新概念英语4册第6课

The Sporting Spirit

I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn`t know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.

Nearlly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations, who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe -- at any rate for short periods -- that unning, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.

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体育创造了国家和种族间的和睦，甚至认为世界上的普通人如果在足球或者板球场上遇见彼此，他们就不会有在战场上相见的倾向。每当听到有人说，我都会感到惊奇。即使我不知道一些实际的例子（如1936年的奥林匹克运动会），可以从常理推论出来，国际间的体育竞赛会造成强烈的敌意。

今天几乎所有的体育活动都是竞赛性的。你为了赢而参加，而且除非你尽自己最大的能力去赢得胜利，否则游戏会变的毫无意义。在一个你不会感到爱国精神的小村庄里，也许有可能为了娱乐和锻炼而参加。但是当威望上升，当你觉得如果失败会使你和更大的团体很丢脸时，野蛮好战的本能就被唤醒了。甚至参加学校足球比赛的人也知道这一点。但重要的不是运动员的行为而是观众的态度，以及，在观众背后的国家。那些把仇恨注入可笑的竞赛中的人很严肃的认为，任何瞬间，例如奔跑、跳跃、以及踢球是对民族精神的一种考验。