Winter Olympics open with a bang
Edited by Kovis



The 20th Winter Olympic Games kicked off on Friday night in Turin with a spectacular star-studded ceremony.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi officially opened the country's first Winter Olympics in 50 years. The games offer 84 gold medals over seven sports.

Stefania Belmondo, Italy's most decorated winter Olympian with 10 medals, lit the cauldron with the torch which has traveled over 11, 000 km in 65 days.

Over 2,600 athletes from 80 countries will compete in skating, skiing, biathlon, luge, bobsled, curling and ice hockey. Germany, Norway and Russia are set to fight to be the world's top winter sporting nation.

The opening ceremony, an extravaganza of "Rhythm, Passion and Speed", was seen by more than two billion viewers worldwide, including 27,000 at the Olympic Stadium. The 160-minute gala and the closing ceremony are estimated to have cost 28 million euros. Over the course of the Games, about 3.2 billion television viewers will watch the competition, five percent more than the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, according to the International Olympic Committee(IOC).

As the athletes entered the stadium, Greece led the parade of delegations and host Italy entered last.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and South Korea marched together as a unified team, but compete as two separate teams.

It was the first time that the two countries had marched together during a winter games opening ceremony. Athletes from the two countries have marched under one flag at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and in Athens in 2004.

China, host to the next summer Olympics in 2008, has 78 athletes competing in 47 events. There are Chinese gold medals hopefuls in short track speed skating, speed skating, figure skating and freestyle aerials.

The highlight of the glittering show was Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who sang his celebrated "Nessun Dorma" (No One's Sleeping) as the grand finale.

Turin has spent some 3.4 billion US dollars on the Games, 18 percent over its original budget, including 126 million dollars on security.

Apart from security and weather, doping is another concern for the Winter Games.

The IOC and Italy have been clashing over drug controls. Doping is a crime in Italy but the top Olympic body regards it as a civil offense. Clashes might continue during the Games.

Fireworks light up the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games, February 10, the Olympic Stadium in Turin.

 

 

World in Pictures
Photo source: ImagineChina

	It's raining men 31国跳伞员展绝技 A group of 400 skydivers from 31 nations and the Royal Thai Air Force assemble to set a new world record for the largest formation skydive in Thailand, February 8. The record attempts were organized as part of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the coronation of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
	Big news 巨型报纸刷新吉尼斯纪录 Representatives of Guinness Book of World Records turn over the pages of "Without Censorship", a weekly Ukrainian newspaper during its presentation in Kiev February 8. This special edition measured 2.65m by 3.8 m.
	On the ball 大象"备战"世界杯 Animal keeper Michael Deike trains elephant Dame Birma to play soccer in the zoo at Magdeburg, Germany, February 7. The keepers of the pachyderms want to teach the animals a new fitness program that will be performed to the spectators.
	It's in his kiss... 5000对情侣接吻迎接情人节 A couple ignore the fireworks to kiss each other during a pre-Valentine celebration dubbed "Lovapalooza", February 11, in Manila, the Philippines. At least 2,000 couples gathered along a popular seaside walkway locked lips in a kissing festival that kicked off Valentine's Day celebrations.
	Lemon carnival 柠檬狂欢节 A man places the last fruit on a giant mask made of oranges and lemons, February 10 in Menton, southern France, before the annual lemon carnival. The theme of the 73rd lemon-fest is carnivals of the world.

 

 

World in Words
Collected & translated by Beverly

"If anyone believes that gay men can actually become ex-gay men, I have just one question for you: Would you want your daughter to marry one?"
"如果你认为同性恋可以彻底转变为异性恋, 那我只想问你一个问题: 你会让你女儿嫁给这样一个人吗? "
Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger, a Seattle weekly, expresses his opinion on a "movement" provoked by "Brokeback Mountain" to convert gay men to heterosexuality.
--丹·萨维奇(西雅图一新闻周刊《陌生人》的编辑)对于由《断臂山》引发的"感化同性恋者"活动发表了自己的看法.

"I have had a letter from the director of the museum, and he has written to ask me not to visit the museum again in the near future."
"我收到了馆长的来信, 他让我近期不要再光临博物馆了. "
Nick Flynn, who tripped, fell down a staircase and smashed three rare Chinese vases when visiting the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
--英国一男子尼克·弗林在参观剑桥菲兹威廉姆博物馆时, 脚下一绊, 从楼梯上跌倒, 将三个珍贵的中国花瓶撞个粉碎.

"We want to create an oasis of sunshine in the darkness of winter. "
"我们希望在冬季的黑暗中制造出一片阳光绿洲. "
Pierfranco Midali, mayor of Viganella, Italy. Viganella nestles in a valley so sheer that it hardly gets any sunshine in the winter and the government is planning to put a mirror on the mountain to reflect the sun's rays.
--意大利维格尼拉镇镇长皮耶弗兰克·米达利这样说道. 维格尼拉村深居山谷腹地, 冬日里鲜有阳光, 因此当地政府计划在山头立一面大镜子以反射光线.

"Excellence comes in many unusual ways."
"优等生总是各优其优的. "
A higher education commission named by the Bush administration is exploring a nationwide standard for performance comparison purposes, but educators are wary of it.
--由布什政府组建的一高等教育委员会正在探求一种全国性的标准来衡量学生的表现, 对此教育工作者们持谨慎态度.

 

Vocabulary
star-studded 星光灿烂的
cauldron 大汽锅
biathlon 滑雪和射击
luge 平底雪橇
bobsled 长橇
ice hockey 冰球
extravaganza 盛会
gala 盛会
speed skating 速滑
figure skating 花样滑冰
grand finale 高潮
doping 兴奋剂