芮成钢在耶鲁大学的英语演讲

 28岁的中国中央电视台主持人芮成钢，被美国耶鲁大学授予“耶鲁大学世界学者”称号，成为耶鲁大学历史上最年轻的“耶鲁世界学者”

ui’s speech in Yale University

芮成钢在耶鲁的演讲

And the introduction I do not really deserve.In China,we have an idiom called 抛砖引玉，I’m sure all the coutryman under this roof know what this means.You throw out a few dirty old bricks,and hopefully,some pieces of jewelleries and jades¹ will follow.And so here are my bricks :on the surface,I’m not involved in the sports.I am an anchorman and co-founder of CCTV9,international TV channel of China,and I’m used to read news produce news in CCTV2,the business channel.But I happened to be born to a farther who was a novelist in 1970s ,who wrote the really famous book about gymnastics--___story,small boy from remote countryside became world-wide champion in gym in 1976,which was a best-selling book of the year,which was made into major motion picture and nobody talk about the book now because it was a book during the Cultural Revolution.And also one of my co-founders of CCTV9,which is now a title of CCTV5,CCTV’s sports channel ,which is of course the most powerful sports medium in China.

那样的介绍实在令我受不起。在中国，我们有一句谚语叫做抛砖引玉，我相信在座的各位都知道它的意思。你扔出去写旧的破砖头，然后如你希望的，引出些珠玉。所以下面就是我要跑出去的“破砖”:表面上看，我并未涉及体育领域，我是个电视主持人，并且是CCTV9的奠基者之一，我还在CCTV2播新闻。但是我的父亲是上世纪70年代的小说家，他写了本关于体操方面，且很有名，这本书讲的是在1976年一个来自偏远地区的小男孩后来成为一个世界体操冠军的故事，那是当年的畅销书，并且被拍成了电影。但是现在没有人谈论那本书了，因为它诞生于文革时代。当年和CCTV9一起成立的还有现在被称为ＣＣＴＶ５的频道，当然它是中国最有影响力的体育频道。

And a long ago,I myself was invited to speak in serious events including the Davos summit meeting of World Economic Forum² on sports,but I’ll start with a personal story that happened about four months ago,I was invited by a friend of mine financial based in New York by the name of Teddy Forceman.If you’re MBA cadidates,I’sure you’ve heard this man before,who is one of the leading characters of this book called____ at the gate,the father,the grand father of the business called the lavish³ buyers.He gave me a call and said “chenggang,I bought another company and it’s called IMG,international management group”,and it’s 一个副词?，the world’s largest and most powerful sports marteting and management company,And he said my reputation in the business world is that whenever I bought a company,I’ll sell it in three or four years at ten times the purchased price.And he said I wanted to come to Florida and gave a talk to all of the IMG staff who is going on in China.I said “why?”and he said because IMG has been in China for more than 28 years ,yet IMG has failed to establish a business in China.IMG is also a case study,you’ve found a case study in either Havard or Yale business school textbooks.So when to Florida ,I spent three days with all the senior executives of IMG and had a very interesting disscussion with all of them,and somehow I found the reason why for modern___IMG failed to start business in China.The reasons are not unique.

很久之前，我参加了几个重要活动，这其中就包括达沃斯世界经济论坛。但是今天我要以一个发生在四个月前的我的私人故事为开始。当时我受我的一个朋友的邀请，他是Teddy。如果你是ＭＢＡ的申请者，我敢保证你一定听说过他的名字。（省一段，因为我也没听清）。他打电话给我说：“chenggang，我又买了一家公司，叫做ＩＭＧ”。ＩＭＧ是世界上最大的市场管理公司，而Teddy在商业领域的声望在于它买一家公司，三四年后以买进时十倍的价格卖出。“而现在我要去福罗里达州，和ＩＭＧ的同事做个交流。”我问他为什么，他说IMG进入中国已经28年多了，然而去从没建立起正式的生意。IMG也是个案例学习，你可以在哈弗或者耶鲁的商学院教科书上找到它。所以我也去了佛罗里达，并且和那里的高级执行官进行了有趣的交谈。无意中，我发现了为什么IMG没能在中国做成功的原因。且原因并不特殊。

First of all,what sports really mean in China?What I believe is sports is not an industry in China,not yet!If you really want to talk about sports in China,you have to talk about Chinese history.And we have to talk about particular __mentality of Chinese people,that I would interpret as “the sick man of Asia”情结.If I take a look at myself,before I was 7 years old ,I knew nothing about this__,and then Iwatched a Tv series called霍元甲，now major motion picture’s made about this guy.And then I heard the expression for the very first time,sick man of Asia,is about China in the 80 or 90 century when the aggressive foreign powers basically split China,and China was turned into a colony.And Chinese people lived in shame and humiliation,and this guy ,the congfu master was fighting all the Japanese and European boxers⁵ to win glory and pride for Chinese people once again.This name was actually delegated to Chinese people by our Japanese friends-sick man of Asia.So I think ever since then ,for more than 100 years,the Chinese people were working really hard at all ??to prove that the Japanese and world were wrong about the judgement .That Chinese people can stand top among the world community,that the Chinese are not sick men and women of Asia.Properly,given China’s today’status,we will weigh down that,but unfortunately it is still ,maybe because of our education or the way of our books,novels and movies were made,we were still more or less influenced by this mentality⁴.So,everything ???on sports,it’s always used as vehicle,either for diplomacy,I’m sure all of you heard about “pingpong diplomacy”and vehicle for Chinese people to win back the pride that we once owned,so that is the reason why that’s 100% regulated by the states and not really an industry.So for IMG, a world renowed sports management company to come to China as early as in 1970s,it is difficult for them to make money.

