15　桂冠

古希腊的男孩子、小伙子，甚至是姑娘们，都很喜欢进行各种各样的户外运动。

可他们并不是去踢足球、打棒球或者打篮球，而是跑步、跳高、摔跤、拳击和掷铁饼；铁饼就是一块像盘子那样的大铁盘。

古希腊的各地经常举办比赛，看谁在这些体育项目上表现得最优秀。

然而，大型比赛每四年才举行一次，举办地点是希腊南部一个叫作奥林匹亚的地方；全国各地的获胜者纷纷来到这里，相互进行较量，以便角逐出整个希腊的冠军。

举办比赛的日期，就是一个全国性的盛大假日；因为举办比赛，是为了向古希腊人所称的宙斯这位众神之王致敬。人们从四面八方赶来观看比赛，很像是如今人们赶去参加世界博览会或者观看现代奥运会那样。

只有希腊人才能参加比赛，并且只有那些从来没有犯过罪或者违过法的人才能参加；这就好比是如今的青少年必须没有不良记录，才能加入大学或学校里的球队一样。在古希腊，奥林匹克运动会只有男人和男孩子参加。

举办比赛的时候，倘若城邦之间恰巧在打仗（这种情况很常见），由于这个节

If there happened to be a war going on at the time,and there usually was,so important was this holiday that a truce was declared,and everybody went off to the games. Nothing could be allowed to interfere with the games,and even war was not as important.“Business before pleasure！”When the games were finished,they started fighting again！

The Greek boys and young men would train for four years getting ready for this big event,and then nine months before the great day they would go to Olympia to train at an openair gymnasium near the field.

The games lasted five days and began and ended with a parade and prayers and sacrifices to the Greek gods,beautiful statues to whom were placed all about the field,for this was not only sport,but a religious service in honor of Zeus and the other gods.

There were all sorts of matches—in running,jumping,wrestling,boxing,chariot-racing,and throwing the discus.

Anyone who cheated would have been put out and never again allowed to take part. The Greeks believed in what we call being a good sport.A Greek didn't brag if he won.He didn't make excuses if he lost；he didn't cry out that the decision was unfair.

The athlete who won one or more of these games was the hero of all Greece,and in particular of the town from which he came. The winner received no money prize but was crowned with a wreath made of laurel leaves.This he valued much more than an athlete nowadays does the silver cup or gold medal he may win.Besides receiving the laurel wreath,the winner had songs written to him by poets,and often statues were made of him by sculptors.

日如此重大，因此交战双方都会休战，然后大家都去参加比赛。希腊人不允许任何事情干扰到比赛，所以哪怕是战争，也没有比赛重要。“干正事要紧！”比赛结束后，他们便会再次开始战斗！

古希腊的男孩和小伙子们都会进行四年的训练，来为这场盛大的比赛做好准备；然后，在比赛开幕日的九个月之前，他们便会来到奥林匹亚，在比赛场地附近的一个露天体育场进行训练。

比赛会持续进行五天，并且在比赛开幕和闭幕时都会组织游行，都会进行祷告并向古希腊的众神献祭，向摆放在比赛场地四周的、众神的美丽雕塑献祭；因为这并非仅仅是一场体育竞赛，还是一场祭祀宙斯及其他众神的宗教仪式。

比赛项目各种各样，有跑步、跳高、摔跤、拳击、战车赛和掷铁饼。

作弊的选手将被驱逐出场，并且再也不准参加比赛。古希腊人崇尚我们如今所说的堂堂正正。倘若赢了，希腊人不会自夸；倘若输了，他们也不会找什么借口。他们才不会大喊大叫，说裁判不公正呢。

在一项或多项比赛里夺冠的运动员，就是全希腊的英雄，尤其会成为他出生的那个城镇的英雄。获胜者并没有奖金可得，人们会把一个用桂树叶子编成的花环戴到他的头上。在他看来，这顶桂冠可比如今的运动员可能获得的什么银牌或者金牌重要得多。除了这顶桂冠，诗人们还会写诗对获胜者进行歌颂，而雕塑家通常也会给获胜者制作雕像。

古希腊不仅有体育比赛，也有诗人和音乐家之间的竞赛，即看谁能够写出最

There were not only athletic matches but contests between poets and musicians to see who could write the best poetry or compose and play the sweetest music on a kind of small harp called the lyre. The winners of these contests did not receive a laurel wreath,but they were carried in triumph on the shoulders of the throng,as you may have seen the captain of a winning team picked up and raised aloft by his fellow-players after he has won.

