[10-20 18:10:12] 来源：http://www.67xuexi.com 高二英语 阅读：85563次
Danny did not rise again. The audience shouted for him to stand up. But the miracle did not happen.
“Count!” Rivera cried to the referee. When the count was finished, Danny, gathered up by his assistants, was carried to his corner.
“Who wins?” Rivera demanded.
Unwillingly, the referee caught his gloved hand and held it high up.
Rivera, unattended, walked to his corner, where his assistants had not yet placed his stool. He didn’t care. All he could remember was that he had got the $5000 he needed. “The winner takes all!” What mattered to him was that his people could use the money to buy guns.
6. Pele
Pele was born in Brazil in 1940. Like many other Brazilian kids, Pele loved football and often played the game in the streets. He also went to school and did odd jobs to help bring in money for the family. However, what he loved best was to play football in the streets or practise kicking the ball with his father (also a great football player).
Pele gained the attention of some coaches, first in the neighbourhood contests and later as he led his team to win the junior league tournament two years in a row. At the age of fourteen, Pele was playing for one of the first professional football teams in Brazil. As Pele became the most popular game everywhere in the world, except for North America. What had begun as a British sport became the favourite sport of people all around the world. Football became a truly international sport.
Pele was in the Brazilian team in the World Cup matches of 1958. Before 1958, the Brazilian ream had failed in the finals three times in a row. Some sports writers said the Brazilians, though gifted, had no discipline. In the 1958 finals against Sweden, Pele kicked the winning goal, and he returned home a hero.
However, he never forgot his poor fellow men. Pele owned dozens of apartment houses, in which he often allowed poor families to live without paying rent. He bought his mother the home he had promised her when he signed his first professional contract. But the most exciting moment of all was in 1969, when Pele scored his thousandth goal. As football fans stormed onto the field and reporters begged for a speech, all he said was, “Remember the poor children.”
Today, Pele is one of the most famous athletes in the world. He retired in 1975. however, soon after that, he decided to play for three years with the New York team. He could not resist the challenge of trying to make football popular in the United States, one of the few countries in the world where football had not become the national sport. In 1977, Pele retired for good at the age of thirteen-seven.
7. The Olympics
The Olympics are the most important international competition in terms of scale, skills, and number of athletes.
The games are divided into two parts---the Summer Games and the Winter Games. The two parts are held in such a way that there are two years in between but four years before one is repeated.
The Olympics were first celebrated in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were held every four years until 393 AD. Then, they were brought to an end by the Roman emperor. It was not until the 1890s that the world saw the modern summer games. In 1896 the first modern Summer Olympics were held in Greece because that was where the tradition started. After that the Olympics would move to a different city every four years. In 1924, the Winter Olympics were added to the schedule. The Games were to take place in a separate, colder place. The event was cancelled during World War Ⅰ and World War Ⅱ for reasons known to all.
Examples of modern Summer Olympic events are track and field events, ball games, diving, gymnastics, swimming. Typical Winter Olympic events are skating and skiing.
The Olympic records are the world ones. An Olympic gold medal carries as much weight as, or even more than, any other gold medal won at other international competitions. The skills and determination demonstrated at the Olympics have come to stand for the peak of human physical strength and will power.
It was not until the late twentieth century that Chinese athletes began to amaze the world with their excellent performance at the Olympics. Coming out number one many times in the Olympic events, Chinese athletes have brought home one gold medal after another in swimming, diving, gymnastics, weight lifting, and a number of ball games. At the turn of the twenty-first century, the world witnesses Beijing being selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the host city for the 2008 Olympics. This has added a brilliant touch to the picture of modern Chinese sport history.
Though once marked as “the Weaklings of East Asia”, the Chinese have always been looking forward to achieving the dream of becoming a sports giant. After continuous efforts for years the dream is gradually coming true, and it is understandable why the Chinese let out cries of joy the night Beijing’s bid to host the 2008 Olympics was approved!
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