About 2，000 years ago，Rome（羅馬） was a very important（重要的） city. There were many great buildings in the city. One of the most famous was the Colosseum（羅馬斗獸場）.

A stadium（運(yùn)動(dòng)場） is a place for sports. The Colosseum is a large stadium. It is in the center of Rome. It was about 20，000 square meters（平方米），as large as 3 soccer fields（足球場）. It was big enough to hold（容納） 50，000 people. There were about 80 arches（拱門）. People could go in and out from the arches. There was also a roof（屋頂）. It could protect（保護(hù)） people from the sun and the rain.

Where did ancient（古代的） Romans（羅馬人） go for fun？ They went to the Colosseum. They watched fights（打斗） there.

The fights were with gladiators（角斗士） and wild（野生的） animals. The Colosseum wasn’t fun for everyone. About 500，000 people and one million（百萬） animals died（死） there.

The image（圖像） of the Colosseum is on Italy’s（意大利的） five-cent coin（硬幣）.

There were water fights（水仗） in the Colosseum. People filled（裝滿） it with water. Then they put animals like crocodiles in the water. Gladiators and animals fought（fight的過去式，打斗） in the water.