你熱愛足球，被足球的魅力深深吸引，它輕盈、舒展、優(yōu)雅，它充滿力量和激情，它給你帶來了無盡的快樂，當你為足球如癡如醉時，有沒有想過足球為何能俘獲眾多人的心，為何能風靡世界？

There are many beautiful things about being an American fan of men's World Cup soccer—foremost among them is ignorance. The community in which you were raised did not gather around the television set every four years for a solid, breathless month. Your country has never won. You can pick whatever team you like best and root for[i]) it without shame or fear of reprisal[ii]). You have not been indoctrinated[iii]) into unwanted-yet-inescapable tribal allegiances[iv]) by your soccer-crazed countrymen. You are an amateur, in the purest sense of the word. So with the World Cup taking place this month—and the World Cup is the only truly international sporting event on the planet (no, the Olympics, with their overwhelming clutter of boutique[v]) athletics, do not matter in the same way)—you can expect to spend the month in paradise.

[i] root for: 為……喝彩鼓勵；為……鼓勁

[ii] reprisal [r??pra?zl] n. 報復

[iii] indoctrinate [?n?d?ktr?ne?t] vt. 向……傳授知識(或紀律、規(guī)章等)

[iv] allegiance [??li?d??ns] n. (對個人、團體、事業(yè)等的)忠貞；擁戴；熱愛

[v] boutique [bu??ti?k] adj. 精細操作的

作為一個男子足球世界杯的美國球迷有很多美好的事，其中居于首位的就是無知。在你長大的社區(qū)里，大家不會每隔四年就圍聚在電視機前一起度過不眠不休的、扣人心弦的一個月。你的國家還從來沒有贏過。你可以挑選你最喜歡的任何球隊，為他們鼓勁喝彩而無需感到羞愧或擔心被報復。你沒有被愛球成癡的同胞灌輸過討厭的但又無法逃避的部落忠誠思想。用最純粹的話來說，你是個業(yè)余愛好者。所以，當世界杯這個月舉行時——世界杯是地球上唯一真正的國際體育賽事(不，奧運會因各種小規(guī)模的精品運動項目而雜亂不堪，與世界杯的意義不同)——你可以期待自己這一個月將會在天堂度過。

That's what I do. The world of the World Cup is the one I want to live in. I cannot resist its United Nations–like pageantry[i]) and high-mindedness, the apolitical[ii]) display of national characteristics, the revelation of deep human flaws[iii]) and unexpected greatnesses, the fact that entire nations walk off the job or wake up at 3 a.m. to watch men kick a ball. There are countries that have truly multiracial squads[iv])—France, England, and the United States—while other teams are entirely blond or Asian or Latin American. A Slovakian tire salesman, an Italian cop[v]), or a German concert pianist—having passed the official fitness tests—will moonlight[vi]) as referee. There are irritating fans: "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" (Blessedly few.) There are children who hold hands with each player as he walks onto the field. National anthems play. Men paint themselves their national colors and cry openly at defeat. An announcer shouts "GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL! GOL, GOL, GOL!" on the Spanish-language channel you're watching. (It's often the only way you can see the game live.) There are two back-to-back 45-minute segments[vii]) without commercials. To quote the book every traveling athlete finds in his hotel room: "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." Or, as my copy of "Soccer and Its Rules" says: "Are you ready? Ready to cheer the players to victory, marvel at their fitness, speed, and skills, urging them to win every tackle[viii]) for the ball, ready to explode at a powerful shot? Ready for the excitement of flying wingers, overlapping backs, curling corners, slick one-two passing and goals scored with panache[ix])? Ready for another moment in a fantasy world?"

