【经济学人】冬奥趣闻
Most enjoyment in watching sports is in criticising athletes who are vastly 非常；很 more talented than oneself
观看体育比赛的最大乐趣就是批评那些比自己有天赋多的运动员
THE WINTER OLYMPICS will open in Beijing on February 4th to what will be a mixed reception from the global audience. China’s challenge to American geopolitical leadership may dent viewer enthusiasm in the crucial American market. Moreover, the TV audience for both summer and winter Olympics has been in steady decline for many years; the winter Olympics in South Korea, four years ago, had the lowest American audience on record.
冬奥会将于2月4日在北京开幕，全球观众对冬奥会的反应褒贬不一。中国对美国地缘政治领导地位的挑战可能会削弱观众在至关重要的美国市场的热情。此外，夏季奥运会和冬季奥运会的电视观众多年来一直在稳步下降;四年前，韩国冬奥会的美国观众数量创下了历史最低纪录。
Part of the problem with the winter games is a lack of familiarity with the events concerned. Most viewers will not have attempted any of the sports on show (with the possible exception of skiing). They might have tottered 摇摇欲坠；踉跄 around an ice rink in skates but they will never have attempted a back flip or an interpretative 理解的；解释的；表演的；演绎的 dance set to a disco classic. They will never have hurtled down an icy slope while balanced on a sled in the shape of a tea tray; nor will they have jumped off a ramp 120 metres above the ground with only a pair of skis to cushion their landing.
冬奥会的部分问题在于人们对相关项目缺乏了解。大多数观众都没有尝试过节目中的任何一项运动(可能滑雪除外)。他们可能会穿着溜冰鞋在溜冰场里摇摇晃晃，但他们永远不会尝试后空翻或在迪斯科经典音乐的背景下演绎舞蹈。他们永远不会在茶盘形状的雪橇上保持平衡，从结冰的斜坡上冲下来;他们也不会只带着两块滑雪板从离地面120米高的坡道上跳下。
Some of these sports are seriously obscure. Curling is a version of lawn bowls, but transported to an ice rink. Contestants slide stones towards a target further up the ice rink; the closest stones win. Other team members sweep the ice in an attempt to make the stone move faster or straighter. There are a lot of tactics involved; the sport has been dubbed “chess on ice”.
其中一些运动非常晦涩难懂。冰壶是草坪滚球的一种，但被转移到了溜冰场。参赛者将石头滑向滑冰场上更远的目标;离得最近的石头获胜。其他队员清扫冰面，试图使石头移动得更快或更直。其中包含了许多策略;这项运动被称为“冰上象棋”。
Still, part of the enjoyment of watching sports is the ability to criticise athletes who are vastly more talented or more dedicated than oneself. After five minutes, armchair viewers become instant experts, bellowing “they are brushing too fast!” at the curling teams, or “hold your skis straight!” at daredevil ski-jumpers.
不过，观看体育比赛的乐趣之一，还是在于能够批评那些比自己更有天赋或更专注的运动员。五分钟后，坐在扶手椅上的观众立即成为专家，他们会大喊:“他们刷得太快了!”或“保持滑雪板直!”在蛮勇的滑雪运动员那里。
The specialist nature of winter sports means that the games are dominated by rich countries to an even greater extent than the summer Olympics. In 2018 no competitor from Africa, central or South America won a medal. Norway, one of the world’s wealthiest countries but with just 5m inhabitants, topped the medals table. Austrian athletes achieved five gold medals; China just one. It is not just a matter of resources; it is hard to develop a talent for skiing if you grow up in a tropical country where it never snows.
冬季运动项目的专业性质意味着，与夏季奥运会相比，富裕国家在冬奥会上占据的主导地位更大。2018年，来自非洲、中美洲或南美洲的选手都没有获得奖牌。挪威是世界上最富有的国家之一，但人口只有500万，在奖牌榜上排名第一。奥地利运动员获得5枚金牌;中国只有一个。这不仅仅是资源的问题;如果你生长在一个从不下雪的热带国家，就很难培养滑雪的才能。
As a result, many neutrals this time will be cheering on Benjamin Alexander who is the first Jamaican ever to qualify for the men’s giant slalom skiing event. He was inspired by the 1988 Jamaican bobsleigh team whose story was the (very loose) basis for the Disney film “Cool Runnings” in 1993. This started something of a tradition in the Caribbean country and three separate Jamaican bobsleigh teams have qualified this year. To date, neither male nor female Jamaican teams have won a medal. Mr Alexander is not the only skier to qualify from a non-traditional winter-sports country; both Haiti and Saudi Arabia have their first-ever entrants this year.
因此，这次许多中立人士将为本杰明·亚历山大(Benjamin Alexander)欢呼，他是有史以来第一个获得男子大回转滑雪项目参赛资格的牙买加人。他的灵感来自于1988年的牙买加雪橇队，1993年的迪士尼电影《清凉的跑道》(Cool runings)就是以他们的故事为基础(非常松散)的。这开启了这个加勒比国家的一项传统，今年有三个独立的牙买加雪橇队获得了参赛资格。到目前为止，牙买加男队和女队都没有获得奖牌。亚历山大不是唯一一个从非传统冬季运动国家获得参赛资格的滑雪者;海地和沙特阿拉伯今年都首次进入。
As a sporting spectacle, the Winter Olympics has its magical moments. Even those who have never put on salopettes can thrill 使激动；发抖 at the bravery of the ski-jumpers, the acrobatics of the snowboarders or the grace of the ice dancers. For those who like team sports, there is ice hockey where Canada plays the role that Brazil does in football; Team Canada has won nine out of 24 gold medals in the men’s competition and four out of six in the women’s.
作为一场体育盛事，冬季奥运会有其神奇的时刻。即使是那些从未穿上芭蕾舞鞋的人，也会被跳台滑雪运动员的勇敢、单板滑雪运动员的杂技表演或冰上舞蹈演员的优雅所震撼。对于那些喜欢团队运动的人来说，加拿大在冰球运动中扮演着巴西在足球中的角色;加拿大队在男子比赛中获得了24枚金牌中的9枚，在女子比赛中获得了6枚金牌中的4枚。
But it will be understandable if some people decide not to watch. Even for those willing to put aside their political objections to the choice of host nation, there is the environmental cost. Yanqing, where the skiing events will be held, got less snowfall than London last winter. So all the snow will be artificial, a process that requires an estimated 49m gallons (223m litres) of water as well as electricity to power the snow cannons and does ecological damage to the local flora. Nowadays even turning on the remote control feels like a political decision.
但如果有些人决定不看，这也是可以理解的。即使是那些愿意抛开政治反对选择东道国的人，也要付出环境代价。滑雪比赛将在延庆举行，去年冬天的降雪量比伦敦少。因此，所有的雪都将是人工造的，这一过程估计需要4900万加仑(2.23亿升)的水和电力来驱动雪炮，并对当地的植物群造成生态破坏。如今，甚至打开遥控器也像是一个政治决定。