●     内容： 一篇简化的历史科普文章，介绍古代奥运会与现代奥运会的起源与发展，包含具体的年份与历史事件。

●     选材理由： 体育是中学学生普遍感兴趣的领域。历史主题能够自然地大量使用一般过去时。同时，文章中如“The games were held...”这样的句子能有效引入被动语态，与中学二年级的语法要求相匹配。

●     语法重点： 一般过去时，被动语态。

●     拓展建议： 教师可以提供一个图表，让学生根据课文内容填写不同时期奥运会的特点，锻炼他们的信息提取与归纳能力。

课文：

The first Olympic Gameswere held in ancient Greece in 776 BC. The games were part of a religiousfestival to honor the Greek gods. Only men were allowed to compete. The winnerswere given a crown of olive leaves. The games were stopped for a long time, butthey were brought back in 1896 by a French educator named Pierre de Coubertin.This was the first modern Olympic Games. Since then, the games have been heldevery four years. Many new sports were added, and women were finally allowed toparticipate. The games were hosted by different countries around the world. Forexample, the 1964 games were held in Tokyo.10Today, the Olympics are a global event watched by billions ofpeople. They are designed to bring people together in peace.