympic flame.
The spirit of intense competition in association with heroism and national pride, remain major themes of the Olympics today, much as they were over 2000 years ago. Today, countries send their best, amateur and professional alike, to compete for the highest honors. Athletes also still try to find an advantage to give a better performance than all other competitors, sometimes, unfortunately, not always following the rules.
Every four years, or every two years when one includes the winter Olympics, which began in 1924, the world focuses on a human event that represents the good of humanity. Motivated for a couple of weeks, in those years, people and nations try to forget their troubles, put aside their differences and conflicts, and become part of a vast promotion of good global relations and cooperation. One sometimes wonders if the Olympics serve as a safety valve in international human relations, attributing to a collective sanity in a world that, not unlike that of ancient times, is perpetually the scene of conflict, strife, and human misery. Certainly one would like to think that that is the case. If not, one can always hope.
古代奧運(yùn)會(huì)
中國(guó)正滿懷期望，積極為2008年夏季奧運(yùn)會(huì)做準(zhǔn)備。北京將成為有幸舉辦奧運(yùn)會(huì)的偉大城市之一，屆時(shí)她將邀請(qǐng)全世界來嘉獎(jiǎng)世界上最偉大的運(yùn)動(dòng)員。中國(guó)也將成為這個(gè)有2000多年歷史，重要而豐富的傳統(tǒng)的一部分。
古代奧運(yùn)會(huì)的起源很容易就被淹沒在浩瀚的希臘神話中。一個(gè)廣為流傳的神話說，珀羅普斯，小亞細(xì)亞的呂底亞的一個(gè)王子，在一次戰(zhàn)車比賽中用欺騙手段擊敗了求婚對(duì)手，贏得了一位公主的婚約。當(dāng)時(shí)失敗者會(huì)被判斬首，而對(duì)手的戰(zhàn)車被王子做了手腳使其在比賽中被撞毀。后來，車毀人亡。那位公主成了珀羅普斯的新娘，他創(chuàng)立了奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)慶祝他的勝利。不過，另外一些人則聲稱第一次奧運(yùn)會(huì)是為紀(jì)念他死去的對(duì)手而舉行的葬禮。
另一個(gè)神話是有關(guān)赫爾克里斯的，一個(gè)神話中的大力士。他是希臘主神宙斯和他的一個(gè)情婦的兒子。赫拉，宙斯的妻子，也是他的姐姐，非常氣憤。在赫爾克里斯還是個(gè)嬰兒時(shí)，赫拉就使用了很多方法要?dú)⑺浪５諣柨死锼剐掖嫦聛怼：髞恚谒Y(jié)婚后，赫拉成功地對(duì)他施以詛咒，讓他殺死他的妻子。因?yàn)樗侵嫠沟膬鹤樱諣柨死锼棺约鹤⒍ㄒ矔?huì)成為一個(gè)神。為了做到這一點(diǎn)，他必須洗清他謀殺妻子的罪名。為此，他被要求要完成十二件艱巨的大事。如果他成功地完成了這些任務(wù)，他就會(huì)像他父親一樣，成為不朽的神。
其中一項(xiàng)任務(wù)是，在短短的一天之內(nèi)清潔好艾麗斯國(guó)王的馬廄，這幾乎是不可能的事。艾麗斯國(guó)王的馬群非常大，所以他有一個(gè)巨大的馬廄。赫爾克里斯提出，如果他在一天之內(nèi)完成了任務(wù)，國(guó)王就給他十分之一的馬群。也許是覺得赫爾克里斯有點(diǎn)可笑，認(rèn)為他根本不可能在一天內(nèi)完成任務(wù)，國(guó)王就答應(yīng)了。在這一天里，赫爾克里斯把兩條小河引過來，將馬廄沖洗干凈，但沒有得到承諾的馬群。赫爾克里斯于是發(fā)動(dòng)了一場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，洗劫了艾麗斯。他舉行了奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)來慶祝這次勝利和表示對(duì)父親宙斯的敬仰。他的父親宙斯就住在附近的奧林匹斯山上。這個(gè)神話還說，赫爾克里斯測(cè)量了運(yùn)動(dòng)場(chǎng)的長(zhǎng)度，一個(gè)兩百米長(zhǎng)的跑道。
