2019年经济学人 骑自行车的人雷蒙·布里多(1)

骑自行车的人雷蒙·布里多(1)

Raymond Poulidor, cyclist, died on November 13th, aged¹ 83

自行车手雷蒙·布里多于11月13日去世，享年83岁。

Eight times Raymond Poulidor stood on the podium at the end of the Tour de France, soaked in sweat, exhausted² and smiling his big gap-toothed smile. He was just never on the top step. In 14 Tours someone else always pipped him or, to be honest, passed him by quite a lot. He came second three times, third five times (including in his last tour, not bad for a 40-year-old), but never put on the treasured yellow jersey³, the greatest prize in cycling.

雷蒙·布里多曾8次站上环法自行车赛的领奖台，浑身是汗，疲惫不堪，他咧着大嘴笑了。他只是从来没有拿到过第一名。在参加的14次比赛中，总是有人险胜他，或者老实讲，超过他很多。他三次取得第二的成绩，五次取得第三的成绩（包括他最后一次参赛，这对一名40岁的人来说是挺好的成绩），但是从来没有穿上那件黄色的球衣，那是自行车赛最好的奖品。

The closest he came to that was when winners offered to let him wear it at dinner parties, and he would shrug⁴ his big frame into it with no bitterness at all. Because, with or without it, "L'Eternel Second" was by far the most popular racing⁵ cyclist ever known in France. His catalogue of mishaps⁶ in the Tour was long. In 1962, when he came third, he had a broken finger. In 1964, when he came second, he lost time at Monaco and had a puncture⁷ in the Pyrenees.

他最接近这个黄色球衣的时候是当获胜者提出让他在晚宴上穿它的时候，他会耸耸肩，将它穿在自己宽大的身体上，一点也不感觉苦涩。因为，不管有没有它，“永恒第二”是目前法国已知的最受欢迎的自行车手。他在这次旅行中的灾难很多。1962年，他在拿到第三名的那次比赛中断了一根手指。1964年，当雷蒙拿了第二名时，他在摩纳哥耽误了时间，并且车子在比利牛斯山脉扎了一个洞。

In 1965,Italian riders ganged up on him. In 1967 he fell badly in the Vosges, and in 1968 he was hit by a motorbike. The race in 1973 began with his nearest chance, when he was behind by a mere⁸ 0.8 seconds in the Prologue⁹, but he later fell down a ravine. In 1975, his worst Tour, when he came 19th, he had bronchitis. Something always came between him and the glory of the maillot jaune. And all Frenchmen and women who had ever repeatedly tried, and failed, to achieve some goal took him to their hearts accordingly. He was "Pouli" and "Poupou" (a stupid name, but he put up with it), carried aloft on a sea of poupoularité. They called him unlucky. He did not agree.

1965年，意大利骑手联合起来对付他。1967年，他在孚日山脉严重摔倒，1968年，他被摩托车撞了。1973年的比赛以他最接近夺冠的方式开始，开场时他仅落后0.8秒，但后来他摔下了峡谷。1975年，他在最糟糕的那次比赛中拿到了19名，当时他患有支气管炎。总有什么东西挡在他和黄色领骑衫的荣耀之间。所有那些曾多次尝试达到某种目的，但都以失败告终的法国人，都把他放在心里。他曾经是“普利”和“普普”（一个愚蠢的名字，但是他忍受了），被一群欢迎他的人抬到高处。他们说他运气不好。可是他不同意。

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

5 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

6 mishaps   

n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a series of mishaps 一连串的倒霉事
• In spite of one or two minor mishaps everything was going swimmingly. 尽管遇到了一两件小小的不幸，一切都进行得很顺利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

8 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

9 prologue   

n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕

参考例句：

• A poor wedding is a prologue to misery.不幸的婚姻是痛苦的开始。
• The prologue to the novel is written in the form of a newspaper account.这本小说的序言是以报纸报道的形式写的。