一个球员如果能有幸进入曲棍球巡回赛，他将获得什么？

　　He gets better coaching,

　　他会拥有优秀的教练、

　　and his teammates are better,

　　更出色的队友、

　　and he plays fifty or seventy-five games a season

　　一个赛季50到75次的出场机会，

　　instead of twenty games a season

　　而不是像一个赛季只有20次的出场机会的

　　like those left behind in the "house" league,

　　“社区联赛” 一样，

　　and he practices twice or even three times more than he would have otherwise.

　　他的比赛时间增加了两到三倍。

　　In the beginning, his advantage wasn't so much that he was inherently better

　　起初，他的优势或许并不明显，

　　but only that he was a little older,

　　但只要他是一块好料子，

　　but by the age of thirteen or fourteen,

　　当他13岁或者14岁的时候，

　　with the benefit of better coaching and all that extra practise under his belt,

　　就可以发现通过良好的培训和有针对性的练习，

　　he really is better.

　　他就能证明自己是真正的优秀者。

　　So he is the one more likely to make it to Major Junior A, and from there into the big leagues.

　　他就很可能被选进加拿大曲棍球联赛，从这里，他将走进更为顶尖的联赛。

　　Barnsley argues that this kind of skewed age distributions

　　巴恩斯利认为，

　　exist wherever three things happen:

　　在球员筛选、人才分类和区别培训三个环节，

　　selection, streaming, and differentiated experience.

　　无一例外地存在马太效应。

　　If you make a dicision about who is good and who is not at an early age;

　　假如你从球员年龄很小的时候便确定谁优秀谁较差，

　　if you separate the so-called talented from the so-called untalented;

　　假如你要从“平庸者”当中挑选出“佼佼者”，

　　and if you provide the so-called talented with a superior experience,

　　假如你要为“佼佼者”的训练开小灶，

　　then you are going to end up giving a huge advantage to that small group of people born closest to the cutoff date.

　　那么，你最终会把机会留给一小部分球员，这些球员的出生日期最为接近法定注册时间。

　　In the United States, football and basketball don't have these problems,

　　但在美国，橄榄球和篮球运动都不存在这类现象。

　　they don't select and stream and differentiate quite as dramatically.

　　这两类运动不存在球员筛选、人才分类和区别培训的问题，

　　As a result, a child can be a bit behind physically in those sports

　　结果，很多年幼的小孩，虽然体质上处于弱势，

　　and still play as much as his or her more mature peers.

　　但依旧和那些比他或者她更为成熟年长的人同场竞技。

　　But baseball does.

　　但棒球运动却存在这类问题。

　　The cutoff date for almost all nonschool baseball leagues in the United States is July 31,

　　在美国，非学校棒球联赛的法定注册时间是7月31 日,结果联赛中，

　　with the result that more major league players are born in August than any other month.

　　8月份出生的球员远远多于其他月份出生的球员。

　　The numbers are striking:

　　数字令人惊讶：

　　In 2005, there were 505 Americans born in August playing major league baseball

　　在2005年美国棒球联赛中，有505名球员出生在8月份，

　　versus 313 born in July.

　　7月份出生的球员只有313人。