VOA慢速英语20060201b

EXPLORATIONS - Let the Games Begin: Winter Olympics Start Feb. 10 in TurinBy Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Wednesday, February 01, 2006

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the Twentieth Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Winter Olympic Games open February tenth. They will continue until February twenty-sixth. An estimated two thousand five hundred athletes and two thousand five hundred officials from about eighty-five countries will take part in the games.


Athletes Village in Turin

The athletes will compete to win medals in eighty-four events. They will test their skills in seven winter sports: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing. More than six hundred judges and other officials will supervise² the games. About ten thousand reporters and media operators will report on the games. Thousands of people will attend, and millions more around the world will watch the Olympics on television.

VOICE TWO:

This will be the twentieth time the Olympic Winter Games have been held. The last Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States in two thousand two. The next Winter Olympic games will take place in Vancouver, Canada in two thousand ten. The goal of the Olympic games is to bring people together in peace to honor universal moral ideas and the Olympic spirit. The modern Olympics are named after games held in ancient times. The games are said to have started in the ancient Greek city of Olympia, more than two thousand seven hundred years ago.

VOICE ONE:

The first thirteen Olympic games were foot races during celebrations to honor the Greek god, Zeus. Winners were honored with a crown of olive³ leaves placed around their heads. Greece continued to hold the games every four years for the next one thousand years. The ancient Romans banned them in the fourth century when they ruled Greece. The Romans also destroyed the Olympic centers and sports fields.

VOICE TWO:

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in eighteen ninety-six. Athletes from eight countries competed in ten sports. A French diplomat⁴, Baron⁵ Pierre de Coubertin, had proposed a world celebration of sports like the ancient games in Greece.

The purpose was to help athletes develop strength and values through competition. And the international event would provide a way for athletes of all nations to become friends.

VOICE ONE:

Today, the Olympics are the world's most famous sports event. The five rings of the Olympic sign represent this athletic⁶ friendship. They represent the linking, through sports, of five parts of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. The colors of the rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red. Under the rings is the Olympic saying in Latin: Citius, Altius, Fortius. In English, the words mean: Swifter, Higher, Stronger.

(MUSIC:Olympic Fanfare⁷)

VOICE TWO:

The Turin Winter Olympics will include eighty-four events in seven sports. Some of the sports are well known, like skiing and skating. Others, like luge, are not. Luge is the French word for sled. Luge athletes race by lying on their backs on sleds with steel runners. The athletes control the sleds with their feet as they speed down a track covered with ice. They compete to see who is the fastest. The sleds can reach speeds of up to one hundred thirty kilometers an hour.

Curling is another sport that is not as well known. It began in Scotland. Each athlete on a four-member team slides a stone across the ice toward a circular target. The target is about two meters wide. The object is to slide the stone to the center of the target.

VOICE ONE:

Biathlon was added to the Winter Olympic Games in nineteen sixty. This sport began as a method for survival⁸. Northern Europeans skied to hunt for food. Later they skied with weapons to defend their countries. Today, biathlon is considered a combination of two sports: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

Snowboarding became an Olympic sport in nineteen ninety-eight. In this sport, the athletes' feet are attached to a board as they move quickly on the snow. In one event, snowboarders slide up the sides of a huge hole built especially to perform jumps. The athletes are judged on their skills and how high they jump.

VOICE TWO:

Olympic athletes spend many hours training for the games. This can be very costly⁹. In many countries, the government provides them with special trainers, equipment and economic support.In the United States, Olympic athletes do not receive such support from the government. Instead, they depend on help from private groups and companies, or from the United States Olympic Committee. The committee supervises¹⁰ all activities of the United States Olympic teams.

VOICE ONE:

The United States Olympic Committee helps gain money to support American athletes who hope to compete in the Olympics. It does this in several ways. The committee receives most of its money from private companies. The companies pay the committee for the rights to use the Olympic sign to help sell their products.

The committee also earns money by selling sporting goods, clothing and other products with the Olympic sign. Television companies also pay the committee for the right to broadcast the Olympic games around the world.

(MUSIC: Olympic Fanfare)

VOICE TWO:

The Olympics have many traditions. For example, a special Olympic flame always burns at the games. In ancient Olympia, a fire burned for the god Zeus during the Olympic sports competition. Now, runners carry a torch with the flame from Olympia, Greece to the city where each Olympics is held. The torch for this Winter Olympics was lit during a special ceremony in Olympia in late November. It was then transported to Rome, Italy. On December eighth, runners began to carry it to the city of Turin.

For the past two months, more than ten thousand runners have taken turns carrying the flame throughout all provinces and territories in Italy. They have carried the flame a distance of about eleven thousand kilometers. The torch will arrive in Turin on February tenth, just in time for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games.

VOICE ONE:

Another Olympic tradition is music. Millions of people around the world who watch the Olympics on television know one song called Olympic Fanfare. It was taken from Bugler's Dream by Leo Arnaud. The music was first heard during the nineteen sixty-eight Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.

(MUSIC: Olympic Fanfare)

VOICE TWO:

Some songs were written especially for the games. This one was first heard at the nineteen eighty-eight Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. It became a popular hit record for American singer Whitney Houston.

It describes an athlete's feelings toward his or her sport. The song is called One Moment In Time.

(MUSIC: One Moment In Time)

VOICE ONE:

Finally, we leave you with music by the famous American songwriter John Williams. He has written music for many recent Olympic games. This song is called Summon¹¹ the Heroes. He wrote it for the nineteen ninety-six Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, in the southern United States.

(MUSIC: Summon the Heroes)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 supervise   

v.监督，管理，指导

参考例句：

• We must supervise and speed up the fulfilment of assigned tasks.已经布置了的工作，应当认真督促检查。
• Tomorrow he will supervise all the pupils taking the English examination.明天全体学生考英语，他将担任监考。

3 olive   

n.橄榄，橄榄树，橄榄色；adj.黄绿色的，黄褐色的，橄榄色的

参考例句：

• Have you eaten a kind of fruit called olive?你吃过橄榄这种水果吗？
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace.她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。

4 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

5 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

6 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

7 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

8 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 supervises   

v.监督，管理( supervise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The group leader supervises a dozen workers. 组长管十二个工人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He makes the wines and supervises the vineyards. 他酿酒并管理葡萄园。 来自辞典例句

11 summon   

vt.召唤，传唤，鼓起，振作，召集，召开

参考例句：

• He could not summon the courage to tell them about it.他鼓不起勇气告诉他们那件事。
• He pedaled off to summon a doctor.他骑脚踏车去叫医生。