The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games

Do you know when and where the next Olympic Games will be held? D you know how the Olympic Games began?

ANCIENT 

The beginning

Three thousand years ago people came from all over Greece to attend a special festival at Olympia. There were celebrations and races. As time passed, the races grew bigger and more events were included, such as wrestling, discus and javelin throwing, and chariot racing. These events were only for men.

A time of peace

 The games were held every four years, like they are today. During the games any Greek cities who were at war with each other agreed to stop fighting. As soon as the games finished, they began fighting again!
 

Parades

 At the beginning of the games, athletes took part in a parade on the way to the sports stadium. Thousands of people lined the streets to cheer them. A trumpet was used to start each event.

Winner takes all

 Only the winner of each event won a prize. Athletes in second and third place got nothing. The winner was awarded a wreath made of laurel leaves to wear round his head.

MODERN

 

The modern Olympics

The modern Olympics are held every four years and are open to every country of the world. Baron Pierre de Coubertin first had the idea for the modern Olympic Games. He held a planning meeting in Paris in 1894 and two years later, in 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens. This city was chosen because Greece was the original home of the Olympics. Only twelve countries attended, and took part in the different sports. Many of the competitors just happened to be in Greece at the time and did not go specially for the games!

The marathon 

The history of the marathon race is very interesting. Many years ago the Greeks of Athens won a great battle at a place called Marathon; which was about 42 kilometres away from the city. A messenger was ordered to take the news of the victory to the city. Although he was already exhausted from the battle, the messenger ran the whole way. As he arrived in the city, he cried out the good news -and then fell down dead! Today marathon runners must still run 42 kilometres from start to finish .

The flag

 

T-he Olympic Flag shows five rings linked together. The rings stand for the five continents -Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australasia. Each ring is a different colour. They are linked together to show that people from all five continents are joined together in peaceful and friendly competition.

The flame

At every opening ceremony, an athlete runs into the stadium carrying the Olympic Flame. The flame is lit at Olympia in Greece and is then carried to wherever the Games are being held. Special torches are used to keep the flame alight. The torch is used to light a big Olympic Flame which is then kept alight all through the Games. It is a great honour to be chosen to carry the Olympic Flame into the stadium and to light the Olympic Flame there.

THE PARALYMPIC GAMES

What are they?

The Paralympic Games are like the Olympic Games except that they are for

people with disabilities. They, too, take place every four years. The Paralympic Games started as a small event and got bigger and bigger.
 

When did they begin?

The first Games were held in 1948 when patients from a hospital in England, competed with other patients from other hospitals. Most of the competitors were in wheelchairs.
 

The Games get bigger

In 1976 the Games were enlarged to include blind people and people without arms and legs, but it wasn't until 1988 that the Games became really international. For the first time the Games were televised and seen all over the world.

The Games today

Today, over 3,500 atheletes from 100 countries take part in the Paralympic Games. Events include archery, basketball, athletics, swlmming and 'goalball' -a version of football played by blind people.

The history of New York

The history of New York

Where is New York? Do you know anything about its history?

Introduction

New York is the biggest city in the United States of America. More than eight million people live and work in New York. Another ten million people live very near to the city and travel to work there every day. NewYork is one of the most important cities in the world. It is a centre forbusiness.

 It is also a centre for music and art. New York has many famous buildings and places of interest. But New York is also exciting and important because of its people. They come from many different countries of the world. Let us look at this unusual city.

The Indians and the Dutch

The first people in New York were the native Americans. They lived on Manhattan Island at the mouth of a river. The island had a beautiful harbour. The native Americans killed animals and then sold their fur.

One day, in 1609, a ship came into the harbour. It was a Dutch ship and its captain was Henry Hudson. He met the native Americans and they sold him some fur.

Hudson returned to the Netherlands. He described the harbour and he showed the fur. After that, many Dutch ships went to Manhattan island to buy fur.

In 1626, one of the Dutch leaders bought Manhattan Island from the native Americans. He gave them about twenty four dollars.

