Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense

Unitate: The Olympic Games

There are many different stories about the beginning of the Olympics.
One myth says that Zeus, the supreme god of the Ancient Greeks,
started the Games to celebrate his victory over his father Cronus for
control of the World. Another tradition says that after the Greek hero
Pelops won a chariot race against King Oenomaus to marry
Oenomauss daughter Hippodamia, he established the Games.
The first official ancient Olympic games took place in 776 BC and since
then they were held every four years. During the games all Greeks
respected an agreement called Sacred Truce. According to this
agreement, the entire region of Olympia was proclaimed sacred, and
military forces were banned from its soil.

The first Olympic games included only a footrace. The pentathlon and
wrestling were the first new sports to be added, in the 18th Olympiad.
There were rules about who could compete in the Olympics. Anyone
who was free-born Greek could take part. Barbarians, slaves and
women were not allowed to compete. Not only that women were not
permitted to compete, married women were also barred from
attending the games under penalty of death. However, not married
women were allowed to attend.

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

But, women had their own competitions in that time. The most
important was a maidens footrace in honour of the goddess Hera.
There were 3 separate races for girls, teenagers, and young women.
The winners received olive crowns.
The winners of the Olympic games also received olive crowns, but
beside that, they had their statue set up at Olympia. The winners were
treated almost in the same way as todays sports stars. They had free
meals at public expense, best places in theatres and were celebrated
by the people of their community.
Besides benefits for the best athletes, there were some penalties for
those who broke the established rules. There were judges who decided
which punishment was suitable for each offence. All kinds of cheating
were punished. Bribes were one of the most common. They were also
fined for avoiding the compulsory training period at Olympia and for
cowardice.
The Ancient Olympic games were held for the last time in 393 AD,
since the Byzantine emperor Theodosius I forbade their celebration
after this time. It took more than 15 centuries for the Olympic games
to be revived in 1896 in Athens.

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

Vocabulary
Nouns (substantive):
homeland - patrie
chariot - car de lupt n
antichitate care sau
folosit i la ntreceri
Sacred Truce - Armistiiu
Sacru
agreement - nelegere
soil - pmnt
footrace - ntrecere la
alergare
pentathlon - pentatlon
wrestling - lupt
Barbarian - barbar
slave - sclav
penalty - pedeaps
maiden - prieten,
logodnic

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Verbs (verbe):
refer to - a se referi la
revive - a renvia
hold - a ine
proclaim - a proclama
ban - a interzice
allow - a permite
permit - a permite
compete -a se ntrece
bar - a interzice
attend - a participa
set up - a pune,a instala
treat - a trata
fine - a amenda
forbid - a interzice

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

goddess zei
crown - coroan
expense - cheltuial
community - comunitate
benefit - beneficiu
offence - nclcare
cheating - minciun
bribe - mit
avoiding - evitare
cowardice - la
emperor mprat
Adjectives and adverbs
(adjective i adverbe):
supreme - de vrf
ancient - antic
official - oficial
entire - tot, ntreg
suitable - corespunztor
compulsory - obligatoriu

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Prepositions and
conjunctions
(prepoziii i conjuncii):
according to - ctre

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

EIN_02_07_C_Intermediate_TheOlympicGame
s
1. Stabilii care din urmtoarele afirmaii sunt corecte
(TRUE)sau incorecte (FALSE).
Rspunsuri oferite: TRUE, FALSE
We don`t know for sure the origin of the Olympic games.
________
During the Olympic games only free-born Greeks were
allowed to be involved in a war. ________
Married women participated in Olympic games in three
separate races. ________
2. Stabilii care din urmtoarele afirmaii sunt corecte
(TRUE)sau incorecte (FALSE).
Rspunsuri oferite: TRUE, FALSE
Today`s sports stars are not celebrated enough. ________
Competitors were supposed to obey many rules. ________
Winners of the Olympic games could only be free-born
Greeks. ________
If you were a coward, you had to avoid the compulsory
training period. ________
3. Marcai rspunsul corect. The stories about the beginning of
the Olympics aren`t:
a) various.
b) all true.
c) based on myths.
4. Marcai rspunsul corect. Sacred Truce:
a) proclaimed military forces sacred.

