《中英對照讀新聞》Hoping for unity, Kent State basketball puts a new spin on the national anthem 期許團結,肯特州大籃球隊重新定義唱國歌儀式
情境照,圖與本文無關(美聯社資料照)
◎張沛元
Before its first home game of the season tipped off on Wednesday night, the Kent State men’s basketball put its own spin on the national anthem: Each player went up into the crowd and invited a fan of a different race down to the court to stand with them.
在週三晚間本季首場主場比賽開打前,(美國俄亥俄州)肯特州立大學籃球隊以自己的方式重新定義賽前唱國歌儀式:每名球員走入觀眾席邀請一名跟自己不同種族的球迷到球場上與之並肩而立。
"It takes courage for our players to make a statement like this, and I believe it is a representation of the unity in our campus community," Coach Rob Senderoff told the Associated Press. "There’s a lot of people protesting the national anthem, or protesting the election, or religion. You see all of that nationally, and our guys wanted to make a statement. To me, it was a tremendously positive statement. Hopefully everybody can recognize that."
「我們的球員得鼓起勇氣,才能做這樣的表態,我深信這展現出我們校園社區的團結,」教練羅伯‧山德拉夫告訴美聯社。「有很多人在抗議國歌、大選或宗教,全國各地都有,而我們的球員也想表態。對我而言,這是很正面的表態,希望能獲得所有人的認同。」
According to school spokesman Eugene Canal, the gesture was so effective because no one in the crowd expected it.
根據校方發言人尤金‧坎奈爾,此舉非常奏效,因為觀眾完全沒料到。
"It was cool because I don’t think anyone in the crowd knew what was going on. None of the fans knew about it beforehand."
「這很酷,因為我不覺得觀眾席上有人知道將發生什麼事。沒有球迷事先知道。」
新聞辭典
put a spin on something:慣用語,對某事加以渲染或加油添醋,使之處於有利地位或博得他人好感。例句:The mayor tried to put a positive spin on the damaging polls.(市長試圖正面看待這些不利民調。)put a new spin指以新且不同的方式做事情。
tip off:籃球術語,比賽時的跳球,此處引申為球季開打。慣用語,告密;通風報信。例句:He tipped the cops off about the suspect and where the suspect was going to be that night.(他向警方密報嫌犯及嫌犯當晚去哪裡的訊息。)
beforehand:副詞,預先、事先。例句:The US government did not have any information on the forthcoming terrorist attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul beforehand, the US embassy in Turkey said.(美國駐土耳其大使館表示,美國政府並未事先掌握到伊斯坦堡瑞娜夜店將遭遇恐怖攻擊的任何情報。)