ANDA BOTOIU LESSON SEVEN : Short Olympic History Read the text below: The year 776 BC was the beginning of what we call today The Olympic Games and Olympia, in Greece, was the place where the first Olympiad was held. Between 776 BC and 349 AD, the Olympian Games, the greatest of the national festivals of ancient Greece, were held on the plain of Olympia, every four years, for 1100 years. 1896 was the year when Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French sportsman and educator, founded the modem Olympic Committee, with twelve delegates from different countries. in the same year, Athens hosted the first modern Olympiad. Almost every Olympiad had its history and its great, exciting moments. 1900 was the year when, forthe first time, women were allowed to compete. In 1908, the largest number of spectators was ‘ecorded - a quarter of a million onlookers, crowded along the Marathon route, between the royal castle ‘of Windsor and the Olympic Stadium. The distance measured 42 km and 194 m and it was longer than the distance between the town of Marathon and Athens, run by a Greek soldier in 490 BC to bring the news of a Greek victory over the Persians, which was less than 40 km. Dorando Pietri received the medal for Great Sportsmanship. Why? He came into the stadium first but he followed a wrong way and collapsed from exhaustion. He was brought back to his senses and then, some officals helped him to cross the finish line. He did not get a gold medal but he got the medal mentioned above. 'n 1912, in Sweden, Jim Thorpe won the Pentathlon and the Decathlon but he returned the medals when the officials discovered that he was a semi-professional baseball player. This happened because the contestants were expected to be amateurs, not professionals. This was a case intensely debated and, in 1980, the officials retumed the two medals to Jim's son, Jack Thorpe. Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish athlete who made the Olympic history in the 1920s. He won nine {Gold medals and broke eleven records during the course of a decade, 1936 was the year when the Olympic torch was lit from the rays of the sun in the ruins of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia and an organized relay brought it to the stadium in Berlin. Another highlight of the competition was the black American, Jessie Owens, who beat a number of Hitler's sportsmen and won four gold medals. ‘In 1940 and 1944, as well as in 1916, the two World Wars made the Games stop. But after that dark period, people started enjoying the sporting competitions again and witnessed some unbelievable situations. 'n 1948, the Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won eleven races in eight days. Nothing Unusual, you may say. But she was 30 and pregnant at the time! Wilma Rudolph was an American athlete who won two gold medals in the 100 and 200 metres. So what? Take into account that she was paralysed when she was young and she leamt to walk at the age of seven! Abebe Bikila, an Ethiopian ‘marathoner, won this event running barefoot and he won it again in 1964, two weeks after having his appendix removed! ‘These people are examples and models and they are the image of what the Olympic spirit should mean. Unfortunately, the Olympic reputation today is not the same. The politcal interests, the Grug abuse, the vast sums of money for the TV rights and the commercial promotional campaigns, the violence that culminated with the bomb that exploded in Attanta in 1996 and the latest news reporting the corruption of some members of the Olympic Committee are sad examples of what the modem man means by “The Olympic Spirit. Will things change? Time will answer this question. Until then, we, the simple spectators, will enjoy and fee! intensely every moment of this great event that is the Olympic Games! Grammar: The Past Tense Simple A.TO BE (Past Tense) ASfirmative: WAS a doctor before becoming a teacher, YOU WERE one of my pupils in high school. Paavo Nurmi WAS a German athlete. Fanny Blankers - Koen WAS a swimmer. |tWAS in 1938 when the torch WAS lit from the rays of the sun. We WERE classmates in 1990, 366You WERE in the national football team in 1967. ‘They WERE your first teachers of gymnastics. LIMBA ENGLEZA Interrogative: Negative: WAS {a doctor before becoming a teacher? WERE you one of my pupils in high schoo? WAS Paavo Nurmi a German athiete? WAS Fanny Blankers - Koen a swimmer? WAS it in 1938 when the torch was lit from the rays of the sun? WERE we ciassmates in 1990? WERE you in the national football team in 1967? WERE they your frst teachers of gymnastios? No, | WASNT a doctor before becoming @ teacher. No, you WERENTT one of my pupil. No, Paavo Nurmi WASN'T a German athlete. No, Fanny B.K. WASNT a swimmer. No, WASN'T in 1938 when the torch was It from the rays ofthe sun No, we WEREN'T classmates in 1990. No, you WERENT in the national football eam in 1967. No, they WERENT your first teachers of gymnastics. Grammar practice Practise the past tense of the verb TO BE: a) My trainer be very upset last year because of my failure. b) My parents not/be very enthusiastic about my performances last