考研英语阅读材料及译文:footballing Armageddon

　　考研英语阅读材料及译文:footballing Armageddon

　　THE only previous time that Brazil hosted the World Cup, in 1950, it famously lost the final 2-1 to Uruguay, after shipping two goals in 13 minutes late in the second half. So deflated were Brazilians that Nelson Rodrigues, a playwright and journalist, described the occasion as a “national catastrophe…our Hiroshima”.

　　If that is the benchmark, then the 7-1 semi-final thrashing on July 8th at the hands of Germany in Belo Horizonte's Mineir?o stadium was Brazil's Armageddon. It was not just the scale of defeat—the worst since 1920. It was also the manner in which Germany's fast and technically superior players cut through the home defence, as easily as a machete through cassava. To rub salt in a gaping wound, it is Argentina—Brazil's arch-rivals—who will face Germany in the final on July 13th.

　　This humiliation has left Brazilians shell-shocked. No other country in the world has a closer identification with football, as Rodrigues's hyperbole highlights. That may partly be because Brazil has no real Hiroshimas to fear: apart from brief engagement on the Allied side in Italy in 1944-45, it has not fought a war since the 1860s (against Paraguay). Through good fortune and tolerance, it faces neither military threats, nor terrorism, nor ethnic or religious tensions.

　　But this identification with football is also because the sport has provided a national narrative and a social glue. In a country that for long periods has failed to live up to its potential, prowess at the game provided “a confidence in ourselves that no other institution has given Brazil to the same extent”, as Roberto DaMatta, an anthropologist, wrote in the 1980s. Brazil has won five World Cups but no Brazilian has won a Nobel prize.

　　In winning the right to host this year's World Cup (and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's then president, wanted to highlight that the country now has other reasons for confidence beyond football. The tournament would showcase the planet's seventh-largest economy, a vibrant democracy and remarkable social progress that has seen poverty and income inequality fall steadily in this century.

　　But the tournament has taken place just as Brazilians are feeling less confident about their country's course. The economy has slowed to a crawl; inflation is at 6.5%, despite a succession of interest-rate rises. The 11 billion of publicly financed spending on stadiums helped to trigger huge protests last year over poor public services, corruption and the misplaced priorities of politicians. The last-minute rush to complete the stadiums, and the tragic collapse of a newly-built flyover in Belo Horizonte this month, have highlighted Brazil's difficulties with infrastructure projects.

　　参考译文:

　　1950年，巴西第一次也是此前唯一一次举办世界杯，经历了非常著名的一次失败，2:1输给了乌拉圭，比赛下半场乌拉圭在13分钟内进球2个。灰心的巴西剧作家兼记者Nelson Rodrigues把这次失败形容为“国家灾难。。。我们的广岛”。

　　如果以那次失败作为标准，那么7月8号在贝洛奥里藏特体育场举办的对德国的半决赛，7:1的比分无疑是巴西世界末日。它不仅是自1920年以来在比分上最大的一次惨败，更体现在风格上，德国速度技术俱佳的球员穿过巴西的主防线轻松地亦如用大刀割木薯。巴西的主要竞争对手阿根廷将在7月13号的决赛上面对德国，这无疑是伤口上撒盐。

　　这次羞辱让巴西人身心俱疲。正如罗德里格斯强调的一样，世界上没有一个国家对足球这么近的认同感。部分原因可能是因为巴西没有像广岛那样真的恐惧感：除了1944—1945年简单的接触了盟军中的意大利，自1860年代以来就没有战争(对症乌拉圭)。得益于好运和容忍，巴西既不需要面临战争威胁，也不需要面对恐怖主义，更不用说宗教和种族的紧张局势。

　　但是对足球的这种认同感也是因为这个运动为国家和社会提供了一种凝聚力。人类学家Roberto DaMatta在19世纪80年代写到，在一个长时期未能发挥其潜力和威力的国家，从足球游戏中得到了一种自信，这种自信的程度是其他任何机构都不可能给予的。巴西曾经5次获得世界杯冠军但没有一个巴西人获得过诺贝尔奖。

　　通过成功获得今年世界杯和2016年里约热内卢奥运会的举办权，巴西前任总统路易斯?伊纳西奥?卢拉?达席尔瓦试图强调现在的巴西在足球之外有其他的理由值得自信。世界杯将展示这个星球的第七大经济体，一个充满活力且有显著进步的民主社会，一个在本世纪贫穷和收入不平等稳步下降的社会。

　　但是本次世界杯恰逢巴西人对于国家进程感到信心不足的时候举办。经济滞缓，尽管一连串利率上浮通货膨胀仍达到6.5%。耗资110亿美元公共支出用于场馆建设推波助澜了去年针对糟糕的公共服务、腐败、和不知轻重缓急的政治家的大型抗议活动。最后时刻才匆忙完成场馆建设，本月贝洛哈里桑塔新建的立交桥发生悲剧性的坍塌，凸显了巴西基础设施项目的困难。