像今天一樣，古代的運(yùn)動(dòng)員很受歡迎，對(duì)他們那個(gè)時(shí)代的社會(huì)也有很大的影響。訓(xùn)練有素、身材勻稱的運(yùn)動(dòng)員的目標(biāo)是成為最好的運(yùn)動(dòng)員。冠軍運(yùn)動(dòng)員會(huì)得到榮譽(yù)，在古希臘擁有特權(quán)。獲勝運(yùn)動(dòng)員的地位也會(huì)增強(qiáng)自己家鄉(xiāng)城市的名望。每一個(gè)希臘小伙子都羨慕那些運(yùn)動(dòng)員，夢(mèng)想有一天自己成為奧林匹克冠軍。古希臘學(xué)校里男孩子的課程里很重要的一部分就是在體育館內(nèi)上體育課。
古代奧運(yùn)會(huì)始于公元前776年，延續(xù)了1100多年。公元394年，基督教羅馬皇帝狄奧多西將其視為異教徒的節(jié)日予以廢除。那時(shí)的羅馬帝國(guó)正在衰落。現(xiàn)代奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)從1896年開始，才100多年。公元前776年的奧運(yùn)會(huì)是有文字記錄的第一屆，但人們相信在此之前這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)就已經(jīng)存在了。有證據(jù)表明在古埃及和克利特島上的古彌諾斯文化中就舉行過體育比賽。
在小城邦艾麗斯的奧林匹亞平原，就是古代希臘運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)的場(chǎng)地。每4年的年初，這個(gè)期間叫做“四年周期”，伴隨體育比賽，要在奧林匹亞舉行盛大的宗教節(jié)日。在古希臘，早期奧運(yùn)會(huì)不是一個(gè)個(gè)城市輪流，而總是在奧林匹亞舉行，“奧運(yùn)會(huì)”因此得名。到時(shí)如果發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，對(duì)抗的軍隊(duì)之間就會(huì)休戰(zhàn)，戰(zhàn)士們丟下他們的劍和盾牌，與他們的對(duì)手一起，安全地來到奧林匹亞，參加狂熱的運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)。運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)后，運(yùn)動(dòng)員們將與他們的同伴一起重返戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)，拿起武器，與他們的敵人，也就是僅僅幾天或幾個(gè)星期前相遇的體育競(jìng)賽對(duì)手，繼續(xù)交戰(zhàn)，常常會(huì)戰(zhàn)斗到死。
起初，只有講希臘語的自由男運(yùn)動(dòng)員可以參加運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)，婦女、奴隸和外國(guó)人是不允許參加競(jìng)賽的，甚至不準(zhǔn)婦女觀看。這并非性別的原因，而是因?yàn)閺墓?20年開始，男運(yùn)動(dòng)員在參加比賽時(shí)常常從頭到腳都是赤裸的。奧林匹亞是只讓男人參加的宗教圣地，是崇拜希臘主神宙斯的地方。然而婦女并沒有完全被排斥在體育比賽之外，她們有自己的運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)，也是每四年舉行一次，叫做赫拉亞，以宙斯的妻子赫拉命名。
最初的奧運(yùn)會(huì)只有一個(gè)項(xiàng)目，叫做“斯泰底”。在公元前8世紀(jì)末，比賽項(xiàng)目包括賽跑、摔跤、拳擊、角斗、賽車、負(fù)重跑和五項(xiàng)全能運(yùn)動(dòng)。冠軍贏得的唯一正式獎(jiǎng)品是一個(gè)野橄欖樹枝編的桂冠。非正式地，有些運(yùn)動(dòng)員得到有價(jià)值的獎(jiǎng)品，包括他們家鄉(xiāng)城邦給的大筆獎(jiǎng)金。像現(xiàn)代一樣，古代的運(yùn)動(dòng)員，盡管他們發(fā)誓要公平競(jìng)賽，但是為了取勝，他們會(huì)設(shè)法獲取各種優(yōu)勢(shì)，不管是合法的還是非法的。即使在那時(shí)，業(yè)余的概念——對(duì)此古代沒有規(guī)定——和對(duì)體育精神的追求常常為了自私自利的物質(zhì)報(bào)酬而受到褻瀆。
到了公元前6世紀(jì)，運(yùn)動(dòng)員開始專攻個(gè)別項(xiàng)目，甚至開始雇傭教練。專門的飲食和獨(dú)特的身體訓(xùn)練方法開始流行起來。蛋白質(zhì)，特別是肉類和豆類，成了流行的奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)需要的營(yíng)養(yǎng)品。體育項(xiàng)目的規(guī)則變得復(fù)雜起來，也更加嚴(yán)格了。例如，賽跑比賽的偷跑者可能會(huì)受到鞭笞的懲罰。懲罰通常包括對(duì)多數(shù)違規(guī)者的罰款。據(jù)說，公元前4世紀(jì)，擺放在奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)場(chǎng)的入口處的、精心制作的莊嚴(yán)的宙斯青銅像，就是對(duì)運(yùn)動(dòng)員的罰款得來的收入提供的經(jīng)費(fèi)。一些運(yùn)動(dòng)員甚至成為自由代理人，與出價(jià)最高者談判并被其雇傭，為他們的贊助人贏得比賽和金錢。與賽車比賽有關(guān)的一個(gè)相當(dāng)特別的慣例是，賽車的主人而不是賽車手得到榮譽(yù)和獎(jiǎng)品。為了增加獲勝的機(jī)會(huì)，一些人在一次比賽中投入許多輛賽車。令?yuàn)W林匹克歷史學(xué)家感到好笑的是，顯而易見尼實(shí)祿皇帝還參加了一次賽車，比賽中從車中摔了出來，沒有賽完，但還是得到了冠軍的橄欖枝桂冠。誰敢和皇帝競(jìng)爭(zhēng)呢?
