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小王同学的外刊精读笔记：冬奥会有什么好玩的？
标题：What is fun about the Winter Olympics?
冬奥会有什么好玩的？
类型：社会类-体育
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.
冬奥会在2月4日于北京召开。届时全球观众对此的反向可能不一。中国对美国地缘政治的领导地位的挑战可能会降低美国观众对收看冬奥会的热情，然而，夏季和冬季奥运会的电视观众已经保持稳定的趋势下降多年。四年前美国观众对韩国冬奥会的收视率创历史新低。
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 around an ice rink in skates but they will never have attempted a back flip or an interpretative 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.
冬奥会收视率下滑的部分问题是观众对相关项目的熟悉度不够。多数观众并没有尝试过任一冬奥会比赛项目（除了滑冰）。他们虽然穿着滑冰鞋在冰场上踉踉跄跄，但是他们不会去尝试后空翻或者用舞蹈阐释迪斯科音乐。他们从没有站在茶盘形状的雪橇上从冰坡上猛冲下来，也没有从120米高的斜坡上跳下，并仅用一双滑雪板去缓冲着陆。
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”.
其中的一些游戏十分晦涩难懂。冰壶是草坪壶球的冰场版本。参赛选手将冰壶滑向冰场远处的一个目标。离目标最近的冰壶所在的队伍获胜，另一个队员清扫冰面试图让冰壶化的更远更直。这项运动也包含很多策略，因而它被成为冰上象棋。
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.
然而，观看这些运动项目的部分乐趣在于可以去批评那些拥有更多天赋和更专注于自身的运动员。比赛开始五分钟后，椅子上的观众瞬间变成专家，朝冰球队大吼道“他们滑的太快了！”，或者朝胆大冒失的跳台滑雪运动员吼：“把你的滑板扳直！”
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.
冰雪运动的专业性意味着这些运动将由富国主导的程度甚至超过夏季奥运会。再2018年，没有来自非洲、中南美洲的运动员获得一块奖牌。挪威作为世界上最富有的国家之一，仅有500万常住居民，却登顶奖牌榜榜首。奥地利运动员取得过5枚金牌，但是中国只有一个。这不是资源的问题。如果生长在没有冰雪的热带国家，你很难发展滑雪运动的能力。
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，这次许多中立人士都为本杰明·亚历山大，第一个获得男子大回转滑雪项目资格的盐牙买加选手。他深受1988年牙买加学车团队的故事的激励。这一故事是1993年迪士尼电影《疯癫总动员》的原型。这开启了我加勒比国家的传统，并且今年有三支独立的牙买加雪车队伍获得资格。至今，牙买加队都没有在男子和女子比赛上获得奖牌。亚历山大先生也不是唯一的从非传统冰雪运动国家来的滑雪选手。海地和沙特阿拉伯今年都第一次派出了参赛选手。
As a sporting spectacle, the Winter Olympics has its magical moments. Even those who have never put on salopettes can thrill 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.
作为体育盛会，冬奥会有它自己的奇妙时刻。即使那些从未穿上滑雪服的人也可以为跳台滑雪选手的勇敢、单板滑雪选手的炫技和花样滑冰选手的优雅而惊叹。对于那些喜爱团体运动的人们，加拿大在冰球项目中的地位如同巴西在足球界的地位。加拿大男子队已经赢得24枚金牌中的8枚，女子队则赢得了6枚金牌中的4枚。
基础词和短语：
1.dent
（1）v.使产生凹痕
-eg：The surface of shield was dented by a heavy slash.一记重重的砍击使盾牌表面产生凹痕。
（2）v.损害；挫伤
-eg：Nothing could dent his confidence.没有什么事情可以挫伤他的自信心。
2.totter
（1）v.蹒跚，踉跄
（2）v.摇摇晃晃
-eg：a tottering regime 摇摇欲坠的政权
3.rink n.冰场
4.back flip 后空翻
5,interpretative adj.解释的，说明的；表演的
-eg：interpretative dance 解释舞蹈；形意舞
6.hurtle v.向某个方向飞驰
-eg：A runaway car came hurtling towards us.一辆失控的汽车向我们飞驰过来。
7.ramp n.斜坡；坡道
8.tactic n.策略；手段；招数
9.dub
（1）v.把.....戏称为
（2）v.配音；译制
-eg：An American film dubbed into Italian 一部翻译为意大利语的美国电影
10.bellow v.大声吼叫，怒吼
11.daredevil n.鲁莽大胆的人
12.entrant n.参赛者
专业词和短语：
体育类：
1.Curling 冰壶
2.giant slalom skiing 大回转滑雪
3.bobsleigh n.大雪橇
4.salopettes n.滑雪服
