英国队奥运佳绩招来欧洲国家羡慕嫉妒恨

 　　Britain’s stunning¹ medals success in the Rio Olympics may have been a cause for elation² at home — but in parts of Europe it has met with sneers³, incredulity and withering⁴ criticism of UK sports policy.

　　英国运动员在里约奥运会上的奖牌“大丰收”或许令英国国内民众欢欣鼓舞，但在欧洲的一些地方，英国这一成就却招来了对英国体育政策的嘲笑、质疑和刻薄的批评。

　　Great Britain achieved its best Olympic performance in more than a century, garnering⁵ a total of 67 medals, including 27 golds. It ended the Rio games second in the overall medals table after the US and ahead of China.

　　英国在这届奥运会上取得了上百年来最好的成绩，共获得67块奖牌，其中金牌达27块。里约奥运会落下帷幕后，英国在金牌榜上排在第二位，落后于美国，但领先于中国。

　　Some fellow Europeans were impressed. Others were sceptical.

　　有些欧洲国家对此赞叹不已，也有些欧洲国家对此报以怀疑。

　　Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, for example, singled out Team GB’s spectacular success in cycling, which it said “has led its rivals to wonder if there isn’t something fishy⁶ going on with the Brits”.

　　比如，德国《法兰克福汇报》(Frankfurter Allgemeine)就把矛头指向了英国队在自行车项目上的惊人成就，称这“让英国队的对手们怀疑英国人是不是玩了什么猫腻”。

　　The paper also had harsh words for the Britain’s “no compromise” approach to funding, which allocates⁷ money to sports with a realistic chance of earning medals and has withheld⁸ it from disciplines that failed to meet their medals target in 2012.

　　该报还对英国的“不折中”(no compromise)资助方式提出了严厉批评。英国把资金拨给有现实可能夺牌的项目，而拒绝拨给那些在2012年未实现奖牌目标的项目。

　　“It made no difference how popular the sport was with the public, how suitable it was for the mass market,” the paper said. “Volleyball and table tennis were excluded from funding programmes, despite their broad appeal and wide take-up in the population.”

　　“公众对该项目的欢迎程度以及该项目是否适合于大众市场，都变得无关紧要。”该报表示，“排球和乒乓球都被排除出了资助计划，尽管它们广受欢迎、在民众中普及程度很高。”

　　The article was headlined: “No compromise: why the Brits win more often in Rio than China, and what a high price they pay for it.”

　　该报这篇文章的标题是：“不折中：为什么英国人在里约比中国人拿牌还多，他们为此付出了多么高的代价。”

　　There was a similar reaction in Spain, where the El País daily described Britain’s pursuit of Olympic glory as “brutal and heartless”, stating: “Every medal is the product of calculation, not the spirit of a nonconformist athlete.”

　　西班牙国内也有类似的反应。西班牙《国家报》(El País)把英国对奥运荣耀的追求描绘为“残酷无情”。该报称：“每块奖牌都出于算计，而不是源自不墨守成规的运动员的精神。”

　　Perhaps even more irritating to British sports fans was the approach taken by the European Parliament. In a tweet it airbrushed out the Britain’s performance, instead congratulating the whole of the EU on the 325 medals it had collectively won.

　　更令英国体育迷恼火的或许是欧洲议会(European Parliament)的做法。欧洲议会在Twitter上发的一条帖子略掉了英国队的成绩，改为庆祝整个欧盟(EU)合计赢得的325块奖牌。

　　That earned this terse⁹ response from one @JDrewer: “If you want to know why the Brits decided¹⁰ to leave the EU, this tweet pretty much sums it up.”

　　用户@JDrewer用简练的语言回复这条帖子道：“如果你想知道英国人为什么决定离开欧盟，这条帖子差不多总结出了原因。”

　　Yet in other countries, there was outright¹¹ envy at Team GB’s medal haul, and especially the extraordinary turnround achieved since Atlanta in 1996, when it won just one gold. On Monday, Poland’s sports minister called for the country to copy the British approach in order to win more medals.

　　但也有些国家对英国队的奖牌大丰收表现出了极大的羡慕，尤其是考虑到这是英国队相对于1996年亚特兰大奥运会实现的一次惊天逆转，英国队在那届奥运会上只获得1块金牌。周一，波兰体育部长呼吁本国仿效英国的做法，以赢得更多奖牌。

　　“In Rio, Great Britain won 67 medals. And this shows that their model, which involves the selection of key disciplines, passed the test,” said Witold Banka.

