Ｓｔａｍｐｓ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　Ｏｌｙｍｐｉｃ　Ｇａｍｅｓ（邮票与奥运会）

海　棠供稿

In 1894，Athens，Greeces capital，had the opportunity to host the first modern Olympic Games.

Unfortunately，the good news was also bad news for Athens. The Olympic Games would cost a lot of money，but the city did not have that much money.

So，the Premier of Greece asked to host the Olympic Games later. He told Mr Baron de Coubertin that Athens was short of money.

Mr Baron de Coubertin did everything he could to help Athens，and the people of Greece also helped their capital by donating money. But there still was not enough money for Athens to host the Olympic Games.

Luckily，a stamp collector in Greece thought of a good idea. Why not issue Olympic stamps to raise money?

Greece then issued a series of Olympic stamps to see if the idea would work. To everyones surprise，the Olympic stamps were hugely popular. Athens was finally able to raise enough money to host the first modern Olympic Games.

1894年，希腊的首都雅典获得了举办第一届现代奥运会的机会。

可惜的是，这条好消息对于雅典来说也是个坏消息。因为举办奥运会要花很多钱，而雅典根本就没有那么多的钱。

因此，希腊的首相提出了推迟举办奥运会的要求。他还把缺钱的事情告诉了当时的国际奥委会秘书长顾拜旦先生。

顾拜旦先生竭尽全力来帮助雅典，希腊人民也纷纷捐款。但是雅典还是没有足够的钱来举办奥运会。

就在这时，希腊的一位集邮爱好者想出了一个好主意：为什么不发行奥运邮票来筹集资金呢?

于是希腊试着发行了一套奥运邮票。结果让所有的人都大吃一惊，奥运邮票大受欢迎，雅典最终筹集到了足够的资金，成功地举办了第一届现代奥运会。