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  3. Ancient Olympic Games Amateur athletes from all over the world take part in the modem Olympic Games. Any nation may enter a

Ancient Olympic Games Amateur athletes from all over the world take part in the modem Olympic Games. Any nation may enter a

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问题                                     Ancient Olympic Games
    Amateur athletes from all over the world take part in the modem Olympic Games. Any nation may enter a team in the games if it agrees to follow the roles of the International Olympic Committee. The games are held during the first year of each Olympiad. (An Olympiad is a period of 4 years that begins in a leap year — 1960, 1964, 1968, and so on.)
    Olympic Games were held in ancient Greece at least as long ago as 776 B.C. The custom lasted for more than 1000 years but then died out under the rules of Rome. In the late 1800’s Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1862-1937), decided to try to start the games again. He wished to renew those ideals of excellence of body, mind and spirit shown in the ancient Greek Olympics. He succeeded, and the modem Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece, in 1896.
    Through legend, the beginning of the Olympic Games can be found in religious celebrations that were held to show respect to the gods of the Greeks. These gods were tike humans in some ways, but they could not die, that is to say, they were immortal. They were said to have bodies of great size, strength, and beauty. They had the power to change from one form to another. Pretending to be ordinary people, they sometimes entered the lives of men and women, married them, and had children. The first Olympic winners were said to be children of the Greek gods.
    Three thousand years ago Olympia was an important religious center in southwestern Greece. Here was the Temple of Zeus, father of the gods and ruler of both gods and men. Here men came to worship and to approach as nearly as possible the skills and strength of the gods. Speed and skill in hand-to-hand fighting were necessary for survival. They were even more important for leadership among men. Physical excellence was very important, too, but it was not all. Next to family line from the gods, the Greeks valued fame through poetry and song. Poets and people were eager to sing the praises not only of victors in battle but also of victors in contests of skill and strength. So, the seeds of achievement in arts, in moral conduct, and in affairs of the mind were planted on the plains of Olympia at the feet of the good and kind Zeus. Here the Olympic Games began. They survived for centuries, inspiring the music and poetry and the architecture and sculpture that were to become the magnificence of the Golden Age of Greece.
    The great poet Pindar wrote poems of praise in memory of the winners of the laurel or olive wreath. This prize looked like the crown of Zeus. It was for the wreath that Coroebus raced about 200 yards to victory in the first recorded Olympic Games. This marked the beginning of the first Olympiad. By our calendar the year was 776 B.C.
    It was a cook, Coroebus, not a Greek nobleman, who was the first known winner of an Olympic award. A crowd of 45,000 people rose from their seats on the grass in the stadium to cheer.
    Although the Greeks were said to be democratic, slaves and women had few rights. Only freedom male citizens could take part in the Olympic Games. Women were forbidden, with death as the punishment, even to see the games. One woman did successfully get away from the punishment. The mother of Pisidorus continued the training of her son after this father died. Pretending to be a man, she attended the games. She was not recognized until shouted with joy over her son’s victory. She was pardoned, and in time women were allowed in the games.
    Athletic competition became so important to the Greeks that the Olympic celebrations were a peaceful influence on the warlike city-states. Sparta, famous for its strict training of youth and its many Olympic honors, would wait until the games were over before sending fighters into battle. Other cities followed this example. The "sacred month" of the games became a time for peace and friendship.
    Milo, a wrestler of the 6th century B.C., may be considered the greatest athletes of ancient times. He won the wrestling crown six times. Thus, he was champion for a quarter of a century. He was said to be so powerful that he could carry a young cow or even a full-grown bull on his shoulders.
    New sports continually added variety to the Olympics. The hoplitodrome was a footrace run in armor. An event called the pancratium was a combination of boxing and wrestling. A winner was named only when one man raised his hand in defeat or lay unconscious — or dead.
    One of the greatest honors was to be crowned to winner of the pentathlon (meaning "five contests"). The athletes had to compete in the broad jump, javelin throw, a footrace, discus throw, and wrestling. These events called for the use of a variety of muscles and created the beautiful bodies admired so much by the Greeks.
    The Golden Age of Greece came in the 5ax century B.C., when the ancient Greeks reached the peak of their power and influence. It was a time that produced some of the greatest thought and art that the world has ever known. The Olympic Games shared this greatness by setting standards of physical and moral excellence that are still used in our time.
    In the setting of a religious celebration the Greeks were the first to develop game rules and standards of good sportsmanship. Every athlete was required to take an oath that he would follow the rules of the game and of fair play.
    In a direct way, too, the Olympic Games inspired the Greek poets and artists. The Olympic buildings were examples of the beauty of Greek architecture. Remains of the huge statue of Zeus at Olympia bear the signature of Phidias, the famous Athenian sculptor and architect. The spirit of the times may have inspired Plato’s Republic, a book that provided a pattern for building an ideal nation through the careful education of its children. The poet Pindar read his victory poems at the Olympics, and Herodotus his history. By awarding honors to artists and scholars, the Olympic Games helped to further the growth of Greek culture.
    Interest in the Olympic Games spread with the colonial and trade growth of Greece. Foreign athletes came to compete. But after Rome defeated Greece (in the 2nd century B.C.), Olympic standards began to decline. The emperor Nero brought his own cheering section, built his house at Olympia, and demanded first prizes for ’all his entries. They were willing to use any way to win. After more than 1,000 years the Olympic Games had become and influence for bad rather than good. In A.D. 394 the Roman emperor Theodosius I ordered them stopped.
    Fifteen centuries after the end of the ancient Olympic Games, the Olympic city lay buried on the plains of Olympia. Savage soldiers had long ago robbed the temples. Earthquakes had changed the course of the Alpheus River, covering the remains. Then in the 1880’s some German archeologists uncovered something that showed the existence of a great civilization.
    Close upon this discovery came the inspiration of the Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He felt that the youth of his day were becoming soft and a planned program of athletics might strengthen their bodies, minds, and morals. He firmly believed that athletic competition built qualities of courage and a sense of fair play.
    At first De Coubertin was interested mainly in the youth of France. Then his dream grew to a hope that athletes of all the countries would take part. In 1892, at a meeting of the Athletic Sports Union, De Coubertin first put forth the idea of starting the Olympic Games again. Few members were then ready to accept his idea. But two years later a group was formed to make plans for the first modem Olympiad.
    The Olympic Games were held in 1896. They took place at Athens, Greece — a very fitting place to rebuild the spirit of the early Greek games. The continuing efforts of a single man had begun the modem Olympics. It was fitting that Baron de Coubertin should remain directed the course that the games were to take. He wrote the Olympic charter, and athlete’s oath. He planned the ceremonies.
    "Peace," De Coubertin stated, "would be furthered by the Olympic Games... but peace could be the product only of a better world; a better world could be brought about only by better individuals; and better individuals could be developed only by the give and take, the buffeting and battering, the stress and strain of fierce competition."
The golden Age of Greece came in the 5th century B.C. and the Olympic Games contributed the greatness of this period mainly by ______.
选项
答案setting standards of physical and moral excellence
解析 根据本题关键词the 50th(上标)century B.C.和greatness, 寻读原文，文中有：The Olympic Games shared this greatness by setting standards of physical and moral excellence that are still used in our time, 答案不难得出。
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