到公元前4世紀(jì)，只準(zhǔn)講希臘語的人參加比賽的限制被放寬了，奧林匹克的組織者接受了來自海外的運(yùn)動(dòng)員，如從非洲大陸的埃及和利比亞這樣的領(lǐng)地來的人。許多城邦甚至為運(yùn)動(dòng)員提供財(cái)政支持和設(shè)施，使他們能夠把全部時(shí)間都用在訓(xùn)練上;有時(shí)，訓(xùn)練在運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)前一年多就開始了。
古代奧運(yùn)會(huì)是宗教朝圣和激烈的體育比賽的奇特組合。如上所述，狄奧多西皇帝試圖終止這種被當(dāng)作異教徒活動(dòng)的運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)，但它們?cè)谥袛嗔?600多年后的1896年又出現(xiàn)了。奧運(yùn)會(huì)保留了最初的宗教主題，但隨著時(shí)間的推移，發(fā)生了不同程度的變化。比賽項(xiàng)目的設(shè)立最初是為了崇拜眾神和英雄，特別是死去的英雄。有時(shí)，它們被叫做“葬禮”活動(dòng)，有時(shí)叫做豐收慶典。運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)在祭拜主神宙斯的活動(dòng)中逐漸達(dá)到高潮。而今天奧運(yùn)會(huì)的運(yùn)動(dòng)都是與宗教無關(guān)的比賽項(xiàng)目。
現(xiàn)代奧運(yùn)會(huì)最突出的象征并不是來源于古典時(shí)代。奧林匹克火炬是1916年的創(chuàng)新，而引進(jìn)五環(huán)最初是表示從1896年到1912年的頭五屆現(xiàn)代奧運(yùn)會(huì)。1920年，這些環(huán)重新被用來代表包括五個(gè)大陸，南北美洲用其中一個(gè)環(huán)表示。在納粹德國(guó)舉行的1936年奧運(yùn)會(huì)，是第一次點(diǎn)燃奧林匹克圣火的地方。
幾乎與2000多年前一樣，與英雄主義、民族自豪感相聯(lián)系的努力拼搏的精神仍然是現(xiàn)代奧運(yùn)會(huì)的主題。今天，每個(gè)國(guó)家派出他們最好的選手，不管是業(yè)余的還是職業(yè)的，來爭(zhēng)奪最高的榮譽(yù)。運(yùn)動(dòng)員們?nèi)匀灰敕皆O(shè)法取得優(yōu)勢(shì)，以勝過其他選手。不幸的是，有時(shí)候也會(huì)不遵守規(guī)則。
從1924年開始，每隔四年，全世界的注意力都集中到這一表現(xiàn)人性好的一面的人類活動(dòng)上。在這些年中的兩個(gè)星期里，各國(guó)各民族設(shè)法忘掉他們的煩惱，撇開他們的分歧和沖突，參與到這個(gè)促進(jìn)世界關(guān)系發(fā)展向前和合作的運(yùn)動(dòng)中。有人也許會(huì)想，在這個(gè)與古代沒有什么兩樣，永遠(yuǎn)是沖突、斗爭(zhēng)、悲劇的世界上，奧運(yùn)會(huì)是否可以成為國(guó)際關(guān)系的安全閥，來喚醒人們共同的良知。人們當(dāng)然愿意相信事實(shí)就是這樣。如果不是，人們總是可以希望如此。
