北美网备份站

标题: 纽约时报写郎平的这篇报道，真让人感慨！ | 麦大叔英语 [打印本页]

作者: 三世鱼鸟 时间: 2016-8-24 03:39
标题: 纽约时报写郎平的这篇报道，真让人感慨！ | 麦大叔英语
周日，分析文章学英语的麦大叔课堂和你见面啦！

小伙伴们下午好！

要说今天最值得刷屏的事情，非中国女排奥运夺冠莫属。在里约奥运即将落幕的时刻，女排们给我们如此大的惊喜和感动，姑娘们好样的！

（出处见水印）

给姑娘们点赞，当然也不能落下这一位——

（via@蘑菇锤基）

“铁榔头”郎平，可能全中国没人不认识她（年轻一辈的估计也被这届奥运会科普得差不多了吧~）。郎平的运动生涯不可谓不传奇：曾经最优秀的女排运动员，在全国拥有超高人气与大批粉丝，之后去海外执教，让部分国人情感上一时难以接受。

这种“难以接受”的矛盾心理，在08年北京奥运会时达到了顶峰——郎平率领美国队3-2战胜了陈忠和执教的中国队。

一时间，争议四起。

今天咱们麦大叔课堂要分析的这篇文章，就是纽约时报写郎平的一篇报道。文章发表于08.8.22，北京奥运期间。当时中国女排已在小组赛中输给美国队，即将与古巴争夺铜牌——美国则与巴西争夺冠军。

对于中国球迷来说，在这场家门口的奥运会里，看到这样的结果或许有些尴尬。

而更“尴尬”的，或许是郎平本人——她在中国依旧有超高人气与大批粉丝，但同样也引来了无数非议。这对于当初想过“不被关注”的生活而去往国外的她来说，这次回国比赛之旅却无疑又把自己推至了舆论中心。

所以，这篇文章也有个很有意思的标题：

Coach Finds That She Can Go Home Again/ }, K8 h" l( n9 d7 n8 W: @+ K

(by Juliet Macur, via The New York Times)

率美国队来北京参加奥运的郎平，必须带着美国队和中国队直接较量（两队分在同一组）。而作者并没有一上来就把这个最具冲突点的climax搬出来，却是选择了一个很有趣的小角度，以一个非常吸引人的点作为开头——

Lang Ping, the coach of the United States women’s volleyball team, tries to be a master of disguise in her home city.

啥叫“master of disguise”伪装大师？读者被吸引着继续读下去——

She hides behind sunglasses or pulls on a floppy hat. With her team, she often exits arenas at the center of a huddle, sometimes escorted by bodyguards as people clamor to get a glimpse of her or touch the sleeve of her shirt.

A former Chinese national team volleyball star, she once wrapped all but her eyes with a scarf so she would not be recognized on a bike ride. As she pedaled down the streets of Beijing, Lang saw people point to her and cry out: “Lang Ping! Look everybody, that’s Lang Ping under that scarf!”

非常细致地描写了郎平在中国的超人气——这种“全国没人不认识你”的现状，让曾经的郎平一度陷入尴尬的境地。早些年，女排是绝对的全民偶像，拥有极高认知度的郎平时常被人“围观”，这极大地影响了她的个人生活。

来听听她本人的吐槽——

“I can’t go out at all or do anything in public because I’m mobbed by my fans,” she said. “Once I bought something from a street vendor and everyone pointed to me: ‘Look, Lang Ping eat that! Take photo of Lang Ping eating that!’ Ugh, I say. Too much.”

“mobbed”是“围攻”的意思，一个有点夸张又很形象的词。

后面的例子真是让人哭笑不得啊……现在的迷弟迷妹们喜欢去爱豆的公司门口围追堵截，看来当年的人们追起星来也很疯狂，你吃个路边摊都要被围观的人兴奋讨论半天。

接着，作者迅速切入到了正题，直指全篇的最高潮——

The United States team she coaches will take on Brazil for the gold medal.

China will play Cuba for the bronze medal, an awkward ending to Olympic women’s volleyball for some Chinese.

一个“awkward”，道尽了当时很多中国人纠结而矛盾的心态。要骂郎平吧？不至于那么没品。真心恭喜郎平带着美国队打出了好成绩吧？不至于那么从容。

这时，作者十分合时宜地交代了下当时中国国内的舆论氛围——

Since the Olympics began, Chinese newspaper editorials, stories and blogs have discussed Lang’s success. One newspaper story’s headline read, “Let’s Be Proud of Lang Ping,” urging people not to consider her a traitor. Others said she had forsaken her homeland.