　　“在里约，英国赢得了67块奖牌。这表明他们的模式——涉及对关键项目的遴选——通过了考验，”维托尔德?班卡(Witold Banka)称。

　　He said Poland should emulate¹² UK Sport’s targeted policy, rather than splitting funding equally between all disciplines. “[This approach] will play a very important role in the development of Polish sport,” he added.

　　他说，波兰应该效仿英国体育有的放矢的政策，而不是把经费平分给各个项目。“（该模式）将在波兰体育事业发展上扮演非常重要的角色，”他补充称。

　　The Frankfurter Allgemeine’s sniping at Britain’s success in the velodrome came in the wake of comments by a number of athletes and coaches at Rio hinting at skulduggery in the British ranks.

　　在《法兰克福汇报》把矛头对准英国在场地自行车项目上的成功之前，不少运动员和教练在里约就此发表了评论，暗示英国队在玩猫腻。

　　Michael D’Almeida, a French cyclist who was in the bronze medal-winning men’s sprint¹³ team, said last week: “We are human beings like them, we are made of the same stuff, we have a bike like they do, so why are they better?”

　　法国自行车选手米夏埃尔?德阿尔梅达(Michael D’Almeida)是赢得本届奥运会场地自行车争先赛男子团体铜牌的运动员之一。他上周表示：“我们和他们一样都是人、都是同种材料制成的，我们的自行车也和他们的一样，那为什么他们的成绩更好？”

　　German track cyclist Kristina Vogel, who won the women’s sprint, said there was something “questionable” about Britain’s cycling success. “They all come here at their best level, and I have no idea how they do it,” she said.

　　德国场地自行车选手克里斯蒂娜?福格尔(Kristina Vogel)赢得了本届奥运会场地自行车女子争先赛金牌。她表示，英国在自行车项目上的成功有点“可疑”。“他们都是以最佳状态来参赛的，我不知道他们是怎么做到的，”她说。

　　She later backtracked, saying: “I never said they take any drugs or have a bike with engines, but they always seem faster at the Games.”

　　她后来用一种弱化的语气称：“我从没说过他们嗑了药或往自行车上装了发动机，但他们在本届奥运会上似乎总是更快些。”

　　It’s not the first time that Britain’s success in the velodrome has raised eyebrows¹⁴. At the 2012 London Olympics the French director of cycling suggested that GB was winning so many cycling medals because its racers were using different wheels to everyone else. This prompted Dave Brailsford, the British cycling director, to joke that Team GB did have a secret — they used “specially round wheels”.

　　英国在场地自行车项目上的成功并非首次引来质疑。2012年伦敦奥运会上，法国自行车队领队曾暗示，英国队在自行车项目上赢得如此多的奖牌，是因为其选手所用的车轮与其他任何选手都不一样。英国自行车队领队戴夫?布雷斯福德(Dave Brailsford)对此戏言道，英国队确实有个秘密——他们用了“特别圆的车轮”。

1 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

2 elation   

n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意

参考例句：

• She showed her elation at having finally achieved her ambition.最终实现了抱负，她显得十分高兴。
• His supporters have reacted to the news with elation.他的支持者听到那条消息后兴高采烈。

3 sneers   

讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You should ignore their sneers at your efforts. 他们对你的努力所作的讥笑你不要去理会。
• I felt that every woman here sneers at me. 我感到这里的每一个女人都在嘲笑我。

4 withering   

使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的

参考例句：

• She gave him a withering look. 她极其蔑视地看了他一眼。
• The grass is gradually dried-up and withering and pallen leaves. 草渐渐干枯、枯萎并落叶。

5 garnering   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• And at the forefront was Bryant, garnering nothing but praise from his coaches and teammates. 而站在最前沿的就是科比，他也因此获得了教练和队友的赞美。 来自互联网

6 fishy   

adj. 值得怀疑的

参考例句：

• It all sounds very fishy to me.所有这些在我听起来都很可疑。
• There was definitely something fishy going on.肯定当时有可疑的事情在进行中。

7 allocates   

分配，分派( allocate的第三人称单数 )； 把…拨给

参考例句：

• The state allocates huge funds for the development of aid-agriculture industries. 国家拨出大批资金，发展支农工业。
• The value that then I create value allocates part to discuss. 于是我把价值创造的价值分配分别开来论述。

8 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 terse   

adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的

参考例句：

• Her reply about the matter was terse.她对此事的答复简明扼要。
• The president issued a terse statement denying the charges.总统发表了一份简短的声明，否认那些指控。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

12 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

13 sprint   

n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过

参考例句：

• He put on a sprint to catch the bus.他全速奔跑以赶上公共汽车。
• The runner seemed to be rallied for a final sprint.这名赛跑者似乎在振作精神作最后的冲刺。

14 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。