美国国家公共电台 NPR America's Favorite Pastime Is Back — And Some Wish It Would Just Hurry Up!

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For many Major League Baseball teams, tomorrow is opening day, and we're going to hear play ball echo throughout the majors. Baseball officials hope the game embraces a companion cry as well - hurry up. As NPR's Tom Goldman reports, baseball's getting faster and not everyone likes it.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE¹: It was one of those classic spring training days earlier this month where you go, oh, yeah, life is good.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Now batting - No. 89, Kyle Garlick.

GOLDMAN: Dodgers² and Giants fans at Scottsdale Stadium lounged under a hot Arizona sun. There's a lot of lounging during spring training. Families were out past the centerfield wall on a grassy³ slope. Standing⁴ nearby, longtime San Francisco fan Ryan Koven sipped⁵ a beer and gazed toward home plate.

RYAN KOVEN: You're supposed to forget time at a baseball game. You're supposed to relax and forget time.

GOLDMAN: Which is why he and his friend Aman Grewal were agitated⁶, something that doesn't happen often at spring training. They were watching a large clock near home plate tick down from 20 seconds every time the pitcher⁷ got the ball from the catcher.

KOVEN: It's very distracting. I'm looking at the pitcher. I see it ticking down - 10, nine, eight. This is not - it's a very un-baseball experience.

GOLDMAN: On this day, it was early in the pitch clock experiment. It's been used in the minors⁸ for a few years to make pitchers⁹ and batters¹⁰ work faster but not in the majors. And there was grumbling¹¹ from the stands to clubhouses. Kyle Ryan pitches for the Chicago Cubs¹².

KYLE RYAN: I think this is a big game changer and it's America's sport. It kind of stinks¹³ seeing a change, but it is what it is.

GOLDMAN: Actually, it isn't. The players union shared Ryan's distaste for the pitch clock, and MLB ended the spring training experiment, agreeing not to implement¹⁴ it at least for a couple of years. But baseball officials still are committed to the idea behind the clock, speeding up the game, specifically eliminating dead time. They want crisp play for all fans, especially those device-toting young ones who want action and want it now. Back in the Scottsdale Stadium, 32-year-old Aman Grewal laughed at that stereotype¹⁵.

AMAN GREWAL: I still think I'm young, and I enjoyed the game the way it was without a pitch clock.

GOLDMAN: He doesn't mind a three-hour game, last year's average for nine innings. Grewal says if baseball wants to appeal more to younger fans, do like the NBA - make videos and clips of action more available and let the players have fun.

GREWAL: When a player does a bat flip¹⁶ and people freak out and traditionalists freak out - you know, like, it's 2019. They're pro¹⁷ athletes, entertainment - let them entertain.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Let's go, Cubbies (clapping).

GOLDMAN: At the Cubs ballpark in Mesa, Ariz., lifelong Chicago fan Bob Weinberg had a different and perhaps surprising take on speedy baseball. He's 61 and retired¹⁸ - a time of life when who cares how long a baseball game takes? Weinberg does.

BOB WEINBERG: I've been to thousands of games - never heard a little kid say to his dad, gee¹⁹, Daddy, I hope we see eight pitching changes today. That's always so exciting to see that manager walk out of the dugout and wave his arm to the bullpen. That's my favorite part of the game.

GOLDMAN: Weinberg is glad officials are tweaking the rules, even though the pitch clock's gone away. This season, the number of mound²⁰ visits he's joking about - kind of - they'll be reduced. Also breaks between innings will be shortened. Although Weinberg and the two 30-somethings in Scottsdale seem to defy generational stereotypes²¹, some fit. Sixty-four-year-old Ned Yost is a baseball lifer. Now he's the Kansas City Royals manager. At a spring training gathering²², he answered a few questions about pace of play before finally he got fed up.

NED YOST: I don't know, man. You want to speed it up? Make it a seven-inning game. That'll speed it up.

GOLDMAN: Maybe a little too much, but such is the debate as baseball strolls a little more briskly into 2019.

Tom Goldman, NPR News, Phoenix²³.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENEMIES' "WE'VE BEEN TALKING")

1 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。

2 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句

3 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

6 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

7 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

8 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pitchers   

大水罐( pitcher的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Over the next five years, he became one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. 在接下来的5年时间里，他成为了最了不起的棒球投手之一。
• Why he probably won't: Pitchers on also-rans can win the award. 为什麽不是他得奖：投手在失败的球队可以赢得赛扬奖。

10 batters   

n.面糊（煎料）( batter的名词复数 )；面糊（用于做糕饼）；（ 棒球） 正在击球的球员；击球员v.连续猛击( batter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pitcher has beaned as many as three batters in this game. 在这？热？投手投球竟打中了三个击手的头。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A storm batters the ship. 一场风暴袭击了这条船。 来自辞典例句

11 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

12 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

15 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

16 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

17 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？

18 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

19 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

20 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

21 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

22 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

23 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。