The Olympic Games

About 2,800 years ago in Olympia, Ancient Greece, there was a race in a field near the river Alpheus. The athletes ran about 200 metres, and a man called Coroebus, from the Greek city of Elis, won. A crowd of 40,000 people shouted his name and gave him flowers. Coroebus was one of the first Olympic champions. (p.3)

 

 

There are many stories about how the Olympic Games started, and we do not know which ones are true. In or before 776 BCE, the Olympic Games began at Olympia, and happened every four years after that. The athletes came from many cities in modern Greek, Italy, Turkey, and Africa, and later from cities in Armenia, Egypt, and Spain. At that time, there were many wars in Greece, but because of athletes needed to travel to Olympia for the Games, everyone stopped fighting for a month before they started. From this episode, we can see how important event Olympics were at that time. 

  

     The earliest Olympic Games were only one day long, and were built around ceremonies for Zeus – the most important Greek got. There was only one sports event – a race of about 200 metres called the stade. Later, the Olympic Games were three, and then five, days long. There were new races as well. There was even a shouting event – the winner was the person with the loudest voice. I thought if this event was still held, it would be interesting and I wondered how to decide the winner of this event. I guess it is difficult to decide the winner.

 

      At these early Olympics, winning athletes were given olive branches, and champions wore these on their heads at the winners’ ceremony. Ancient Olympic champions did not win medals, like today’s winners, but they became famous in their cities, and people game presents like money or houses. The Olympics today is pretty different from the first modern Games in Athens. Women could not compete before in Olympics, but today there are women athletes in most events and teams. There is also called Paralympic Games, for people with disabilities.

 

     There are places, where flourished with the Olympics, such as, Stratford, east London. It was not a very interesting place, and had lots of dirty old factories and buildings. The British decided to change Stratford into an amazing new center of the Games. An Olympic village was built, too, with 16,000 beds for athletes and trainers. It had cinemas, gyms, a swimming pool, and places to meet friends and eat. Considering these things, being host of the Olympics has huge effects on the country.

The Olympic Games
Alex Raynham
Oxford University Press, 2016

Traffic jams 🚗 🚗 🚗

Today, we have a big problem: Traffic. There are too many cars in cities and sometimes outside cities, too.(p.6)

     According to this book, Traffic jams isn't a new problem.  Before cars, people used vehicles with horses. There were a lot of them, and they made a lot of noise. A famous English writer, Samuel pepys, wrote about London traffic jams 350years ago.

Traffic jams : the road ahead

Simon Beaver

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014

Lost ～the mystery of Amelia Earhart～

Airplanes and flying were　very new things in the early 1900s. There weren't many pilots, and there were even fewer women pilots! Then one day, Amelia Earhart came along: a woman and a pilot!(p.6)

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, Amelia was talking to the ship with radio, but then the radio stops working and then,  nobody can contact with her.  A few years later, a person found the bones of

a woman on an island and bottles. What had happen to Amelis actually was in doubt even now.

Lost : the mystery of Amelia Earhart

Kenna Bourke

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014

Integrated Skills Nov,８

about California






     When you stand on the Golden Gate Bridge and look east across San Francisco Bay, you can see an island. It is very small, but everybody knows its name, Alcatraz. Every year, more than 1.4 million visitors visit this place.




     Alcatraz island first became an imprtant prison in 1907. At this time, it was only a prison for soldiers. Then,in the 1930s, the U.S. government needed a place for the most dangerous people in the country-people from wild cities like Cicago or New York. They thought nobody would be able to escape from the island of Alcatraz.

Tragedy on the slopes ⛷

Despite the safety measures taken during the Games, tragedies do occur.(p.25)


















I read a book which is written about relatively dangerous sports to play.

Such as, caving , mountain biking, speed skiing and powerboat racing. Personally, I don't want to play dangerous sports, but there are many people who enjoy dangerous sports.

In this book, a story about a man who play Skiing is introduced.

Tragedy on the slopes

Karmel Schreyer

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014

Around Japan in three days 🗾

Japan's music, art, and buildings are very different from those in other countries.(p.7)

I read a book which is written about Japan from foreigners' perspective.

I didn't know that Japan's culture is unieque until reading this book. Such as, bullet trains, manga, hot spring and eating raw fishes. Even though, I an Japanese, I can learn about Japan from this book.

Around Japan in three days

Simon Beaver

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014

The importance of sleep

We spend about one third of our time sleeping - That's about 122 days a year!(p.6)

I read a book about sleeping and here is what I thought interesting.

Too little sleep can be bad for your health:

• It can make you fat. Often, when people sleepless, they eat more. And they eat bad things, like cake and potato chips.
• It can make you sad and depressed.
• It can give you headaches.
• It can make you sick and make your life shorter.

According to this books, it is important that going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day.

Do not disturb : the importance of sleep

Genevieve Kocienda

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014