最新15篇文章贯通英语四级词汇MP3 Unit15-Part3（在线收听）

[00:00.00]The first number of Olympic games 

[00:03.28]had only one event, 

[00:05.14]called the stade. By 

[00:06.78]the late 8th century BC, 

[00:09.52]events included,running,wrestling, 

[00:13.02]boxing, pancratiu(a mixture 

[00:17.29]of boxing and wrestling), 

[00:18.93]chariot racing, a footrace 

[00:21.45]with heavy armour, and 

[00:23.09]the pentathlo. The only official 

[00:26.15]prize earned by the champion, 

[00:28.56]was a crown of wild 

[00:30.20]olive branches.Unofficially, 

[00:32.93]some athletes received valuable prizes, 

[00:36.00]including large sums of 

[00:38.29]money from their home 

[00:39.83]citystates. As in modern times, 

[00:43.11]ancient athletes, even though 

[00:46.61]they made pledges of fairness 

[00:48.25]in competition, sought out 

[00:50.55]every advantage, legal or illegal, 

[00:52.74]in order to win. Even then, 

[00:56.57]the concept of amateurism, 

[00:58.75]for which there were no rules 

[01:00.51]in ancient times, and the zeal 

[01:03.13]for the competitive spirit 

[01:04.88]were often sacrificed for 

[01:06.74]the more selfish materialistic considerations.

[01:11.01]By the 6th century BC,

[01:14.72]athletes began to specialize 

[01:17.02]in particular sports, and even 

[01:19.21]began to hire coaches. 

[01:21.29]Special diets and new 

[01:24.46]innovated kinds of physical 

[01:26.65]conditioning became popular. 

[01:29.28]Protein, from meat and beans 

[01:32.01]in particular, became the popular 

[01:34.53]nutritional need of Olympic athletes. 

[01:37.16]The rules for events became more 

[01:40.11]numerous and more strictly enforced. 

[01:43.06]For example, a false start 

[01:46.34]of a running event might 

[01:48.20]have been followed by 

[01:49.73]a whipping of the violator. 

[01:51.48]Penalties usually included fines 

[01:54.55]for most violations. It was said 

[01:58.16]that the elegant, elaborate bronze 

[02:00.56]statues of Zeus that lined 

[02:02.53]the route to the Olympic Stadium 

[02:04.73]in the fourth century BC, 

[02:06.26]were financed by revenue created 

[02:08.55]by fines imposed on athletes. 

[02:11.40]Some athletes even became 

[02:15.67]free agents, negotiating and hiring 

[02:19.38]themselves out to 

[02:20.80]the highest bidder, to win races 

[02:22.89]and money for their sponsors. 

[02:24.63]One rather peculiar practice

[02:28.14]that surrounded the chariot race 

[02:30.10]event was that the owners, 

[02:32.18]rather than the drivers 

[02:33.93]of the chariots, received 

[02:35.36]the honours and prizes. 

[02:37.11]Some owners entered numerous chariots 

[02:41.05]in the same event to increase 

[02:43.23]their chances of winning. 

[02:44.43]To the amusement of 

[02:47.28]Olympic historians, Emperor Nero 

[02:49.80](famous for burning Rome) 

[02:52.10]apparently entered a chariot race 

[02:54.29]in which he fell from 

[02:55.81]his chariot and did not

[02:57.56]finish, but still received 

[02:59.32]the champion’s crown of 

[03:01.29]olive branches. Who could 

[03:03.58]argue with the Emperor?

[03:06.87]By the 4th century BC, 

[03:08.94]the Greekonly restriction on 

[03:10.48]participation was eased 

[03:12.77]as the Olympic organizers accepted 

[03:15.29]athletes from overseas, from such 

[03:18.13]territories as Egypt and 

[03:19.77]Libya on the African continent. 

[03:22.07]Many city states even provided 

[03:24.80]financial support and facilities 

[03:26.99]for athletes so that 

[03:29.19]they could concentrate full time 

[03:30.82]on training, sometimes for more

[03:33.23]than a year before the games.

[03:34.98]The ancient Olympics were 

[03:38.26]a strange mix of a religious 

[03:40.13]pilgrimage and a forum for intense

[03:43.95]athletic competition. As mentioned above, 

[03:46.47]Emperor Theodosius tried to permanently 

[03:50.08]put an end to the games 

[03:52.27]as pagan exercises, but they 

[03:55.00]emerged again in 1896 after 

[03:58.29]an interval of more 

[04:00.04]than 1600 years. The Olympics 

[04:03.10]maintained a religious theme 

[04:05.29]from the beginning, varying 

[04:06.93]in degree over time. The events 

[04:09.33]were originally dedicated to 

[04:11.63]the worship of gods and heroes, 

[04:14.04]especially deceased heroes. They were, 

[04:18.19]at times, called funeral games 

[04:20.60](as mentioned in Homer’s Iliad), 

[04:24.43]and sometimes fertility festivals. 

[04:27.28]The games gradually culminated 

[04:29.69]in the worship of the prominent 

[04:31.76]cult of Zeus, the chief god. 

[04:34.17]Today, the Olympics Games 

[04:37.23]are secular events.