summer. c) Steaua, Dinamo and Rapid be the best Romanian football teams last season. d) The hot weather be wel tolerated by the Aftican football players at World Cup in 41996. e) Maradona /_be a Brazilian footballer? f) Atlanta be the city that hosted the Olympic Games in 4996. g) Piere de Coubertin not / be an italian sportsperson. h) The Olympic Games be the most important festival in ancient Greece. i) Who be Wilma Rudolph? j) Who be Abebe Bikila? B, Past Tense - Regular Verbs ‘Avand in vedere modul in care un verb formeaz& timpul trecut (Past Tense) si partcipiul recut (Past Partciple), gramatica limbii engleze clasifcd verbele in doud categori: verbe regulate si verbe neregulate. Verbele regulate formeaz& timpultrecut (Past Tense) prin adzugarea sufixului ED la infnitivul scurt: ex.: | play tennis every day. © | playED tennis yesterday, too. You ery when you lose a match. # You criED last time, too. He jumps up with joy after a victory. & He jumpED up with joy after the last victory, too. We visit the towns we play in, = We visitED the last town we playED in, too. They help us when we need help. © They helpED us the last time we needED help, too. Folosim Past Tense pentru a exprima actiuni care s-au intamplat: - yesterday x.: Mike played very well yesterday and his parents were very pleased - last... (week / summer / season / month I year / decade / century /night/ evening) ex.: Jim helped his teammates to win the Cup last season. + sn €90 (two seconds /five minutes / eight hours / three days / ten years / one hundred years) ex: James finished the training two hours ago. (un an, 0 lund, o perioada, un moment din trecut) ex: In July 1985 he suffered a terrible accident. Nota bene: 4. Sufixul ED sé poate pronunta fn trei moduri J, [1] sau [id | {a} {t) Lid] ‘complain = complained ask — asked ‘add added ay - cried finish - finished admit ~ admitted enjoy ~ enjoyed force — forced assist - assisted form - formed laugh - laughed blind - blinded listen - listened like ~tked defeat - defeated play - played pick ~ picked mind ~ minded rain rained punch ~ punched plead - pleaded stay - stayed stop — stopped rest— rested study - studied wash — washed support - supported try - tried | watch - watched visit - visited _| 367ANDA BOTOIU 2. Sufixul ED modifica Y final dup cum urmeaza: cand Y final este precedat de vocald, Y ramane neschimbat si se adauga ED: f play — played, stay - stayed, enjoy — enjoyed ~ ond Y final este precedat de consoana, Y se transforma in | si apoi se adauga ED: tty - tried, study ~ studied, cry - cried. 3. Cand verbul se termina in consoana, aceasta se dubleazé numai dacd este precedata de o vocala scurta accentuat: ‘stop — stopped, admit - admitted, omit — omitted, drop — dropped 4. Cand verbul se termina in E, se adauga numai D: force ~ forced. 5. La verbele care se termina tn C, se adauga un K inainte de a adauga ED: panic — panicked Past Tense Interrogative / Interogativul timpului trecut se formeaza cu ajutorul auxiliarului DID (care este Past Tense-ul verbului DO) plasat inaintea subiectului. ex: | TALKED to him about my problem. DID you TALK to him about your problem? Yes, DID. Nota bene: Auxiiarul DID preia sarcina de a marca gramatical timpul trecut, deci verbul de conjugat NU MAI PASTREAZA FORMA DE TRECUT! Gresit: DID you TRIED to do something about it? DID he ENJOYED his son's victory? Past Tense Negative / Negativul timpului trecut se formeaza prin atasarea particulei NOT la auxiliarul DID: DID NOT / DIDNT. ex.: You INVITED him here last week. | No, | DID NOT invite him here last week! | Nota bene: Auxiiarul DID preia sarcina de a marca gramatical timpul trecut, deci verbul de conjugat | NU MAI PASTREAZA FORMA DE TRECUT! | Gregit: He DIDN'T PLAYED fair! | She DIDNT CRIED because of that stupid mistake. Grammar practice: 1. Put the verbs in brackets in the Past Tense: 4) He (study) the strategy for the next match and (decide) that it (be) a good one. ») She (listen) to him very carefully, (cry) a litte and then (ask) Jim to take her home, ©) (wash) the dishes and then (turn) the TV on and (watch) a horror movie. 4) He (stop) talking. His wife (add) something but the two officials (ignore) them. €) She (force) him to tell the truth and his parents finally (admit) that they (blame) him for no reason. 4) It (rain) a lot yesterday, so | (stay) in and (rest) afer a tiring week. g) They (agree) to his proposal but a couple of hours later they (regret) it h) He (lke) our play very much and he (try) to convince us that we (deserve) better than that. i) As they (arrive) early, they (walk) around the block for a while. j) He (knock) but, as nobody (answer), he (push) the door and (enter). ) | (want) to talk to him but he (jump) over the fence and (start) running, 2. Practise the Past Tense Interrogative / Negative: 8) Why you /help him win the race? Example: Why did you help him win the race? ») He not / change the results because he not / want to get in trouble. ©) They not / enjoy the game because it rained heavily that day. 4d) When they / arrive in Bucharest? ) When the police asked them about their last visit there, they not / remember much about it. 368