[i] pageantry [?pæd??ntri] n. (尤指涉及王室人物的特殊正式事件的)盛典；盛大活動

[ii] apolitical [?e?p??l?t?kl] adj. (指行為)非政治的，無政治色彩的；(指人)不關心政治的；不支持任何政黨的

[iii] flaw [fl??] n. (指人性格中的)缺點

[iv] squad [skw?d] n. 班，小隊

[v] cop [k?p] n. 警察

[vi] moonlight [?mu?nla?t] vi. 兼職(尤指不為專職工作的雇主和稅收部門知道)

[vii] segment [?seɡm(xù)?nt] n. 部分；片段

[viii] tackle [?tækl] n. 【足】阻截鏟球

[ix] panache [p??næ?] n. 夸耀；夸示；神氣十足

那正是我要做的。我想住在世界杯的世界。它那仿若聯(lián)合國一樣的盛大場景、崇高品格、對民族特征無政治色彩的展現(xiàn)、對人類深層的缺陷及出人預料的優(yōu)點的揭示，以及整個國家的人都翹班或者凌晨3點起床看一群男人踢球的事實，我都無法抵抗。這里有許多擁有真正多種族球隊的國家，如法國、英國還有美國；而其他球隊卻全部都是金發(fā)碧眼的白種人或亞洲人或拉丁美洲人。一個斯洛伐克輪胎銷售商，一個意大利警察，或者一個德國音樂會鋼琴家在通過官方的體能測試后，將可以在這期間兼職做裁判。還有讓人惱火的球迷：“美國加油！美國加油！美國加油！”(還好人數(shù)不多。)還有和每個球員手牽手走進場地的孩子們。還會放國歌。人們會把自己涂成國旗的顏色，還會在自己支持的球隊戰(zhàn)敗時當場放聲大哭。你看到西班牙語頻道(這通常是看現(xiàn)場直播的唯一途徑)的一個解說員大喊：“球進進進進了！進了，進了，進了！”比賽有兩個連續(xù)的半場，各45分鐘，直播中間沒有廣告。引用每個旅行的運動員都會在酒店房間里發(fā)現(xiàn)的那本書(編注：指《圣經》，國外酒店多提供)上的話來說就是：“應當歡喜快樂，因為你們在天上的賞賜是大的。”或者就像我手里的這本《足球及其規(guī)則》所寫：“你準備好了嗎？準備好為球員們歡呼直至他們取勝，為他們的體能、速度和球技而驚嘆，激勵他們在每一次斷球中取勝，準備好為一記強勁的射門而爆發(fā)歡呼了嗎？為令人興奮的飛一般的邊鋒、疊瓦式助攻的后衛(wèi)、弧度精妙的角球、巧妙的帶球過人和神氣十足的進球準備好了嗎？為魔幻世界的下一個重要時刻準備好了嗎？”

I am ready.

Soccer's worldwide popularity isn't surprising when you look at what has always motivated humanity: money and God. There's lots of money in soccer, of course. Club soccer (like capitalism) is basically the childlike desire to make dreams come true, no matter what the cost, realized by men with enough money to combine such commodities as the best Brazilian attacker, Dutch midfielder, British defender, and German goalie[i]) and turn them loose on whatever the other billionaires can put together—an unfair situation that describes much of the world these days. But the divine's there, too. What is soccer if not everything that religion should be? Universal yet particular, the source of an infinitely renewable supply of hope, occasionally miraculous, and governed by simple, uncontradictory rules ("laws," officially) that everyone can follow. Soccer's laws are laws of equality and nonviolence and restraint, and free to be reinterpreted at the discretion of a reasonable arbiter[ii]). What the ref says goes, no matter how flagrantly[iii]) in violation of dogma[iv]) his decisions may be. My official rule book, after presenting a detailed enumeration[v]) of soccer's 17 laws, concludes that the ref can throw out any of them in order to apply what it rather mystically calls "the spirit of fair play".

