With great anticipation, China is busily preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Beijing will be added to a long list of the great cities that have invited the world to honor the world’s greatest athletes in the modern ear of the Olympic Games. China will also become part of an important, rich heritage that goes back more than 2000 years.
中国正满怀期望，积极为2008年夏季奥运会做准备。北京将成为有幸举办奥运会的伟大城市之一，届时她将邀请全世界来嘉奖世界上最伟大的运动员。中国也将成为这个有2000多年历史，重要而丰富的传统的一部分。
The origins of the ancient Olympic Games tend to be submerged in sea of Greek myths. One popular myth suggests that Pelops, a prince from Lydia, in Asia Minor (nowadays Turkey), won the hand of a princess by unfairly defeating a competing suitor in a chariot race. The loser was to be condemned to beheading. The prince rigged his opponent’s chariot to crash during the race. Later, the chariot did crash, killing the driver. The princess became Pelop’s bride, and he instituted the Olympic Games to celebrate his victory. However, others claimed that the first Olympic event was a funeral festival to honor his dead competitor.
古代奥运会的起源很容易就被淹没在浩瀚的希腊神话中。一个广为流传的神话说，珀罗普斯，小亚细亚(现在的土耳其)的吕底亚的一个王子，在一次战车比赛中用欺骗手段击败了求婚对手，赢得了一位公主的婚约。当时失败者会被判斩首，而对手的战车被王子做了手脚使其在比赛中被撞毁。后来，车毁人亡。那位公主成了珀罗普斯的新娘，他创立了奥林匹克运动会庆祝他的胜利。不过，另外一些人则声称第一次奥运会是为纪念他死去的对手而举行的葬礼。
Another myth involved Hercules, the mythical strong man. Hercules was the son of Zeus, the Greek god, and one of the god’s mistresses. Hera, Zeus’ wife, and also his sister, was very upset. She attempted in many ways, to kill Hercules as a baby. Hercules survived. Later, after he had married, Hera successfully put a spell on him, demanding that he kill his wife. Because he was the son of the god, Zeus, Hercules was destined to become a god himself. In order to accomplish this, Hercules had to be cleansed of his wife’s murder. To do this, he was directed to perform twelve difficult labors. If he successfully completed these, he would become an immortal god, like his father.
另一个神话是有关赫尔克里斯的，一个神话中的大力士。他是希腊主神宙斯和他的一个情妇的儿子。赫拉，宙斯的妻子，也是他的姐姐，非常气愤。在赫尔克里斯还是个婴儿时，赫拉就使用了很多方法要杀死他。但赫尔克里斯幸存下来。后来，在他结婚后，赫拉成功地对他施以诅咒，让他杀死他的妻子。因为他是宙斯的儿子，赫尔克里斯自己注定也会成为一个神。为了做到这一点，他必须洗清他谋杀妻子的罪名。为此，他被要求要完成十二件艰巨的大事。如果他成功地完成了这些任务，他就会像他父亲一样，成为不朽的神。
One of the majestic labors was to clean the stables of the King of Elis, in the impossibly brief period of one day. The king had huge stables with very large herds of cattle. Hercules asked the king to give him one tenth of his cattle, if he completed the task in one day. The king, perhaps humoring Hercules, or perhaps believing that this task couldn’t possibly be done in one day, agreed. In one day, Hercules diverted two rivers through the barns, cleaning them, but he did not receive the cattle that were promised in the deal. Hercules waged a successful war on the King, sacking Elis. He introduced the Olympic Games to celebrate this victory and to honor his father, Zeus, who lived on nearby Mount Olympus. The myth also suggests that Hercules measured out the stade, a footrace event of about 200 meters (or the length of the stadium).
