最新15篇文章贯通英语四级词汇MP3 Unit15-Part1（在线收听）

[00:00.00]UNIT15

[00:13.45]The Ancient Olympics

[00:15.97]With great anticipation,China 

[00:19.90]is busily preparing for 

[00:21.87]the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. 

[00:25.82]Beijing will be added 

[00:28.00]to a long list of 

[00:29.42]the great cities that 

[00:30.85]have invited the world to 

[00:32.38]honour the world’s greatest athletes 

[00:34.79]in the modern era 

[00:36.43]of the Olympic Games. 

[00:37.96]China will also become 

[00:40.59]part of an important, 

[00:42.33]rich heritage, that goes 

[00:44.19]back more than 2000 years.

[00:46.82]The origins of the ancient 

[00:50.76]Olympic Games tend to be 

[00:52.83]submerged in a sea of Greek myths. 

[00:55.13]One popular myth suggests that 

[00:59.18]Pelops, a prince from Lydia, 

[01:02.13]in Asia Minor (nowadays Turkey), 

[01:04.76]won the hand of a princess 

[01:06.95]by unfairly defeating a competing 

[01:09.80]suitor in a chariot race. 

[01:12.09]The loser was to 

[01:14.39]be condemned to beheading. 

[01:16.69]The prince rigged his opponent’s 

[01:19.75]chariot to crash during the race. 

[01:22.49]Later, the chariot did crash, 

[01:25.11]killing the driver. The princess 

[01:28.28]became Pelop’s bride, and 

[01:31.79]he instituted the Olympic Games 

[01:34.30]to celebrate his victory. 

[01:36.16]However, others claimed that 

[01:39.00]the first Olympic event 

[01:40.76]was a funeral festival to 

[01:42.29]honour his dead competitor.

[01:44.81]Another myth involved Hercules, 

[01:48.96]the mythical strong man.

[01:51.26]Hercules was the son of Zeus, 

[01:54.32]the Greek god, and one 

[01:56.73]of the god’s mistresses. 

[01:58.15]Hera, Zeus’ wife, and also

[02:02.64] his sister, was very upset. 

[02:05.70]She attempted in many ways, 

[02:08.44]to kill Hercules as a baby. 

[02:11.83]Hercules survived. Later, after 

[02:15.55]he had married, Hera successfully 

[02:18.61]put a spell on him, demanding 

[02:20.58]that he kill his wife. 

[02:22.66]Because he was the son 

[02:25.17]of the god, Zeus, Hercules 

[02:27.47]was destined to become 

[02:28.79]a god himself. In order 

[02:31.08]to accomplish this, Hercules 

[02:34.37]had to be cleansed 

[02:35.57]of his wife’s murder. 

[02:37.21]To do this, he was 

[02:39.51]directed to perform 

[02:40.82]twelve difficult labours. If he 

[02:43.12]successfully completed these, 

[02:45.41]he would become an immortal 

[02:47.16]god,like his father.

[02:48.80]One of the majestic labours, 

[02:53.62]was to clean the stables 

[02:55.48]of the King of Elis, 

[02:58.87]in the impossibly brief period 

[03:01.61]of one day. The king 

[03:04.34]had huge stables with 

[03:06.53]very large herds of cattle.

[03:09.15]Her cules asked the king 

[03:11.45]to give him one tenth 

[03:12.98]of his cattle, if he 

[03:14.84]completed the task in 

[03:16.15]one day. The king, 

[03:18.46]perhaps humouring Hercules, 

[03:20.42]or perhaps believing that 

[03:22.51]this task couldn’t possibly 

[03:24.15]be done in one day, agreed. 

[03:26.99]In one day, Hercules diverted 

[03:29.84]two rivers through the barns, 

[03:32.45]cleaning them, but he did 

[03:33.99]not receive the cattle 

[03:35.30]that were promised in the deal. 

[03:37.38]Hercules waged a successful war 

[03:39.79]on the King, sacking Elis. 

[03:42.19]He introduced the Olympic games 

[03:45.59]to celebrate this victory 

[03:47.12]and to honour his father, 

[03:48.87]Zeus, who lived on 

[03:51.06]nearby Mount Olympus. 

[03:53.03]The myth also suggests that 

[03:55.33]Hercules measured out the stade, 

[03:57.95]a footrace event of about 

[04:01.01]200 meters (or the 

[04:02.98]length of the stadium).

[04:04.51]As today, athletes in 

[04:08.34]the ancient world were popular 

[04:10.31]and had tremendous impact on 

[04:11.85]the society of their day. 

[04:14.58]The goal of the well disciplined, 

[04:17.42]physically trim athletes 

[04:19.29]was to be the best. 

[04:21.91]The champion athlete assumed 

[04:24.21]a position of honour and 

[04:26.07]privilege in Greek society. 

[04:28.80]The status of a triumphant athlete 

[04:31.75]also enhanced the reputation 

[04:33.61]of his home city state. 

[04:36.90]Every young Greek boy 

[04:39.52]who pursued the dream of 

[04:41.39]being an Olympic champion 

[04:42.92]some day, envied the athletes. 

[04:45.43]An important part of 

[04:47.95]a Greek school boy’s 

[04:49.59]curriculum was vigorous physical 

[04:51.56]training in gymnasium.