[by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.16]Olympic athletes, high-level officials and other people [00:04.24]have been arriving in Rio de Janeiro [00:07.12]for the opening of the 2016 summer games. [00:11.28]The opening ceremony is Friday night, local time, [00:16.28]but some events already started. [00:19.76]The first medals will be awarded on Saturday. [00:24.04]The Rio Olympics officially begin Friday, [00:28.60]when the Olympic torch is carried into Maracana Stadium to light the Olympic cauldron. [00:35.24]The cauldron will stay lit for over two weeks until the closing ceremony on August 21. [00:43.92]During that period, 301 gold medals will be awarded to the winners. [00:50.76]At the last summer Olympics, the 2012 London games, [00:56.12]the United States won 46 gold medals and 104 medals in all. [01:03.56]China was second, with 38 gold medals and a total of 88. [01:10.12]Britain finished in third place, with Russia in fourth. [01:15.48]One major question this year is: [01:18.80]How many medals will Russia win at the Rio games? [01:23.33]Just before the Olympics started, [01:26.64]the International Olympic Committee (IOC) [01:29.16]considered banning every member of Russia's team because of a doping scandal. [01:35.28]Investigators for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) [01:40.16]found evidence of Russian athletes [01:42.88]using unapproved substances at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. [01:49.48]And the agency accused the Russian government of being involved and covering up the activity. [01:57.64]But in the end, the IOC decided not to ban [02:02.12]all 387 Russian qualifiers for the Rio games. [02:07.44]Many Russian athletes will have a chance to compete. [02:12.40]But most of the country's track and field athletes [02:16.16]were banned by the International Association of Athletics Federation. [02:22.76]At a meeting in Rio this week, [02:25.36]WADA and the IOC criticized each other. [02:30.08]WADA officials said the IOC should have banned all the Russian Olympians. [02:37.00]The IOC said WADA should have acted faster on the allegations of Russian cheating. [02:44.60]More than 10,000 men and women from over 200 nations [02:49.68]will compete at Rio de Janeiro. [02:52.76]The first medals, in men's cycling and women's shooting, [02:57.80]will be awarded on Saturday. [03:00.80]Chris Froome, who won the Tour de France last month, will be representing Britain. [03:06.96]American swimmer Michael Phelps has won the most Olympic medals ever. [03:12.76]He has 22 medals, including 18 golds. [03:17.68]He will carry the flag of the United States at the opening ceremony on Friday. [03:24.80]Aside from the question of which country will win the most medals, [03:29.16]some people are worried about the health of the competitors. [03:33.68]Athletes are being careful about the time they spend out of doors [03:39.48]because of concerns about the Zika virus. [03:43.60]Zika spreads when mosquitos bite human skin. [03:48.56]The virus is linked to microcephaly, [03:51.40]a birth defect in which a baby's head is smaller [03:54.88]than the heads of other children of the same age and sex. [04:00.12]Olympic organizers say they are not overly concerned about Zika [04:05.32]since the games take place during Rio de Janeiro's winter. [04:10.96]Athletes competing in water events, like open-water swimming, [04:15.56]rowing and sailing are concerned about polluted water. [04:21.24]The Associated Press reports that those athletes run a high risk of getting sick. [04:28.33]Water at some of the competition areas is polluted by untreated waste water. [04:35.20]It contains bacteria and viruses carried by human waste. [04:41.22]While some athletes will wear gloves or other protection, [04:46.24]it will be hard for the open-water swimmers [04:49.44]to keep water from getting into their mouths. [04:53.64]Yet Olympic organizers say athletes will not get sick. [04:59.16]April Ross is an American beach volleyball player. [05:03.84]She is excited about the chance to compete [05:07.04]on the famous Copacabana beach. [05:09.88]"I think it's awesome to be playing on an actual beach," Ross said. [05:15.68]But medical experts have warned [05:18.96]that even the sand from coastal areas carries viruses. [05:24.43]Ross is one of 292 women on the U.S. Olympic team. [05:30.64]The number of women on Team USA (292) is greater than the number of men (263). [05:36.72]Some of the strongest and most successful Americans at the games may be women. [05:43.40]Swimmer Katie Ledecky is a world record holder in two Olympic events [05:49.96]and won the 800-meter freestyle event in London. [05:54.02]The USA women's soccer team has won three gold medals in the past three summer Olympics. [06:02.80]The women's basketball team is trying for its sixth straight gold medal. [06:09.08]Women will also be part of the first-ever refugee Olympic team. [06:14.96]Ten athletes from countries like South Sudan, Syria, [06:19.60]Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia will compete under the Olympic flag. [06:26.40]Four of them are women, including Yusra Mardini, [06:30.76]a Syrian refugee now living in Germany. [06:34.68]She and her sister swam across the Aegean Sea [06:39.12]when the motor on their boat failed late last year. [06:42.12]She and the other refugees were rescued [06:45.48]and taken to a Greek island, and settled in Germany last year. [06:50.56]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM