英语时文泛读 Current News Articles for Extensive Reading

1. 英语时文泛读Current News Articles for Extensive Reading BOOK III

2. China and the Olympics

3. I. Overview • In this unit, you will read 3 passages about sports. As you read think of those elements that drive athletes to strive for medals.

4. Structure • The magnificent Olympic opening ceremony is praised by some journalists, very positively and comprehensively. Some even goes to detail in describing the match between the Chinese volleyball team and its American counterpart. The unusual part of the story is that the US team defeated the Chinese team under the guidance of an ex-Chinese star player. Last, from a historical point of view, the story of a pioneer in the movement of the Olympics in China is told in the last passage.

5. Beijing Olympics’ Opening Ceremony Blends Technology and Tradition This is mostly a vivid description of the grand opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, in August 2008. Text A

6. The Chinese volleyball team and the American volleyball team have been rivals for many years. This time, in the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, the Americans beat the Chinese on their own ground. Ex-Chinese Star Guides U.S. to Win in Volleyball Text B

7. It tells the story of Liu Chang Chun, the first Chinese who had ever represented China at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Summer Games. Reviving the Olympic Spirit 75 Years Later Text C

8. Focus of this session

9. Author Philip Hersh grew up in Boston but has lived in Evanston, Ill. Since 1977. He has worked at the Chicago Tribune since 1984 and has focused on international sports and the Olympics since 1987. For 10 straight years, the German sports publication, Sport Intern, named Hersh among the 100 most influential people in world sports. Prior to joining the Tribune, Hersh worked for the Baltimore Evening Sun, the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times. Background Information

10. Source The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States. In addition to its print product, the Times also publishes a 24-hour news Web site at latimes.com. Background Information

11. The fou is an ancient Chinese percussion instrument consisting of a pottery or bronzeware crock, jar, pot, or similar vessel, which was struck with a stick. Its origin dates back to the Xia or Shang dynasties, where it was used in ritual music. It later became a standard instrument in Confucian ritual ensembles. Cultural Notes

12. Cultural Notes • It made its modern appearance during the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Towards the beginning of the ceremony, 2,008 dancer / percussionists staged a synchronized presentation, striking large square fou with glowing red sticks. Those instruments had a white square LED array surrounding each drum, allowing them all to produce both music and a dazzling display, which included Chinese characters and shapes created in tandem.

13. Busby Berkeley (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976), born William Berkeley Enos in Los Angeles, California, was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Cultural Notes

14. Jacques, Count Rogge (born May 2, 1942) is a Belgian sports functionary. He is the eighth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Under his leadership, the IOC aims to create more possibilities for developing countries to bid for and host the Olympic Games. Rogge believes that this vision can be achieved in the not too distant future through government backing and new IOC policies that constrain the size, complexity and cost of hosting the Olympic Games. Cultural Notes

15. Language Points Key Words & Expressions • harness (para. 5): • a set of straps for fastening sth to a person’s body or to keep them from moving off or falling （防止坠落或摔倒的）背带，保护带 • e.g. • a safety harness （安全带）

16. Language Points • mimick (para. 53): • to copy the way sb speaks, moves, behaves, etc. especially in order to make other people laugh 模仿（言行举止），（尤指）做滑稽模仿 • e.g. • She’s always mimicking the teachers. （ 她总喜欢模仿老师们的言谈举止。）

17. Language Points • grimy (para. 11): • covered with grime 粘满污垢的，满是灰尘的，肮脏的 • e.g. • grimy hands/windows （粘满污垢的手，满是灰尘的窗户）

18. Language Points • bring up the rear (para. 19): • to be at the back of a line of people, or last in a race 站在队尾，落在最后，殿后 • e.g. • John brought the rear in the competition. （约翰在比赛中落在最后。）

19. Language Points • ham (para. 20): • (especially of actors 尤指演员) when people ham it up, they deliberately exaggerate their emotions or movements 有意夸张表情（或动作），表演过火 • e.g. • Young people like hamming for the TV camera more than old people do. （在电视摄像机前，年轻人比老年人更爱作夸张的动作。）

20. Language Points Difficult Sentences • Nothing said that more dramatically than the ceremony’s final moment, when 1984 Olympic champion gymnast Li Ning lighted the caldron that will burn over the stadium for the next 16 days. (para.5) • 在这个句子中，Nothing said that more dramatically than…的意思是 “……是最具有戏剧性的了”，类似的表达方式还有 second to none ，意思是“……为第一名”，或者“……最……”。

21. Language Points • “Hosting the Olympic Games has been a century-old dream for the Chinese nation,” said Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee. (para.6) • 在这个句子中，最应该引起读者注意的词是 nation ，在本句中，该词的意思是国民，而不是国家。

22. Language Points “One section required that over 600 performers should have uniform expression in their eyes, so they must have exquisite feelings, and they have to work very hard,” said Wang Hong, manager of a cultural troupe in the People’s Liberation Army. (para.9) • a cultural troupe in the People’s Liberation Army 指解放军的一个文工团。

23. Language Points • For all its grandiosity, there was a muted, monotonal quality about much of the cultural exposition that reached a dramatic climax with 2,008 white-clad martial arts performers, bursts of fireworks and acrobats dangling from ropes at roof level. (para.12) • 在这个句子中，there was a muted, monotonal quality 的意思是说，……有一种减弱的、单调的性质。acrobats dangling from ropes at roof level 的意思是，杂技演员在从屋顶高处垂下的绳子上表演。

24. Language Points • And then came the lengthy parade of athletes, punctuated by roars for Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong and an extended ovation for China’s team. (para.13) • 在这里，punctuated by 的意思是“被……打断”，an extended ovation 的意思是“长时间的热烈鼓掌”。

25. Language Points • The Chinese, marching in last, put a final humanizing touch on the procession by having NBA center Yao Ming carry the flag alongside 9-year-old Lin Hao, a survivor of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan that killed about 70,000 people. • 在这个句子中，put a final humanizing touch on the procession 意思是“给入场式最后一点人性化的收笔”。

26. Language Points • Three nations separated the North from the South. (para.21) • 韩国队和朝鲜队之间，有三个国家的运动员将其分开。