普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语必修2 Unit2 The Olympic Games

Atlanta was a Greek¹ princess. She was very beautiful and could run faster than any man in Greece. But she was not allowed to run and win glory² for herself in the Olympic Games. She wasso angry that she said to her father that she would not marry anyone who could not run faster than her. Her father said that she must marry, so Atlanta made a bargain with him. She said to him, "These are my rules. When a man says he wants to marry me, I will run against him. If he cannot run as fast as me. he will be killed. No one will be pardoned."

       Many kings and princes wanted to marry Atlanta, but whenthey heard of her rules they knew it was hopeless. So many of them sadly went home, but others stayed to run the race. There was a man called Hippomenes who was amazed³ when he heard of Atlanta's rules, "Why are these men so foolish?" he thought. "Why will they let themselves be killed because they cannot run as fast as this princess?" However, when he saw Atlanta come out of her house to run, Hippomenes changed his mind. "I will marry Atlanta - or die!" he said.

      The race started and although the men ran very fast, Atlanta ran faster. As Hippomenes watched he thought, "How can I run as fast as Atlanta?" He went to ask the Greek Goddess of Love for help.She promised to help him and gave him three golden⁴ apples. She said, "Throw an apple in front of Atlanta when she is running past. When she stops to pick it up, you will be able to run past her and win." Hippomenes took the apples and went to the King. He said, "I want to marry Atlanta." The King was sad to see another man die, but Hippomenes said, "I will marry her - or die!" So the race began.

    

1 Greek   

adj.希腊(人)的，希腊语的；n.希腊人；希腊语

参考例句：

• The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。
• Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.δ是希腊字母中的第四个字母。

2 glory   

n.光荣，荣誉；壮丽，辉煌；v.自豪，得意，狂喜

参考例句：

• I was fascinated by the glory of the sunset.落日的壮观把我吸引住了。
• Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.智者不可夸耀自己智慧。

3 amazed   

adj.吃惊的，惊奇的v.使大为吃惊，使惊奇( amaze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Just the size of the place amazed her. 仅仅地方之大就使她十分惊奇。
• I was amazed at her knowledge of French literature. 她的法国文学知识之丰富使我大为惊奇。

4 golden   

adj.金的，含金的，可贵的，金色的，贵重的，繁盛的

参考例句：

• My teacher is an Englishman with golden hair.我的老师是一个金黄色头发的英国人。
• It's a balmy evening,the golden time for lovers.这是一个暖和的夜晚，是恋人们的黄金时光。