里約奧運會在批評聲浪中等待開幕
Most Olympics suffer a blitz of pre-games negative press. There were concerns over unfinished hotel rooms ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. A bungled security contract and overspending cast a cloud over the lead-up to the London Olympics in 2012.
奧運會在召開之前，大多會遭遇鋪天蓋地的負面報道。2014年俄羅斯索契(Sochi)冬奧會之前，賓館客房未完工曾引起人們的擔憂。一項安保協議出了岔子，加上開支過大，曾給2012年倫敦奧運會的籌備蒙上陰影。
But if there was a competition for the host city that could attract the most criticism, the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro, which begin on Friday, would already have won gold.
但是，如果舉行一場“哪個奧運會主辦城市受到最多批評”的競賽，那麼本週五開幕的2016年裏約熱內盧夏季奧運會將已穩奪金牌。
The concerns have ranged from plumbing problems and a fire and theft in the Australian quarters of the athletes’ village, to the outbreak of the mosquito-born disease, Zika. There is also the chronic pollution in the city`s Guanabara Bay and its main lagoon, which will be used for water sports, including sailing and rowing.
引起擔憂的問題非常多，從奧運村澳大利亞代表團居住區的管道問題、火災和失竊，到蚊媒寨卡(Zika)病毒病的爆發。在里約熱內盧市的瓜納巴拉灣及其環礁湖，長期以來存在着污染。那裏將舉行包括帆船和賽艇在內的水上項目比賽。
The myriad problems have triggered questions about whether cities in the developing world, such as Rio, should be awarded the games in the first place. But the key issue is whether the International Olympic Committee, the games’ organising body, is prepared to do proper due diligence beforehand and not take the host’s promises at face value.
各種各樣的問題首先引發了人們對於是否應授予發展中國家的城市（比如里約熱內盧）奧運賽事舉辦權的疑問。但關鍵問題在於，作爲奧林匹克運動領導機構的國際奧委會(IOC)是否有這樣的準備，即在事前進行充分的盡職調查，而不是輕信舉辦城市的口頭承諾。
Brazil is the first emerging market democracy to hold the games. Unlike China, which hosted the Beijing Olympics in 2008, or Russia with Sochi, the Brazilian government could not autocratically impose order as it prepared for the games. Nor could it stifle criticism along the way.
巴西是第一個舉辦奧運會的新興市場民主國家。與2008年舉辦北京奧運會的中國或舉辦索契冬奧會的俄羅斯不同，巴西政府在籌備奧運會的過程中不能以專制手段下達命令，也不能扼殺批評之聲。
The country`s social problems, such as inequality and crime, are visible warts-and-all. This can make for a messy lead-up to the games.
該國的社會問題，比如不平等和犯罪，是袒露在外的缺陷。這可能導致奧運會籌備工作的混亂。
The second point is that Rio’s preparations are not as bad as the reports might suggest.
第二點是，里約熱內盧的籌備工作沒有新聞報道暗示的那麼糟糕。
Most of the challenges the IOC and the Olympic teams are encountering in Brazil seem to come down to teething problems or shoddy final delivery.
國際奧委會和奧運代表團在巴西遇到的大多數挑戰，似乎都可歸結爲安頓初期的問題或是工程收尾不到位。
The athletes’ village falls into this group. When the Australian team arrived last month to take up residence, the plumbing in their building was not working, provoking an outcry.
奧運村就屬於此類。上個月，當澳大利亞代表團抵達準備入住時，其客房的管道阻塞了，引起了他們的強烈抗議。
But few can argue that the athletes’ village is not on the whole an adequate facility — it will after all be sold as luxury apartments once the games have ended. It was built and completed months ago, resplendent with gardens and swimming pools. The problem was shabby final execution.
但是，沒有幾個人認爲，奧運村整體建設水平不合格——畢竟，當賽事結束後，那裏要被當做豪華公寓對外出售。奧運村是在數月之前建設完工的，非常氣派，配有許多花園和游泳池。問題在於工程收尾工作不力。
Other important facilities also seem to have been delivered on time, including the main sports venue, the Olympic Park.
包括主賽場奧林匹克公園(Olympic Park)在內，其他重要設施似乎也都得到了及時交付。
A more serious failure was Guanabara Bay, which has been perhaps the biggest target of criticism because of its high levels of pollution.
更嚴重的問題在於瓜納巴拉灣，那裏水質污染嚴重，可能是最受詬病的一個地方。
In its 2009 bid for the games, Rio promised to increase the amount of sewage that is collected and treated before flowing into the bay from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in time for the Olympics. But the authorities managed only 50 per cent and some independent studies have said the bay is still too toxic to be used at the games.
里約熱內盧在2009年申辦奧運會時承諾，將在奧運會召開前，將排入瓜納巴拉灣的污水的收集處理率從20%提高至80%。但是，當局僅做到把該比例提高到了50%，有些獨立調查結果表明，瓜納巴拉灣的毒性仍然太高、無法用於舉辦比賽。
Here, however, the IOC must take part of the blame. A little due diligence would have revealed that the promise to clean up the bay was near impossible to keep.
然而，國際奧委會在這方面必須承擔部分責任。稍微做一做盡職調查就能發現，淨化瓜納巴拉灣的承諾是幾乎不可能兌現的。
The Guanabara Bay basin takes in sewage from more than half of the 12m people living in Rio de Janeiro`s greater metropolitan area. Many of these neighbourhoods are favelas, or slums, controlled by drug traffickers in which installing sewage infrastructure is a mammoth task.
里約熱內盧大都市區1200萬居民逾一半人產生的污水，都排入瓜納巴拉灣。那裏的許多街區是由毒販們控制的棚戶區或貧民區，安裝污水處理基礎設施是一項艱鉅的任務。
The saga suggests the IOC should have followed the old maxim that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
這些事件表明，國際奧委會本該信奉一條古老格言，即如果一件事好得不像是真的，那麼它就很可能不是真的。
Even with all its failings, however, the Rio Olympics are likely to be a success. Brazil delivered a good 2014 World Cup in spite of similar concerns.
然而，即便出現了種種問題，里約熱內盧奧運會仍可能成爲一屆成功的奧運會——儘管引起了類似的擔憂，但巴西仍成功地舉辦了2014年世界盃。
Like that event, there will be some embarrassing glitches as the games get under way, but little that cannot be smoothed over by improvisation and a bit of Brazilian hospitality.
就像2014年世界盃一樣，奧運會開始之後將發生一些令人尷尬的差錯，但憑藉隨機應變和巴西人的好客，幾乎可以糾正所有這些差錯。
The lesson for future games, particularly in developing world cities, will be to apply a stronger filter to a host city’s more extravagant promises. The Olympics cannot be a panacea. If a host city has a problem of Olympian proportions, such as that of the pollution in Guanabara Bay, then it is unlikely to be fixed just by holding the games.
對於未來賽事、尤其是在發展中國家城市舉辦的賽事而言，教訓在於應更嚴格地審視主辦城市不切實際的承諾。奧運會不是萬能藥。如果主辦城市存在一個極大的問題（比如瓜納巴拉灣的污染問題），僅僅通過舉辦奧運會是不大可能解決這個問題的。
