That 2021 feeling

The Tokyo Olympics are not a flop. Nor are they a success

東京奧運(yùn)會并非失敗。它們也沒有成功

Opposition to the games has declined. But it has not been replaced by wild enthusiasm either

對舉辦奧運(yùn)會的反對聲已經(jīng)減少。但它也沒有被狂熱的熱情所取代

【文章僅供學(xué)習(xí)交流，一些文字表述僅為報(bào)刊觀點(diǎn)，例如金牌創(chuàng)新高這種說法，我不同意】

Aug 5th 2021 | TOKYO

JAPAN HAS?set several records in recent weeks. Its Olympic team has racked up 21 gold medals, the most in its history. It has a new youngest-ever gold medallist, a 13-year-old skateboarder, Nishiya Momiji. And it has achieved new heights in its daily covid-19 caseload, now exceeding 14,000.

最近幾周，日本創(chuàng)下了多項(xiàng)紀(jì)錄。日本奧運(yùn)代表團(tuán)已經(jīng)獲得了21枚金牌，是日本歷史上獲得金牌最多的一次。它有了有史以來最年輕的金牌得主，13歲的滑板運(yùn)動員Nishiya Momiji。同時日本每天的covid-19病例數(shù)量創(chuàng)新高，目前已超過1.4萬例。

詞匯

Skateboarder/滑板運(yùn)動員

Caseload/待處理案件之?dāng)?shù)量

The combination has generated mixed feelings about the Olympics. Many Japanese have celebrated the athletic triumphs, despite misgivings about the games before they started. Barred from attending most events in person, sports enthusiasts have gathered at outdoor venues to try to catch glimpses of cyclists or skateboarders. Television viewing figures have also been strong. But enthusiasm for sports has not rubbed off on the event as a whole or on its organisers, as Japanese leaders had hoped. The approval ratings for Suga Yoshihide, the prime minister, and his cabinet have dipped below 35%—another new record.

這兩者的結(jié)合讓人們對奧運(yùn)會產(chǎn)生了復(fù)雜的情緒。許多日本人慶祝了運(yùn)動員的勝利，盡管他們在比賽開始前對奧運(yùn)會心存疑慮。盡管大多數(shù)賽事都禁止體育愛好者親自（進(jìn)入場內(nèi)）參觀/慶祝，但他們聚集在戶外場館，試圖一睹自行車或滑板運(yùn)動員的風(fēng)采。電視收視率數(shù)據(jù)也很強(qiáng)勁。但人們對體育的熱情并沒有像日本領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人所希望的那樣，對整個奧運(yùn)會或其組織者產(chǎn)生影響。日本首相菅義偉(Suga Yoshihide)及其內(nèi)閣的支持率已跌至35%以下——這又是一個新的記錄。

詞匯

Misgiving/疑慮，擔(dān)憂，不安

Venue/. 聚會地點(diǎn)；舉行場所

Cabinet/內(nèi)閣

?

These games are likely to be remembered not as a symbol of how humankind overcame the pandemic, but as an example of how strange life became because of it. The oddity has been on display from the start. On opening night, a long column of protesters marched through central Tokyo to the new Olympic stadium. During quiet moments in the ceremony, their chants—”Stop the Olympics”—could be heard inside the mostly empty venue. Farther up the same street, fans gathered, streaming the ceremony on their smartphones and glancing up to catch fireworks and drone shows rising above the stadium’s rafters.

人們記住這些比賽可能不是作為人類如何克服疫情的標(biāo)志，而是作為一個例子，說明生活因?yàn)?/span>疫情而變得多么奇怪。這種奇怪現(xiàn)象從一開始就顯現(xiàn)出來了。在開幕式的晚上，一長列抗議者穿過東京市中心游行到新的奧林匹克體育場。在開幕式的安靜時刻，在幾乎空無一人的會場里，可以聽到他們的口號——“停止奧運(yùn)會”。在同一條街上更遠(yuǎn)的地方，運(yùn)動迷們聚集在一起，用智能手機(jī)直播儀式，抬頭看煙花和從體育場的椽子上升起的無人機(jī)表演。

詞匯

Chant/圣歌；歌唱

?Rafter/椽；筏夫

With the events under way, Olympians have shuttled between hotels and venues, where they compete in front of scatterings of volunteers, officials and journalists. Around the host cities, reminders of the games are muted. Absent are the big crowds and good cheer that usually accompany such events.

隨著賽事的進(jìn)行，奧運(yùn)選手們穿梭于酒店和場館之間，在分散的志愿者、官員和記者面前比賽。在主辦城市周圍，奧運(yùn)會的提醒（應(yīng)該是指防疫提醒）已經(jīng)消失。（防疫提醒）通常伴隨這類活動而來的大量人群和歡樂氣氛都沒有了。

詞匯

Mute/消除聲音

“It’s a little lonely,” laments Iizuka Masaki, a collector of sports pins waiting outside the heavily guarded gates to the Tokyo stadium in the hope of finding partners from abroad to trade with. When the Japanese and American baseball teams faced off on August 3rd in Yokohama, the loudest noises near the stadium came from the buzzing of cicadas.