[i] goalie ['g??l?] n. 守門員

[ii] arbiter [?ɑ?b?t?(r)] n. (活動或命運的)控制者；主宰者；裁決人

[iii] flagrantly [?fle?ɡr?ntli] adv. 明目張膽地；公然地；赤裸裸地

[iv] dogma [?d?ɡm(xù)?] n. 教條；信條

[v] enumeration [??nju?m??re??n] n. 列舉

我準備好了。

當你看到是什么一直促進了人類的發(fā)展時，足球在全世界范圍的流行就不會使你驚訝了：金錢和上帝。足球行業(yè)當然有很多錢。俱樂部足球(就像資本主義)基本上就是不論代價是什么都要讓夢想成真的孩童般的渴望，它由有錢人來實現(xiàn)，他們把 諸如最好的巴西前鋒、荷蘭中場、英國防守還有德國守門員這些商品聯(lián)合起來，然后又拆散他們任由其他億萬富翁組合——這個不公平的情形很大程度上描繪的是世界的現(xiàn)狀。但足球運動也不乏神圣之處。如果宗教不應該是一切，那足球是什么呢？它是普世而又獨特的，是無限可再生的希望之源泉，有時是不可思議的，它由簡單的、不矛盾的規(guī)則(官方稱之為“法則”)支配，每個人都能遵守。足球的法則是為了確保公平、克制和非暴力，可以任由理智分明的裁判對其加以合理地詮釋。裁判的話就是圣旨，無論他的裁定可能多么明顯地違背了規(guī)則。我的官方規(guī)則書在詳細地列舉出足球的17大法則后總結稱，裁判可以拋開這其中的任何一條，以便踐行所謂的相當神秘的“公平競爭精神”。

The religious undercurrent[i]) in soccer runs especially deep in World Cup years. Teams from across the globe converge on[ii]) the host nation in something of an unarmed, athletic crusade[iii]). As in the Crusades, the host nation tends to repel them. There's a weird power in home-team advantage. Hosts find a level of success disproportionate to their talents on paper, triumphing over stronger teams, as if exerting a gravitational pull on the game, causing it to be played the way they want to play it, as if, to carry this metaphor to its inevitable conclusion, God were on their side.

[i] undercurrent [??nd?k?r?nt] n. 潛流；暗流

[ii] converge on: (人或車輛等)聚集

[iii] crusade [kru??se?d] n. 十字軍(指西方基督教徒組織的反對穆斯林國家的幾次軍事東侵)

宗教潛流對足球的影響在世界杯舉行的那些年份尤其深遠。來自全球的諸多球隊匯集到主辦國，就像是在進行一場赤手空拳的競技遠征。而就如所有的遠征一樣，主辦國常常能抵御他們。主場隊的優(yōu)勢有種奇怪的力量，主隊總能獲得與他們表面實力不相符的勝利，戰(zhàn)勝比他們更強大的對手，就好像他們對比賽施加了一種引力，使之能按照他們希望的方式進行，就好像——這個比喻不可避免得出這樣的結論——上帝在支持他們。

It's well-known that soccer, like religion, can provoke violence—hooliganism[i]) and tramplings at overcrowded, Mecca-mid-hajj-like stadiums are what many Americans assume about the game. But soccer has also proved unique in its ability to bridge differences and overturn national prejudices. The fact that the World Cup could even take place in South Korea and in Japan, as it did in 2002, was a victory for tolerance and understanding. In less than half a century South Korea had gone from not allowing the Japanese national team to cross its borders for a World Cup qualifier, to co-hosting the tournament with the former occupier. Give the world another 50 years and we might see the Cup co-hosted by Israel and Palestine.

[i] hooliganism [?hu?l?ɡ?n?z?m] n. 流氓行為

眾所周知，足球就像宗教一樣也能激發(fā)暴力——像麥加朝圣之路一樣過度擁擠的體育館里的足球流氓行為和踩踏事件就是許多美國人對這項運動的假想。但足球也有業(yè)已被證明的獨特力量——彌合分歧，顛覆民族偏見。2002年世界杯甚至能夠在韓國和日本舉辦這個事實就是寬容和理解的勝利。不到半個世紀前，韓國還不允許日本國家隊越過它的邊境參加世界杯資格賽，如今已經與曾經的侵略者共同主辦了這項賽事。再過50年，我們也許能看到以色列和巴勒斯坦共同主辦的世界杯。

And why not? Soccer's universality is its simplicity—the fact that the game can be played anywhere with anything. Urban children kick the can on concrete and rural kids kick a rag wrapped around a rag wrapped around a rag, barefoot, on dirt. Soccer is something to believe in now, perhaps empty at its core, but not a stand-in for anything else.

為什么不能呢？足球的普遍性歸功于它的簡單——事實是這項運動可以在任何地方用任何東西來進行。城里的孩子在混凝土馬路上踢罐子，鄉(xiāng)下的孩子赤著腳在土路上踢著破布裹著破布裹成的破布團。足球是現(xiàn)在就要信仰的東西，也許它是中空的，但它絕不是任何東西的替身。