2006年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-The Rapid Evolution of the Olympics

Don Gonyea: After 17 days of skiing, skating, sliding and yes, even a little doping, the Winter Olympics end today. For NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman, the Turin Games are the seventh Olympic he has covered. Looking back, he has this essay on how the Games have changed and stayed the same over the past 14 years.

Tom Goldman: The Olympics have come full circle. My first Games in 1992 were less than 100 miles from here in Albertville, France. The distance is short, many of the changes from Albertville to Turin are huge. In 1992, the Winter Olympics were still heavy on the traditional sports like Alpine¹ skiing and skating. But that year, the Games also started leaning toward the extreme. Mogul skiing made its debut² in Albertville, aerials would follow in 1994, snowboarding in '98, and now 2006, Halfpipe gold medalist Shaun White, known as the Flying Tomato, is a star in the US.

Shaun White: This day is insane, I just, I don't know, I got all nervous on my first round and I fell and now I, I just, I just made a pack for myself as to stick to the next couple of rounds, man, here we are, that's crazy.

Tom Goldman: The inclusion of X-Games type sports may have a lot to do with their American roots because America has a heck of a lot to do with the Olympics. In 1992, CBS paid 243 million dollars for the exclusive American TV rights to the Games; NBC has paid 613 million for the rights to Turin. The rights fees go up, the games get bigger, meaning Olympics in quaint³ settings like Grenobal, Lake Placid⁴, Albertville, are a thing of the past. Certainly the world around the Olympics has changed, those '92 Games were the first after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet⁵ Union collapsed⁶, the Cold War tension that fueled so many gripping Olympic moments was gone, but still, it was a roiling⁷ time. Fledgling countries showed up in Albertville proud just to display their own flags. Now countries born after the fall of Communism aren't content to just be at the Games, they want to win. Consider the success in Turin of Slovakia and the Czech Republic in Men's Hockey. In 1992, doping was an Olympic side issue, now there is the world anti-doping agency, thousands of journalists report on the issue. And in Turin, for the first time at the Olympics, the police got involved, acting⁸ on suspicions that Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes may have been involved in doping, here is Arne Ljungqvist of the International Olympic Committee speaking to reporters a few days ago.

Arne Ljungqvist: Well, the Italian authorities have made a raid, and they have searched for material, for drugs, for instruments . When we talked with the Italian authorities, it is the terrible year on what they have made and found, and we are waiting for that report.

Tom Goldman: As the Olympics evolve on some issues, the games stay stuck in the past on others. I'll always remember the bizarre turn at the press conference following the 1992 Men's Figure Skating competition, a reporter asked the three medalists if all male skaters are gay, fast forward to Turin, where American skater Johnny Weir⁹ was asked about his sexuality, Weir has never said he is gay, he has described himself as princess-y, but to Olympic reporters he said:

Johnny Weir: Who I sleep with doesn't affect what I'm doing on the ice.

Tom Goldman: Yes, after 14 years I'm still part of a group of people that asks figure skaters if they are gay, but I'm also a fortunate member of that group. Since 1992, I've been able to see the Olympics, to hear the games, uninterrupted without packaging as they actually happen and not on delayed broadcast, just sporting events unfolding, their innate¹⁰ drama building to moments like the Swedish Swiss gold medal match in Women's Curling the other day, one Swedish stone at the very end sent two Swiss stones skittering out of the target. Swedes got the gold, both teams cried for very different reasons. Those moments I'm glad to say will never change.

Tom Goldman: Tom Goldman, NPR News, Turin.

Note------------
doping: the practice of using drugs to improve performance in a sport; 禁药
roil: 煽动, 激怒

1 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

4 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 roiling   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的现在分词 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• Now, all that could be seen was the roiling, lead--coloured sea, with its thunderously heaving waves. 狂风挟着暴雨如同弥漫大雾，排挞呼号，在海上恣意奔驶。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• Rather, it is a roiling, seething cauldron of evanescent particles. 相反，它是一个不断翻滚、剧烈沸腾的大锅，内有逐渐消失的粒子。 来自互联网

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 weir   

n.堰堤，拦河坝

参考例句：

• The discharge from the weir opening should be free.从堰开口处的泻水应畅通。
• Big Weir River,restraining tears,has departed!大堰河，含泪地去了！

10 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。