SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER
Although Citius, altius, fortius (“Swifter, higher, stronger”) is the Latin motto of today’s Olympic Games, athletes have been striving to improve their athletic skills since ancient times. All over ancient Greece, athletic contests, dance contests, and horse, boat, and torch races were held. Greek literature describes the many sports that were popular in ancient times; murals and statues show discus throwers, wrestlers, and charioteers.
Organized games in Greece began 3,500 years ago. By the sixth century B.C., there were several Greek sporting festivals, but the most important one took place in Olympia every fourth summer. The Olympic Games were held in honor of Zeus, the father of the gods. Only citizens of Greek city-states could participate, and the only race, a sprint, was run over a distance called a stade (200 yards). Coroebus, a cook who won the race in 776 B.C., was the first recorded champion.
Gradually, other running events were added, as well as horse racing, wrestling, a pentathlon, chariot racing, and boxing. Athletes competed in the nude; women could neither participate nor watch. At a banquet, champions were presented with olive wreaths.
When Rome conquered Greece in the second century B.C., the games continued. In 394 A.D., the Roman emperor Theodosius, a Christian, banned all festivals that honored Olympic gods. The Olympic Games ended. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1894, Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin (coo-bare-TENH) revived interest in the games.
The modern Olympic Games were organized as a way of promoting peace, friendship, and healthy sporting competition among the youth of the world. Athens, Greece, was chosen as the site of the first modern Olympics. Held in April 1896, the games involved 13 nations, 311 male athletes, 42 events, and nine sports. Women were not allowed to compete until four years later. The United States won nine of the track and field events, but Greece won the most medals with 47.
The Olympic Games are held in a different country every four years. At the opening ceremonies, the Greek team always leads the parade of athletes. The Olympic flame is still lit in Olympia and carried to the site of the games by a series of torchbearers. This tradition began in Germany in 1936 when 3,000 runners crossed seven countries on their journey from Greece. The passage of the Olympic torch captures the imagination of the world, reminding people of the original focus of the games-world peace and sportsmanship.
In ancient Greece, all wars ceased for as long as the games lasted. Unfortunately, that has not been the case in modern times. The 1916 games were canceled because of World War I, and World War II caused the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 games.
