【The Economist】俄罗斯世界杯

showcase:展示（本领，才华）的场合；陈列柜 Jack found a film role that showcased all his talents

Since then Russia’s actions on the world stage have been anything but friendly. Its annexation of Crimea in 2014, the war in eastern Ukraine and military intervention in Syria have cast a pall over relations with the West. Mr Mutko himself landed at the centre of the Sochi Olympics doping scandal. (Mr Putin rewarded him with a promotion to deputy prime minister.) The poisoning of a former spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury earlier this year led to calls from the British government for officials to boycott the World Cup. Last month, Dutch-led investigators implicated Russia in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine. As a group of victims’ relatives wrote ahead of the tournament, “We are painfully aware of the dark irony that the Russian leaders who will profess to welcome the world with open arms, are those who are chiefly to blame for shattering our world.”

自那之后俄罗斯在世界舞台上的举动就和“友好”再不沾边。2014年，俄罗斯吞并克里米亚半岛，发动东乌克兰战争，对叙利亚的军事干扰，这些都给它与西方国家的关系蒙上一层阴影。而穆特科自己也深陷索契奥运会兴奋剂丑闻。（而普京却给他升官加爵，提拔他为副总理）。年初前间谍谢尔盖·斯克利帕尔在索尔斯伯被毒杀，这一事件导致英国政府呼吁各国官方抵制世界杯。上个月以荷兰主导的侦察小组表明俄罗斯牵涉到马航MH17在东乌克兰上空被击落事件。正如许多受害者的亲属在比赛举办前写道的那样：“我们痛苦地意识到这是一出 黑色讽刺剧，那些声称会张开双臂迎接全世界的领导者们，其实恰恰是伤害这个世界的元凶。”

annexation:合并，吞并 Any further move beyond the annexation of Crimea would trigger far wider sanctions.

cast a pall over：给某物蒙上阴影

Yet as the cup kicks off, the world seems willing to look past politics. Although the Russian team—the lowest-ranked of all the competitors—will be lucky to make it beyond the group stage, Mr Putin stands to reap a PR victory. The tournament will bear little resemblance to the 1980 Olympics, when America led a 65-nation boycott in response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan; only Iceland among the participants has joined Britain in refusing to send high-level representatives. More than 1m foreigners are expected to visit Russia over the next month, taking advantage of simplified visa procedures. The biggest buyers of tickets are from America.

但是当世界杯真正开始时，世界人民似乎都很乐意将政治搁置一旁（然而当世界杯拉开帷幕，全世界似乎还是很情愿忽略政治）。虽然俄罗斯队—所有参赛队伍中排名最低的队伍—能小组赛出线就算十分幸运了，但普京还是可能收获一场公关胜利。这次比赛绝不会像1980年奥运会那样，遭到以美国为首的65个国家的集体抵制，以此对抗苏联入侵阿富汗。这次在所有参赛国中，只有冰岛响应了英国的号召，拒绝派遣高级代表团来俄。受益于简化的签证流程，预计下月会有超过一百万的外国人来到俄罗斯。而大多数买票的看球赛的都是美国人。

Kick off：足球的开球，活动的开幕

Stand to：做好准备

PR：public relations 公共关系

Russia has spared little expense to present a friendly face, putting some $11bn towards infrastructure and a host of shiny new stadiums. (Corruption and overruns have been widespread, though not nearly at the level of the $50bn Sochi Olympics.) Wide pedestrian walkways and lush greenery greet visitors to Moscow, the product of years of renovation. The centre boasts nearly universal wifi coverage and a plethora of craft-beer bars. “I already love it,” declared Jonathan Mascorro of Texas, as he pondered options for bahn mi and pho at a Vietnamese restaurant in Moscow’s Gorky Park this week. Smaller regional host cities will have sparser amenities, but have also been spiffed up. Hordes of English-speaking volunteers have been recruited; taxi drivers have been encouraged to brush up on their language skills, too. (As one Moscow cabbie quips: “I’m already tired of saying khello.”) Even typically surly train conductors are being taught to smile at customers.

