【奥运奖牌榜东京】每日一篇英语阅读 Day160 | 东京奥会奖牌标准灵活，不是第一制造第一

这次日本奥运会骚操作不断，奖牌获得者也可以写文章。外国人再也看不到了，感到掩耳盗铃的羞愧。

Yahoo | Yahoo Sports | 东京奥会奖牌标准灵活，不是第一制造第一

Sorry, America: China's leading the real Olympic medal count  对不起，美国：中国是真正的奥运奖牌数领跑者（节选）

 China is kicking the United States' tail (at least for now) in these Olympics, although you wouldn’t know it if you just scanned the medal tables in the American media.

大意：在这些奥运会上，中国正在紧跟美国（至少目前是这样），但是如果你只是浏览美国媒体的奖牌榜，你不会知道这一点。

In an unexplained yet (apparently) nationally accepted counting method, Americans tally the standings not by what country wins the most golds, but what country wins the most total medals.

大意：在一种约定俗成的计数方法中，美国人不是根据哪个国家赢得最多金牌来计算排名，而是哪个国家赢得最多奖牌。

【单词积累】 

1、In an unexplained yet (apparently) nationally accepted counting method

NBC. New York Times. Washington Post. Alas, even Yahoo Sports. This is, to be clear, ridiculous.

大意：美国全国广播公司（National Broadcasting Company，NBC）、纽约时报、华盛顿邮报。唉，即使是雅虎体育也是如此。说白了，这很可笑。

That means China’s current tally of 32 golds, 21 silvers and 16 bronzes (69 total) is somehow not as good as the United States’ 25 golds, 29 silvers and 21 bronzes (75 total). Try telling China’s seven extra gold medalists that their victories didn't matter.

大意：这意味着中国目前的 32 枚金牌、21 枚银牌和 16 枚铜牌（共 69 枚）在某种程度上不如美国的 25 枚金牌、29 枚银牌和 21 枚铜牌（共 75 枚）。试着告诉中国额外的七名金牌得主，他们的胜利并不重要。（2021.08.05日数据）

What in the name of participation trophies is going on here?

大意：打着获奖的旗号，那这里面发生了什么？

【单词积累】 

2、in the name of  

①by authority of  以…的权力；得到…许可

open in the name of the law   以法律的名义开放

② for the reason of : using the excuse of  以……为借口、理由

called for reforms in the name of progress  以进步的名义呼吁改革

3、trophy/'trəʊfɪ/  n. an asset that brings praise or renown  奖品；战利品；纪念品

The rest of the world favors gold over everything. That’s how the International Olympic Committee tallies it. Same with the medal standing on the Toyko 2020 website. It’s good enough for media companies all over the world, just not in the U.S. apparently.

大意：世界其他地方对金牌的青睐胜过一切。国际奥委会也是按照金牌数量排列排行榜的。这种标准与Toyko 2020 网站上的奖牌相同。这对全世界的媒体公司来说已经足够好了，只是在美国显然不行。

【单词积累】 

4、tally/'tælɪ/   vt. to gain (as points or runs in a game) as credit towards one's total number of points 计算；记录；使符合   n. 标签；记账；计数器

e.g.  Our team tallied three runs in that inning. 我队在那一局中得三分。

Everyone else has this right since, quite literally, gold is better than the others. It’s a simple concept.

大意：其他人都有这个权利，因为毫不夸张地说，金牌比其他的好。这是一个简单的概念。

Gold. Silver. Bronze.

大意：金牌＞银牌＞铜牌。

The gold medalist gets the highest spot on the podium. The flag of the country that the gold medalist represents is raised higher than the others. They play the anthem of the gold medalist, not the others.

大意：金牌得主在领奖台上获得最高位置。金牌得主所代表的国家国旗比其他名次得主的升得更高。他们演奏冠军国家的国歌，而不是其他的国歌。

【单词积累】 

5、podium/'pəʊdɪəm/   n. a level usually raised surface  领奖台；乐队指挥台；矮墙；墩座墙

6、gold medalist  金牌得主

champion   冠军

first runner-up 、silver medalist  亚军、银牌得主

second runner-up、bronze medalist   季军、铜牌得主

winner、victor、conqueror  得胜者，获胜者

There is no subtlety here. There is no room for interpretation. At no point was it ever suggested that the three spots are equals. If they were, then they’d just hand out three gold medals.

大意：这没有奥秘。也没有解释的余地。从来没有人认为这三个名次是相等的。如果相等，那么奥委会只会颁发三枚金牌。

Instead, back at the 1904 Games — held in St. Louis, no less — they came up with the concept of three colored medals. Everyone loved it. Prior to that the winner received a silver medal and an olive branch while the runner-ups each got a bronze or copper medal and a laurel branch.

