五星红旗 迎风飘扬

胜利歌声 多么响亮

歌唱我们亲爱的祖国

从今走向繁荣富强

The Olympic Games in China have put Beijing on another planet

By Jim White
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 05/08/2008 

Between my room and the cafeteria in the Olympic media village, there are four sets of doors, all of which open automatically as you approach them. These are not mechanical - the place is not wired up like the Starship Enterprise.      

Instead they are operated by smiley young volunteers, who stand there day and night ready to open their door with an excited flourish the moment they see someone heading in their direction.

They open it even if you don't want to walk through, and when you don't, they shut it again with a disappointed shrug as they watch you disappear off to someone else's door.

It is like this all over Beijing. As the world arrives, this is a town falling over itself to be of service. Tens of thousands of Olympic volunteers, in their blue or red uniforms, are working without pay, everywhere anxious to step forward to help.

In the gents at the media gym, one young man was so keen to demonstrate how the lavatories flushed he looked crestfallen when anyone shut the door of a cubicle on him. The poor bloke probably volunteered in the hope that he might be there on the trackside for the final of the 100 metres.

 
Instead he will be spending 12 hours a day over the next three weeks in the toilets. But that is not going to stop him smiling.

We all knew that Beijing was going to go big on the Olympic Games. This is China's national coming-out party, its opportunity to present itself to the world as a modern, vibrant, efficient place in which to do business.

But no one can have expected this, the manner in which a gigantic city of some 17 million inhabitants has given itself over so completely to a sporting event.

Every inch of the place has been spruced up, litter whisked off every pavement, flags hung from every lamppost. On the inner ring road, the tarmac is so clean it appears to have been polished. Platoons of gardeners work every verge and roundabout, clipping and trimming the floral displays into the shape of the five rings or the logo of the Beijing games.

The traffic has been exorcised, the jams vanished, they have even arranged for the smog to clear and the sun to appear in crystal blue skies, a celestial manifestation that has been greeted by the locals by the mass unfurling of umbrellas.

What's more, none of this appears to be the product of coercion. There is an astonishing willingness in the freshened-up air. In the giant bird's nest stadium on Saturday evening, there was a rehearsal for the opening ceremony.

Thousands of affluent-looking, middle-class Beijingers entered its vast steel interior, snapping each other on their digital cameras, smilingly excited just to be there.

There was not the remotest sense of duress or duty, they were behaving much as anyone would do in New York or Paris or Madrid, keen to witness the greatest show on earth on their doorstep, even if this was just a rehearsal for the main event.

True, they were greeted by signs outside the stadium explaining the illegality of any overt demonstration in favour of various rights, whether human or animal. But even these warnings were to be found below the stern admonitions about not flourishing any commercial logo other than those of the sponsors.

It seems that walking into these Coke-backed Olympics drinking a Pepsi is regarded as equally deviant as yelling for a free Tibet.

And it is in that sign that the real truth of the Olympics lies: this is about commerce, not nationalism. Four years ago, in Athens, largely through the manner in which shambles lurked round every corner, a flavour of the Greek character remained in evidence. Here, there is nothing Chinese detectable anywhere.

The place has been transformed from the capital of the world's most populous country into the epicentre of Olympic World, another planet entirely.

Until you come here and experience this monolith in action, you have no idea how all-consuming the Olympic Games are. They cast a shadow so long it blanks out all available light. For those of us visiting from Britain, this comes with a tinge of alarm. It is, after all, our turn next.

And you wonder as you pass the cordoned- off streets, as you notice that the only adverts anywhere in town are for the official five ring sponsors, as you thank the lavatory attendant for handing you a crisp new towel, how are we going to cope in four years' time.

There is still five days to go and already Beijing has set the bar so high, London will get a crick in the neck just looking at it. You have been warned.

