美国国家公共电台 NPR China's Government Tightens Its Grip On Golf, Shuts Down Courses

China's Government Tightens¹ Its Grip On Golf, Shuts Down Courses

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The president of China is taking a step that's rich with symbolism. He's been campaigning against corruption³, and he's been doing that in part by attacking the game of golf. NPR's Rob Schmitz reports.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE⁴: China's Communist Party hasn't always demonized golf.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JIMMY CARTER: Vice⁵ Premier⁶ Deng, Madame Cho Lin, distinguished⁷ visitors from The People's Republic of China...

SCHMITZ: January 1979 - the White House. President Jimmy Carter welcomes Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping for an historic trip to the U.S.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CARTER: ...And Vice Premier Deng, on behalf of all Americans, I welcome you here to our house.

(APPLAUSE)

SCHMITZ: Deng came seeking help to open China's economy, which had been ravaged⁸ by decades of violent political campaigns. But if American executives were to invest in China, they would need to travel there. And if they were to travel there, they would need a golf course. At a stop in Seattle, President Carter introduced Deng to Robert Trent Jones Jr., one of the world's top golf-course architects. Jones remembers Deng's reaction.

ROBERT TRENT JONES JR.: He brightened up. He said, yes, I like sports. And he said, what is golf? I said, it's a small ball hit over a big field into a hole. And people gamble about it, and they buy each other a drink. He said, oh, perfect. Chinese will love it.

SCHMITZ: Together, Jones and China's leadership built Shanghai's first golf course in the communist era. It was a milestone⁹ in China's complicated history with golf, a sport declared forbidden by Mao in 1949, only to be reincarnated¹⁰ by Deng 30 years later. The pendulum¹¹ has now swung back, and golf is again in the crosshairs of China's Communist Party.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Chinese).

SCHMITZ: A state media report this year outlined the government campaign against the sport. Many golf courses were built on valuable farmland through corrupt² land deals. Others use too much water in parched¹² areas of the country. Most golf clubs were private, exclusive to businessmen who often invited local government officials.

As a result, the government has shut down a fifth of all golf courses in China, and it's banned construction of new courses. Party officials in the southern province of Guangdong are now forbidden from golfing during work hours. Ozzie Ling, manager of Shanghai's Yingyi Golf Club, says government inspection¹⁴ squads¹⁵ now show up unannounced.

OZZIE LING: So they will come and check on you, and then they will say, OK. So on this day, this guy was here. They actually look through your computers. And then they start checking, you know, day by day this and that. And how much did he spend. You know, how much he - who he was playing with and all that.

SCHMITZ: This new norm is a challenge for the survivors¹⁶ of China's golf industry.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRIVING GOLF BALLS)

SCHMITZ: At Shanghai's Junior Golf Academy, young pros¹⁷ tee off on the driving range. Head coach Gareth Winslow, who used to coach China's national women's team, says golf has become a tricky¹⁸ business in this new environment.

GARETH WINSLOW: You know, you have a golf academy. We have a pro¹³ shop, a golf course, whatever it is. And you want to promote it, do some marketing¹⁹. But at the same time, you want to kind of stay under the radar²⁰ and not promote the fact that you're in the golf industry. So yeah, it's very challenging.

SCHMITZ: And even Shanghai's first golf course of the modern era, the Shanghai Country Club - the one that had its beginnings with President Carter and Deng Xiaoping - even that course was not immune to the party's war on golf. China's government shut it down last year for being too close to a water reservoir.

Course architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. takes it in stride. He's been designing courses for decades, and he's seen everything. When he designed the Soviet²¹ Union's first course, the Soviets²² were suspicious. And then Jones reminded them that Karl Marx used to play golf.

JONES JR.: Once we explained that to the Russians, the ideological²³ drape fell down, and we moved forward.

SCHMITZ: And if the image of the founder²⁴ of communism out on the links isn't enough to convince the leader of China's Communist Party to reverse his direction on golf, perhaps the rise of Chinese golfers will. Feng Shanshan, one of the best women players in the world, won a bronze medal for China at the Rio Games, leading the way for other young Chinese golfers - golfers who are playing not because they want to complete a business deal but because, in the words of Jones to former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, they enjoy hitting a small ball over a big field into a hole. Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Shanghai.

1 tightens   

收紧( tighten的第三人称单数 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• One set of provisions tightens emission standards. 一套使排放标准更加严格的规定。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Requires no special tools or fittings; hand tightens to relief valve outlet. 不需要专用工具或管件；用手将其紧固到安全阀上即可。

2 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

3 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

7 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

8 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

9 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

10 reincarnated   

v.赋予新形体，使转世化身( reincarnate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They believe humans are reincarnated in animal form. 他们相信人死后转生为动物。
• She was reincarnated as a snake. 她化身为一条蛇。 来自辞典例句

11 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。

12 parched   

adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干

参考例句：

• Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
• The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。

13 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

14 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

15 squads   

n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍

参考例句：

• Anti-riot squads were called out to deal with the situation. 防暴队奉命出动以对付这一局势。 来自辞典例句
• Three squads constitute a platoon. 三个班组成一个排。 来自辞典例句

16 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

17 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

19 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

20 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

21 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

22 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

23 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

24 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。