其中一项任务是，在短短的一天之内清洁好艾丽斯国王的马厩，这几乎是不可能的事。艾丽斯国王的马群非常大，所以他有一个巨大的马厩。赫尔克里斯提出，如果他在一天之内完成了任务，国王就给他十分之一的马群。也许是觉得赫尔克里斯有点可笑，认为他根本不可能在一天内完成任务，国王就答应了。在这一天里，赫尔克里斯把两条小河引过来，将马厩冲洗干净，但没有得到承诺的马群。赫尔克里斯于是发动了一场战争，洗劫了艾丽斯。他举行了奥林匹克运动会来庆祝这次胜利和表示对父亲宙斯的敬仰。他的父亲宙斯就住在附近的奥林匹斯山上。这个神话还说，赫尔克里斯测量了运动场的长度，一个两百米长的跑道(或一个露天运动场的长度)。
As today, athletes in the ancient world were popular and had tremendous impact on the society of their day. The goal of the well-disciplined, physically trim athletes was to be the best. The champion athlete assumed a position of honor and privilege in Greek society. The status of a triumphant athlete also enhanced the reputation of his home city-state. Every young Greek boy who pursued the dream of being an Olympic champion some day envied the athletes. An important part of a Greek school boy’s curriculum was vigorous physical training in gymnasium.
像今天一样，古代的运动员很受欢迎，对他们那个时代的社会也有很大的影响。训练有素、身材匀称的运动员的目标是成为最好的运动员。冠军运动员会得到荣誉，在古希腊拥有特权。获胜运动员的地位也会增强自己家乡城市的名望。每一个希腊小伙子都羡慕那些运动员，梦想有一天自己成为奥林匹克冠军。古希腊学校里男孩子的课程里很重要的一部分就是在体育馆内上体育课。
The ancient Olympic Games, which began in 776 BC, lasted for over 1100 years. In 394 AD, the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished the games, as pagan festivals. At that time the Roman Empire was in decline. The modern Olympics have been around for only a little over 100 years, sine 1896. The Olympics of 776BC was the first, for which there is a written record, but it is believed that these events existed before this. There is evidence to show that athletic contests took place in Ancient Egypt and in the ancient Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.
古代奥运会始于公元前776年，延续了1100多年。公元394年，基督教罗马皇帝狄奥多西将其视为异教徒的节日予以废除。那时的罗马帝国正在衰落。现代奥林匹克运动会从1896年开始，才100多年。公元前776年的奥运会是有文字记录的第一届，但人们相信在此之前这项运动就已经存在了。有证据表明在古埃及和克利特岛上的古弥诺斯文化中就举行过体育比赛。
A plain called Olympia, in the small city-state of Elis was the site of the original Greek games. At the beginning of every four years, a period called an Olympiad, a major religious festival with athletic competition, took place at Olympia. In ancient Greece, the early Olympics did not rotate from city to city, but were permanently hosted at Olympia, the place from which the name Olympics originated. If wars were taking place at the time, as there usually were, a truce would be made during the military conflicts, soldiers would drop their swords and shields and accompany their opponents on a safe passage to Olympia, to enthusiastically participate in the games. After the games, the athletes would return to the battlefields with their companions, pick up their weapons and resume military engagements with their enemies, often fighting to the death, the athletic competitors whom they confronted only a few days or weeks before.
在小城邦艾丽斯的奥林匹亚平原，就是古代希腊运动会的场地。每4年的年初，这个期间叫做“四年周期”，伴随体育比赛，要在奥林匹亚举行盛大的宗教节日。在古希腊，早期奥运会不是一个个城市轮流，而总是在奥林匹亚举行，“奥运会”因此得名。到时如果发生战争(这是常有的事)，对抗的军队之间就会休战，战士们丢下他们的剑和盾牌，与他们的对手一起，安全地来到奥林匹亚，参加狂热的运动会。运动会后，运动员们将与他们的同伴一起重返战场，拿起武器，与他们的敌人，也就是仅仅几天或几个星期前相遇的体育竞赛对手，继续交战，常常会战斗到死。
In the beginning, only free Greek-speaking male athletes could participate in the games, women, slaves, and foreigners were banned from competition. Women were even barred as spectators, not for sexual reasons, but for from 720 BC the male athletes were usually naked down to their bare feet when they participated. Olympia was a sacred place for men only, a place to worship Zeus, the principal Greek god. However, women were not completely excluded from competitive sports, as they had their own games, every four years as well, called the Heraea, after Hera, the wife of Zeus.
