The Olympic torch is supposed to be ______ in Athens this month.A.ignitedB.illuminatedC.sp
The Olympic torch is supposed to be ______ in Athens this month.
A.ignited
B.illuminated
C.sparked
D.inspired
The Olympic torch is supposed to be ______ in Athens this month.
A.ignited
B.illuminated
C.sparked
D.inspired
第1题
A.Y
B.N
C.NG
第2题
第3题
Olympic Torches
Every two years, people around the world wait in anticipation as a torch-beating runner enters the Olympic arena and lights the cauldron(主火炬). The symbolic lighting of the Olympic flame marks the beginning of another historic Olympic Games.
The opening ceremony is the end of a long journey for the Olympic torah. By the time it arrives in the stadium, it has traveled thousands of miles. It may have crossed oceans and deserts and traversed mountains. It may have been carried on planes, trains, bicycles, boats, and even dog sleds. And it will have passed through the hands of thousands of different people around the globe. This article chronicles the history of the Olympic torch, reveals how it is designed to stay lit through even the harshest weather conditions, and follows its path from Olympia, Greece, to the Olympic Games.
History of the Torch
Fire is always held great power for humans. It cooks our food, keeps us warm, and lights our way through the dark.
The ancient Greeks revered the power and fire. In Greek mythology, the god Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humans. To celebrate the passing of fire from Prometheus to man, the Greeks would hold relay races. Athletes would pass a lit torch to one another until the winner reached the finish line.
The Greeks held their first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. The Games, held every four years at Olympia, honored Zeus and other Greek gods. The Olympics also marked the beginning of a period of peace for the often warring Greeks. At the start of the Games, runners called "heralds of peace" would travel throughout Greece, declaring a "sacred truce(休战) "to all wars between rival city-states. The truce would remain in place for the duration of the games, so that spectators could safely travel to the Olympics.
A constantly burning flame was a regular fixture throughout Greece. It usually graced the alters(祭坛) of the Greek gods. In Olympia, there was an altar dedicated to Hera, goddess of birth and marriage. At the start of the Olympic Games, the Greeks would ignite a cauldron of flames upon Hera's altar. They lit the flame using a hollow disc or mirror called a skaphia, which, much like the modern oval mirror, focused the sun's rays into a single point to light the flame. The flame would burn throughout the Games as a sign of purity, reason, and peace.
The Greeks stopped holding their Olympic Games after about a thousand years, and the torch, relays and lighting of the flame also stopped. The Olympic Games did not reemerge until 1896, when the first modern Games were held in Athens. The torch relay took a bit longer to reemerge.
The Birth of the Modern Torch Relay
The flame was reintroduced to the Olympics at the 1928 Amsterdam Games. A cauldron was lit, but there was no torch relay.
The first Olympic torch relay was at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games. Carl Diem, a German history professor and Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the Games inn, educed the relay as a way of reconnecting the modern Olympics with the Games' historical roots. The flame was lit in Olympia, Greece, just as it had been centuries before. Then it was carried to Berlin, Germany, for the start of the Olympics.
The torch relay was not introduced to the Winter Olympics until the 1952 Games. It was lit that year not in Olympia, Greece, but in Norway, which was chosen because it was the birthplace of skiing. But since the 1964 Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria, every Olympic Games—Winter and Summer—has begun with a torch-lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, followed by a torch relay to the Olympic stadium.
The Lighting of the Olympic Torch
The Olympic torch is lit several months before the start of the actual Games. The flame begins its journey at the site of the original Olympic Games—Olympia, Greece. It is lit,just
A.Y
B.N
C.NG
第4题
听力原文: In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations. The Olympic athletic festival, held every four years in honor of Zeus, eventually lost its local character, be came first a national event, and then, after the rules against foreign competitors had been abolished, international. No one knows exactly how far back the Olympic Games go, but some official records date from 776 B. C.
The Games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece, but no married woman was admitted even as a spectator. Slaves, women and dishonored people were not allowed to compete. Records show that the evening of the third day was devoted to sacrificial offerings to the heroes of the day, and the fourth day, that of the full moon, was set aside as a holy day. On the sixth and last day, all the victors were crowned with holy garlands of wild olive from a sacred wood. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory. How their results compared with modern standards, we unfortunately have no means of telling.
After an uninterrupted history of almost 1,200 years, the Games were abolished in A.D. 394 be cause of their pagan origin. It was a great many years before there was another such international athletic gathering. The Greek institution was brought back into existence in 1896 and the first small meeting took place in Athens. After the 1908 London Olympics, success was re-established and nations sent their best representatives.
Today, the Games are held in different countries in turn. The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of a torch, lighted on Mount Olympus by the sun's rays. It is carried by a succession of runners to the stadium. The torch symbolizes the continuation of the ancient Greek athletic ideals, and it burns throughout the Games until the closing ceremony.
(33)
A.in the seventh century A. D.
B.certainly before 700 B. C.
C.over three thousand years ago
D.a thousand years ago
第5题
A.torch,soap,bath
B.torch soap bath,
C.torch,soap,bath,
D.torch soap bath
第7题
A.Y
B.N
C.NG
第8题