看到“urging people not to consider her a traitor”时主页君是很感慨的。作者写得还算委婉，“urge”和“traitor(卖国贼)”两个词一出，一下就让人感受到了郎平当时所面临的舆论压力——是的，在很多人眼里，当时的她可能就是个“卖国贼”。

0 }. s. l, b# g: `& e

作者又引用了一个中国球迷的话：

“She should not have turned her back on China to coach the opponents,” said Yang Lijia, 47, a fan at the United States-Cuba match on Thursday. “I am proud that she is Chinese, but if she coached for China, we would be going for the gold medal. It’s too bad about this.”

这位球迷所说的话，可能最能概括当时大多数较为理性的中国人对郎平的感情了。对于郎平执教美国队，大家谈不上有多“恨”，但内心总还是有些膈应的。

而那些不怎么理性的、骂郎平是“卖国贼”的人，却忽略了一个重要的事实——郎平在外执教这么多年，可她的国籍一直还是中国。

（via百度百科）

在文章里，郎平说了这么一句话，让人非常触动——

“I will always be Chinese, even though I wear another country’s colors,” she said. “My fans love me, so I hope they understand that.”

接着，在介绍了郎平过去数十年海外执教的经历之后，作者再次回到了“郎平在中国的超高人气”这一话题。这次用的是侧面描写——

Her American players were unaware of their new coach’s fame until they took a trip to China in 2005. Lang’s photo was on a huge billboard inside the arena where they played. A group of Chinese fans waved an American flag and chanted Lang’s name.

“Mothers have thrown their children at her,” the United States volleyball player Nicole Davis said. “I don’t think there’s any parallel to that in the U.S. Not Michael Jordan. Not anything.”

这阵仗，把头次来中国的美国女排队员们给吓住了：原来我们的Jenny教练（郎平英文名）在中国这么这么这么有名！和迈克乔丹在美国简直是一样一样儿的！

对于郎平于中国的意义，这名队员是这样形容的：

“She is more of a historical figure, more of a sports figure. I mean, she’s in the history books. I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

6 q- S' K: L: _, e4 M# d+ @ P
▲郎平也是北京奥运会的火炬手

再然后，作者话锋一转，将话题带向了早年郎平作为队员在中国比赛时的情形——进而拓展到当时整个中国竞技体育圈的情况。

七八十年代，出国比赛有着极为严格的限制，拨给运动员的经费有限，他们也很少能自由地出去玩耍购物。获胜之后国家给的奖励也不算多，整个大环境是相对艰苦的。

譬如郎平——连续六年，国家奖励她的都是自行车，而且是同一种型号的自行车。

Lang received televisions or bikes for good performances, but never money, she said. Six years in a row, she was voted the best athlete in China and received the same bike each year.

Now, China’s best athletes receive cars, apartments and cash. They often travel with laptops and cellphones.

“If it wasn’t for Lang Ping, none of us would enjoy the kind of life we have,” said the Chinese tennis player Li Na, known for her shopping sprees on the road.

在“忆苦”之后，作者也以郎平个人的视线为切入点，感慨了中国数十年来飞速的变化——

Lang said she could see China changing each time the team returned home. People started to dress more as individuals, even going to the hair salon for perms.

“Life had been changing little by little,” she said. “And we were the earliest to taste it and bring it home with us.”

如今（2008年），郎平终于又一次率队回到了中国，并且战绩不错，即将和巴西争夺女排的冠军。

文章也跟随着来到了结尾。

前面有提到过，郎平在中国始终人气超高，08年的“尴尬”情况虽让一部分中国人心生不爽，但也不乏更加理性且十分喜欢郎平的球迷们继续为她加油。在当时美国队的比赛上，就有一些中国球迷愿意挥舞着美国的国旗、大喊着郎平的名字为她加油。(A group of Chinese fans waved an American flag and chanted Lang’s name.)

文章的最后一段，以美国女排队员Davis的话结尾。对，就是前面把郎平和乔丹相提并论的那个队员。

她的这句话也很有意思——

“If we are not playing China, the Chinese fans always cheer for us,” Davis said. “It’s not bad to suddenly have a billion people on your side.”

全文到这里就结束了。其实看着这篇文章，主页君还是很感慨的。作者写得相当客观，并没有大肆渲染当时中国人有多么不理性、多么一个劲地骂郎平“卖国贼”，而是将国人那种有点尴尬又有点纠结的心理很balanced地呈现了出来。

同时，文章的用词简单易懂，结构完整流畅，恰当好处的quotes也让人印象深刻，不失为一篇学习人物写作的好范文。

全文只有1200+words，几分钟就可以读完。主页君已在今天推送的第二条全文附上，感兴趣的盆友不妨抽点时间读一读，相信一定会有不少收获：）

今天的麦大叔课堂就到这里啦，我们下周再见！