最新15篇文章贯通英语四级词汇MP3 Unit15-Part4（在线收听）

[00:00.00]The most prominent symbols 

[00:02.18]of the Olympic Games today 

[00:03.72]did not originate in classical times. 

[00:06.67]The Olympic torch was 

[00:08.89]an innovation in 1916. 

[00:12.28]The five rings were originally 

[00:14.69]introduced to represent the first 

[00:16.99]five Olympics of the modern 

[00:19.39]era from 1896 to 1912. 

[00:23.55]In 1920 the rings were revived 

[00:26.83]to represent the five continents 

[00:28.58]with North and South America 

[00:30.99]being represented by one ring. 

[00:33.72]The 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, 

[00:37.66]was the site of 

[00:39.08]the first lighting 

[00:40.07]of the Olympic flame.

[00:41.93]The spirit of intense competition 

[00:44.56]in association with heroism 

[00:46.75]and national pride, remain 

[00:49.48]major themes of the Olympics today,

[00:52.76]much as they were 

[00:54.07]over 2000 years ago. 

[00:56.04]Today, countries send their best, 

[00:58.89]amateur and professional alike, 

[01:01.18]to compete for the highest honours. 

[01:04.80]Athletes also still try to 

[01:06.98]find an advantage to 

[01:08.63]give a better performance 

[01:10.38]than all other competitors, 

[01:12.24]sometimes, unfortunately, 

[01:14.31]not always following the rules.

[01:17.92]Every four years, or 

[01:21.43]every two years when 

[01:23.39]one includes the winter Olympics, 

[01:25.37]which began in 1924, 

[01:27.11]the world focuses on 

[01:29.08]a human event that represents 

[01:31.49]the good of humanity. 

[01:33.89]Motivated for a couple of weeks, 

[01:36.31]in those years, people 

[01:38.49]and nations try to forget 

[01:42.21]their troubles, put aside 

[01:43.96]their differences and conflicts, 

[01:45.16]and become part of 

[01:47.24]a vast promotion of 

[01:46.57]good global relations and cooperation. 

[01:50.40]One sometimes wonders if the Olympics 

[01:53.79]serve as a safety valve

[01:55.54]in international human relations, 

[01:57.73]attributing to a collective sanity 

[02:00.47]in a world that, 

[02:02.21]not unlike that of ancient times, 

[02:04.73]is perpetually the scene 

[02:06.81]of conflict, strife, and human misery. 

[02:11.07]Certainly one would like to 

[02:13.48]think that that is the case. 

[02:15.89]If not, one can always hope.