The games have gone through many changes since the first Olympics in ancient Greece. The September 2000 games in Sydney, Australia, the 27th modern Olympics, are scheduled to last 16 days, and involve 10,000 athletes, 198 countries, and 28 sports.
考研詞匯：
strive[straiv]
v.奮斗，努力
[真題例句] Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced.[1994年閱讀1]
[例句精譯] 為了獲取利潤，私有企業(yè)主在與他人競爭中生產(chǎn)這些產(chǎn)品，提供這些服務。在競爭的壓力下追求利潤的動機以及如何運作在很大程度上決定生產(chǎn)商品和提供服務的方式。
participate[pɑ:ˈtisipeit]
v.①(in)參與，參加;②分享，分擔
[真題例句] Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate (①) in our democracy.[2004年閱讀4]
[例句精譯] 如果不能批判地思考、不能維護自己的主張、不能理解他人的思想，他們就不能充分地參與民主社會。
revive[riˈvaiv]
v.①使蘇醒;②復蘇，復興
[真題例句] 41. The emergence of the Net has.[2003年閱讀1]
[D] revived (②) spying as a profession
[例句精譯] 41. 網(wǎng)絡的出現(xiàn)已經(jīng)。
[D] 使間諜職業(yè)復興
promote[prəˈməut]
v.①促進，發(fā)揚;②提升，提拔;③增進，助長;④宣傳，推銷
[真題例句] The standardized educational or psychological test that are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting (②) students, employees, and military personnel have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in congress.[1995年翻譯]
[例句精譯] 標準化教育測試或心理測試目前廣泛應用于協(xié)助選拔、分類、委派或提升學生、雇員和軍事人員：這些測試一直是某些人近些年來在書籍、雜志、日報乃至國會中抨擊的目標。
[真題例句] Apart from the fact that twentyseven acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote (④) a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements.[1995年閱讀1]
[例句精譯] 除了國會制定的二十七項法案對廣告詞加以約束之外，沒有任何正規(guī)廣告商膽敢推銷與廣告承諾不符的產(chǎn)品。
parade[pəˈreid]
n.游行，檢閱;v.(使)列隊行進，游行
cease[si:s]
v./n. 停止，中止
[真題例句] If we do not confront and overcome these internal fears and doubts, if we protect ourselves too much, then we cease to grow.[1995年閱讀2]
[例句精譯] 如果我們不能去正視并克服這些內(nèi)在的恐懼和疑慮，如果我們過于自我保護，那么我們就會停止成長。
背景常識介紹：
在人類歷史發(fā)展的長河中，除了宗教這一古老的社會文化現(xiàn)象外，奧林匹克運動可以稱得上是一個歷史最為悠久的社會文化現(xiàn)象。奧林匹克運動的起源從有文字記載的歷史可以追溯到公元前776年。但在此以前，古代奧林匹克運動可能已經(jīng)存在了幾個世紀。奧林匹克運動會簡稱“奧運會”，是由國際奧林匹克委員會主辦的世界性綜合運動會。
參考譯文：
盡管拉丁語Citius, altius, fortius (更快，更高，更強)是現(xiàn)代奧林匹克運動的座右銘，但早在遠古時期運動員就已經(jīng)開始積極地提高他們的運動技巧了。在古希臘各地都進行著田徑賽、舞蹈比賽、賽馬、賽船，以及火炬賽跑。希臘文學作品描述了許多在古代就很流行的體育項目，各種壁畫和雕塑也展示了古希臘投擲鐵餅、摔跤和馬車比賽的場景。
舉行體育運動會始于3500年前的希臘。到了公元前6世紀，希臘有幾種體育節(jié)日，但其中最重要的是每隔4年在夏季舉行的奧林匹克運動會。當時舉辦奧林匹克運動會是為了紀念眾神之父——宙斯。只有希臘城邦的公民可以參加，且只有一個競賽項目——短跑，即200碼(1碼約合0.9144米)短跑。公元前776年,一個名叫Coroebus的廚師是第一個記錄在冊的冠軍。
后來，運動項目不斷增加，包括賽馬、摔跤、五項全能、馬車比賽和拳擊等。參加比賽的運動員全是裸體男性，婦女既不讓參加也不讓觀看。在慶祝宴會上，冠軍被戴上橄欖枝花環(huán)。
即使在公元前二世紀古羅馬占領希臘時，運動會還繼續(xù)舉行。公元394年，羅馬皇帝基督教徒狄奧多西一世禁止紀念奧林匹克眾神的所有節(jié)日。奧林匹克運動會停止舉行。1500年以后，1894年，法國男爵顧拜旦對運動會重新產(chǎn)生了興趣。
現(xiàn)代奧林匹克運動會提倡在世界青年中發(fā)展和平、友誼和健康的體育競技精神。希臘雅典被選為第一屆現(xiàn)代奧林匹克運動會的主辦城市。于1896年4月舉辦的這屆運動會有13個參賽國，311名男運動員，42個項目和9項運動(4年以后婦女才被允許參加運動會)。美國在9 項田徑項目中獲得冠軍，而希臘獲得的獎牌最多，達47枚。
奧林匹克運動會每隔4年在不同的國家舉辦。歷屆奧運會開幕式上，希臘隊總是走在運動員隊伍的最前列。奧林匹克火焰仍燃燒在希臘的奧林匹亞，然后由多名火炬手傳遞到運動會舉辦城市。這一傳統(tǒng)始于1936年的德國，3000名運動員從希臘出發(fā)，沿途穿越了7個國家。奧林匹克火炬之路激發(fā)了全世界的想象，喚起了人們對奧林匹克運動會宗旨的再認識，那就是世界和平和體育精神。
古代希臘，只要有奧運會，戰(zhàn)爭就會為此而停止。不幸的是，在現(xiàn)代情況并非如此。1916年的運動會因第一次世界大戰(zhàn)而取消;1940和1944年的兩次奧運會，由于第二次世界大戰(zhàn)而停止。
自從古希臘的第一次奧林匹克運動會以來，運動會已經(jīng)有了很大變化。2000年9月在澳大利亞悉尼舉辦的第27屆奧運會，歷時16天，1萬多名運動員和198個國家參加，有28種運動�！�
