2010考研英语真题来源报刊阅读100篇17.docVIP

2010考研英语真题来源报刊阅读100篇17 SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER Although Citius, altius, fortius (“Swifter, higher, stronger”) is the Latin motto of today’s Olympic Games, athletes have been striving to improve their athletic skills since ancient times. All over ancient Greece, athletic contests, dance contests, and horse, boat, and torch races were held. Greek literature describes the many sports that were popular in ancient times; murals and statues show discus throwers, wrestlers, and charioteers. Organized games in Greece began 3,500 years ago. By the sixth century B.C., there were several Greek sporting festivals, but the most important one took place in Olympia every fourth summer. The Olympic Games were held in honor of Zeus, the father of the gods. Only citizens of Greek city-states could participate, and the only race, a sprint, was run over a distance called a stade (200 yards). Coroebus, a cook who won the race in 776 B.C., was the first recorded champion. Gradually, other running events were added, as well as horse racing, wrestling, a pentathlon, chariot racing, and boxing. Athletes competed in the nude; women could neither participate nor watch. At a banquet, champions were presented with olive wreaths. When Rome conquered Greece in the second century B.C., the games continued. In 394 A.D., the Roman emperor Theodosius, a Christian, banned all festivals that honored Olympic gods. The Olympic Games ended. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1894, Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin (coo-bare-TENH) revived interest in the games. The modern Olympic Games were organized as a way of promoting peace, friendship, and healthy sporting competition among the youth of the world. Athens, Greece, was chosen as the site of the first modern Olympics. Held in April 1896, the games involved 13 nations, 311 male athletes, 42 events, and nine sports. Women were not allowed to compete until four years later. The United States won nine of the track and field events, but Greece won the most m