apiwatster's Blog

Although we do know the exact origins of the earliest Olympic games,  we khow that the ancient Greeks had a festival in which athletes competed in sports.  This celebration was held regularly every four years and was open to all men and boys who spoke Greek as their native language.  These ancient games were simpler than our modern ones.  For the month before the festival,  the athletes attended a formal course of exercise at the gymnasium in the city of Olypia.  Then the competition itself consisted of a single footrace .  Later festival included such sport as jumping,  wrestling ,discus throwing,  and horse racing.

         These early Olympic games were most popular around the fifth century B.C. at the time,  winning at a sport brought the highest possible homor to the individual completitior,  his family,  and his city.  The winner of a game received neither gold nor silver but a simple crown of olive leaves.  Later,  however, when the Greeks began paying athletes, there were problems with professionalism.  In addition,  instead of participating in all sports, the competitors began to specialize; that is, they concentrated on only one Olympic event.  Because of this interest in money and the increasing specialization of athletes,  the ancient games lost their original purpose; they ended in A.D. 393.

          The first of the modern Olympic took place in the same country as  the original festivals.  Two hundread eighty-five athletes from over one hundred countries competed in Athens in 1896. Today,  thousands of athletes from over one hundreds of excited countries compete--each time in a different city of the world.  The games are popular and spectacular eventss.  there have been hundreds of exciting,  special Olmpic moments that people all over the world have shared by reading newspaper stories,  watching films,  or seeing the actual events on TV or person.

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Do you have trouble remembering new words in English?  Many people have this problem.  This medthod may help you to remember new words.

(1) Look at the new word.  Look at the letters and  the shape of the word. Close your eyes. Can you see the word?
(2) Listen to the word.  Listen to the sounds in the word.  Look at the word as you listen.
(3) Say the word aloud.  Close your book.  Do not look at the word.  Can you say it?
(4) Write the word. Write the word.  Write it three or four times.  Say the word as you like it.
(5) Use the new word.  Use the it in class today.  and use it at home tonight.  Use it tomorrow and next week.  Look for the new word in the newspaper and listen for it on the radio or on television.  To remember a new word,  you must use it.

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