研究生综合英语2(修订版)unit 7 课文与翻译对照

舞弊行为常伴奥运会厄里奇·塞戈尔每逢四年一度的奥运盛会，记者们似乎总会自然而然地对“过去的好时光”产生一些模糊的概念。

他们称颂古希腊奥运会的纯洁性和非商业性。

要是相信他们所写的文章，那么古代的每一个运动员都只是业余爱好者，都崇尚公平竞争。

Every four years, when the Olympics roll around again, journalists seem automatically to recycle those misty-eyed notions about “Good Old Days.” They eulogize the original Greek Games as being pure and uncommercial. If we believe what we read, every ancient competitor was an amateur, and all worshipped fair play.这当然纯粹是一派胡言。

诗人拜伦有一句妙语，“无论是哪个时代，只要过去了就会变得美好起来。

”事实上，曾经有过完美的奥林匹克运动的神话只是现代的势利小人和一群自封为纯粹主义者的家伙的杜撰，通过体育文章撰稿人和转播期间闲得发慌的电视评论员流传下来。

This is, of course, sheer nonsense. As Lord Byron quipped:”All times when old are good.” In fact, the mythology of a perfect Olympics is the modern invention of snobs and self-styled purists, perpetuated by sports writers and television commentators at a loss to fill air time.真实情况并非如此美好。

早在荷马所著的《伊利亚特》一书中就提到了−在公元前12世纪举行的运动会上−希腊运动员想当然地在比赛中作弊。

他们所有的道德标准都是建立在取得胜利的基础上−无论手段是否光明正大。

拳击手攻击规则不允许的部位，或收受贿赂故意输掉比赛。

长短跑选手不等枪响（更确切地说，希腊人用的发令枪是喇叭），抢先冲出起跑线，并在弯道上恶意地用肘部相互推搡。

Here is the not-so-rosy truth. From as far back as Homer’s Iliad which portrays games of the 12th century B.C. Greek athletes cheated as a matter of course. Their entire ethic was based on winning by fair means or foul. Olympic boxers hit where they weren’t supposed to, and took bribes to take dives. Runners jumped the gun (to be precise, the Greeks used a trumpet),and they elbowed one another viciously on the curves.参加马车比赛的选手甚至更为残忍，尤其是在罗马帝国时期举行的奥运会上。

据记载，两辆马车在比赛中并驾齐驱时，车手竟然用刀刺戳对手。

也许最令人感到震惊的是即使事后证实某位拳击手或摔跤手通过贿赂的手段不光彩地赢得了比赛−他们也不会因此而失去冠军头衔。

The chariot racers were even more brutal ,especially in the Games held under the Roman Empire. We have recorded cases of drivers stabbing rivals as their vehicles drove neck to neck. Perhaps most amazing of all, if it were later proved that, say, a boxer or a wrestler had dishonestly won through bribery he still didn’t lose his title.你也许会问，裁判在哪里呢？希腊人通常为各项比赛设置裁判，但是这些比赛的主宰者往往经不起金钱以及盛宴的诱惑。

而且即便在运动员必经的拐弯处安置一位人品正直的裁判，他也很难分辨是谁用肘部击打了谁的肋部，因为参赛选手没有编号，也不穿统一的比赛服装。

事实上，古代运动会和现代运动会之间真正的区别在于古希腊的运动员必须一丝不挂地参加角逐。

Perhaps you are asking where the judges were. Oh, the Greeks had the usual referees, umpires, and so forth. But these arbiters were often susceptible to financial enticements and treats. And even if an honest judge was stationed at the turning post that the runners had to circle, he still had great difficulty in determining whose elbow was smashing into whose ribs, because the athletes didn’t wear numbers. For that matter, they didn’t wear uniforms either. Indeed, one real difference between the ancient and modern games was the fact that all the Greek athletes wereobliged to compete in the nude.你也许会认为由于运动员都是赤身裸体地参加比赛，因此古代奥运会不可能商业化。

毕竟，体育明星无论穿谁的钉鞋或汗衫都是得不到任何报酬的。

以上情况尽管属实，但如果我们就此认为运动员都是“业余的”，那就太过天真了。

和现在的情况一样，当时的奥运会对冠军而言也意味着巨额美元（应该是巨额希腊币）。

位于圣塔·巴巴拉市的加州大学的戴维·扬教授在其新著中称，短跑冠军实际上有望获得相当于数十万美元的奖金！You might think that this bareness would have made it impossible to commercialize the ancient Games. After all, the stars couldn’t be paid to wear anybody’s track shoes or sweat shirts. That much is true, but we would be naive to think that the athletes were therefore “amateurs.” Then, as now, the Olympics meant big bucks(sorry, drachmas)for the champions. According to a recent book by Professor David Young of the University of California at Santa Barbara, the winner of the sprint could, in fact, expect to earn the ancient equivalent of several hundred thousand dollars!首先，当时确实存在奖金。

至少从公元前6世纪起，希腊人就开始向奥运冠军公开授予现金奖励。

此后新加冕的冠军还可索取巨额“出场费”。

并不是我弄错了年代。

当时，一些小型比赛的发起者−通常是为了给当地的产品做广告（！）−确实会向当红短跑明星支付大笔的酬金，请他们到场露露脸。

此外，运动员的家乡通常给予他们免税的待遇，并终生免费提供一日三餐。

To beginning with, there was the actual prize money. From at least the sixth century B.C. the Greeks openly gave cash awards for first place in the Olympics. After that there were huge fees that these newly crowned champions could demand for “personal appearances.”No, I am not being anachronistic. Promoters of minor track meets-which were often held to advertise local products(!) would fork over plenty to have the hottest runners of the day merely show up. What’s more, the athletes were generally absolved by their home town from paying taxes and were given free meals for life.因此，即使在古代，奥运会也是高度商业化、政治性的比赛。

来自希腊本土和各领地的城邦为了争夺冠军头衔展开了激烈的竞争。

Thus, even in classical times, the Olympics were a highly commercial affair. And they were also highly political. There were ferocious rivalries among the various city-states, both from the mainland and the various Greek colonies, to have one of their own win a big title.我可以指出一些具体的名字。