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The Olympic flame
The Olympic flame is a symbol carried over from the ancient Olympics, where a flame burned at the altar(祭坛) of Zeus(宙斯) throughout competition. It was finally reintroduced at the 1928 Amsterdam(阿姆斯特丹) Games.
Carl Diem, chairman of the organizing committee for the 1936 Berlin Games, proposed that the flame be lit in Greece and transported to Berlin via a torch relay. The idea was adopted (采纳) and continued at every Olympic Games since 1952.
The flame is lit at the ancient site (场所) of Olympia by the natural rays(光线;射线) of the sun reflected(反射) off curved(弧形的) mirror.
Olympic motto
"Citius, Altius, Fortius" is a Latin phrase meaning "Swifter, Higher, Stronger", which Pierre de Coubertin borrowed from Henri Didon. Didon was the headmaster of Arcueil College, and used the phrase to describe the athletic achievements(成就) of students at the school. He had previously been at the Albert Le Grand School, where the Latin words were carved in the stone above the main entrance.
Olympic oath
"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding (遵守) by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams. "
Written by Pierre de Coubertin, the oath is taken by an athlete from the host nation while he was holding a corner of the Olympic flag. The athlete's oath was first taken by Belgian fencer Victor Boin at the 1920 Antwerp Games. A judge from the host country also speaks the oath, with slightly different wording(措辞).
The year before the first modern Olympic Games, Greece invited China to send a team. But the Qing government(政府) didn't send any athletes to the Games. China did not take part in the Olympics until the 10th Games, held in Los Angeles in 1932. There, Liu Changchun took part in the men's 100-metre and 200-metre races. He did not win any medals.
China won her first gold medal at the 23rd Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, when Xu Haifeng won the men's shooting event. China came in fourth with 15 gold medals in all.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, China won 28 gold medals, entering the top three of the medal chart for the first time. September 22nd, 2000 was named China Day because China won six gold, three silver and one bronze medals that day.
In 2004, the 28th Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. Two hundred and two countries and regions took part in the Games. China got the second place with thirty-two gold, seventeen silver and fourteen bronze medals.
We all know that in 2008, the Olympic Games were held in Beijing, where Chinese athletes won the most gold medals.
A Koala Isn't a Bear
Koalas remind people of teddy bears. They have thick fur and large ears. Their broad, flat nose makes them look cute, similar to teddy bears. In fact, koalas aren't cute. They have sharp teeth and very sharp claws!Koalas are marsupials. This means the mother carries her baby in a pocket while it develops, similar to a kangaroo. The baby koala lives in its mother's pocket for the first six months of its life.
The name "koala" comes from a native Australian word that means "no drink". The koalas get almost all their water from the eucalyptus(桉树)leaves they eat. That's where they get their food, too. Koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves, and only the leaves of certain eucalyptus trees. The eucalyptus trees are where the koalas live. It's also where they sleep. Koalas sleep about nineteen hours a day!
Why do they sleep so much? Some people think it's because they're lazy. But koalas aren't lazy. They sleep so much because there isn't much nutrition in eucalyptus leaves. Koalas store hardly any fat, so they must save their energy. One way to do this is to move slowly and sleep a lot.
After a day of sleeping, they like to move around and eat just after sunset. They live alone most of the time. Koalas are very protective of their trees. If a koala sees another koala eating in its favourite tree, it might tell the other koala to leave by "barking" at it. Koalas do "talk" to each other. Besides barks, the males make a deep grunting sound. The mothers and babies talk in soft clicking sounds. If they get scared, they may scream like a baby.
A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain(鄙视).
"You have no flying skills at all!" he said to the swans. "All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air?No, that's beyond you. Let's have a flying competition. I'll show you what real flying is!"
One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge. The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.
Now it was the swan's turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn't see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.
The swan pretended not to notice, and said, "Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick?"
"No, " said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. "I'm in trouble because of my pride! If you don't help me, I'll lose my life. . . "
The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.
a. The crow showed off its flying skills.
b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.
c. The crow laughed at the swans' flying.
d. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.
e. The crow challenged the swans and a strong young swan accepted it.
Being angry doesn't really solve much, but what people do when they feel angry is important. The goal is to calm down and try to solve what is bothering you. This is hard for some kids and adults, too. Instead of calming down, some kids might keep getting more and more upset until they explode like a volcano(火山)!
Their anger might be so strong that they lose control of their temper(脾气). They may act in ways unacceptable and hurtful. People may say that someone has trouble controlling their temper.
Some kids might get so angry that they scream at their parents, break something, or even worse, hit their brothers or sisters. However, it's not OK for a kid to do any of those things. Kids don't want to act in this way, but sometimes angry feelings can be hard to manage. So what to do?
Well, the good news is that kids don't just have to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Imagine your temper as a puppy(小狗)inside you that needs some training. The puppy is not bad—it will probably turn out to be a great dog. It just needs to learn some rules because, right now, that puppy is causing some problems to you.
A. You can train your temper. B. You don't want to cause trouble. C. Everybody gets angry sometimes. D. Some kids get angry more often or more easily than some other kids. E. Kids should be allowed to express their feelings, even angry ones. F. In fact, they usually mean that a kid behaves badly when feeling angry. G. Instead of thinking of the person you're angry with, think of something else. |
As a teenager, there was a time I was crazy about classical music. I loved it so much that I often wondered if I could have a chance to enjoy classical music at a concert. You know, it is no pleasure just (watch) the musicians play on TV. Later my brother happened (have) a chance to take me to a concert. That (mean) I could sit face to face with the (music). It was the first time in my life that I (be) to a concert. I was (entire) attracted by the beautiful music while (listen). I was excited that night that I found hard to go to sleep. As a result, I stayed awake the whole night.
