【明報專訊】The Parade of Nations is one of the highlights of the Olympic opening ceremony. Here come the Smarties! Of course, unauthorised people are escorted away from the venue by security guards.

The 2016 Summer Olympics take place in Rio de Janeiro between August 5 and August 21. The Olympic flame arrived in Brazil on May 3 and the torch will circulate around the country in the following 95 days. About 12,000 torch bearers will take part in the relay, and the flame will pass through every state and over 300 towns before it is used to light the Olympic cauldron of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the Maracana Stadium (馬拉簡拿球場). That will mark the start of the Games.

The torch bearers will wear a white kit with yellow and green stripes. White symbolises peace and unity between different cultures, yellow the Olympic flame and green the Brazilian flag. The torches used in the Rio 2016 relay comprise different-coloured segments that open up when the flame is passed from one torch to another.

■Mission 1

The Olympic symbol cosists of five rings of the same size. Can you draw the entire symbol with one stroke?

(see the picture)

■Mission 2

It is 112 years since golf last counted as a programme in the 1904 St Louis Olympics (聖路易斯奧運會). In 2016, men and women will compete individually in the Rio Olympic Games. Which of the pictographs of events at the 2016 Rio Olympics represents golf?

(see the picture)

■Mission 3

Some unwelcomed changes were proposed regarding the sailing event in the 2016 Olympics. How did it turn out?

decide / understand / surprise / retain

In May 2012, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) voted at a meeting in Italy and 1. __________ that windsurfing (滑浪風帆) be replaced with kiteboarding (風箏滑水) in the 2016 Olympic Games. The decision 2. __________ and disappointed many in the windsurfing community. However, there was a reversal. Later in the year ISAF 3. __________ the sport for both men and women at the coming Olympics.

Israel's sailing chief Yehuda Maayan subsequently revealed that, in voting for kiteboarding, delegates probably were confused or failed to 4. __________ the motion because of ambiguous translations.

(answers on next text)

■Key words

torch bearer 火炬手

Olympic cauldron 奧運聖火盆

■English highway﹕-words and collocations

relay

A relay is a race between two or more teams where each member of a team does part of the race and then another member continues. To relay information means to communicate information to another.

e.g. MoMo was one of the representatives taking part in the 4 × 100 metres relay.

■Glossary

unauthorised (adj) 未經允許的

escort (v) 押送

circulate (v) 傳遞

segment (n) 線段

indigenous (adj) 土著的

pictograph (n) 象形文字

delegate (n) (會議的)代表

ambiguous (adj) 有歧義的、含糊的