王云英语

Chinese authorities struggled to meet high demand for tickets to the Beijing Games as a third round of domestic sales began Monday.

People lined up overnight at Bank of China branches around the country for a chance to buy some of the 1.38 million tickets available in the latest round of sales, and many others tried buying tickets directly through their computers starting at 9 a.m. Some reported having difficulties navigating the Web site and completing their purchases, but China's state-run Xinhua news agency said 60,000 tickets were sold online and through the bank within the first few hours.

Ticket prices ranged from 30 yuan to 1,000 yuan ($4.29 to $143.10), according to the Beijing 2008 Web site.

The ticket-sale Web site was still running by the end of the workday Monday, unlike the second round of sales, when the ticketing system crashed under heavy demand almost immediately after sales started. That incident prompted the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad to change the sales process during that round to a lottery system and to replace its head of ticketing.

During the latest round, hundreds of people waited for hours for a chance to buy a maximum of six tickets each, or three tickets for two matches. Some who showed up at the bank branches as early as 10 p.m. Sunday. Notices posted at Bank of China branches at the end of the business day said tickets to track and field matches, beach volleyball matches, volleyball matches and basketball matches were sold out.

Though the system didn't appear to have crashed, demand still made the process slow and cumbersome, according to ticket buyers. 'It was really a struggle,' said Wang Wei, who was able to get three tickets for track and field events via the Internet from Beijing. 'I tried almost a whole day in order to get these three tickets [starting] from 9 a.m . . . . and only got them' at 4:45 p.m., he said.

Organizers said a total of 6.8 million tickets would be available across the 37 competition venues, Xinhua reported. The official ticketing Web site of the Beijing Olympic Committee indicated there will be a fourth and final round of sales for China residents in July.

The rush for tickets stands in stark contrast to the Athens Games, when many of the stands were left empty.

Many have anticipated the Beijing Olympics will be the most watched Olympics in history despite controversies over some of China's policies. The Olympics torch relay has attracted demonstrations around the world targeting China's handling of violent antigovernment protests that erupted in Tibet in March, and its relations with the Sudanese government.

Despite the negative publicity and tightened visa requirements, hotels and travel agents say they have yet to receive any cancellations from travelers; some even have waiting lists so long they say they have no worries about filling their rooms in August.

Separately, Beijing on Monday announced a revision of rules to tighten security around Tiananmen Square, an area that has historically attracted political demonstrations. The new rules ban guns, explosives, knives and 'other items that affect social order and public security' from the square and allow searches of people and vehicles in the surrounding area.

奥运门票在中国国内的第三轮销售周一拉开帷幕，中国有关部门则在尽力满足人们对门票的渴求。

人们在中国银行(Bank of China)的网点外彻夜排队，希望有机会在新一轮销售的138万张门票中抢购到几张，还有一些人上午9点直接在电脑前通过网上购票。有人称在打开网站和完成订票时遇到了困难，但中国官方媒体新华社表示，在前几个小时就通过网站和银行网点销售了6万张门票。

据北京奥运会官方票务网站称，票价在人民币30元至1,000元（4.29美元至143.10美元）之间。

周一全天票务网站一直在运行，这与第二轮售票时的情况截然不同，当时在售票开始不久后，巨大的需求几乎立刻导致了售票系统的瘫痪。上次的事故促使北京奥组委将该轮售票改为抽签方式，并更换了票务系统负责人。

数百人提前几个小时就排队等候，每人最多可购买六张门票，即两场比赛的每场三张门票。有人最早在周日晚上10时就排在了银行网点门口。周一下班后张贴在中国银行网点的通知称，田径、沙滩排球、排球和篮球比赛的门票都已经卖完。

购票者称，尽管票务系统并未崩溃，但巨大的需求仍让处理过程异常缓慢。通过网站买到了三张田径比赛门票的王伟（音）说，实在是太难了，为了得到这些门票，我从上午9点开始几乎试了一整天，直到下午4点3刻才买到。

新华社援引组织者的话称，共有37个比赛场馆的680万张票可以供应。北京奥运会官方票务网站显示，7月份还将有第四轮，也是最后一轮面向中国居民的门票销售。

对奥运门票的渴求与雅典奥运会时形成了鲜明反差，当时有许多看台都空无一人。

尽管对中国的一些政策存在争议，但许多人都预计北京奥运会将成为历史上观看人数最多的一届盛会。

奥运会火炬接力活动在全球引起了众多抗议示威，这些示威者主要针对的是中国处理3月份西藏爆发的暴力反政府示威的做法，以及同苏丹政府的关系。

尽管存在这些负面的宣传和签证要求收紧的做法，但酒店和旅行社表示，他们尚未收到游客取消预定的通知；还有一些酒店有长长的房客等待名单，他们表示，并不担心8月份会出现客房不满员的情况。

另外，北京周一宣布将修改天安门广场地区管理规定，加强这一政治敏感地区的安全保卫工作。新规规定，禁止携带枪支、弹药、匕首以及影响社会秩序和公共安全的其他物品进入广场，并可以对进入天安门地区的人员、车辆组织实施检查。