Countryside walk

Yesterday on our walk with the friends, we came across a group playing polo. Polo is a team sports played outdoors on horsebacks. It is like football game, and is closer to Hockey game. Nowadays it seems more like a noble sport. Try to find a group of horses from the first picture taken there. The shirts worn by polo players evolved to popular polo shirts.

medal tally by polulation

http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics.html

The games without advertisements

From the beginning to the end, no advertisement at all, at every venue.

信源：法国《费加罗报》｜

谁是本届奥运会上最成功的国家？说起这一话题，人们自然都会把眼光转向奖牌榜，似乎有了这一评判标准，谁优谁劣，一眼间高下立判。然而事实上，国际奥委会并没有给出任何官方的国家排名，这也让各个国家出现了不同的排名系统，法国《费加罗报》就对这一现象给出了分析。
文中表示，在法国、英国和中国，人们遵循的依然是“金牌榜”。因此，目前获得金牌数几乎达到美国两倍的中国当仁不让的占据了老大的位置，美国只能屈居第二。而法国因为仅仅获得四枚金牌，在榜单上名列第十一位。

然而来到美国，一切都变了。根据CNN或是《纽约时报》的说法，目前的头名是美国，而中国，英国与法国分列二到四位。原因何在？因为美国人与全世界其他国家使用的排名统计系统有分歧，大多数国家运用了奥组委公布的“仅供信息参考”的金牌榜作为参照系统，尽管依据奥林匹克博爱和人道主义的精神，这并不是一个官方排名——体育不分国界。但在美国本土，总奖牌榜才是人们所关心的。

《费加罗》报指出，现代奥运会已经不仅仅是体育的竞争，更是一种区域政治力量之间的较量。每个国家都为自己的代表团定下了奖牌目标，体育对于国家实力的展现使这一竞争变得尤为引人关注。对于92年奥运会上无可争议的领头羊美国来说，他们发现自己的霸主地位在今年已经被中国运动员撼动。为了不让自己“降级”，他们改变了排名策略，开始使用总奖牌榜取代金牌榜，这使他们得以凭借 65块奖牌超越获得了61块奖牌的中国，也避免了将世界体育最强国的地位在本届奥运会上拱手让给中国的尴尬。

美国的ABC电视台还出台了一种更“新颖”的算法，他们将从1906年以来历史上获得过的所有奖牌数相加。如此一来，获得过897块金牌，共2197块奖牌的美国足可以高枕无忧了，要知道即使是第二位的前苏联也对这一纪录望尘莫及，他们仅仅获得过440块金牌，1122块奖牌。至于中国，在排名榜上仅列第13位，金牌总数和奖牌总数分别为112与286枚。

有意思的是美国人在这个问题上没与国际接轨，欧洲人也不服气，他们拿出了自己的解决办法——有网站将整个欧盟看作一个区域来统计。于是，到目前为止已经获得了51块的金牌，161块奖牌的“欧洲”终于可以长出一口气，笑傲世界体育之巅了。

（The news is in Chinese. Sorry for English readers.)

Enjoy the Nature

This small snail was found in the fridge. After his hibernation, it seemed very excited to be waken up! Hope he is now enjoying the new life with his many siblings in the garden downstairs.





The double rainbow appeared after the afternoon shower last weekend.

MICHAEL PHELPS' DIET

Michael Phelps: American Swimmer, won six gold medals so far


Breakfast:
Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee

Lunch:
Half-kilogramme (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks

Dinner:
Half-kilogramme of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks

Total calary intake: 12000 kcal (normally, one needs 2000 kcal)


My goodness! One Phelps is enough! Otherwise, who knows how high food price will soar up to?

The Games

I have to say that I am very excited for the Olympic Game this year. It is not only because I am a Chinese but also I have seen that how hard this country has worked for this day and how much pressure every people has experienced. This country really wants to cut itself off from the memory of that once being humiliated for years during the last century, in a peaceful way.

Westerners are impressed by the grandness of the Opening ceremony while Chinese consider it too lavish. I would say that, no matter what, it is a truthful ceremony. Good or bad, this is what it is like now.