《韩苏：2014考研英语阅读每日一篇24.docxVIP

韩苏：2014考研英语阅读每日一篇(24)我们要坚信未来！不论现实的苦难如何，它们只不过是挡在我们与未来的幸福之间的一阵迷雾！当雾散去，你才醒悟，一切晚矣！但是，如果，你能直指本性，一路前行，其实，成功就在前方！2014考研基础阅读每日一篇的第二十四篇，我们做起来，拼一个未来无悔。?????关注文都名师韩苏新浪微博@韩苏????????????下载：2014考研基础阅读每日一篇.doc?Unit6 社会文化发Text1 正文 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, 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 B.C. 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 uncertain, but events included boy’s gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, horse racing and field events, though there were fewer sports involved than in the modern Olympic Games.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.After an uninterrupted history of almost 1,200 years, the Games were suspended by the Romans in 394 A.D. 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