2017考研英语阅读每日精选：足球竞技精彩交易龌蹉

2017考研英语阅读每日精选：足球竞技

精彩交易龌蹉

Football

足球

Beautiful game, dirty business

竞技精彩，交易龌蹉

Football is a great sport, but it could be so much better if it were run honestly

作为一项伟大运动的足球，公平竞争能让它变得更好。

THE mesmerising wizardry of Lionel Messi and the muscular grace of Cristiano Ronaldo are joys to behold. But for deep-dyed internationalists like this newspaper, the game's true beauty lies in its long reach, from east to west and north to south. Football, more than any other sport, has thrived on globalisation. Nearly half ofhumanity will watch at least part of the World Cup, which kicks off in Brazil on June 12th.

有着梦幻般迷人动作的莱昂内尔?梅西和有着健美身材的克里斯提那?罗纳尔多总是让人为之疯狂着迷。但是在像我们报纸这样真正的国际主义者看来，足球运动之美在于这项运动的覆盖范围之广，从东到西，从南到北，都有它的踪影。足球比其他任何运动都更具全球性。今年6月12日，全世界几乎有一半的人至少会收看部分巴西世界杯的比赛。

So it is sad that the tournament begins under a cloud as big as the Maracan? obtained by Britain's Sunday Times have allegedly revealed secret payments thathelped Qatar win the hosting rights to the World Cup in that competition was fixed, it has company. A report by FIFA, football's governing body, is said to have found that several exhibition matches were rigged ahead of the World Cup in 2010. And as usual, no one hasbeen punished.

所以让人难过的是这场比赛一开始就疑团重重，犹如乌云必然。英国《周日时报》获得的文件表明卡塔尔为获得2022年世界杯主办权向组委会塞了红包。如果竞选确实是被操纵了的话，那么事情肯定还不止这么简单。国际足球联盟的报道表明他们发现2010年世界杯前的几场表演赛是被操控的。但是和往常一样的是，没有人因此受罚。

This only prompts other questions. Why on earth did anyone think holding the World Cup inthe middle of the Arabian summer was a good idea? Why is football so far behind other sports like rugby, cricket and tennis in using technology to double check refereeing decisions? And whyis the world's greatest game led by such a group of mediocrities, notably Sepp Blatter, FIFA's boss since 1998? In any other organisation, the endless financial scandals would have led to his ouster years ago. But more than that, he seems hopelessly out of date; from sexist remarks about women to interrupting a minute's silence for Nelson Mandela after only 11 seconds, the78-year-old is the sort of dinosaur that left corporate boardrooms in the 1970s. Nor is itexactly heartening that the attempts to stop Mr Blatter enjoying a fifth term are being led by Michel Platini, Europe's leading soccercrat, who was once a wonderful midfielder but played a woeful role in supporting the Qatar bid.

这也意味着还有其他的问题。谁会认为在阿拉伯地区的夏季举办世界杯是个好主意?为

什么在运用技术来检验裁判的准确性上，足球远远落后与其他运动，比如英式橄榄球，板球或是网球?为什么让一些平庸之辈来领导这项世界上最伟大的运动，特别是自1998年以来要让赛普·布拉特担任国际足联的主席?他如果在组织，早就会因其不断的财政丑闻而下台了。然而还不止这些，他已经无可救药的过时了，不管是他发表的对女性的歧视言论，还是妨碍尼尔森曼德拉(他在20世纪70年代年78岁叱咤风云的时候离开了其领导的政坛。)的一分钟默哀(当时的默哀还只进行了11秒)都可以看得出来。或者，真的应该对以米歇尔普拉蒂尼为首的为阻止布拉特连任第五届足联主席所做的努力而感到兴奋吗?米歇尔布拉蒂尼是欧洲最优秀的足球运动员，他曾是出色的中场队员，但是他还是很不幸的支持了卡塔尔承办世界杯。

Our cheating rotten scoundrels are better than yours

起码我们足球还没你们腐败

Many football fans are indifferent to all this. What matters to them is the beautiful game, not the tired old suits who run it. And FIFA's moral turpitude is hardly unique. The International Olympic Committee, after all, faced a Qatar-like scandal over the awarding of the winter gamesin 2002 (though it has made a much bigger attempt to clean itself up). The boss of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone, stands accused of bribery in Germany, while American basketball has just had to sack an owner for racist remarks. Cricket, the second-most-global sport, has had its own match-fixing scandals. American football could be overwhelmed by compensation claims for injuries.

许多足球球迷们对这些腐败问题都漠不关心。他们关注的是精彩的比赛而不是这些无聊的穿的西装革履，又老态龙钟的管理人员们。而且不道德的行为也不仅仅发生在国际足联中。毕竟，2002年冬奥会期间，国际奥委会也出现过类似卡塔尔事件的丑闻(尽管他们为了澄清自己做出过更多的努力)。世界一级方程式锦标赛主席伯尼埃克莱斯顿也被指控曾在德国受贿，而某美国篮球队的老板也因其民族歧视言论而被迫离职。全球第二大运动板球，也有其操作比赛的丑闻。美国橄榄球也被索赔要求搞得鸡犬不宁。

But football fans are wrong to think there is no cost to all this. First, corruption and complacency at the top makes it harder to fight skulduggery on the pitch. Ever larger amounts of money are now being bet on each game—it may be $1 billion a match at the WorldCup. Under external pressure to reform, FIFA has recently brought in some good people,including a respected ethics tsar, Mark Pieth. But who will listen to lectures about reform froman outfit whose public face is Mr Blatter?

但是如果球迷们认为这些不会带来什么代价的话，那就大错特错了。第一，高层的腐败和自满使得打击球场作假变得举步维艰。每场比赛的赌注也越来越大，一场世界杯比赛的赌注可能高达10亿美元。迫于外界要求改革的压力，国际足联最近吸纳了一批公正的人，包括受人尊敬的道德模范马克皮尔斯。但是谁会相信由布拉特代表的这一机构的改革呢?

Second, big-time corruption isn't victimless; nor does it end when a host country is shady regimes—the type that bribe football officials—a major sporting event is also a chance to defraud state coffers, for example by awarding fat contracts to cronies. Tournaments that ought to be national celebrations risk becoming festivals of graft.

第二，腐败的肆虐并不是无害的，这种腐败行为也不会在承办国确定以后就不复存在。对于阴暗的体制来说(比如对足球裁判行贿的体制)，重要的足球盛会同样也可以成为骗取政府财政的机会，比如可以为同伙签订利益丰厚的合约。这使得本应该是举国欢庆的比赛盛世可能会沦为为贪污腐败者的节日。

Finally, there is a great opportunity cost. Football is not as global as it might be (see