首先在中国，体育真正意味着什么？我认为在中国体育还不是一个产业，至少现在不是。如果你想谈论中国体育，你必须要了解中国历史。我们要谈谈被称作“东亚病夫”的这种情结。回顾我自己，我在7岁以前对这种情结一无所知，知道我看了几部叫做“霍元甲”的电视剧，我才第一次听到了这种说法。那是指在在19世纪80，90年代，外国列强侵入中国，中国沦为半殖民地，而中国人生活在羞辱下，而霍元甲，这个武术高手，和来自日本和欧洲的拳击手比武，且为中国人赢得了曾经拥有的荣誉。而在这个过程里，我们的日本朋友就叫我们“东亚病夫”。自此之后的100多年里，我们中国人一直奋斗以证明给日本和世界看他们的看法是错误的，我们不是东亚病夫，且中国人也能站在世界民族之首。所以由于此种历史原因，体育在中国成为种特殊的手段，不管是在外交上（我相信你们一定听说过“乒乓外交”），更是为中国人赢得曾经属于我们的荣耀的办法。这就是为什么体育在中国被政府绝度管理，还不是个产业的原因。这也就解释了为什么对于IMG这样的世界闻名的公司早在20世纪70年代就进驻中国却未能成功的。

And secondly⁶ ,the most important point of any sports industry,is,the athletes.And in China,the athletes are widely seen as property and ? of the state and roughly so,because,just like the character of my father’s book,they’re usually poor boys and girls born and raised in small,remote countryside for there were no other options,so their parents had to send them to state-form sports school to get proper education and??.That’s usually how were the stories started.And of course,?? entire tuition,education fees or substances paid for by the government from the municipal level to the provincial⁷ level,and if you are really good,by the state level.And of course,it’s that’s  that you’re basically owned by the government.They paid for everything and you need to pay back.And of course,these athletes ??the way that they should go out and win national pride for the country.That’s why the Chinese people love them.So in this case ,these athletes are not really active for just themselves this industry.I’m sure you heard the story of the really famous Chinese gold mendalist,three times or two times (twice),Olympic champion???,Mr Tianliang.I was just karaoking with him in Beijing.He is actually a very nice boy and karaoking is really the national sports in China.He was kept out of national team of China for doing too many commercial endorsements⁸.I still remember that 2 years ago,wherever I go ,whenever there is major commercial events like the ?? opening in Beijing or Armani suit,??I always ran into him.Mr Tianliang who just won gold mendals at the Athens Olympics.And he started to have quarrels with the state athletes regulation of sports and maybe he didn’t give enough ? to the ?,so he came out of the national team.There were also athletes who are on the ? of being kicked out of national team,but somehow through certain connections,they didn’t do that.There are also rumors⁹ going on that if Yaoming had not been that famous in the US,maybe he would have been getting himself into trouble as well.So this is big debate whether these athletes have the right and reason to make money for themselves?On the one hand ,if you see them as individuals,of course ,they should.One the other hand, you know ,they’re basically raised by the state,that is probably a little complicated.So if these valuable athletes of sports industry actually athletes of state,then how do you ? them, how do you make money out of them?It’s another story.But nowadays,things are changing because people like Yaoming and the hurdler(what’s the hurdler’s name?Liu xiang,yes,thank you for that),er,they are no longer poor ? boys from countryside.They are both natives of Shanghai from ? families.And actually,their stories are telling Chinese parents that sports is actually a very competing alternative:you don’t have to go to school, to Harvard ,getting a MBA degree to become a lawyer or doctor or become an anchorman.You can actually send your children to a sports school,and maybe one day,he will be a huge star,making a lot of money out of it.They’re proving to the people that they’re alternatives but it’s just beginning, we still have a long way to go.So this is something very unique about Chinese sports industry.