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

b) banned the agreement which everybody respected.

c) was a form of law against wars.
5. Marcai rspunsul corect. Married women couldn`t:
a) get olive crowns because they couldn`t compete.
b) compete because they couldn`t get olive crowns.
c) attend the Games because they were slaves.
6. Marcai rspunsul corect. Theodosius I:
a) was interested in the Olympics.
b) was celebrated the Olympics.
c) didn`t think well of the Olympics.
7. Gsii rspunsul corect la ntrebare. Who was Cronus?
a) The man who fought against his son.
b) One of the Ancient Greek gods.
c) Ancient Greek hero.
8. Gsii rspunsul corect la ntrebare. Who couldn`t compete
in the Olympic games?
a) Greeks who weren`t free-born.
b) Men who were married.
c) Men who weren`t married.
9. Gsii rspunsul corect la ntrebare. What didn`t the
winners of the Olympics get?
a) Their statue at Olympia.
b) Free meals.
c) Penalties.

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

1. Stabilii care din urmtoarele afirmaii sunt corecte

(TRUE)sau incorecte (FALSE).
TRUE, FALSE, ,
2. Stabilii care din urmtoarele afirmaii sunt corecte
(TRUE)sau incorecte (FALSE).
TRUE, , FALSE, FALSE,
3. Marcai rspunsul corect. The stories about the beginning of
the Olympics aren`t:
b
4. Marcai rspunsul corect. Sacred Truce:
c
5. Marcai rspunsul corect. Married women couldn`t:
a
6. Marcai rspunsul corect. Theodosius I:
c
7. Gsii rspunsul corect la ntrebare. Who was Cronus?
b
8. Gsii rspunsul corect la ntrebare. Who couldn`t compete
in the Olympic games?
a
9. Gsii rspunsul corect la ntrebare. What didn`t the
winners of the Olympics get?
c

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

EIN_02_07_V_Intermediate_TheOlympicGam
esRO
1. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
Rspunsuri oferite: held, competed, treated, forbidden
Olympic games are ________
every forth year. ________
2. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
Rspunsuri oferite: fined, proclaimed, forbidden, permitted
If you break the rules, you`ll be ________
3. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
Rspunsuri oferite: bribe, cheating, agreement, penalty
What`s the ________
for breaking the rules? ________
4. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
Rspunsuri oferite: ban, bar, proclaim, allow
You shouldn`t ________
your child to be rude to you. ________
5. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
Rspunsuri oferite: official, suitable, entire, compulsory
In our country, primary school is ________
6. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
Rspunsuri oferite: agreement, slave, emperor, homeland
The ________

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

of tea is India. ________

7. Legai cuvintele.
a) military
b) free-born
c) Olympic
d) olive
e)

a) Greek
b) forces
c)
d) games
e) crown

8. Legai cuvintele.
a)
b) Sacred
c) home
d) chariot
e) supreme

a)
b) race
c) land
d) god
e) Truce

9. Completai propoziiile cu cuvintele potrivite.

Rspunsuri oferite: permit, penalty, slaves, homeland
Almost every man who lives abroad longs to return to his
________
Before the Civil War in America black people were ________
I will not ________
you do that. It`s forbidden. If you do it, you`ll earn yourself a
________
10. Completai propoziiile cu cuvintele potrivite.
Rspunsuri oferite: slaves, banned, ancient, supreme
The ________
god of the Romans was Jupiter. In ________
times, people used to believe in many gods. In many
countries smoking is ________
in public places. ________

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Curs: English - Intermediate

Modul: Past Simple Tense
Unitate: The Olympic Games

1. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.

held, competed, held, held, held
2. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
fined, proclaimed, fined, fined, fined
3. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
bribe, cheating, bribe, bribe, bribe
4. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
ban, bar, ban, ban, ban
5. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
official, suitable, official, official, official
6. Completai propoziia cu cuvntul corespunztor.
agreement, slave, agreement, agreement, agreement
7. Legai cuvintele.
ab, ba, cd, de, ec
8. Legai cuvintele.
aa, be, cc, db, ed
9. Completai propoziiile cu cuvintele potrivite.
permit, penalty, slaves, homeland,
10. Completai propoziiile cu cuvintele potrivite.
slaves, banned, ancient, supreme, slaves

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