原文：

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/08/05/do0501.xml

译文：

英报:奥运已把北京放到另一个星球
　　
　　英国《每日电讯报》8月5日文章，原题：在中国举行的奥运会已把北京放到另一个星球
　　
　　在奥运媒体村里，从我房间到自助餐厅要经过4道大门。当接近这些大门时，它们都会自动打开，但不是靠机械装置，而是由面带微笑的青年志愿者打开的。他们日夜不停地站在那里，随时准备着。
　　
　　
　　　　在整个北京，这样的情况到处可见。当世人到达北京时，这座城市变成一个热衷于提供服务的地方。成千上万的奥运会志愿者穿着蓝色或红色的制服努力工作着，不要报酬，在任何地方他们都渴望快步向前提供帮助。
　　
　　
　　　　在媒体人员健身房的男厕所里，一名小伙子是那么热情地向人们展示如何冲马桶，当有人不理睬他时，他脸上露出失望的神情。但在接下来的三个多星期里，他每天仍将在那里待上12小时，但这并没使他脸上失去微笑。
　　
　　
　　　　我们都知道北京在奥运会期间将大受欢迎。这是中国初入社交界的一次盛大聚会，也是把自己作为一个现代的、充满活力的和有效率的地方呈现给世界的一次机会。但没人会预料到：有着1700万居民的超大城市表现出来的文明礼貌完完全全是为了一次体育赛事。
　　
　　
　　　　每一寸土地都被打扮得整整齐齐，垃圾被快速扫离每一条人行道，每一个街灯柱上都悬挂着红旗。一群群花匠在路边忙碌，把花卉修剪成五环图案或北京奥运标志。交通得到改善，堵塞现象已消失。限制车流量是为了清除烟雾，好让太阳出现在水晶般透亮的蓝天上。
　　
　　
　　　　更重要的是，所有这一切没有一样看起来是强迫的结果。在这清新的空气中充溢着一种令人惊讶的心甘情愿。
　　
　　
　　　　数千名看起来生活富足的北京中产阶级走进“鸟巢”，拿着数码相机相互拍照，兴奋之情溢于言表。从他们身上找不到一丝一毫被强迫的感觉，他们的表现与纽约、巴黎或马德里的人们没什么不同。他们渴望在家门口亲眼目睹地球上最为盛大的演出，即使这仅仅是正式演出前的一次彩排。这个地方已从世界上人口最多国家的首都转变成奥运世界的中心，完全变成了另外一个星球。
　　
　　
　　　　对我们这些来自英国的参观者来说，这带有一丝警觉意味，毕竟4年后就轮到我们了。当你走过用警戒线隔离的街道时，当你注意到北京城里的广告都是奥运五环官方赞助商时，当你向为你递过干净松软的毛巾的厕所里的服务生道谢时，你可能会问，4年后我们该如何做。北京把标准定得那么高，伦敦看一眼，颈部就会痉挛。▲（作者吉姆•怀特，陈一译）

很有质感，我最喜欢第一个和最后一个，体现了国人的团结

A：

B：

C：

今天看的这个凤凰的节目不错。推一下。

外媒看到国人对奥运的狂热，尤其是（绝大多数）北京人的这种热情，这种全民动员的积极性，这种自愿的牺牲，难免会不理解，难免会更倾向于相信这是某种国家机器“洗脑”行动的结果，因为在西方社会，这种举国上下（基本）一心的情形是很难想象和理解的。于是在这些“(基本)一心”之外的东西，也就难免成为他们刻意关注的焦点。若用最坏的恶意去推测，可以上升到帝国主义亡我之心不死这样国仇家恨的高度。但若是从更温和一点的角度去理解，驱使他们的更多的也许是困惑而不是仇恨。困惑的源头，来自于价值观的冲突，社会制度的冲突，意识形态的冲突，我想一时是解决不了的。我们这些生在红旗下，长在春风里，同时受过两种价值管影响的一代人，可以理解这样的困惑。社会主义大政府可以产生最好的结果，也能导致最坏的结果，西方民主制度也许不能产生最好的结果，但是能避免最坏的结果。中国从这次奥运中学到了很多东西，如果能从这两种制度的碰撞中和出一个最优的形态，那么将是这届奥运给中国留下的最大的财富。中国特色的改良社会主义——你可以说它是不伦不类，是骑墙，但自古以来，暧昧在中国文化里面从来都不是一个问题。