在任何体育产业中最重要的是运动员，而在中国，运动员却被看做是国家资源。就像我父亲书中的主人公，他们都是来自偏僻,贫穷的的小乡村,而对于他们的父母来说，他们将孩子送到体校以接受适当的教育，除此之外，父母们没有更好的选择，通常故事就是这样开始的。当然他们的整个生活费都是由政府承担，从地级政府到省级政府，如果他们确实很优秀，那么国家会为他们承担费用。理所当然地，作为运动员就需要回报政府，所以他们得出去比赛，并为国家赢得荣誉。这就是为什么中国人喜欢他们的原因。在这样的情况下，运动员并非主动参与到体育中去的。我相信你们一定听过中国著名的运动员田亮的故事，他是两次还是三次奥运会金牌得主。我和他在北京唱过卡拉OK，他是个很不错的男孩，当然了卡拉ＯＫ在中国可以称得上全民运动。他因为参加过多的商业活动被踢出国家队。我仍然记得，两年前，只要北京有重要的商业活动，我就能遇见他。这是因为雅典奥运会冠军赋予了他明星效应。他被踢出国家队可能是因为没有得到相关方面的同意，当然也有一些其他运动员也参加过多活动，但通过一些交涉，他们并未被踢出去。甚至还有一些传言，如果姚明不是在美国太有名，可能他也会惹上麻烦。所以产生了这样的激烈讨论就是：运动员是否应该有权利和理由为自己挣钱。一方面。如果你将他们看做个体，他们当然可以。可是另一方面，他们都是由国家培养的，就很难回答了。当然今天，情况有所改变，因为像姚明或是跨栏运动员刘翔，他们都不是来自穷苦的乡村，他们都是土生土长的上海人，事实上，他们的成功告诉中国家长其实从事体育也是很不错的选择，这意味着不一定要将孩子送去上像哈弗那样的大学去获取大学文凭，然后成为一个医生或律师或者记者，你也可以将孩子送去体校，也许有一天，他能成为巨星，赚很多钱。当然这样的尝试刚刚开始，我们还有很长一段路要走。这就是为什么我说在中国体育在中国还并非一个产业的原因。

And also,another thing which is quite strikingly different or strange,I would say about Chinese fans that the Chinese are sometimes more interesting in sports of other countries.For instance,I’m sure there are ten times more fans of European soccer games in China than in Europe.??I ran into Germans,French,or English,and they told me that whenever they’re in Beijng ,they feel ashamed because Chinese people know more about their stars ,their sports ,their soccer leagues than themselves.And also I’m sure that their ten times ,if not a hundred times fans of NBA in China than here in the US.This is very strange because usually in Europe or in the US,people are only interested in their domestic sports while in China,they are not ,they are more interested in overseas sports ,sports with nothing to do with Chinese people.For narrow reasons ,most importantly I would say is because we don’t yet have industry in China ,and precisely,we haven’t really industrialized this ?.There are no really good competition?.We don’t have the right system,regulatory framework,?,strategies to train real world-class soccer teams and basketball teams,etc.That’s the reason why the Chinese soccer team never made the foundation,maybe once,and Chinese basketball team was disappointing,too.That’s the reason why juniors like to watch the NBA and European soccer leagues.Believe it or not,it was Teddy Forceman’s company,international management group who established the vey first Chinese football league and very first basketball league,the CBA,but eventually,they___,completely by the ? adminstration.

还有一件事我觉得非常特殊或者说是奇怪，那就是中国的体育迷更关心别的国家的体育比赛。我相信欧洲足球联赛在中国的观众至少是欧洲观众的10倍多。比如说当我在北京遇到德国人，法国人或英国人时，他们感到很羞愧，因为他们发现中国的观众比他们更了解他们自己的足球明星，他们的运动，他们的足球联赛。在以NBA来看，中国的观众如果不是100倍，至少是美国本土观众的10倍。这非常的奇怪，因为在欧洲或者美国，人们更关心他们国内的赛事，而在中国，我们更热衷于海外赛事，那些与我们自己无关的赛事。这是因为我们还没有真正的体育产业，准确的说体育还没有被产业化。我们没有很好的竞争体制，没有完善的规章制度，没有合理的策略来训练出世界级的足球或篮球联队。这就是中国足球或篮球让人失望的原因，这就是中国人为什么热衷于海外赛事的原因。然而，不管你信不信，恰恰是Ｔｅｄｄｙ的公司在中国建立起了类似国外的产业化的联队。

So to sum up,my point of view is to lay a good foundation for our later discussion ?,without sufficient knowlegde of what sports really means in China,and without ___________system which is still being tightly regulated by the government,it is difficult for any company or any individual to take the full potential of marketing¹⁰ ,of business opportunities of sports in China.   

总结起来，也为了以后进一步的讨论，我认为没有准确清晰地关于在中国什么是体育的认识，没有创新的体制来改变至今仍被政府牢牢管理的体育，对于任何公司或个人来讲，都是很难充分发掘出中国体育的市场和商业机会的。

Thank you all very much!

非常感谢。

1 jades   

n.玉，翡翠（jade的复数形式）v.（使）疲（jade的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Nephrite is one of China's most five famous jades. 和田玉是中国五大名玉之一。 来自互联网
• Raman spectroscopy is applied to the identification of jades. 本文提出玉石品种鉴定的新方法———激光拉曼光谱法。 来自互联网

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

4 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

5 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

7 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

8 endorsements   

n.背书( endorsement的名词复数 )；（驾驶执照上的）违章记录；（公开的）赞同；（通常为名人在广告中对某一产品的）宣传

参考例句：

• He must make much money on those tennis shoe endorsements he does. 他替那些网球鞋珍重广告，就赚了不少钱。 来自互联网
• But celebrity endorsements remain an important promotional tool for marketers. 尽管如此，邀明星助阵仍是营销人员重要的推广手段之一。 来自互联网

9 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。