New Amsterdam and New York

Some Dutch people stayed on Manhattan Island and built small houses near the harbour. They called their little town New Amsterdam after the town of the same name in Holland. Other Europeans bought land from the Dutch and built houses there, too. In 1643, about five hundred people

lived in New Amsterdam. They spoke eighteen different languages. Most of them traded with the native Americans.

At that time the English had land on Manhattan Island but they also wanted to control the town and the harbour as well. One day, in 1664, an English ship sailed into the harbour, ready to fight the Dutch. The Dutch handed over the little town to the English. The English changed the name of the town from New Amsterdam to New York.

Independence

 In 1775, the English needed money. Many ships sailed from England to North America. Some carried glass. Others carried paper and tea. The English made the people in America, including those in New York, pay a tax on these things. This made them very angry. 'Why must we pay taxes to the government in England?' they asked. The people were so angry that they started a war against the English. They wanted to become free of the English.

The War of Independence began in 1776. The Americans had a great leader -George Washington. He became General Washington. Later, he became the first president of the United States of America. The Americans finally beat the English in 1783.

The Immigrants

After the War of Independence in 1776, people came to America from all parts of the world. They wanted to live in the new country. They came by ship to New York. Some ships carried more than a thousand immigrants. At first most of the people who lived in New York were from England and Scotland. Soon many new immigrants came from Germany, Ireland and Italy. Many Jewish people came, too. By 1890, New York had more immigrants than any other city in the world. In one year 1907 -1,285,349 people arrived in New York. Some of the immigrants went to other parts of the United States. But most of them stayed in New York. There were many problems. The immigrants in New York had no money and did not speak English. But usually immigrants from the same country lived close together. They helped each other. These new Americans worked very hard. Today New York has an interesting mix of people and customs.

The poachers

The poachers

By the light of the moon three dark shadowy figures were crossing the river on a raft. They did not want to be seen. Who were they? Where were they going?

A great river formed the border between two countries. By the light of the moon three men were crossing the dark water on a small raft. The river was wide but the current was not strong. The river bank was thick with trees. No one had seen the men arrive and make camp a few days earlier. A river patrol


 boat that passed each afternoon had not seen them nor had the ranger's plane that flew along the border. For three days the men had camped and slept in the thick woodland. This was the third time they had made a night crossing on the river.

All three men were wearing camouflage clothing. Two of them paddled the raft while their leader studied the bank they were heading for with powerful binoculars. These had lenses that made it possible for him to see in the dark. There were three hunting rifles, boxes of cartridges, an axe and some rubber torches wrapped in plastic on the deck of the raft.

The three men landed the raft down-river from a crescent-shaped bay. Up river, in the muddy water, five or six elephants were drinking and bathing. The men stepped ashore carrying the rifles and lay down to wait behind a bush. Two were boys rather than men. When the elephants moved off, after about half an hour, the leader kept on watching the bay. A few smaller animals came down to drink. Another hour went by before he saw what he wanted.

'Here they come!' he whispered to the boys. 'Pass me my rifle, Ochola.' One of the boys handed the leader his gun. The boy seemed very nervous. A female black rhino came down to the river bank pushing her calf ahead of her towards the water. The leader began to crawl towards the two animals. The boys followed him.

The rhinos finished drinking and moved back to the open grassland. Some time later, the big female sensed danger. She stopped eating and sniffed the air. The only sound came from her calf, eating the grass. But something seemed not quite right. The mother animal snorted and moved off, pushing the calf ahead of her. They pushed their way through some thick thorn bushes. There was good grass on the other side.

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The calf began to eat at once, but the mother remained alert, sniffing the cool night air for the smells of danger. She could hear nothing that alarmed her. She relaxed a little and started to feed. The animals did not know that the three poachers were now only a few paces away from them.

Then everything went wrong. First, from quite nearby, there was a human cry of pain. The rhino gave a snort of alarm which sent her calf charging off into the darkness. The mother lowered her massive horns, and charged towards the place where the cry had come from. Then two loud bangs shattered the silence. A bullet smashed into the rhino's chest. A second bullet went into her side just behind her right foreleg. She fell over, dead, but still moving forward.