俄罗斯为摆出友好姿态不惜代价，斥资110亿美元设基础设施和大批崭新运动场，（虽然政府预算还没达到索契奥运会的500亿美元，但贪污和超额支出现象泛滥成灾）。游客们走在莫斯科宽敞的人行道上，能欣赏到郁郁葱葱的植物，而这些都是耗时数年翻新的成果（年复一年的翻新……听起来好像影射腐败，毫无必要地反复翻新的意思。这里没包含那层含义。耗时数年的翻新工程的成果）。Wi-Fi已全面覆盖中心地区，精酿啤酒吧台数不胜数。这星期在莫斯科高尔基公园的一家越南餐厅里，来自德克萨斯州的乔纳森·马斯克罗在为选择越南粉还是越式法包纠结不已。他说道：“我已经爱上这里了。”一些地方主办城市虽然便利设施不如大城市，但也已装扮一新。政府招募了大批英语志愿者，还鼓励出租车司机提高语言技能。（莫斯科的一个出租车司机打趣道：“我已经厌倦了说‘你吼’”) 。甚至是一向脾气暴躁的火车售票员也被教导朝顾客微笑。

Spare little expense to：不遗余力，可参照 spare no effort to

Boast：自夸，自吹自擂；有值得骄傲的东西

A plethora of：多余的，过剩的

Sparser：sparse比较级，稀少的，零落的

Hordes of：一大群人

Brush up：擦亮，复习，提高

Quip：打趣，嘲讽

Surly：脾气暴躁的，性情乖戾的

To preserve the festive atmosphere, the Russian authorities will have to contend with several difficulties. One is the threat of clashes. Violence between Russian and English hooligans in Marseille marred the European Championship in 2016. Russian police have cracked down since, rounding up rowdy fans and warning local hooligans that there will be no tolerance for disturbances. Another peril comes from terrorism. With 11 host cities, and 2,500km separating the farthest-flung, Russia’s World Cup offers an attractive target for lone-wolf attacks. The Islamic State (IS) group made explicit threats ahead of the tournament, posting propaganda images with popular footballers in alarming orange jumpsuits.

为了保持这种节日的氛围不受破坏，俄罗斯政府（当局）需要解决（对付）几个难题。一个就是冲突的威胁。马赛的俄罗斯和英国小混混之间的暴力冲突玷污了2016年的欧洲杯，自那以后俄罗斯警方严厉打击并聚集了爱惹是生非的球迷，警告当地小混混他们绝不会容忍任何扰乱行为。恐怖主义是另一个威胁（另一个威胁则来自恐怖主义）。因为有十一个主办城市，且最远距离达到2500公里，所以这次世界杯很容易成为独狼袭击的目标。伊斯兰国在比赛开始前发布了一些著名足球员身穿显眼的橘黄色囚服（我觉得这里需要点出是囚服，不然有些莫名其妙）的宣传照片，这是一个赤裸裸的威胁挑衅。

Contend with：对付，与某事作斗争

Hooligan：流氓，恶棍，阿飞

Mar：玷污，破坏，损害

Crack down：压制

Round up：聚集一群人

Peril：危险，祸害

Lone-wolf attack：孤狼攻击

Jumpsuit：连体衣

The Kremlin will also have to keep attention away from its own repression at home. As the fans arrive, cinemas have been showing “Leto”, a new film directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, who has been under house arrest on trumped-up corruption charges for nearly a year. Russia’s leading opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, jailed last month over anti-Putin protests, looked set to be released on the opening day. Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director jailed on fabricated terrorism charges, has been on hunger strike since May 14th, demanding the release of other Ukrainian political prisoners (see leader). Once the fans depart later this summer, they will remain. The beautiful game can offer only a temporary respite from ugly realities.。

同时，克里姆林宫不能只专注于国内压制。球迷到来之际，电影院正在上映《Leto》，这是一部由基里尔·谢列布帘尼克夫导演的新电影，而他本人因为莫须有的贪污指控被软禁将近一年。上月因反对普金抗议活动而被监禁的俄罗斯反对派领袖阿列克谢·纳瓦尔尼有望会在开幕式那天被放行。捏造的恐怖主义指控而被监禁的乌克兰导演奥列格森佐夫自从5月14号就开始了绝食反抗，要求放行其他乌克兰政治囚犯（见社论）。这个夏天，等到球迷们离开，这一切将恢复原状。这场美好的比赛只是丑恶现实的一个短暂停歇而已。

House arrest：软禁

Trumped-up：捏造的，无中生有的

Respite：暂停，暂缓

文章结构

第一段：表明这次世界杯对俄罗斯的意义

第二段：俄罗斯之后的不友好表现

第三段：这些表现并未带来不利影响

第四段：俄罗斯为世界杯做的准备

第五段：世界杯面临的两个威胁

第六段 ：揭露在美好的表象下丑陋的现实

翻译专业即将大三，妹子一枚，爱旅行爱吃奥利奥，欢迎大家加好友～

微信：18862964981 Wei 邮箱：zhaowei0109@gmail.com返回搜狐，查看更多