经济学人:当代高尔夫 要荣誉不要古塔球

 　　International: How much have golfers improved? No gutties, more glory

　　国际：当代高尔夫球手的水平有多大进步？要荣誉，不要古塔球

　　Comparing modern golfers with champions of old is trickier¹ than escaping from a pot bunker with a niblick.

　　拿现代高尔夫球手和多年前的冠军作比较，难度可比用9号杆捞出锅状沙坑里的球还大。

　　The winner of this year's British Open golf tournament, which started on July 16th on the Old Course at St Andrews, will pocket ￡1.15m ($1.79m) .

　　今年，赢得英国高尔夫公开赛（该赛事于7月16日在圣安德鲁斯老球场进行）的选手将会入账115万英镑（179万美元）的赛事奖金。

　　Golf was not always so lavishly² rewarded.

　　高尔夫赛事的奖金并非一直如此丰厚。

　　当代高尔夫球手要荣誉.png

　　The first time the Open was played at St Andrews, in 1873, the first prize was ￡11 (￡1,079 in today's money) .

　　1873年，在圣安德鲁斯老球场举办的首届高尔夫公开赛上，第一名的奖金是11英镑（相当于现在的1079英镑）。

　　There was no sponsorship, no TV (for obvious reasons) and only a handful of spectators braving the blustery Scottish weather.

　　那个时候该项赛事既没有赞助也没有电视转播（这些都是明摆着的），只有冒着苏格兰大风前来观赛的寥寥观众。

　　The prize money was a welcome windfall for the champion, a local caddy called Tom Kidd, but he still died poor 11 years later.

　　一名叫做汤姆-基德的当地球童最终摘得了桂冠，从而获得了赛事奖金，然而尽管得到了一笔令他欣喜的意外之财，他仍然在11年后死于贫穷。

　　He is thought to have sold his clubs and his champion's medal to pay for booze.

　　人们认为他为了偿还酒钱，可能早已卖掉了自己的球杆和冠军奖牌。

　　It is not only the rewards that have improved.

　　如今，该赛事提升的不仅仅是奖金的数额。

　　Because the Open has been played at St Andrews—the home of golf—more often than anywhere else, it is possible to measure what has happened to scores over a century and a half.

　　由于公开赛在高尔夫的发源地——圣安德鲁斯镇举办，这里举办的次数比其他地方都多，因此便于将过去一个半世纪以来选手们的成绩进行比较。

　　They are vastly better today.

　　如今，选手们的水平的确提高了不少。

　　Kidd took nearly 90 shots for each 18-hole round he played.

　　当年基德挥出了将近90杆才将每局的18洞打完。

　　Any competent modern amateur could do that.

　　这样的成绩当代任何一位业余球手都能做到。

　　Louis Oosthuizen, the Open champion in 2010, averaged 68 shots a round, even though the course is now 7,305 yards, up from 6,577 in Kidd's day.

　　2010年高尔夫公开赛的冠军路易-乌修仁打完每局平均只要68杆，这还是在球场长度从基德时代的6577码延长到今日7305码发生的情况。

　　Yet the comparison is not fair, says Scott MacPherson, author of a history of St Andrews.

　　但是这样的比较是不公平的，《圣安德鲁斯的历史》的作者斯科特-麦克佛森这么说道。

　　In Kidd's day, sheep rather than mowers kept the grass short, so the greens were bumpy³ and unpredictable.

　　在基德的那个年代，球场的草坪主要靠绵羊而不是割草机来完成修剪，所以草地显得凹凸不平，让选手捉摸不定。

　　And Kidd played with primitive⁴ equipment.

　　而且基德使用的也是更原始的装备。

　　Winston Churchill once said that, “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.”

　　丘吉尔就曾经说过，“高尔夫是用十分蹩脚的用具把一只很小的球打进更小的球洞的游戏。”

　　That was certainly true in Kidd's day.

　　这在基德的那个年代千真万确。

　　He used wooden-shafted clubs (which tended to warp) and a “gutty” ball (made of the solidified⁵ sap of the Malaysian gutta-percha tree) .

　　他使用的是木制杆头的球杆（还带点弯曲）和“胶质”古塔球（由固化的马来西亚杜仲树树液制成）。

　　Gutties were better than the leather-wrapped, feather-stuffed balls they replaced, which often exploded in mid-air.

　　胶质球以更优异的性能一度替代了用羽毛填充在皮囊里的（这类球飞到空中常常会爆炸）羽毛制高尔夫球。

　　But nobody could hit one more than about 200 yards—as far as a 12-year-old might hit a modern synthetic⁶ golf ball with a graphite-and-titanium club.

　　但是人们从未将这种球击出200码以外的距离——这与当下一位12岁的少年用石墨和钛制球杆挥击现代合成用球如出一辙。

　　Still, today's golfers could almost certainly have beaten yesterday's.

　　尽管如此，今天的高尔夫球手几乎肯定可以击败他们的前辈们。

　　They practise longer, lift more weights and use motion sensors⁷ to analyse tiny errors in their swings.

　　如今，球手训练时间更长，力量训练的负重更大，挥杆结束后还会使用运动传感器来分析自己每个微小的失误。

　　Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament favourite until he pulled out with an injured ankle on July 8th, has built a gigantic practice ground in his backyard, complete with a replica⁸ of St Andrews' “Road Hole” bunker, a notorious black hole for errant approach shots.

　　因脚踝受伤，已于7月8日退出公开赛的夺冠热门罗里·麦克罗伊就在自家的后院里建了一座大型高尔夫训练场。这座训练场带有圣安德鲁斯老球场“魔鬼沙坑”（臭名昭著的地狱地堡，近距离切球的噩梦）的仿建模型。

　　They face competition from all around the world.

　　他们面对的竞争来自世界各地。

　　This year's Open features players from 24 countries; in 1873 the field consisted of nine Scots and an Englishman.

　　今年参加公开赛的选手更是多达24个国家。回望1873年的那场比赛，参赛选手只有9名苏格兰人和1名英国人组成。

　　1.pay for 偿还

　　例句:I have had to pay for repairs to the house.

　　我不得不支付房屋维修费用。

　　2.all around the world 世界各地

　　例句:There were television crews and pressmen from all around the world.

　　来自世界各地的电视工作者和新闻记者齐聚一堂。

　　3.black hole 黑洞

　　例句:At the core lies a supermassive black hole.

　　在星系核中有一个超大质量的黑洞。

　　4.as far as 至于；直到

　　例句:I'll keep you company as far as the station.

　　我将与你结伴到车站。

1 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

2 lavishly   

adv.慷慨地，大方地

参考例句：

• His house was lavishly adorned.他的屋子装饰得很华丽。
• The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour.这本书里有大量全彩插图。

3 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

4 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

5 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

6 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

7 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

8 replica   

n.复制品

参考例句：

• The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
• The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。