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Halfway through London’s Olympics, the medals table has taken on a familiar look. China and the US are way out in front and scrapping between themselves to end the games on top. Britain, host of the games, is third, its athletes now poised to deliver over and above the expected return on ￡235m invested in them. A cascade of gold medals over the weekend has generated waves of national euphoria and goodwill.
伦敦奥运会赛程过半，奖牌榜呈现出人们熟悉的格局。中美两国遥遥领先，拼抢着最终的榜首位置。作为奥运会东道主的英国位居第三，该国运动员看来将要为投资在他们身上的2.35亿英镑带来超出预期的回报。上周末，英国运动员收获多块金牌，英国上下举国欢腾。
France is having a surprisingly good games. Germany, Russia and Australia – traditionally strong Olympic competitors – are not.
法国令人意外地取得了不错的成绩，而传统的奥运强国德国、俄罗斯和澳大利亚则表现不佳。
The Olympics has long been regarded by rulers as an outlet for the expression of national pride and virility. This has continued into the 21st century though without the undercurrent of geopolitical tension of games from the Cold War era. Fran?ois Hollande goaded David Cameron over which of their countries would win the most gold medals. Vladimir Putin pointedly declined to attend the opening ceremony but came in an unofficial capacity to watch judo.
奥运会长期被统治者视为表达民族自豪感和实力的场合。这种情形延续到了21世纪，尽管如今不像冷战时期那样，在比赛背后涌动着地缘政治紧张的暗流。弗朗索瓦?奥朗德(Fran?ois Hollande)用英法两国谁将赢得最多的金牌来刺激戴维?卡梅伦(David Cameron)。弗拉基米尔?普京(Vladimir Putin)刻意拒绝参加奥运开幕式，但以非官方身份观看了柔道比赛。
Then there is the case of Ye Shiwen. The 16-year-old Chinese swimmer’s blistering world record victory on the first day of competition remains these games’ moment of controversy, setting off a whispering campaign about doping that culminated in a top US coach describing her performance as “disturbing”. Because Chinese swimmers have been caught doping in the past, the inclination was to assume, without evidence, that Ye was another culprit. Olympic officials have dismissed the notion, saying there is nothing to support such a suggestion.
还有就是叶诗文风波。这位16岁的中国游泳选手在比赛首日以较大优势打破世界纪录赢得金牌，这依然是本届奥运会的有争议时刻，引发人们私下里猜测服用兴奋剂的可能，最终一位美国高级教练形容叶诗文的表现“令人不安”。由于中国游泳选手曾被发现服用兴奋剂，人们倾向于毫无根据地认定叶诗文是又一个违规者。奥运会官员们对这种观点不以为然，表示没有任何证据支持此类观点。
What is beyond dispute however, is that she is a product of a state-run factory line of athletes created under the juguo training programme, which identifies children with a propensity to sporting excellence and nurtures them into Olympic champions.
然而，无可辩驳的是，她是一个举国培训体制下由国营工厂流水线制造的运动员产品。在该体制下，选拔人员找出具有优异运动天赋的孩子们，并把他们培养成奥运会冠军。
Ye was seven when she was chosen. She and her family will reap the financial benefit of the two gold medals she won at the London games, the fruits of nine years of intense training and obedience to her coaches. Many others who went through the programme did not succeed and their schooling and upbringing have been disrupted. This is a social consequence that can truly be described as “disturbing”.
叶诗文在7岁时被选中。她在伦敦奥运会上赢得的两块金牌，将给自己及家人带来财务收益，这是9年艰苦训练以及听从教练的成果。其他许多接受同类训练的运动员未能成功，而他们的学业和身心成长却被打断。这才是一个真正可形容为“令人不安”的社会后果。
But those who rush to condemn such rigour in the pursuit of gold medals should pause for thought. The jubilation in Britain at its sporting success on Saturday and Sunday show the pressure all national sporting bodies feel to produce winners. All countries clustered at the top of the medals tables know that finding potential Olympians, training them to go faster involves carefully calculated programmes that use science and technology to better understand the physique of individuals.
但那些急于指责为追求金牌而进行如此残酷训练的人应该停下来想一想。英国因上周末取得的体育成功而举国欢腾，表明了所有国家体育机构都会感觉到的培养胜利者的压力。在奖牌榜上名列前茅的国家都知道，要发现潜在的奥运选手并训练他们提高成绩，就需要精心制定计划，使用科技增强对个体体质的理解。
The theme tune from the film Chariots of Fire has been one of the recurring sounds of the Olympics. It conjures a romantic view of the Olympian whose endeavour, spirit and will to win triumphs in the end. But even Harold Abrahams, one of the film’s protagonists, was an early example of an Olympic athlete hiring a professional coach. The modern sportsman and sportswoman is surrounded by a retinue of psychologists, technicians and dietitians. Their coaches enlist companies to develop equipment to improve training techniques, all to give athletes perhaps a tiny fraction of advantage over their rivals.
电影《烈火战车》(Chariots of Fire)的主题曲是奥运会期间反复播放的歌曲之一。它令人想起一幅浪漫的场景：奥运选手努力拼搏、发扬奥运精神，最终在求胜意志的指引下获得胜利。但即便是影片的主角之一哈罗德?阿夫拉姆斯(Harold Abrahams)，也是一位奥运选手聘请专业教练的早期例子。现代男女运动员身边簇拥着一批心理学家、技术专家和营养学家。他们的教练在企业的支持下开发设备来提高训练技术，所有这些都可能让运动员获得超出竞争对手的微弱优势。
China will always have a numerical advantage over other countries because of the size of its population. Its talent pool is going to be big enough to compete strongly in any Olympic sport it chooses.
中国由于人口规模庞大，总是比其他国家拥有的人数优势。庞大的人才储备将让中国足以在其选择的任何奥运项目中展开强劲的竞争。
Modern sport is serious business. Those with the resources will seek to maximise their medal-winning chances. Sometimes, the loser just has to shake the hands of the victor and offer congratulations.
现代体育是正儿八经的事情。那些拥有资源的人将寻求尽可能扩大赢取奖牌的几率。有时，失败者就得与胜利者握手并祝贺对方。
译者:邹策
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Post By：2012/8/8 11:59:32
