北京奥运开幕式的英文新闻

The Beijing Olympics got under way in spectacular fashion today with a lavish opening ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium.

The event mixed China's millennia of history and hi-tech present as a modern global powerhouse.

The four-hour event, meticulously choreographed by Zhang Yimou, China's most celebrated film director, ended with the final torch bearer, the former Olympic gymnastics champion Li Ning, being hoisted aloft by invisible wires.

In the style of one of Zhang's martial arts films, he then "ran" along the rim of the stadium's roof before igniting the vast Olympic cauldron as thousands of fireworks lit up the skyline.

But however spellbinding the show, it remained clear that pressure over human rights and other political issues would not disappear as organisers had hoped.

A pro-Tibet group said it had unsuccessfully tried to stage a protest at the ceremony, while demonstrators marched on Chinese embassies in several other countries.

In front of a crowd of 91,000, among them more than 80 heads of state, the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, launched the event to a huge cheer.

Marking the culmination of seven years' work including a comprehensive, and at times controversial, revamping and clean-up of the Beijing, the ceremony kicked off a Games billed as China's coming out party as a major world power.

The Olympics, which come with an estimated £20bn bill, have sparked a fervour of patriotic pride among many of China's people. Thousands of Beijingers thronged the city's streets, waving flags and chanting their country's name.

At once a glittering, showy extravaganza and a patriotic demonstration of pride in 5,000 years of recorded history, the opening ceremony was timed to start at eight minutes past 8pm on August 8, reflecting the number's status in China as a bearer of good fortune.

It took in everything from giant written scrolls and a representation of the Great Wall formed by thousands of performers to spacemen floating from the stadium roof, symbolising one of China's most recent technological achievements.

The event then moved on to the parading of the national teams, ordered according to the number of strokes needed to write their names in Chinese characters.

The Chinese contingent, cheered wildly amid fervent hopes the country could top the medals table for the first time, was led out by the nation's most celebrated sports star, the 7ft 6in basketball star Yao Ming.

The US team chose the Sudan-born 1,500-metre runner Lopez Lomong, who has voiced his opposition to China's support for the regime in Khartoum, which has been condemned internationally for its actions in Darfur.

Once the teams had paraded, and with the ceremony running well over its scheduled three and a half hours, the Games were formally declared open by Hu and the Olympic flag hoisted on a giant pole adjoining the Chinese emblem.

Finally, the torch was brought into the stadium at the end of an epic – and protest-hit – progress around the world.

A final relay of former Chinese Olympic gold medallists saw the flame passed to Li, who won three gold medals, two silver and one bronze at the 1984 LA Olympics.

But away from the stadium, protests continued. A pro-Tibet group said three US demonstrators had been detained near the site after planning to hold up Tibetan flags during the ceremony.

Other protesters tried to storm Chinese consular offices in Nepal and India, while smaller demonstrations took part in London, Brussels and elsewhere.

The US president, George Bush, kept the issue high on the agenda when he called for freedom of expression and religion just hours before joining Hu for the ceremony.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, another guest at the event, told French TV he had raised the issue at a lunch meeting with Hu and the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao.

Games organisers will be hoping for a change in the weather to disperse the smog that has hung over the stadium and the city in recent days, while the issue of drugs is another cloud on the horizon.

不知道你要多长，自己缩短一下吧呵呵

摘自BBC的新闻：
Olympic
opening
draws
5m
viewers
The
Olympic
rings
were
created
from
thousands
of
specks
of
light
and
lifted
into
the
sky
The
opening
ceremony
of
the
Beijing
Olympics
attracted
an
average
audience
of
five
million
viewers
to
BBC
One,
according
to
initial
overnight
figures.
More
than
50%
of
people
watching
TV
on
Friday
afternoon
tuned
in
to
see
the
fireworks,
acrobats
and
athletes
-
with
a
peak
audience
of
5.4m
at
1700BST.
A
further
700,000
watched
the
first
day
of
the
games
live
on
the
BBC
website.
But
due
to
China's
time
difference,
TV
audiences
were
down
from
the
8.68m
who
watched
the
Athens
ceremony
in
2004.
Globally,
there
was
an
estimated
TV
audience
of
one
billion
people
for
the
four-and-a-half-hour
spectacular.
US
delay
The
show,
which
featured
10,000
performers,
including
2,008
drummers
and
a
skywalking,
torch-bearing
gymnast
lighting
the
Olympic
flame,
received
rave
reviews.
"The
world
may
never
witness
a
ceremony
of
the
magnitude
and
ingenuity
as
that
which
opens
the
2008
Olympics,"
said
the
Sydney
Morning
Herald.
"It
was
a
floor
show
that
made
the
most
spectacular
revue
in
Las
Vegas
look
like
a
church
picnic,"
wrote
Mike
Downey
in
the
Chicago
Tribune.
However,
viewers
in
the
US
were
angered
as
the
broadcast
was
delayed
by
12
hours.
TV
network
NBC,
which
owns
exclusive
rights
to
Olympics
coverage
in
the
States,
waited
until
the
evening
to
show
the
ceremony
rather
than
putting
it
out
live.
A
spokesman
for
the
broadcaster,
which
paid
$894m
(￡465.7m)
for
the
rights,
said
the
decision
was
taken
to
maximise
viewing
figures.
"It's
a
business
decision,"
a
spokesman
told
the
AFP
news
agency.
"It
protects
our
affiliates,
our
advertisers,
and
shows
it
to
the
largest
number
of
viewers
possible."
But
many
were
unimpressed.
"It
sort
of
feels
like
the
entire
world
is
attending
a
huge
party
and
NBC
threw
away
our
invite,"
wrote
one
blogger,
while
others
traded
tips
on
how
to
watch
the
ceremony
online.
When
it
was
finally
broadcast
on
Friday
night,
the
event
drew
34.2
million
viewers,
making
it
the
biggest
US
broadcast
since
the
Super
Bowl.