起初，只有讲希腊语的自由男运动员可以参加运动会，妇女、奴隶和外国人是不允许参加竞赛的，甚至不准妇女观看。这并非性别的原因，而是因为从公元前720年开始，男运动员在参加比赛时常常从头到脚都是赤裸的。奥林匹亚是只让男人参加的宗教圣地，是崇拜希腊主神宙斯的地方。然而妇女并没有完全被排斥在体育比赛之外，她们有自己的运动会，也是每四年举行一次，叫做赫拉亚，以宙斯的妻子赫拉命名。
The first number of Olympic Games had only one event, called the stade. By the late 8th century BC, events included running, wrestling, boxing, pancratium (a mixture of boxing and wrestling), chariot racing, a footrace with heavy armor, and the pentathlon. The only official prize earned by the champion, was a crown of wild olive branches. Unofficially, some athletes received valuable prizes, including large sums of money from their home city-states. As in modern times, ancient athletes, even though they made pledges of fairness in competition, sought our every advantage, legal or illegal, in order to win. Even then, the concept of amateurism, for which there were no rules in ancient times, and the zeal for the competitive spirit were often sacrificed for the more selfish materialistic considerations.
最初的奥运会只有一个项目，叫做“斯泰底”。在公元前8世纪末，比赛项目包括赛跑、摔跤、拳击、角斗(摔跤和拳击并用)、赛车、负重跑和五项全能运动。冠军赢得的唯一正式奖品是一个野橄榄树枝编的桂冠。非正式地，有些运动员得到有价值的奖品，包括他们家乡城邦给的大笔奖金。像现代一样，古代的运动员，尽管他们发誓要公平竞赛，但是为了取胜，他们会设法获取各种优势，不管是合法的还是非法的。即使在那时，业余的概念——对此古代没有规定——和对体育精神的追求常常为了自私自利的物质报酬而受到亵渎。
By the 6th century BC, athletes began to specialize in particular sports, and even began to hire coaches. Special diets and new innovated kinds of physical conditioning became popular. Protein, from meat and beans in particular, became the popular nutritional need of Olympic athletes. The rules for events became more numerous and more strictly enforced. For example, a false start of a running event might have been followed by a whipping of the violator. Penalties usually included fines for most violations. It was said that the elegant, elaborate bronze statues of Zeus that lined the route to the Olympic Stadium in the fourth century BC, were financed by revenue created by fines imposed on athletes. Some athletes even became free agents, negotiating and hiring themselves out to the highest bidder, to win races and money for their sponsors. One rather peculiar practice that surrounded the chariot race event was that the owners, rather than the drivers of the chariots, received the honors and prizes. Some owners entered numerous chariots in the same event to increase their chances of winning. To the amusement of Olympic historians, Emperor Nero (famous for burning Rome) apparently entered a chariot race in which he fell from his chariot and did not finish, but still received the champion’s crown of olive branches. Who could argue with the Emperor?
到了公元前6世纪，运动员开始专攻个别项目，甚至开始雇佣教练。专门的饮食和独特的身体训练方法开始流行起来。蛋白质，特别是肉类和豆类，成了流行的奥林匹克运动会需要的营养品。体育项目的规则变得复杂起来，也更加严格了。例如，赛跑比赛的偷跑者可能会受到鞭笞的惩罚。惩罚通常包括对多数违规者的罚款。据说，公元前4世纪，摆放在奥林匹克运动场的入口处的、精心制作的庄严的宙斯青铜像，就是对运动员的罚款得来的收入提供的经费。一些运动员甚至成为自由代理人，与出价最高者谈判并被其雇佣，为他们的赞助人赢得比赛和金钱。与赛车比赛有关的一个相当特别的惯例是，赛车的主人而不是赛车手得到荣誉和奖品。为了增加获胜的机会，一些人在一次比赛中投入许多辆赛车。令奥林匹克历史学家感到好笑的是，显而易见尼实禄皇帝(有名的罗马暴君)还参加了一次赛车，比赛中从车中摔了出来，没有赛完，但还是得到了冠军的橄榄枝桂冠。谁敢和皇帝竞争呢?
By the 4th century BC, the Greek-only restriction on participation was eased as the Olympic organizers accepted athletes from overseas, from such territories as Egypt and Libya on the African continent. Many city-states even provided financial support and facilities for athletes so that they could concentrate full time on training, sometimes for more that a year before the games.
