【正文】 er just for the honour of wi nni ng. N o other countries coul d join i n, nor could sl aves or wom en! L: N owadays any country can take part i f thei r athletes are god enough. There are over 250 sports and each one has i ts own standard. Wom en are not onl y al owed, but play a very im portant rol e i n gym nasti cs, athl eti cs, team sports and … P: Please wai t a mi nute! Al l those events, al those countri es and even wom en taking part! Where are al the athletes housed? L: For each Ol ym pi cs, a speci al vil lage is bui lt for them to li ve in, a m ai n recepti on buil di ng, several stadi um s for peti ti ons, and a gym nasi um as wel. P: That’s sounds very expansi ve. Does anyone want to host the O lym pi c Gam es? L: As a m ater of fact, every country wants the opportuni ty. It’s a great responsi bi li ty but also a great honour to be chosen. There’s as much peti ti ons am ong countri es to host the Ol ympics as to wi n O l ympic m edal s. The 20xx O lym pics wil be held i n Bei ji ng. P: O h yes! You must be very proud. L: Certai nl y. And after that the 20xx Ol ym pi cs wil l be hel d in London. They have already started pl anni ng for i t. A new vil age for the athl etes and al l the stadium s wil be buil t to the east of London. New medal s wil be desi gned of course and … P: Did you say m edal s? So even the ol ive wreath has been repl aced! O h dear! Do you pete for pri ze m oney too? L: N o, we don’t. It’s stil l al l about bei ng able to run faster, jum per higher and throw further. That’s the m otto of the Ol ympics, you know—― Swifter, H igher and Stronger.‖ P: Wel l, that’s a good news. How i nteresti ng! Thank you so m uch for your tim e. The story of Atlanta Atl anta was a Greek princess. She was very beauti ful and could run faster than any m an i n Greece. But she was not al owed to run and wi n gl ory for hersel f i n the Ol ym pi c Gam es. She was so angry that she said to her farther that she would not m ary anyone who coul d not run faster than her. H er father sai d that she must m ary, so Atl anta m ade a bargai n wi th him . She sai d to him, ― These are m y rul es. When a m an says he wants to m arry m e, I wil l run agai nst hi m. If he cannot run as fast as me, he wi l be ki l ed. N o one wi l be pardoned.‖ Many ki ngs and pri nces wanted to marry Atlanta, but when they heard of her rules they knew i t was hopel es. So m any of them sadly went home, but others stayed to run the race. There was a m an cal l ed Hi ppom enes who was amazed when he heard of Atl anta’s rul es, ― Why are these men so foli sh?‖ hethought. ― Why wil l they let themsel ves be kil ed because they canot run as fast as thi s princess?‖ H owever, when he saw Atl anta e out of her house to run, Hi ppomenes changed hi s mi nd. ― I wil marry Atlanta—or die !― he said. The race started and al though the m an ran very fast, Atl anta ran faster. As H ippom enes watched he thought, ― H ow can I run as fast as Atl anta?‖ H e went to ask the Greek Goddess of Love for help. She prom ised to help him and gave him thre golden aples. She sai d, ― Throw an appl e i n front of Atlanta when she i s runni ng past. When she stops to pi ck i t up, you wil l be abl e to run past her and wi n.‖ Hi ppom enes took the apl es and went to the Ki ng. H e sai d, ― I want to m arry Atl anta. ‖ The Ki ng was sad to see another man die, but Hi pom enes sai d, ― I wil l m ary her – or di e!‖ So the race began. Three inspi ri ng stori es about the Ol ym pi c Gam es 1. The ki nd N orwegi an There is a croscountry ski ng race whi ch i s part of the Winter Ol ympi cs. In 206 a Canadian ski er, Sara Renner, was taking part in the crosscountry final when her l eft pole broke. This was a seri ous problem as she needed the pol e to hel p her travel quickl y through the dep snow. Immediately Bjornar Hakensmoen , the coach of the Norwegi an team, gave her another pole. So Renner was able to get a sil ver medal . Hakensmoen said that he had onl y behaved as any good sportsman should, but Sara said that Hakensmoen had shown everybody the true meaning of sport. 2. The Special Olympic athl ete For athlete Eric Wil liams gold medal s are nice, but god sportsmanshi p is more important. Eric has a low mental abi lity but this does not stop him from taki ng apart i n the Ol ympics. In 20xx Eri c peted i n running races and the long jump. He said, ― I’ ve been peting i n the Speci al Ol ympics ever since Engl i shman, Wi li am Low. He suggest ed t hat a doubl e railway tunnel should be bui lt. This woul d solve the pr oblem of venti lat ion, f or if a t rain ent er ed t hi s t unnel , i t would draw i n fr esh ai r behi nd i t. For tytwo year s later a t unnel was act ual y begun. If , at the time, the Br it ish had not fear ed i nvasi on, it would have been pleted. Recently, ther e has again been great interest i n the idea of a Channel Tunnel. If it is built , i t wi l connect Br itain t o Eur ope for the fi rst t ime in history. Leson65 Jumbo versus t he police 小象對(duì)警察 Last Chr istmas, the circus owner , Jimmy Gates, decided to take some pr esent s t o a chil dr en39。t have t o car y him. Of cour se, we shoul d ar est him , but as he has a good r ecord, we shal l et him of t hi s t ime.39。 of six pret y gi rls, he set off down t he main str et of the ci ty r iding a baby el ephant caled Jumbo. He, should have known that he police woul d never alow t hi s sort of t hi ng. A pol iceman approached Jimmy and told him he ought t o have gone along a si destr et as Jumbo was holding up t he t raf ic. Though Ji mmy agreed to go at once, Jumbo refused t o move. Fif teen policemen had to push very hard t o get hi m off t he m ai n str et. The poli ce had a dif fi cult tim e, but they wer e m ost amused. 39。Jum bo must weigh a few t ons,39。so i t was f ort unate t hat we di dn39。s hospital. Dressed up as Father Chri st mas and acpanied by a 3