Passage 5

Directions: Read the following text and answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subtitle from the list A–G for each numbered paragraph （1~5）.There are two extra subtitles which you do not need to use.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.（10 points）

1.______

In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations.The Olympian athletic festival held every four years in honor of Zeus,king of the Olympian Gods,eventually lost its local character,and became first a national event and then,after the rules against foreign competitors had been abolished,international.No one knows exactly how far back the Olympic Games go,but some official records date from 776 BC.But before that,the ancient Olympic Games may have existed for centuries.In the long history of human development,in addition to the ancient religion of social and cultural phenomenon,the Olympic movement can be regarded as one of the oldest social and cultural phenomenon.

2.______

The games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus.Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece,but no married woman was admitted even as a spectator.Slaves,women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete.The exact sequence of events is uncertain,but events included men's gymnastics,boxing,wrestling,horse racing and field events,though there were fewer sports involved than in the modern Olympic Games.

3.______

On the last day of the Games,all the winners were honored by having a ring of holy olive leaves placed on their heads.So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory.Although Olympic winners received no prize money,they were,in fact,richly rewarded by their state authorities.How their results compared with modern standards,we unfortunately have no means of telling.

4.______

After an uninterrupted history of almost 1,200 years,the Games were suspended by the Romans in 394 AD.They continued for such a long time because people believed in the philosophy behind the Olympics: the idea that a healthy body produced a healthy mind,and that the spirit of competition in sports and games was preferable to the competition that caused wars.It was over 1,500 years before another such international athletic gathering took place in Athens in 1896.In 1896,6 April to 15 April,Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games.

5.______

Nowadays,the Games are held in different countries in turn.The host country provides vast facilities,including a stadium,swimming pools and living accommodation,but competing countries pay their own athletes'expenses.The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of a torch,lighted on Mount Olympus by the sun's rays.It is carried by a succession of runners to the stadium.The torch symbolizes the continuation of the ancient Greek athletic ideals,and it burns throughout the Games until the closing ceremony.The torch symbolizes peace,light,unity and friendship.The well-known Olympic flag,however,is a modern conception: the five interlocking rings symbolize the uniting of all five continents participating in the Games.Among them,the blue represents Europe,yellow for Asia,black for Africa,green for Oceania,red for the Americas.

词汇注释

athletic a.运动的，运动员的

abolish v.废除；取消

spectator n.观众；旁观者

gymnastics n.体操

wrestling n.摔跤

suspend v.暂停，延缓

accommodation n.住处，膳宿

interlocking a.环环相扣的