A The Olympic Flame from the ancient games was reintroduced during the 1928 Olympic Games. An employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam, lit the first Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The modern practice of moving the Olympic Flame via a relay system from Olympia to the Olympic venue began with the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The relay, captured in Leni Riefenstahl’s film, “Olympia”, was part of the Nazi propaganda machine’s attempt to add myth and mystique to Adolf Hitler’s regime. Hitler saw the link with the ancient Games as the perfect way to illustrate his belief that classical Greece was an Aryan forerunner of the modern German Reich. Although most of the time the torch with the Olympic Flame is still carried by runners, it has been transported in many different ways. The fire traveled by boat in 1948 to cross the English Channel, and it was first transported by airplane in 1952, when the fire traveled to Helsinki. All carriers in the torch relay to Stockholm, where these events were held instead, traveled on horseback. Remarkable means of transportation were used in 1976, when the flame was transformed to a radio signal. From Athens, this signal was transmitted by satellite to Canada, where it was received and used to trigger a laser beam to re-light the flame. In 2000, the torch was carried under water by divers near the Great Barrier Reef. Other unique means of transportation include a Native American canoe, a camel, and Concorde. In 2004, the first global torch relay was undertaken, a journey that lasted 78 days. The Olympic flame covered a distance of more than 78,000 km in the hands of some 11,300 torchbearers, traveling to Africa and South America for the first time, visiting all previous Olympic cities and finally returning to Athens for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Another means of catching attention has been the lighting of the fire in the stadium. At the 1992 Barcelona Games, Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a burning arrow over the cauldron（大汽锅）from a platform at the opposite end of the stadium. Two years later, the Olympic fire was brought into the stadium of Lillehammer by a ski jumper. 1. The practice of the Olympic Flame has been carried on for about_________. A. 72 years B. 80 years C. 60 years D. 56 years 2. Which is NOT the means of Olympic flame transportation mentioned in the passage? A. Via a radio signal. B. On horseback. C. By swimming. D. By airplane. 3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________. A. the lighting of the Olympic flame in the stadium is always appealing to people. B. the global torch relay has been practiced since the Olympic Games were created. C. as was illustrated by Hitler, classical Greece was actually part of Germany. D. there were not many Olympic torch carriers in the 1928 Olympic Games. B Gland, Switzerland – Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages, according to a new WWF report. The report, World's Top Rivers at Risk, released ahead of World Water Day (22 March), lists the top ten rivers that are fast dying as a result of climate change, pollution and dams. “All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis, which we have been signalling for years, says WWF Global Freshwater Programme Director Jamie Pittock. Poor planning and inadequate protection of natural areas mean we can no longer assume that water will flow forever. Like the climate change crisis, which now has the attention of business and government, we want leaders to take notice of the emergency facing freshwater now not later.” Five of the ten rivers listed in the report are in Asia alone. They are the Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus. Europe’s Danube, the Americas’ La Plata and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Africa’s Nile-Lake Victoria and Australia’s Murray-Darling also make the list. Dams along the Danube River — one of the longest flowing rivers in Europe — have already destroyed 80 per cent of the river basin’s wetlands and floodplains. Even without warmer temperatures threatening to melt Himalayan glaciers, the Indus River faces scarcity due to over-extraction for agriculture. Fish populations, the main source of protein and overall life support systems for hundreds of thousands of communities worldwide, are also being threatened. The report calls on governments to better protect river flows and water allocations in order to safeguard habitats and people’s livelihoods. “Conservation of rivers and wetlands must be seen as part and parcel of national security, health and economic success,” Pittock adds. “Emphasis must be given to exploring ways of using water for crops and products that do not use more water than necessary.” In addition, cooperative agreements for managing shared resources, such as the UN Watercourses Convention, must be ratified and given the resources to make them work, says WWF. “The freshwater crisis is bigger than the ten rivers listed in this report but it mirrors the extent to which unabated development is jeopardizing nature’s ability to meet our growing demands,” says Pittock. “We must change our mindset now or pay the price in the not so distant future.”(373) 4. According to the passage, which of the following is not the cause of severe water shortage? A. Globe warming B. Less rainfall C. Pollution D. Poor planning 5. Judging from what Jamie Pittock says, he wants to ________. A. make readers aware of the serious situation of water shortage B. warn people not to waster water any longer C. call on leaders to pay attention
