悉数伦敦与奥运会的渊源

 　　Have the Olympic Games ever been held in your country? Have the Olympic Games ever been held in your city? Right now, people who live in London are getting ready for the 2012 Olympics next year. London has already hosted the Olympics twice before and this will make it the first city in history to have held three Olympic games.

　　The first London Olympics in 1908These games were going to be held in Rome¹ but, because of a volcano², Rome wasn’t ready. London agreed to stage the games and the White City Olympic stadiumwas built in just 10 months.

　　What was new?

　　New at these Olympics were the opening³ ceremonywhere athletes paradedwith their teams behind their flag⁴. Only 22 countries took part and the profitswere just over ￡21,000!

　　The second London OlympicsBecause of the second world war⁵, the 1944 Olympics were cancelled⁶. Four years later the war was over and London was able to hold the Games in 1948. Things were very different in London during these Olympic Games and many years of war had left the UK poor and hungry. People called them the "AusterityGames". But there was still some great sport and some exciting events!

　　What was new?

　　59 countries took part, more than at any other Olympics before and the USA won the most medals with 84. For the first time, cameras filmed the Games and broadcast⁷ them on television so that people could watch them in their own homes.

　　The third London Olympics in 2012The Games next year are going to be bigger, better and more exciting than ever before. There will be more than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries taking part!

　　What’s going to be new?

　　London wants to make sure that the benefits⁸ of the Olympics don’t just last for a few weeks in summer but go on much longer. The buildings have been made so that they can be used⁹ for different things when the Games are over.

　　It’s been 68 years since the Olympics were held in London, let’s hope they come back sooner next time!

　　1908，1948，2012——伦敦城即将迎来她主办的第三届奥运会。1908年，由于原定的主办城市罗马受到火山爆发影响，伦敦城临危受命，以建成仅10个月的场馆承办了奥运会比赛项目。各国代表队首次由各国国旗引导，在奥运开幕式上亮相。1948年，二战刚刚结束，人们在艰难的条件下迎来奥运会，而精彩的赛事也振奋了人们的心情。这一年，观众首次可以通过电视观看奥运比赛。每届奥运都有新的亮点，2012年，伦敦将带给我们怎样的惊喜呢？让我们一起期待吧！

1 Rome   

n.罗马(意大利首都)

参考例句：

• I have not been to either Paris or Rome.我既没有到过巴黎也没有到过罗马。
• We're leaving for Rome next week.我们下星期要到罗马去。

2 volcano   

n.火山

参考例句：

• The volcano unexpectedly blew up early in the morning.火山一早突然爆发了。
• It is most risky to go and examine an active volcano.去探察活火山是非常危险的。

3 opening   

n.开始，口，穴，揭幕；adj.开始的

参考例句：

• Instead of opening the gate,we climbed over it.我们没有开门，而是从门顶上爬过去的。
• There was an opening in the wall.墙上有个洞。

4 flag   

n.旗帜，标志(记)，特征(位)

参考例句：

• The flag is red and yellow.这旗子红黄相间。
• The flag is waving in the wind.旗号正在风中飘荡。

5 war   

n.战争；vi.作战

参考例句：

• We ended the Korean war.我们结束了朝鲜战争。
• The war made many people lose their house and home.战争使许多人无家可归。

6 cancelled   

adj.被取消的v.取消( cancel的过去式和过去分词 )；废除；注销；删去

参考例句：

• All flights have been cancelled because of bad weather. 因天气恶劣，所有航班均被取消。
• The game was cancelled owing to torrential rain. 比赛因大雨取消了。

7 broadcast   

n.广播，播音；v.播撒（种子），广播；（无线电或电视）广播；播送，播放

参考例句：

• The speech will be broadcast nationwide.这次讲话将在全国广播。
• That news was broadcast this morning.那消息是今早广播的。

8 benefits   

n.津贴费；利益( benefit的名词复数 )；（给职工的）奖金；救济金；益处

参考例句：

• economic benefits accruing to the country from tourism 旅游业为该国带来的经济效益
• The article enthused about the benefits that the new system would bring. 本文热情赞扬了新制度将带来的好处。

9 used   

adj.用旧了的，旧的；习惯于…；过去惯/经常

参考例句：

• I used to work until nearly 6:00 o'clock each day.我过去常常工作到6:00左右。
• He used to walk anywhere from two to five miles an hour.他过去经常一小时走二至五英里。