With more than 200 gold medals to their name, China have become one of the dominant nations in the Olympics since their debut in 1984. In that time, Great Britain have never finished above them in the medal table. However, Team GB is above China with 19 gold medals as of Wednesday morning, two more than the Chinese on 17.
中国自1984年首次参加奥运会以来,已斩获200多枚金牌,成为奥运会上的主要赢家之一。在此期间,英国从未在最终的奖牌榜上取胜过。然而,周三上午英国队已赶超中国,拿到19块金牌,比中国的17块金牌多了两块。

当然截止发稿日期,数字已再次刷新,目前奥运奖牌榜是这样的:

State news agency Xinhua vented its anger on Wednesday, saying: "No gold for CHN gymnasts, TeamChina have suffered the worst Olympic flop at Rio2016." The Sina website also criticised the gymnasts' performance: "Terrible! Chinese gymnastics team gets only two bronze, the worst result in history."
周三,中国官方新闻机构新华社发泄了愤怒的情绪,说:“中国体操零金牌,中国队在2016里约奥运会上遭遇滑铁卢,历史最差。”新浪网也批评了体操队的表现:“可怕!中国体操队只获两铜,为史上最差成绩。”(以上均只代表部分媒体意见)

Not all the media was so critical. Global Times described the Olympics as the most "relaxed games ever". The article continued: "Many media reports have explained this change in terms of the country's international standing, claiming that China has gained confidence to the point where it can discard its previous focus on medals. The time in which we relied on sports to show our strength or prove our reputation is over, particularly after 2008."
也不是所有的媒体都持批评态度。《环球时报》就将本届奥运会评为“史上最轻松奥运”,文章中继续写道:“许多新闻媒体都解释了国际排名发生变化的原因,因为中国已足够自信,可以丢弃从前紧盯奖牌的态度。特别是2008年以后,我们依赖体育运动展示实力、提高声誉的时代已一去不复返。”

Social media users, however, seemed more aggrieved by the slip in standards. According to one survey by state broadcaster CCTV, nearly half of the survey respondents say their chances at winning a gold have diminished because Olympic referees are making bad calls, or their athletes can't break through in other events. These opinions are fuelled by a sense that China is being picked on, or is at a disadvantage. Very few blame China's beloved athletes.
然而,社交媒体用户们更为成绩判定标准的偏颇感到受伤。根据国家广播机构CCTV的一份调查,近半数回应者都说赢金牌的机会小了是因为奥运裁判总是误判,或者说运动员们难以在其它项目中有所突破。让这些言论愈演愈烈的是他们有种感觉——总有人挑中国的毛病或者中国总是吃亏。很少有人责备心爱的运动员们。

Some Chinese fans suggest there is too much emphasis on sports that western countries excel at, such as athletics, while the International Olympic Committee hasn't included sports that Asians are skilled in, such as Wushu martial arts.
有的中国观众提出建议,认为奥运会太重视西方国家的强项,如田径;而国际奥委员却没有把亚洲人擅长的运动加入到比赛项目中来,比如武术。

With a few days to go, could Britain retain their hold on second? How could the final table look?
比赛还有几天就结束了,英国队能不能保持住第二位的成绩呢?最终的奖牌榜会是什么样的呢?

对此最终奖牌数的排名,BBC做出了一个预测:

Great Britain and China will definitely add to their gold medal tally between now and the end of the Games. Simon Gleave, head of analysis at Gracenote, which produces a Virtual Medal Table for the Olympics, predicts a GB haul of 60 medals, with 22 golds. That is "unlikely" to be enough to beat China, reckoned Gleave, but he said the "gold medal race looks like it could be close".
当然,英中两国在比赛结束前一定都还会再拿到更多金牌。Gracenote的首席分析师西蒙·格利夫绘制了一幅奥运会虚拟奖牌榜,预计英国队将拿到60枚奖牌,其中包括22块金牌。格利夫认为,这样是“不太可能”打败中国的,但他说“两国金牌数可能会非常接近”。

但是最终结果已经不重要了,因为停留在这一刻的英国人表示:我们超过了中国!!!我们很强!!!

那么,问题来了,为什么这届奥运会上英国队的成绩会这么强呢?英语君总结了三条原因:

第一,“东道主红利”。

这个很容易理解,如果一个国家是奥运会举办国,那么它当然希望自己的运动员在自己国家的运动场上取得最好成绩。就像2008年北京奥运会,我们拿到了51枚金牌,成为最大赢家。而2012年奥运会在伦敦举行,英国运动员们自然也就卯足了劲想多拿金牌,最终果然也29枚金牌的成绩首次进入前三强。虽然4年过去了,本届奥运会不在英国举行,但英国的“东道主红利”还在,因为为举办奥运会修建的体育运动设施以及为拿金牌培养的运动员们还在发挥作用啊。

第二,“举国体制”。

别看西方国家经常用这个词来抨击社会主义国家,这种拿奖牌的“不二法门”它们可一点也没少用。1996年亚特兰大奥运会,英国仅收获一枚金牌,一向把兴趣看得比胜负重要的英国人也无法忍下去了。时任首相梅杰决定改革,不能让耻辱重演。于是,英国体育协会网站上就出现了“每项运动我们都需要你”的口号,并开始为体育运动投入大量资金——可不是所有的体育运动哦,是能拿奖牌的运动。哪项运动拿的奖牌多,哪项运到手的资金就多。比如自行车项目发展得好,就能从奥运基金中捞一大笔金,而弱项的英国篮球却拿不到什么钱。 你说论体育精神应该“人人有份”吧,英国体协明确说了“资助是特权,不是权利”。

PS:据说这次他们的花费是……3亿英镑……

第三,精神动力。

这个不用多解释了,当我们中国人认为已足够自信,不再需要紧盯金牌榜争荣誉的时候,刚刚脱欧又经历英镑大跌的英国人现在非常需要从奥运金牌榜上找自信。把运动当兴趣?NO!现在的英国吃瓜群众们最感兴趣的运动项目就是能帮他们拿金牌的项目,比如原先几乎一无所知的17世纪法国运动项目“盛装舞步”。

声明:本文系沪江英语原创内容,转载请注明出处。中文翻译仅代表译者个人观点,仅供参考。如有不妥之处,欢迎指正。