到公元前4世纪，只准讲希腊语的人参加比赛的限制被放宽了，奥林匹克的组织者接受了来自海外的运动员，如从非洲大陆的埃及和利比亚这样的领地来的人。许多城邦甚至为运动员提供财政支持和设施，使他们能够把全部时间都用在训练上;有时，训练在运动会前一年多就开始了。
The ancient Olympics were a strange mix of a religious pilgrimage and a forum for intense athletic competition. As mentioned above,, Emperor Theodosius tried to permanently put an end to the games as pagan exercises, but they emerged again in 1896 after an interval of more than 1600 years. The Olympics maintained a religious theme from the beginning, varying in degree over time. The events were originally dedicated to the worship of gods and heroes, especially deceased heroes. They were, at times, called funeral games (as mentioned in Homer’s Iliad), and sometimes fertility festivals. The games gradually in the worship of the prominent cult of Zeus, the chief god. Today, the Olympics Games are secular events.
古代奥运会是宗教朝圣和激烈的体育比赛的奇特组合。如上所述，狄奥多西皇帝试图终止这种被当作异教徒活动的运动会，但它们在中断了1600多年后的1896年又出现了。奥运会保留了最初的宗教主题，但随着时间的推移，发生了不同程度的变化。比赛项目的设立最初是为了崇拜众神和英雄，特别是死去的英雄。有时，它们被叫做“葬礼”活动(如荷马的《伊利亚特》所提到的)，有时叫做丰收庆典。运动会在祭拜主神宙斯的活动中逐渐达到高潮。而今天奥运会的运动都是与宗教无关的比赛项目。
The most prominent symbols of the Olympic Games today did not originate in classical times. The Olympic torch was an innovation in 1916. The five rings were originally introduced to represent the first five Olympics of the modern era from 1896 to 1912. In 1920 the rings were revived to represent the five continents with North and South America being represented by one ring. The 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, was the site of the first lighting of the Olympic flame.
现代奥运会最突出的象征并不是来源于古典时代。奥林匹克火炬是1916年的创新，而引进五环最初是表示从1896年到1912年的头五届现代奥运会。1920年，这些环重新被用来代表包括五个大陆，南北美洲用其中一个环表示。在纳粹德国举行的1936年奥运会，是第一次点燃奥林匹克圣火的地方。
The spirit of intense competition in association with heroism and national pride, remain major themes of the Olympics today, much as they were over 2000 years ago. Today, countries send their best, amateur and professional alike, to compete for the highest honors. Athletes also still try to find an advantage to give a better performance than all other competitors, sometimes, unfortunately, not always following the rules.
几乎与2000多年前一样，与英雄主义、民族自豪感相联系的努力拼搏的精神仍然是现代奥运会的主题。今天，每个国家派出他们最好的选手，不管是业余的还是职业的，来争夺最高的荣誉。运动员们仍然要想方设法取得优势，以胜过其他选手。不幸的是，有时候也会不遵守规则。
Every four years, or every two years when one includes the winter Olympics, which began in 1924, the world focuses on a human event that represents the good of humanity. Motivated for a couple of weeks, in those years, people and nations try to forget their troubles, put aside their differences and conflicts, and become part of a vast promotion of good global relations and cooperation. One sometimes wonders if the Olympics serve as a safety valve in international human relations, attributing to a collective sanity in a world that, not unlike that of ancient times, is perpetually the scene of conflict, strife, and human misery. Certainly one would like to think that that is the case. If not, one can always hope.
从1924年开始，每隔四年(如果你把冬季奥运会算进来的话则为每隔两年)，全世界的注意力都集中到这一表现人性好的一面的人类活动上。在这些年中的两个星期里，各国各民族设法忘掉他们的烦恼，撇开他们的分歧和冲突，参与到这个促进世界关系发展向前和合作的运动中。有人也许会想，在这个与古代没有什么两样，永远是冲突、斗争、悲剧的世界上，奥运会是否可以成为国际关系的安全阀，来唤醒人们共同的良知。人们当然愿意相信事实就是这样。如果不是，人们总是可以希望如此。
