奧運會該瘦身了 Time to cut the Olympics down to size
The Olympics are back in the news. China is to get a winter games; Boston was dropped from consideration for the summer ones; Rome, according to this newspaper, wants to step in; and a scientific report has said the waters of Rio are so polluted that swimmers and yachtsmen might get seriously ill next year at the Brazil games.
奧運會再次成爲新聞。中國將舉辦一屆冬季奧運會；波士頓在納稅人反對下撤回申辦夏季奧運會；據英國《金融時報》報道，羅馬希望申辦；同時一份科學報告稱，里約熱內盧的水污染如此嚴重，明年巴西奧運會期間游泳和帆船運動員可能會得重病。
The only Olympics I’ve seen in person was Rome in 1960, memorable for watching Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, winning the boxing light-heavyweight crown. Herb Elliott finished so far ahead in the 1,500m that he had his tracksuit on when the second-place Frenchman crossed the line. And a British postman, Don Thompson, walked away with the 50km, er, walk. All were quite wonderful, just as all the Olympics, including London in 2012, produce something extraordinary.
我唯一到現場看過的奧運會是1960年羅馬奧運會，拳王阿里(Muhammad Ali)——當時名叫卡修斯克萊(Cassius Clay)——贏得了輕量級拳擊冠軍的場面令人難忘。赫伯縠斂祵(Herb Elliott)如此大幅領先完成了1500米比賽，當第二名的法國人穿過終點時，他已經穿好了自己的外套。而英國郵遞員唐搠湬森(Don Thompson)輕而易舉地獲得了50公里競走冠軍。他們都非常出色，就像所有奧運會（包括2012年倫敦奧運會）都創造了非凡的成績一樣。
But you cannot ignore the fact that — China and a handful of other authoritarian countries apart — there is now a palpable reluctance to host an Olympics, as was found in Boston. The growing sense is that they have become too big and too expensive to stage, and that civic money might better be spent on other things, such as fixing ageing infrastructure.
但你無法忽視這樣一個事實：除了中國以及少數幾個威權國家之外，如今其他地方明顯不願意舉辦奧運會，正如波士頓的情形一樣。人們日益感覺到，這個體育盛會已經變得過於龐大和昂貴，而將公帑花在其他方面或許更好，比如修復老化的基礎設施。
There is an answer, which is to cut the games down to size, and to that end here is my modest solution. First, limit events to those that can be judged by a stopwatch, tape measure and, to accommodate weightlifting, a set of scales.
有一種解決方法，那就是壓縮奧運會的規模。爲此，我獻上自己的小小解決方案。首先，將賽事限定在那些可以通過秒錶、捲尺以及磅秤（爲了照顧舉重）進行判決的運動。
Second, abolish all judges. Referees can stay, to stop swimmers mugging each other underwater or steeplechasers skipping round the blindside of the water jump, although these days ubiquitous cameras would do the job just as well.
第二，取消所有評委。裁判員可以保留，負責阻止游泳運動員在水下打架，或者障礙賽跑運動員在盲區繞過水溝，儘管如今無處不在的攝像頭完全可以勝任此類工作。
But judges, who assess form and therefore determine who wins medals using criteria only they understand, have to go. Third, give serious thought to banning all games involving a ball, whatever its size or shape.
但是，那些評定姿態動作、並用只有自己明白的標準來決定誰贏得獎牌的評委必須走人。第三，認真考慮禁止所有球類（不論任何大小和形狀）賽事。
Athletics (track and field to Americans) would stay, as would swimming, Alpine and cross-country skiing, speed skating, yachting, rowing and kayaking, show jumping, archery, fencing, wrestling, weightlifting and all other sports that do not involve judges awarding style points.
競技（美國人稱爲田徑）項目將保留下來，游泳、高山和越野滑雪、速滑、帆船、賽艇和皮划艇、場地障礙賽、射箭、擊劍、摔跤、舉重以及其他所有不涉及評委打姿態分的運動項目也應被保留。
By the same token, out would go ice skating, gymnastics, diving, dressage, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronised swimming and boxing, and any other event in which judges rule the roost.
出於同樣原因，滑冰，體操、跳水、盛裝舞步、藝術體操、花樣游泳、拳擊以及其他任何由評委掌控結果的比賽都應該取消。
Partly the problem is down to their corruption (boxing most notoriously) and national biases, but also their assessments of performances are so opaque as to be incomprehensible to the average spectator.
問題有一部分在於其中的腐敗（最臭名昭著的是拳擊）和國家偏向，也有一部分是對選手表現的評分如此不透明，以至於普通觀衆難以理解。
I understand the exclusion of gymnastics and ice skating will raise howls of protest, because they are the events that draw the biggest television audiences. But, personally, I have had enough of prepubescent pixies, some quite likely the victims of cruelty to children, throwing themselves around and winning so many medals, for individual, team, all round and, for all I know, upside down, as to degrade the value of a gold, silver or bronze. Ice skating and dancing may be pretty to watch but, again, the subjectivity of the judging leaves much to be desired.
我明白，取消體操和滑冰項目將引起很多抗議，因爲它們是吸引最多電視觀衆的賽事。但就個人而言，我已經受夠了青春期前的殘酷訓練，有些孩子成了殘忍訓練的受害者，支配他們，讓他們爲個人、團隊贏得如此多的獎牌，簡直是本末倒置，使金牌、銀牌和銅牌貶值。花樣滑冰或許具有很強的觀賞性，但在評分的主觀性方面有很大問題。
