Section BDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by som

Section B

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.

In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religions associations. The Olympian athletic festival held every four years in honor of Zeus, king of the Olympian Gods, eventually lost its local character, became first a national event and then, after the roles against foreign competitors had been abolished, international. No one knows exactly how far back the Olympic Games go, but some official records date from 776 B.C..

The games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece, (but no married woman was admitted even as a spectator). Slaves, women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete. The exact sequence of events is uncertain, but events included boy's gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, horse racing and field events, though there were fewer sports involved than in the modem Olympic Games.

On the last day of the Games, all the winners were honored by having a ring of holy olive leaves placed on their heads. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory. Although Olympic winners received no prize money, they were, in fact, richly rewarded by their state authorities.

After an uninterrupted history of almost 1 200 years, the Games were suspended by the Romans in 394 A.D.. They continued for such a long time because people believed in the philosophy behind the Olympics; the idea that a healthy body produced a healthy mind, and that the spirit of competition in sports and games was preferable to the competition that caused wars. It was over 1 500 years before another such international athletic gathering took place in Athens in 1896.

Nowadays, the Games are held in different countries in mm. The host country provides vast facilities, including a stadium, swimming pools and living accommodation, but competing countries pay their own athletes' expenses.

The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of the torch, lighted on Mount Olympus by the sun's rays. It is carried by a succession of runners to the stadium. The torch symbolized the continuation of the ancient Greek athletic ideals, and it burns throughout the Games until the closing ceremony. The well-known Olympic flag, however, is a modern conception; the five continents participating in the Games.

What do you know about ancient Olympic Games？

A．They were mealy athletic festivals.

B．They were in the nature of a national event with a strong religious color.

C．They had roles which put foreign participants in a disadvantageous position.

D．They were primarily a national event with few foreign participants.