GREEK bys and yung men and even girls lved all srtsfutdr sprts. They didn"t play ftballr baseballr basketball， but they ran and jumped and wrestled and bxed and threw the discus-a thing like a big， heavy dinnerplatef irn.
Frm time t time matches were held in different partsf Greece t see wh was the best in these sprts.
The Big Meet， hwever， tk placenlynce every fur years at a place calledlympia in suthern Greece， fr all the winners frm different partsf the cuntry were here matched against eachther t see wh shuld be the champinf all Greece.
The time when the games were held was a great natinal hliday， fr the games were in hnrf the head gd， Zeus， as the Greeks called him. Peple came frm far and wide t see the games， much as they d nw when a Wrld"s Fair is heldr a mdernlympics.
nly Greeks culd enter this cntest， andnly thse wh had never cmmitted a crimer brken any laws-as a byr girl nwadays must have a clean recrd inrder t be allwed t playn a clleger schl team. In ancient Greece，nly men and bys cmpeted in thelympics.
If there happened t be a war gingn at the time， and there usually was， s imprtant was this hliday that a truce was declared， and everybdy wentff t the games. Nthing culd be allwed t interfere with the games， and even war was nt as imprtant. "Business befre pleasure！" When the games were finished， they started fighting again！
The Greek bys and yung men wuld train fr fur years getting ready fr this big event， and then nine mnths befre the great day they wuld g tlympia t train at anpenair gymnasium near the field.
The games lasted five days and began and ended with a parade and prayers and sacrifices t the Greek gds， beautiful statues t whm were placed all abut the field， fr this was ntnly sprt， but a religius service in hnrf Zeus and thether gds.
There were all srtsf matches-in running， jumping， wrestling， bxing，charit-racing， and thrwing the discus.
Anyne wh cheated wuld have been putut and never again allwed t take part. The Greeks believed in what we call being a gd sprt. A Greek didn"t brag if he wn. He didn"t make excuses if he lst； he didn"t cryut that the decisin was unfair.
The athlete wh wnner mref these games was the herf all Greece， and in particularf the twn frm which he came. The winner received n mney prize but was crwned with a wreath madef laurel leaves. This he valued much mre than an athlete nwadays des the silver cupr gld medal he may win. Besides receiving the laurel wreath， the winner had sngs written t him by pets， andften statues were madef him by sculptrs.
There were ntnly athletic matches but cntests between pets and musicians t see wh culd write the best petryr cmpse and play the sweetest musicn a kindf small harp called the lyre. The winnersf these cntests did nt receive a laurel wreath， but they were carried in triumphn the shuldersf the thrng， as yu may have seen the captainf a winning team picked up and raised alft by his fellw-players after he has wn.
Nw， in Greek histry the first event that we can be abslutely sure is true is the recrdf the winnerf a ftrace in theselympic Games 776 years befre Christ was brn. Frm this event theGreek runner（希腊跑步者）Greeks began t cunt their histry dates， as we d nw frm the birthf Christ. It was their Year 1.
The fur years" time between thelympic Games was called anlympiad. Up t this time， they had n calendar that gave the yearr date， s 776 is the datef the firstlympiad. Greek histry befre that time may have been partly true， but we knw muchf it was mythical. Beginning with 776， hwever， Greek histry is pretty much all true.
After a lng while they stpped having the games， but in 1896 it was thught it wuld be a gd thing t start them again. Fr the first time inver tw thusand years， newlympic Games were again held in 1896 A.D.， nt inlympia， hwever， but in Athens. The games used t be heldnly in Greece. Nw they are held each time in a different cuntry.nly Greeks used t be allwed t take part. Nw， hwever， athletes frm almst all the cuntriesf the wrld are invited t cmpete.nly men used t take part. Nw wmen frm allver the wrld cmpete als. War used t be stpped when the time fr the15 The Crwnf Leaves 79games arrived. Nw the games are stpped when war isn.
Frm what we have learnedf the Spartans" training， we might guess that they used t win mstf the athletic prizes， and they did.