大意：相反，回到 1904 年在圣路易斯（St. Louis）举行的奥运会上，他们提出了三色奖牌的概念。每个人都喜欢这个提议。在此之前，获胜者获得银牌和橄榄枝花环，而亚军则分别获得青铜牌或纯铜牌和月桂枝花环。

【单词积累】 

7、no less   表示强调某事让人惊讶 used to emphasize that something is regarded as impressive or surprising

e.g. He wants to be driven to the airport, in a limousine no less. 他想要坐豪华轿车去机场。

Peter cooked dinner—fillet steak and champagne, no less. 彼得居然做出了饭——里脊扒和香槟酒。

8、olive branch  橄榄枝

laurel branch  月桂枝

9、词汇辨析brass、copper和bronze

①copper

     copper：纯铜，也就是直接开采出来的铜，俗称红铜或者紫铜，古时候用的铜钱就是copper，元素铜的符号是Cu，这里指的就是copper。

    美剧中，警察被称为cop，相当于中文里的“条子”。cop是copper的简称，从前警察的制服用的是铜扣（copper button），所以人们就用copper来指代警察。

②bronze

      bronze，意为青铜，像古文物中的青铜器、青铜车马，称bronze ware。

③brass

     brass则是黄铜，因为管乐器大多是黄铜制的，所以brass也表示“铜管乐器”。

The U.S. though, like its opposition to the metric system, decides to go it alone and, hey, what a coincidence, it just happens to make it look like the Americans are having the most success at the Olympics, when we most certainly are not.

大意：然而，就行反对公制一样，美国又决定单干了。嘿，多巧啊，奖牌榜只是碰巧看起来美国在奥运会上是最成功的国家，而现实肯定不是。

【单词积累】 

10、 metric system  n. a decimal system of weights and measures based on the meter and on the kilogram   米制，公制，十进制度量系统（美国是工业化国家中唯一未将国际单位制定义为官方量度系统的国家）

This wasn’t some planned thing. The system was in place before China began capturing more golds here. It isn’t a coordinated way to spare America’s fragile ego and hide the fact that it isn’t dominating the Games. It just looks that way.

大意：这不是什么计划好的事情。在中国获得更多金牌之前的奥运会，这种制度就已经存在了。这并不是为了保护美国脆弱的自尊心，并也不是为了掩盖美国没有主导奥运会的事实。它只是看起来就是这样。

【单词积累】 

11、spare America s fragile ego  拯救美国脆弱的自我

Consider this: If the United States was leading the standings according to every single entity — official or neutral — in the entire world, but the Chinese media used a different system that put them on top … well, what would you think?

大意：想一想：如果美国在全世界每个（官方或中立的）组织的排名中都处于领先地位，但中国媒体使用不同的系统将自己置于首位……好吧，你会怎么想？

【单词积累】 

12、 leading the standings   领跑积分榜

Besides, the total medal count does tend to favor the United States, which often has the largest delegation at the Olympics and, thus, the most chances to win medals (613 to China’s 431).

大意：此外，奖牌总数确实倾向于美国，因为美国通常拥有最多的奥运会代表团，因此获得奖牌的机会最多（累计美国获奖数613 对比中国的 431）。

【单词积累】 

13、delegation/delɪ'geɪʃ(ə)n/   n. a body of persons chosen as representatives of a larger group  代表团

Right now though, it’s just embarrassing. There is no shame in not winning as many golds as China. Really, who cares? A nation's worth is not defined by the strength of its canoe slalom team. Besides, with track and field, basketball and boxing still going, we can still surpass the Chinese by any metric.

大意：不过现在想想，还是挺尴尬的。没有像中国那样赢得那么多金牌并不可耻。真的，谁在乎？一个国家的价值不是由其皮划艇激流回旋队的实力来定义的。再说，田径、篮球、拳击还在继续，任何项目都可以超越中国。

【单词积累】 

14、canoe slalom 皮划艇激流回旋（夏运会项目）

But making it look like we are reworking the numbers — even if it isn’t orchestrated — is humiliating.

大意：但让现在这个奖牌榜看起来像是我们正在重新计算数字，即使它不是精心策划的，也令人觉得羞耻。

【比赛相关词汇】 

1、sweep：take everything  横扫

sweep the series：win every game 全赢

2、doubldhead  连续两场的

3、opener：开局第一场比赛

4、awarding ceremony：颁奖仪式

排名：come in first/ second / third place

5、 podium：领奖台

mount the rostrum 登上领奖台

play the anthem of the gold medalist 奏国歌

hoist the national flag  升国旗

6、match point 赛点（a situation (as in tennis) in which one player or side will win the match by winning the next point; also : the point itself 最后一球）

7、球类计分：

0分：love

0:0  love all

8、seed player、seed  种子选手

the top seed 头号种子选手

veteran   老将

newcomer  小将