最新15篇文章贯通英语四级词汇MP3 Unit15-Part2

[00:00.00]The ancient Olympic games,

[00:02.94]which began in 776 BC,

[00:05.67]lasted for over 1100 years.

[00:08.84]In 394 AD, the Christian 1

[00:13.00]Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished

[00:16.50]the games, as pagan festivals.

[00:19.35]At that time the Roman Empire

[00:22.19]was in decline. The modern

[00:24.49]Olympics have been around

[00:27.00]for only a little

[00:28.43]over 100 years, since 1896.

[00:32.26]The Olympics of 776 BC

[00:34.34]was the first,for which

[00:38.17]there is a written record,

[00:40.03]but it is believed that

[00:41.55]these events existed before this.

[00:44.07]There is evidence to show

[00:46.70]that athletic 2 contests took place

[00:48.67]in Ancient Egypt, and

[00:50.86]in the ancient Minoan civilization

[00:53.05]on the island of Crete.

[00:55.45]A plain called Olympia,

[00:57.75]in the small citystate

[00:59.72]of Elis was the site

[01:01.47]of the original Greek games.

[01:03.11]At the beginning of

[01:05.62]every four years, a period

[01:07.70]called an olympiad,

[01:09.35]a major religious festival

[01:11.42]with athletic competition,

[01:12.84]took place at Olympia.

[01:14.70]In ancient Greece, the early

[01:18.43]Olympics did not rotate

[01:20.35]from city to city,

[01:22.48]but were permanently 3 hosted

[01:24.77]at Olympia,the place

[01:26.63]from which the name

[01:27.36]Olympics originated. If wars

[01:29.55]were taking place at the time,

[01:32.18]as there usually were, a truce 4

[01:34.37]would be made during

[01:36.88]the military conflicts, soldiers

[01:39.07]would drop their swords and

[01:40.60]shields and accompany their opponents

[01:42.57]on a safe passage to Olympia,

[01:45.20]to enthusiastically participate

[01:47.39]in the games. After the games,

[01:51.76]the athletes would return

[01:53.62]to the battlefields with

[01:55.37]their companions, pick up

[01:57.67]their weapons and resume

[01:58.77]military engagements with their enemies,

[02:01.17]often fighting to the death,

[02:03.14]the athletic competitors

[02:05.33]whom they confronted only

[02:06.97]a few days or weeks before.

[02:10.14]In the beginning, only free

[02:13.09]Greekspeaking male athletes

[02:15.61]could participate in the games,

[02:18.12]women, slaves, and foreigners

[02:20.97]were banned from competition.

[02:23.38]Women were even barred

[02:25.90]as spectators, not for

[02:27.87]sexual reasons, but for

[02:29.72]from 720 BC the male athletes

[02:33.34]were usually naked down to

[02:35.41]their bare feet when

[02:37.38]they participated. Olympia was

[02:40.01]a sacred place for men only,

[02:42.41]a place to worship Zeus,

[02:45.04]the principal Greek god.

[02:47.45]However, women were not

[02:49.74]completely excluded from competitive sports,

[02:53.14]as they had their own games,

[02:55.11]every four years as well,

[02:57.40]called the Heraea, after Hera,

[03:00.25]the wife of Zeus