英国卫报：残酷的斗羊世界(12)（在线收听）

Arriving in Annaba the next morning, we paid a visit to the reigning champion sheep in what used to be the Jewish quarter.

第二天早上到达安纳巴，我们在过去的犹太人区拜访了卫冕冠军羊。

Half a dozen men in athletic attire were leaning against the wall, olive-skinned and overfed, tense with their efforts to look hard.

半打身着运动装的男人靠在墙上，他们皮肤黝黑，吃得过饱，他们努力使自己看起来很紧张。

The sheep's owner, Ala was so stressed that he hadn’t slept for three nights – his other sheep, El Hadj (Pilgrim), was in a championship match that afternoon.

羊的主人阿拉的压力很大，他已经三个晚上没有睡觉了——他的另一只羊El Hadj（朝圣者）当天下午要参加一场冠军赛。

A few hours later, Sofiane and I met Ala and El Hadj at the outdoor pitch, a sandy lot with two football goals near an abandoned factory.

几个小时后，苏菲安和我在室外球场见到了阿拉和艾尔哈吉，这是一块沙地，有两个足球门，靠近一个废弃的工厂。

We had to park half a mile away because the whole street was lined with double- and triple-parked cars.

我们不得不把车停在半英里外，因为整条街都是双排和三排的车。

Ala looked queasy. El Hadj, on the other hand, perfectly relaxed, sucked reflectively on his underbite.

阿拉看起来很不安，另一方面，哈吉则完全放松，反思地吮吸着他的下颚。

The lot was unkempt and illicit, like the arena in El Harrach, but there were far more spectators.

这块场地不整洁，不合法，就像艾尔-哈拉赫的竞技场一样，但观众要多得多。

Men were massed as far as the eye could see, perched atop walls, sitting on cars and trucks, balanced on the goalposts.

目光所及之处都是男人，他们栖息在墙顶，坐在汽车和卡车上，在门柱上保持平衡。

Some had brought their pet caged birds with them.

有些人还带着他们的宠物笼子里的鸟。

(Algerian men sometimes like to keep caged birds, and carry the cages out for walks on a sunny spring day, or set the cage on a car outside so the bird can breathe new air and hear new sounds.)

(阿尔及利亚男人有时喜欢养笼子里的鸟，在阳光明媚的春天，把笼子拎出来散步，或者把笼子放在外面的汽车上，这样鸟就可以呼吸新的空气，听到新的声音）。

A few brought a daughter or niece.

有几个人带来了一个女儿或侄女。

As we stood around waiting, word suddenly spread that the organisers had cancelled the match.

当我们站在一旁等待时，突然传来消息，组织者取消了比赛。

There had been some problem with the organisation.

在组织上出现了一些问题。

The league had booked too many matches, and afraid of an outbreak of chaos, had cancelled the whole thing.

联盟预定了太多的比赛，担心会出现混乱，所以取消了整个比赛。

We were beginning to disperse when a commotion broke out at the far edge of the crowd.

我们开始散去，这时人群的最边缘发生了骚动。

It wasn't clear what had started it.

不清楚是什么引起的。

All the tension and anticipation, all the fear and adrenaline that the men had been holding in snapped like an overstretched band.

所有的紧张和期待，所有的恐惧和肾上腺素，这些人一直憋着的东西，就像一个捉襟见肘的带子一样，断了。

The whole herd of men began to run all at once.

整群人开始一下子跑起来。

Sofiane grabbed me and we sprinted to the car.

苏菲安抓住我，我们冲刺到车上。

On the way back to Algiers, Sofiane was quiet, and angry that the match – which he, having forsworn sheep fighting, wouldn’t have watched anyway – had been cancelled.

在回阿尔及尔的路上，苏菲安很安静，并对比赛被取消感到愤怒——他已经放弃了斗羊，反正也不会看。

He was upset that the organisation that ran the league wasn’t what it used to be.

他对管理联赛的组织不再像以前那样感到不安。

Eventually, he began talking again, telling me about how the greatest joy he ever experienced was when his sheep Black Jet won a regional championship in 2007.

最后，他又开始说话，告诉我他所经历的最大快乐是他的羊 "黑捷 "在2007年赢得了一个地区冠军。

Sofiane couldn’t explain precisely why he had renounced sheep fighting.

苏菲安无法准确地解释他为什么放弃了斗羊。

“I wasted my life,” he said of his days raising champions.

他说："我浪费了我的生命，"他谈到他饲养冠军的日子。

“I'm full of regrets.”

"我充满了遗憾"。

His reasons were vaguely religious, but as I understood it, he had reverted to principle, in a very Algerian – which is to say idealistic – way.

他的理由含糊不清，但据我了解，他以一种非常阿尔及利亚的方式——也就是理想主义的方式——恢复了原则。

He could no longer ignore that his fun was a form of idolatry, a stand-in battle where a real one was needed.

他再也不能忽视他的乐趣是一种偶像崇拜，是需要真正的战斗的替身。

He takes pleasure now from the caged birds he collects.

他现在从他收集的笼中鸟中获得乐趣。

He loves their song.

他喜欢它们的歌声。

They sing and are trapped, just like him.

它们唱歌并被困住，就像他一样。