2020东京奥运会注定令人难忘，但并非日本所希望的那样
今天的这篇文章来自外刊经济学人杂志2021年7月17日刊（The Economist July 17th 2021）亚洲板块：The Tokyo Olympics-Rings on the ropes. 我们知道，通过经济学人杂志阅读，我们不仅仅可以提高自己的阅读水平，拓宽英语词汇量，同时，对于大家无论是准备考四六级，考研英语还是翻译资格证（CATTI）都是大有裨益的。文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
Even if a disaster is averted, a sense of national renewal will remain elusive文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
即使不至于以灾难收场，但也难以带来民族复兴感文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
Clouds gathered over Komazawa Stadium in Tokyo as the Olympic torch arrived on July 9th. Because of the pandemic, the traditional public relay was replaced by a small ceremony behind the stadium’s closed doors.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
7月9日，当奥运火炬抵达东京驹泽体育馆时，天空乌云密布。受疫情影响，取消了传统的走街串巷式的火炬传递方式，而是改为在体育馆里闭门举行一个小型仪式。文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
Protesters outside held signs that read “Protect lives, not the Olympics” and “Extinguish the Olympic torch”. As Kyogoku Noriko, a civil servant, put it, “Now is not the time for a festival.”文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
场馆外的抗议者高举写有“保护生命而非奥运会”和“熄灭奥运火炬”的标牌。正如公务员京极纪子所说，“现在不是举行庆典的时候。”文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
More enthusiastic onlookers lined a nearby footbridge, hoping to catch a glimpse of the flame through the stadium’s rafters. For Honma Taka, an office worker, the torch offered “a bit of light within the darkness”.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
还有更多热情的市民则站在附近的天桥上，希望能透过体育馆的梁架一瞥奥运圣火。对于办公室职员本间孝来说，奥运火炬带来了“黑暗中的一丝光明”。文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/the-2020-olympics-will-be-memorable-but-not-in-the-way-japan-hoped.html
Mr Honma longingly recalled a brighter day in the same park eight years earlier, when he joined thousands of others to celebrate as Tokyo won the right to host the games.
本间孝满怀深情地回想起8年前那个更加明媚的日子，同样是在这个公园，他和成千上万人一起庆祝东京赢得2020年奥运会的主办权。
Abe Shinzo, Japan’s prime minister at the time, said he was happier than he had been when he became prime minister. Mr. Abe saw the Olympics as a chance to lend credence to his bullish catchphrase: “Japan is back”.
时任日本首相安倍晋三表示，那一刻，他比当选首相时还要高兴。安倍将奥运会视为一个能印证他那句乐观口号（“日本回来了”）的契机。
He hoped the games would help the country snap out of its gloom after decades of economic stagnation, demographic decline, and devastating natural disasters. The games, says Taniguchi Tomohiko, a special adviser to Mr. Abe, were seen as a source of “a commodity that was in scarce supply: hope for the future”.
他希望奥运会能帮助日本从近几十年的经济停滞、人口缩减和毁灭性自然灾害之后的阴霾中走出来。安倍的特别顾问谷口智彦表示，奥运会被视为一种稀缺商品（对未来的希望）的来源。
The grand designs had a powerful precedent in the previous Tokyo Olympics, in 1964. Just two decades after defeat in the second world war, those games came to encapsulate both Japan’s rise from the ashes and its re-entry into the global community.
这种宏伟的设想有一个强有力的先例——1964年东京奥运会。那届奥运会既是日本在二战战败后仅仅二十年便从废墟中崛起的缩影，也是日本重新融入国际社会的缩影。
Tokyo, which had been reduced to cinders by American firebombing, was smartened up. New roads and rail lines, including the first shinkansen, or bullet train, were built.
遭美国轰炸成为废墟的东京被修葺一新，同时修建了新的公路和铁路线，其中包括第一条新干线（即子弹头列车）。
“There was a feeling in the 1960s that everyday life was becoming richer: today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today—and the Olympics became a symbol of this,” says Togo Kazuhiko, a former ambassador who was a student at the time.
当时还是学生的前驻外大使东乡和彦说：“上世纪60年代，人们有一种感觉，那就是日常生活变得越来越丰富：今天比昨天好，明天会比今天好，举办奥运会就成了这种感觉的象征。”
The excitement left a lasting impression on a generation, including Mr. Abe, who invoked his childhood memories of 1964 when Tokyo won the bid for this year’s games.
这种兴奋感给一代人留下了不可磨灭的印象，包括安倍晋三。在日本赢得2020奥运会主办权后，他回忆起了自己在1964年时的童年记忆。
If not for the pandemic, excitement may well have materialized again. The current Tokyo Olympics has had its share of controversies, from an over-budget stadium to rank sexism from the (now departed) head of the organizing committee.
如果不是因为这场疫情，日本人很可能会再次热血沸腾。本届东京奥运会争议不断，从体育场馆预算超支到奥组委主席（现已离任）发表性别歧视言论。
Nor would a sporting event alone be enough to resolve Japan’s problems. But the games were shaping up to be a source of pride. Tens of thousands of young Japanese had signed up to volunteer. Japan planned to welcome 40m foreigners in 2020, when the games were originally scheduled.
单靠一场奥运会也不足以解决日本的问题。但它原本还是朝着好的一面发展。成千上万的日本年轻人报名成为志愿者。日本原计划在2020年举办奥运会，同时迎来4000万名外国游客。
Tourists would have found an impeccably clean, safe, well-run metropolis. Akita Hiroyuki, a commentator for Nikkei, a Japanese daily, reckons that the Olympics could have been a “white ship” that catalyzed the country to “wake up and open up”. (The Americans who forced Japan to open to the world in the 19th century arrived in “Black Ships”.)
游客们会看到一个干净、安全、管理良好的大都市。日本报刊《日经新闻》的评论员秋田广之认为，奥运会本该是一艘“白船”，引领日本走向“觉醒与开放”。 (19世纪迫使日本向世界开放的美国人是乘坐“黑船”来到日本的。)
Instead, the games will be held without fans, foreign or domestic, in a city under a state of emergency. Ito Yuko, one of the fans gathered outside Komazawa Stadium, lamented that the mood is “200% different” from 1964 when she first fell in love with the Olympics. Rather than coming together for the games, Japan has been riven by them.
而现在，奥运会则是在一个处于紧急状态的城市举行的，同时也没有国内外的观众前来。伊藤优子是聚集在驹泽体育场外的一名奥运迷，她感叹道，现在的心情相比1964年她第一次对奥运会着迷时“差了200%”。日本非但没有为举办奥运会团结起来，反而被搞得四分五裂了。
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