Read these and answer the questions.
GAMES OF OLD
If we could be transported back 2,000 years in a time-machine to Olympia, in south-western Greece, we would see a life-size statue of Sostratus, wrestling champion in three successive Olympics. He was nicknamed ' Mr Finger-tips' for his skill in breaking his opponents fingers. Quite legally: all his victims had to do to save their fingers was to drop to one knee. That was a fall in ancient wrestling.
Of course Sostratus was honoured by a public statue, and by his portrait on the coins of his native city, Sicyon on the Gulf of Corinth, not for breaking fingers but for his Olympic achievement. How does his career square with the original Olympic ideal" which the modern Games were supposed to have revived when they began in 1896? That is one of the questions we shall answer in Thursday's Chronicle.
Every four years for more than a thousand years a five-day festival was repeated at Olympia-a festival in the strict sense because the Games were held in honour of Zeus, chief of the Greek gods. So the first day was devoted to religious ceremonies and the morning of the third day to the sacrifice of a hundred bullocks on the Great Altar of Zeus. The prize for winners was a wreath fashioned from an olive tree that stood behind the temple of Zeus and was sacred to the god.
We may talk rhetorically about the religion of sport, but the religion of the ancient Games was real not metaphorical. The sport was equally real. The competitors prayed to Zeus for his assistance, 'for the wreath or death, but then they relied on their own fitness, skill, toughness and driving ambition
The programme of the Games took time to become established, but from 320 ac it remained stable for hundreds of years. It was also, by modern standards, a short and restricted programme, of horse racing (with and without chariots), running races, boxing, wrestling, the pentathlon (discus javelin, long jump, 200 metre sprint, wrestling). and an event called pankration. This last, the most popular of all with the spectators, was a mixture of boxing, wrestling and judo, in which everything was allowed except biting and gouging Men are known to have been strangled to death in it.
There was no marathon race (a typical bit of mod- ern romanticizing), there were no water sports, no fencing, no weightlifting, no winter sports. There were no teams: every man entered and competed as an individual. And there were no women, not even as spectators, though they were allowed to attend other ancient Games, of which there were hundreds.
Questions
1) From the first paragraph, do you get the impression that the author approves of Sostratus?
2) From paragraph four, what qualities are suggested as necessary for a successful athlete?
Please someone answer these questions.. its urgent.
Answers
Answered by
10
Answer:
Explore the Words
nadir. the lowest point of anything. ...
naive. marked by or showing unaffected simplicity. ...
naivete. lack of sophistication or worldliness. ...
narcissist. someone who is excessively self-centered. ...
narrative. consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story. ...
nascent. being born or beginning. ...
nationalism. ...
native.
Answered by
5
Explanation:
The four main types of reading habits are :-
- Skimming.
- Scanning.
- Intensive.
- Extensive.
hope it helps
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