2020英语教学资源：外刊阅读202007｜为什么电子竞技也应该纳入下届奥运会项目

外刊阅读202007｜为什么电子竞技也应该纳入下届奥运会项目中

《本期内容》

◆导读

由于新冠疫情的影响，原定于下个月举行的东京奥运会被推迟到2021年。这种延迟提供了一个反思的机会。国际奥委会想让奥运会更受年轻人的欢迎。为此，它推出了滑板、冲浪和攀岩等新项目。为什么不更进一步，让国家队参加电子游戏的比赛呢?

◆双语阅读

Electronic sports such as “Fortnite” are vastly more popular than Olympic oddities such as dressage or curling. In fact, they are more popular than most mainstream sports. Only 28% of British boys aged 16-19 watch any traditional live sports; 57% play video games.

"堡垒之夜 "等电子竞技，比花式骑术或冰壶等奥运奇葩项目要受欢迎得多。事实上，它们比大多数主流体育项目更受欢迎。在16-19岁的英国男孩中，只有28%的人观看传统的现场运动；57%的人玩电子游戏。

Stick-in-the-mudsmay grumble that e-sports are not proper sports. Many parents, observing their surly teenagers sitting on the sofa all day twiddling their thumbs and shouting “Quick, pass me the shotgun!” at a screen, would agree. Yet video games are highly competitive, with professional leagues that play to packed stadiums.

保守的人可能会抱怨电子竞技不是一项得体的运动。许多家长看到他们乖戾的孩子整天坐在沙发上旋动着大拇指，冲着屏幕大喊“快，把猎枪递给我!”，会对这一观点表示赞同。然而，电子游戏的竞争非常激烈，职业联赛在挤满人的体育场进行。

There are perhaps only 200 tennis stars in the world who can make a living from playing intournaments. By contrast “League of Legends”, a fantasy game played by teams of five, supports over 1,000 on good wages. Its World Championship final last year was watched by 44m people.

世界上大概只有200名网球明星能以参加锦标赛为生。相比之下，五人一组玩的奇幻游戏《英雄联盟》却养活了1000多名拿着高薪的选手。去年的世界锦标赛决赛有4400万人观看。

Critics of e-sports offer moral objections, too. They are addictive. Prince Harry has called for “Fortnite” to be banned for this reason. They are violent. Surely, at a time of global disharmony, it is a bad idea to make simulated killing an Olympic sport? The Olympics aim to promote peace. Finally, video games are crassly commercial. Nobody owns basketball; “League of Legends” is owned by Tencent, a Chinesemegacorporation.

电子竞技的批评者也提出了道德方面的反对意见。它们会让人上瘾。哈里王子曾为此呼吁禁止 "堡垒之夜"（一款第三人称射击游戏）。它们是暴力的。当然，在一个全球不和谐的时代，把模///拟//杀/人作为奥运项目就是个坏主意？奥运会的目的是促进和平。最后，电子游戏是粗暴的商业行为。没有人拥有篮球，而"英雄联盟 "为中国的大公司腾讯所有。

None of these arguments is very convincing.The idea that an activity, rather than a substance, can be addictive iscontentiousamong doctors, as is the existence of a causal link between gaming and violence.And the notion thatwarlikesports have no place in the Olympics is hard tosquare withhistory. Javelin-throwing andwrestlingwere introduced in 708BC. They are still there.

这些论点都不是很有说服力。一项活动（并非物质）具有成瘾性这一观点和“游戏与暴力之间存在因果关系”一样，在医生当中是存在争议的。~战争类体育项目在奥运会上没有一席之地的说法与历史不符。公元前708年引入了掷标枪和摔跤。这些项目保留至今。

本文节选自：The Economist（经济学人）

发布时间：2020.06.27

作者：Leaders

原文标题：Why the next Olympics should include Fortnite