Then there was the sound of an angry human voice shouting, 'Get the calf, Ochola! Get the calf, you fools! Which of you yelled out like that?'

'I couldn't help it. I trod on a thorn!' Ochola shouted back.Clumsy young fool! Get the calf!' 

Ochola went after the calf. By the light of their torches, the leader and Akim, the other boy, began to cut off the rhino's horn with the axe. The calf did not go far. It was frightened by the men's voices and the sounds of the gun. Eventually it would return to its mother. Rhino calves hate to be separated from their mothers. The men would shoot the calf when Ochola found it.

In a few minutes the horn had been cut from the mother rhino. It was placed in a leather hunting bag. 'It's a beauty!' whispered the leader. 'That makes five good horns in three nights. Excellent work! Now where's that fool Ochola gone?' He put down his torch and began to search the bushes with his special binoculars.

Ochola followed the calf's tracks until he thought he heard a snort up ahead of him. He put his torch in his pocket and gripped his rifle. Then he began to move forward, one step at a time. He eased off the safety catch

and placed his forefinger gently on the trigger, straining to catch the faintest sound. Then he froze. Six powerful lights cut through the darkness. A voice rang out through a loud-hailer, 'Throw down your rifle and put up your hands!' Ochola threw down his rifle and put his hands in the air. He had walked into a trap set by the game warden and his men.

The leader started to run towards the river clutching the bag with the precious horn to his chest. Akim, the other boy, threw down his gun and ran after him. Lights were following them and the voice from the loud-hailer was ordering them to stop. 'Run!' yelled the leader.

'They can't follow us across the border. They can't break the law!' The fleeing poachers had an advantage. They knew where they were going and knew the path to the river. Behind them the game warden and his men shouted to each other as they stumbled through the darkness.

'Come on!' shouted the leader, gasping to catch his breath. 'Once we're across the river we're safe. Look! There's the raft!' He laughed out loud as they paddled the raft quickly away into the darkness. 'We're safe!' he shouted. 'They can't arrest us now!'

They had almost reached the middle of the river when the spotlight from the patrol launch shone down on them. They had been paddling straight into the arms of the waiting rangers. Rifles pointed at them from the deck.

'Come aboard,' ordered a senior ranger, 'or I'll sink you.' 'It looks as if we're sunk already,' snarled the leader, putting up his hands.

Thinking of others

Thinking of others

Think of some ways you have helped others today

There was once a man called Ali who was travelling home with his friends through a hot, dry land. It was the hottest month of the summer. On their way they met a poor stranger, dressed in rags. He was hungry and thirsty and had no money. He asked if he could join them. The travellers felt sorry for him. They welcomed him, gave him a drink and continued their journey through the desert. 

It was not long before they lost their way. The sun beat down even harder. The ground became more sandy and dusty. There were no rivers or springs in sight. There were no water wells nearby. Soon their water began to run out. The situation was bad. They decided that the only way to survive was to ration the water that was left between them. Each day, each person drank just one small cupful when they stopped for the night.

One evening, when it was Ali's turn to drink, he noticed the stranger staring at him. He immediately turned to the water-carrier and said to him, 'Give my water to my brother, the stranger.' The stranger drank Ali's share of the water, for he was very thirsty. Ali had nothing to drink.

The next day the same thing happened again. The stranger drank the water and Ali had none. Day after day it happened and each day Ali gave toe stranger his water. Each day Ali became weaker and weaker.

One morning, the stranger called Ali to tell him it was time to get up and get on his camel. 'Get up, Ali. We are not far from water now. Soon you will be able to drink as much water as you like,' he said. Ali's friends looked at the stranger curiously. 'How do you know we are not far from water?' they asked. The stranger smiled. He picked Ali up and put him on a camel. 'Follow me,' he told Ali's friends. They walked for a few kilometres. Then they stopped in astonishment. The stranger had repaid Ali's kindness. He had led them to an oasis!