The brief history of the Olympics 奥运会简史

    本文选自《普通高中课程标准实验教科书配套教学资源·英语阅读训练2》，人民教育出版社2008年版。主要讲述了奥运会的简单的发展历程。顾拜旦（1863—1937）是近代奥运会的创始人。

    The Olympic Games began in 776 BC as part of a Greek religious festival. The Greeks celebrated their festival by holding competitions as well as by singing and dancing. When the Games were held, all the cities and tribes of Greece stopped their wars to show respect for the gods.

    Originally there were four towns which took part in the activities, so each town held the Games once in four years. Since the Games at the town of Olympia were the most important, the four-year period Games became known as the Olympiad.

    In the competitions, there were races, jumping, discus throwing, javelin tossing, boxing, wrestling and chariot races, very like the modern Games. The stadium in Greek times was built in a horseshoe shape, 210 metres long and 30 metres wide. On a modern track, which is about 170 metres long and 100 metres wide, the bends are much less tight.

    The ancient Olympic Games of Greece took place every four years for hundreds of years. But after the fifth century BC, the Greeks were conquered by the Romans, and Greece became part of the Roman Empire.

    In Roman times the Olympic Games became a professional sports competition. Finally, the Games were stopped by a Roman emperor in AD 394, about a thousand years after they had first begun.

    On June 23, 1894, Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, founded the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in a ceremony held at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. Demetrius Vikelas form Greece became the first president of the IOC. Two years later, in 1896, the first Olympic Games of the modern era were held in Athens.

    Four years later, the next Olympic Games were held in Paris with even more events and competitors than in the 1896 Athens Olympics. Since then, the Olympic movement has continued to grow.

参考译文：

    奥运会始于公元前776年，是希腊的宗教节日的一部分。希腊人举行竞赛以及唱歌跳舞，来庆祝他们的节日。奥运会举行时，希腊所有城市和部落停止了他们间的战争，以示对神的尊重。

       最初只有四个城镇参加了活动，所以每个城镇四年举行一次奥运会。因为奥运会在奥林匹亚镇是最重要的活动，这个四年一次的赛会被称为奥林匹克运动会。

    奥运会比赛，有赛跑、跳远、铁饼、标枪、拳击、摔跤和战车比赛，很像现代的规模。体育场在希腊时期建于一个长210米，宽30米的马蹄形状。现代的跑道，大约170米长，100米宽，弯曲不太紧。

    希腊的古代奥运会几百年来每四年举行一次。但是在公元前5世纪，希腊被罗马人征服，希腊成为罗马帝国的一部分。

    在罗马时代奥运会成为一个专业的体育赛事。最后，大约在首届古代奥运会进行一千年之后，奥运会在公元394年被罗马皇帝废止。

    1894年6月23日，法国人皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦，在巴黎索邦大学举行的仪式成立国际奥委会(国际奥林匹克委员会)。希腊人维凯拉斯成为第一个国际奥委会主席。两年后,在1896年,第一届现代奥运会在雅典举行。

    四年后，比1896年雅典奥运会更多活动和更多竞争对手的下届奥运会在巴黎举行。从那时起，奥林匹克运动持续发展。

本文提到的生词：

tribe n.部落

horseshoe n.马蹄铁

empire n.帝国

era n.时代