“有點(diǎn)孤單，”Iizuka Masaki感嘆道，他是一名體育別針的收集者，正等在東京體育場戒備森嚴(yán)的大門外，希望能找到來自國外的交易伙伴。8月3日，當(dāng)日本和美國棒球隊(duì)在橫濱對決時，體育場附近最大的喧鬧聲來自蟬鳴。

詞匯

Cicada/蟬

?

Mr Suga has alternated between calling medal-winners to congratulate them and calling press conferences to announce new covid countermeasures. With the Delta variant dominant and hospitals under strain, the government decreed this week that only critically ill or high-risk patients would be admitted to hospitals. Others must recover at home. (Deaths have remained relatively low, thanks in part to high vaccination rates among the elderly.) The state of emergency in Tokyo and Okinawa was expanded on August 2nd to include four more prefectures.

菅義偉一邊打電話祝賀獎牌得主，一邊召開新聞發(fā)布會宣布新的抗疫措施。由于德爾塔變異占主導(dǎo)地位，醫(yī)院面臨壓力，政府本周宣布，只有危重或高?；颊卟艜朐?。其他人則必須在家恢復(fù)。(死亡率一直相對較低，部分原因是幸虧老年人接種率高。)8月2日，東京和沖繩的緊急狀態(tài)擴(kuò)大到另外四個縣。

詞匯

?Countermeasure/ 對策；反措施

?

Officials insist that the rising case numbers in Japan have nothing to do with the games. Strictly speaking, that may be true. Some 500,000 covid tests have been conducted on Olympic participants, of which just 0.02% have come back positive. Although a few athletes—and the entire Greek artistic swimming team (yes, that is an Olympic sport)—have had to drop out because of positive tests, the competitions have unfolded smoothly. A handful of athletes and support staff have had their credentials revoked for breaking protocol and wandering around, but as yet no evidence has emerged linking reckless Olympians to viral clusters among the wider population.

官員們堅(jiān)稱，日本病例數(shù)量的上升與奧運(yùn)會無關(guān)。嚴(yán)格地說，這可能是真的。對奧運(yùn)會參賽選手進(jìn)行了約50萬例新冠病毒檢測，其中只有0.02%呈陽性。盡管有一些運(yùn)動員——還有整個希臘藝術(shù)游泳隊(duì)(是的，這是一項(xiàng)奧林匹克運(yùn)動)——因?yàn)闄z測結(jié)果呈陽性而不得不退出比賽，但比賽進(jìn)展順利。少數(shù)運(yùn)動員和后勤人員因違反規(guī)定和到處亂走而被吊銷資證，但迄今沒有證據(jù)表明魯莽的奧運(yùn)選手與更廣泛人群中的病毒群有關(guān)聯(lián)。

詞匯

?Credential/證書；憑據(jù)

protocol /協(xié)議；草案

clusters / 群集

Since the start of the pandemic, however, Japan’s ability to contain it has relied on co-operation from the public. The government lacks the legal authority to impose strict lockdowns; its emergency declarations are, in essence, requests for people to limit their movements and for businesses to close early and stop serving alcohol. The current state of emergency is the fourth. Fatigue is setting in.

然而，自疫情爆發(fā)以來，日本控制疫情的能力一直依賴于公眾的合作。政府缺乏實(shí)施嚴(yán)格封鎖的法律權(quán)限;它的緊急聲明本質(zhì)上是要求人們限制自己的行動，要求企業(yè)提前關(guān)門并停止供應(yīng)酒精飲料。目前的緊急狀態(tài)是四級。（人們）開始感到疲勞了。

Holding the Olympics has reinforced the complacency. Foot traffic, for instance, has fallen far less during the current state of emergency than it did during past ones. “Since the Olympics are being held, it makes people think it’s okay to go out,” says Onishi Moeri, who joined a crowd taking pictures beside the Olympic rings early this week. It has been, muses Mr Iizuka, “a very unusual Olympics”.

舉辦奧運(yùn)會強(qiáng)化了這種自滿情緒。例如，在目前的緊急狀態(tài)下，客流量的下降遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)小于過去的緊急狀態(tài)。“既然舉辦了奧運(yùn)會，人們就會覺得可以出門了，”O(jiān)nishi Moeri說。本周早些時候，她加入了在奧運(yùn)五環(huán)旁拍照的人群。Iizuka先生若有所思地說，這是一屆“非常不同尋常的奧運(yùn)會”

詞匯

?Foot traffic/人流量