D the Spartans still cntinue t win mstf the prizes in the Newlympic Games？
N. Nt even the Greeks nw carryff the chief prizes， because Greece is justne small natin amng many.
【中文阅读】
希腊的男孩子、小伙子甚至女孩子都喜爱各种户外运动。 他们不踢足球，也不打棒球或篮球，但他们跑步、跳高、摔跤、拳击、掷铁饼--铁饼就像一个又大又重的铁盘子。 希腊各地有时候会举行比赛，看谁在这些运动项目上最棒。 但是，最大的体育盛会在希腊南部一个叫奥林匹亚的地方举行，每四年一次，来自全国各地的优胜者云集于此，同台竞技，从中决出全希腊的冠军。 比赛举办的那段时间是希腊最盛大的节日，因为这些比赛是以希腊神话中的众神之王的名义举办的--希腊人称他宙斯。人们从四面八方赶来观看比赛，就像现 在人们前去观看世界博览会或奥运会一样。
只有希腊人才能参加竞赛，而且参赛者不能有任何犯罪或违法记录--就像如 今的男孩或女孩必须无任何不良记录才能参加大学或中学的校队一样。古希腊时， 只有男人和男孩子才能参加奥林匹克运动会。
如果这时碰巧有战争发生--那时候打仗是常有的事，因为这个节日如此重要， 所以双方就会宣布休战，每个人都会离开战场去观看比赛。此时不允许任何事情干 扰比赛，即使战争也没有比赛重要了。"先办正事再享乐！"比赛结束后，他们又继 续开仗。
为了参加这场重大比赛，希腊的男孩和小伙子会要进行长达四年的训练才能做 好准备，运动会正式开始前的九个月，他们要到奥林匹亚比赛场地附近的露天体育 场再进行训练。
运动会持续五天，开幕和闭幕时都要举行游行、祈祷仪式并向希腊众神献祭， 会场到处摆放着众神精美的雕像，因为这不仅是一场运动会，还是纪念宙斯和其他 众神的宗教仪式。
有各种各样的比赛--赛跑、跳跃、摔跤、拳击、战车赛和掷铁饼。 任何人在比赛中作弊都会被淘汰出局，而且从此永远失去参赛资格。希腊人信奉我们现在所说的公平竞赛的体育精神。赢了，希腊人不自夸；输了，也不找借口， 更不会大声嚷嚷说判决不公。
在一项或多项比赛中夺冠的运动员是全希腊的英雄，尤其是他代表的那个城市的英雄。获胜者没有奖金可拿，但是人们会把月桂树叶编成的花环戴在他头上。相 比较今天的运动员获得的银杯或金牌，他认为这个桂冠更贵重。除了荣获桂冠外， 还会有诗人给他写诗，也常有雕塑家给他雕刻塑像。
那时不仅有体育竞赛，还有诗人和音乐家的比赛，看谁能写出最优美的诗歌， 谁能创作并演奏出最甜美的音乐。他们演奏的乐器是一种叫做"里拉琴"的小竖琴。 这些比赛的获胜者得到的不是桂冠，但是他们会在胜利的欢呼声中被人群扛在肩上， 就像今天你在比赛现场可能见到的那样。
现在，希腊历史上我们能确定无疑的第一个事件是公元前 776 年奥林匹克运动 会上赛跑比赛获胜者的记录。从这次比赛时间起，希腊人开始用数字表示他们的历 史日期，就像我们从耶稣诞生时起开始公元纪年一样。那一年是希腊纪年的第一年。 古希腊两次奥林匹克运动会之间的那四年时间称为奥林匹亚德。在此之前，希 腊人还没有记录年份或日期的日历，所以公元前 776 年就被看成第一个奥林匹亚德 的起始年。之前的希腊历史可能部分是真实的，但是我们知道大部分都是虚构的，然而从公元前 776 年开始，希腊历史差不多是完全真实的了。
很长时间，希腊人没有再举办比赛了，不过，到了 1896 年，人们觉得重新举办比赛是件好事。这样两千多年后，现代奥林匹克运动会第一次在公元 1896 年举行， 不过地点不是在奥林匹亚，而是在雅典。以前这种比赛只在希腊举行，现在则每次 都在不同的国家举办。以前只允许希腊人参加，现在全世界几乎所有国家的运动员 都被邀请参加。以前只有男人可以参加，现在来自世界各地的女运动员也可以参加 比赛。以前只要运动会开始战争就会暂停，现在战争在继续，运动会就要被迫停办。
以我们对斯巴达人训练的了解，可以猜出，他们过去总能赢得大多数运动奖项， 事实也确实如此。
在现代奥林匹克运动会上，斯巴达人仍然继续赢得大多数运动奖项吗？ 不是的。甚至全希腊人现在也无法赢得最重要的奖项了，因为希腊现在只不过是众多国家中的一个小国罢了。
公元前 776 年
