话说“奥运会”

（选自《英语世界》2012年第8期）

 文/王逢鑫

奥林匹克运动会，简称“奥运会”，英语是 Olympic Games 或 the Games of the Olympiad，简称 Olympics。Olympic是形容词，Olympics是名词，都源自Olympia（奥林匹亚），古希腊每四年举行一次奥林匹克运动会的地方。现在人们仍沿用Olympiad这个词，例如：

1. The Olympic Games are a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. 奥运会是一个以夏季和冬季体育运动为特点的重大国际赛事，有成千上万名运动员参加各种各样的比赛。

2. The first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to over 2,700 years ago. The Greeks held the first Olympic Games in the year 776 B.C., and had only one event, a sprint which was a short run. The original Olympiad was celebrated as a religious festival, which was dedicated to Zeus and staged in Olympia. The Olympiad was held for almost 1,200 years until 393 A.D., when Roman Emperor Theodosius I said it had become “too pagan” and he banned all pagan festivals. 第一届古代奥运会可以追溯到2700多年以前。希腊人在公元前776年举行了第一届奥运会，但只有一项赛事，就是短跑。原来的奥运会是作为一个宗教节日而设立的，敬献给宙斯神，在奥林匹亚举行。奥运会举办了将近1200年，直到公元393年。那时，罗马帝国皇帝狄奥多西一世说奥运会已变得“太异教化”，他封禁了所有的异教节日。

1896年，第一届现代奥运会在雅典举行，以后每四年举行一次。组织者是国际奥林匹克委员会简称“国际奥委会”，（the International Olympic Committee，简称IOC），例如：

3. The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. 1894年，皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦寻求通过体育比赛促进国际间理解，于是创建了现代奥运会。

4. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on June 23, 1894. 国际奥林匹克委员会（国际奥委会）是皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦于1894年6月23日创立的一个国际组织，总部位于瑞士洛桑。

5. The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896. Since then, Olympic Games have been held every four years, except for interruptions of World Wars. 第一届现代奥运会于1896年在雅典举行。自那时起，除了因两次世界大战中断以外，奥运会每四年举行一次。

奥林匹克运动会分为夏季奥运会（Summer Olympic Games或Summer Olympics）和冬季奥运会（Winter Olympic Games或Winter Olympics）。人们说的“奥运会”通常指夏季奥运会，冬季奥运会简称为“冬奥会”，例如：

6. The 29th Summer Olympic Games were successfully held from August 8 to 24, 2008, in Beijing, China. 第29届夏季奥运会于2008年8月8日至24日在中国北京成功举行。

7. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. The event was declared the first Winter Games after the fact. 第一届冬奥会于1924年在法国夏摩尼举行。那次赛事结束之后，才被宣称为第一届冬奥会。

每届夏季奥运会后接着举行残疾人奥林匹克运动会，简称“残奥会”，英语是Paralympic Games或Paralympics，例如：

8. The Paralympic Games are major international multi-sports events where athletes with a physical disability compete. The Paralympics are held once every four years in the same year as the Olympics. 残奥会是一个多项目重大国际体育赛事，由身体残疾的运动员进行比赛。残奥会每四年一届，与奥运会在同一年举行。

9. In 1948, the first International Games for the Disabled were held at Stoke Mandeville, Britain. Archery was the sport chosen to inaugurate this International Games for athletes with a disability. 1948年，第一届国际残疾人运动会在英国斯托克曼德维尔举行。射箭被选为这次国际残疾人运动会的开场项目。

10. Today, the Paralympic Games are elite sports events for athletes from six different disability groups. They emphasize the participants’ athletic achievements rather than their disability. 今天，残奥会是来自六类不同残疾人群体的运动员的精英竞技体育赛事。残奥会强调的是参与者的体育成绩，而不是他们的残疾。

2012年夏季奥运会（the 2012 Summer Olympic Games）的正式名称是第30届奥运会（the Games of the XXX Olympiad）或 2012年伦敦奥运会（London 2012 Olympic Games）。概况简述如下：

11. The Games of the XXX Olympiad will open on July 27, and close on August 12, 2012, in London. Then London will play host to the Olympic Games for the third time. It means that London will become the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times. As in 1908 and 1948, the world’s finest athletes will be coming to Britain that invented modern sports and the concept of fair play. 第30届奥运会将于2012年在伦敦举行，7月27日开幕，8月12日闭幕。届时，伦敦将第三次主办奥运会。这意味着伦敦将成为第一个三次主办现代奥运会的城市。如同在1908年和1948年一样，全世界最优秀的运动员将汇聚英国，这个创立了现代体育运动和公平竞赛理念的国度。

12. The 2012 Summer Olympic programme features 26 sports and a total of 38 disciplines. The upcoming Games will feature athletes from all over the world and help promote the Olympic spirit. 2012年夏季奥运会比赛项目包括26个大项和共计38个分项。即将到来的奥运会将有来自全世界各地的运动员参加，这有助于推广奥林匹克精神。

13. The Paralympics Games are planned to follow the Olympic Games running from August 29 to September 9, 2012. It will mark the return of the Paralympics Games to the country of their birth. 按计划，残奥会将紧随奥运会，于2012年8月29日至9月9日举行。这标志着残奥会将回归其诞生的国度。

14. The London 2012 Olympic Games logo was designed by Wolff Olins. It is a representation of the number 2012, with the Olympic Rings embedded within the zero. For the first time, the same logo is to be used for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 2012年伦敦奥运会会徽是由沃尔夫·奥林斯公司设计的。会徽是代表“2012”四个数字的图形，而奥林匹克五环标志包在数字0之内。同一个会徽同时用于奥运会和残奥会尚属首次。

15. Wenlock and Mandeville are the official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. They are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named Wenlock, after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Mandeville, after Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where the Paralympic Games were first held. “文洛克”和“曼德维尔”是2012年夏季奥运会和残奥会的官方吉祥物。这两个动漫形象描绘的是位于博尔顿的一座炼钢厂的两滴钢水。它们分别被命名为“文洛克”（对现代奥运会具有启发作用的运动会曾在什罗普郡的马奇文洛克镇举办）和“曼德维尔”（残奥会性质的比赛曾首次在白金汉郡的斯托克曼德维尔村举办）。

16. The Olympic spirit requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words: “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, which means “Faster, Higher and Stronger”. The Olympic creed reads:“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.” 奥林匹克精神要求相互理解与友谊、团结和公平竞赛的精神。奥林匹克格言由“Citius, Altius, Fortius”三个拉丁词构成，其含义是“更快、更高、更强”。奥林匹克信条是“奥运会最重要的不是输赢，而是参与；正如人生最重要的不是胜利，而是拼搏。” □