Now,in Greek history the first event that we can be absolutely sure is true is the record of the winner of a footrace in these Olympic Games 776 years before Christ was born. From this event the Greeks began to count their history dates,as we do now from the birth of Christ.It was their Year 1.

The four years'time between the Olympic Games was called an Olympiad. Up to this time,they had no calendar that gave the year or date,so 776 is the date of the first Olympiad.Greek history before that time may have been partly true,but we know much of it was mythical.Beginning with 776，however,Greek history is pretty much all true.

After a long while they stopped having the games,but in 1896 it was thought it would be a good thing to start them again.For the first time in over two thousand years,new Olympic Games were again held in 1896 A.D.，not in Olympia，

好的诗歌，或者谁能创作出最美妙的音乐，创作出的乐曲用一种叫作七弦琴的小型竖琴来弹奏。虽说这些比赛的获胜者不会得到桂冠，但他们会被人们抬到肩上欢呼游行；就像你们可能看到过的那样，在比赛获胜后，获胜球队的队长会被队员们抬起来，高高地抛向空中。

注意，在希腊历史上，我们能够完全肯定情况属实的第一场比赛记录，就是公元前776年奥林匹克运动会上一位赛跑获胜者的记录。自这场比赛以后，希腊人开始计算自己的历史年代，就像我们如今是从基督降生开始计算历史年代一样。所以，那一年，就是希腊人的公元元年。

两届奥林匹克运动会之间的那四年时间，被称为一个奥林匹克周期。由于直到此时，古希腊人都没有日历来记录年份和日期，因此公元前776年便是第一个奥林匹克周期开始的时间。那一年之前的希腊历史，可能有一部分是真实的；但我们也知道，其中大部分都属于神话传说。然而，自公元前776年开始，希腊历史中的大部分却都是真实的了。

奥林匹克运动会停办了很长时间之后，到了1896年的时候，人们都认为，重新开始举办这一运动会，无疑是件好事。于是，时隔两千多年后，人们首次在公元1896年重新举办了一届新的奥林匹克运动会；然而，这届运动会的举办地点并不是

however,but in Athens. The games used to be held only in Greece.Now they are held each time in a different country.Only Greeks used to be allowed to take part.Now,however,athletes from almost all the countries of the world are invited to compete.Only men used to take part.Now women from all over the world compete also.War used to be stopped when the time for the games arrived.Now the games are stopped when war is on.

From what we have learned of the Spartans'training,we might guess that they used to win most of the athletic prizes,and they did.

Do the Spartans still continue to win most of the prizes in the New Olympic Games?

No. Not even the Greeks now carry off the chief prizes,because Greece is just one small nation among many.

奥林匹亚，而是雅典。这一运动会，过去只是在希腊国内举行。而如今，每一届奥运会都是在不同的国家举行。在过去，只有希腊人才能参加比赛。而如今，世界各国的运动员几乎全都应邀参加比赛了。在过去，只有男子才能参加比赛。而如今，世界各地的女子也都来参加比赛了。过去举办奥运会的时候，战争常常会停止。而如今，要是正在打仗，奥运会就无法举行了。

从目前所知的斯巴达人的训练情况来看，我们可以猜出，他们通常获得大多数运动项目的冠军；事实上，他们也的确如此。

而在新的奥林匹克运动会上，斯巴达人是不是仍然会继续赢得大多数奖项呢？

不是的。即便是如今的希腊人，也无法夺得大多数主要的奖项了，因为希腊只是全世界众多国家中的一个小国啊。