台灣職棒上紐約時報 - 棒球

※ 引述《peanutbutter ()》之銘言：
: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/world/asia/taiwan-baseball.html
: 看有沒有好心人翻譯

Taiwan Baseball? It’s ‘Hot Noisy,’ and Ingrained in National Identity
怎樣形容台灣的棒球？熱"吵"，而且深植在國家認同感裡

TAOYUAN, Taiwan — As the batter steps to the plate, the clamor crescendoes,
a rhyming, thumping chant, often tailored to his name.
當打者走進打擊區，旁邊的加油聲逐漸越來越大聲，而且根據每個球員會有特別的加油口
號。

Cheerleaders prance atop the dugout, accompanied by blaring recorded music or
even live drums and brass instruments. Fans wield all manner of noise makers
— clappers, pairs of plastic bats, small vuvuzelas — pretty much nonstop
for nine innings.
啦啦隊員們在球員休息室上跳躍著，伴隨著音樂或是現場的敲鑼打鼓，球迷揮舞著任何可
以有發出聲音的工具--拍手，塑膠棒，或是小型的巫巫茲拉--整晚九局幾乎是不停的。

They are not trying to distract from the opposing team’s batter, but to
cheer on their own. How any batter manages to concentrate enough in the din
to get a hit is anyone’s guess.
他們不是要去讓敵隊打者分心，而是要替地主隊打者加油。但是打者要如何在這樣的狀況
下專心打出安打就是天曉得了。

“Yi qi an da! Yi qi an da!” (pronounced ee-chi-ahn-dah) goes one of the
more general chants, which is, roughly, the way to say, “Let’s get a hit
together.”
「一(Yi)起(Qi)安(An)打(Da)！」的口號很常出現在加油聲中，大概的意思是，「一起敲
支安打吧！」
(前一篇鄉民推文覺得比較像是一支安打，我個人也是覺得比較像一支安打，雖然後面文章
說是一起打安打...)

On a recent night, Chin Jou-lin, an ebullient 28-year-old fan, was sitting
along the right-field line at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium in this
city in northwest Taiwan. She said she had heard that in America you could
actually hear the crack of the bat hitting the ball. She giggled, incredulous.
最近的某一晚，秦久琳(音譯)這位28歲的熱情粉絲，坐在桃園棒球場的右邊觀眾席，她說
她聽人講，在美國看球，你甚至可以聽到球棒打擊到球，球棒裂開的聲音。她不可置信的
咯咯笑。

“I can’t imagine,” she said.
「我無法想像，」她說。

To say baseball is a national obsession in Taiwan might be an overstatement
since its fortunes have risen and fallen over the years. It does, however,
seem deeply ingrained in its national identity as a small but spirited
bastion of democracy.
說棒球在台灣是全國狂熱可能有點誇大，畢竟在過去幾年它的發展起起落落。然而，棒球
卻是在台灣這個小歸小但是是個民主的堡壘深深擔負著國家認同的標誌。

The 500-note of the island’s currency, the New Taiwan Dollar, depicts a
baseball team, paying homage to its phenomenally successful youth teams,
which, as any ex-Little Leaguer of a certain age will recall, dominated the
Little League World Series from 1969 to 1996, winning 17 of 28 finals.
在新台幣500元的鈔票上畫著一支棒球隊，向之前表現優異的小球員們致意。某些年紀以上
打過少棒的人可能會記得，在1969到1996，台灣少棒稱霸少棒界，28次決賽拿下17座冠
軍。

At a time when China endeavors to isolate Taiwan diplomatically, baseball
remains one of the island’s potent instruments of soft power and a path to
international recognition. When the sport debuted in the Olympics in
Barcelona in 1992, Taiwan won the silver medal, losing the championship game
to another small, baseball-crazed island, Cuba.
而在中國努力在外交上孤立台灣，棒球便是這個小島幾個有力的工具，對外展現軟實力以
及獲取國際能見度。而當1992年棒球第一次進入奧運，台灣在巴塞隆納奧運拿下銀牌，輸
給了另外一個棒球狂熱小國古巴。

“Brazil has football,” said Shih Fu-dao, a taxi driver, as he drove a
colleague and me to another game, this time in Tainan, in southern Taiwan. “
Taiwan has baseball.”
「巴西有足球，』計程車司機施福道(音譯)在載著我跟同事去台南球場時說到。「台灣有
棒球。」

Quoting taxi drivers is a journalistic cliché that is best avoided, but Mr.
Shih knew whereof he spoke. His son, Hsiang-kai, played professionally here
for four seasons, from 2004 to 2008.
引用計程車司機的話是記者的爛招，不應該用，但是這位施先生是真的了棒球的。他的兒
子施翔凱，在2004-2008，也是職棒球員。

For all its obvious connections to the American pastime, baseball is not an
American import. It came through Japan, where baseball had already been
played for a quarter century when the Japanese seized Taiwan in 1895. At the
time, Taiwan was controlled by the Qing-era rulers of China.
雖然台灣很多東西跟美國娛樂相關，棒球運動可不是從美國帶進來。它是從日本引入，當
日本在1895年獲得台灣當做殖民地，棒球在日本已經打了四分之一個世紀。台灣當時還是
在清朝統治下。

Andrew D. Morris, a contributing writer to “Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An
International Pastime,” wrote that the Japanese legacy shapes the game to
this day, one more thing that distinguishes Taiwan’s identity from China’s.
Andrew D. Morris，"棒球無國界"一書的作者，寫到日本傳奇塑造了現今棒球的風貌，那
也是另外一個在國家認同上區分台灣跟中國的其中之一個因素。

After the forces of Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan and established the
Republic of China following the Communist Revolution in 1949, the new
government sought to erase the vestiges of Japanese rule, except for baseball.
當1949年共產革命後，蔣介石部隊撤隊到台灣，成立新政府後，想要把之前日本政府留下
的蛛絲馬跡都給去掉，但是棒球卻沒有。

The game’s history since then has been as turbulent as the island’s
transition to democracy.
而這小島的棒球史在那之後就如同這小島試著民主轉型一般，一直是動盪不已。

The Chinese Professional Baseball League — its very name a reflection of
Taiwan’s complicated history with China — formed only in 1990, after a long
era of martial law that ended in 1987.
中華職棒聯盟--它的名字正好反映出台灣與中國糾結的歷史--在1990年成立，而漫長戒嚴
時期在1987年才結束。

Teams have formed and folded, the league expanding and contracting. Scandals
over gambling tarred the game. In 1996, gangsters kidnapped players who
apparently did not follow through on a fix.
隊伍擴編又收編，聯盟擴大編制後又縮小，簽賭醜聞玷汙了比賽，1996年，黑道綁架了不
肯配合作弊的球員。

An even broader betting scandal erupted in 2008, leading to accusations
against scores of players for accepting cash and sex with prostitutes to fix
games. One team was expelled; another withdrew.
更大的醜聞在2008年爆發，球員被指控收賄以及性招待後打假球，之後一個隊伍被解散，
另外一支隊伍退出。

A year later scandal flared up again, implicating players from the Brother
Elephants, one of the league’s most popular teams.
一年之後另外一個醜聞又出現，與聯盟最有人氣的球隊兄弟象隊球員有關。

Attendance plummeted. Some blamed the scandals, but others blamed the
increasing numbers of foreign players.
觀眾進場人數直線下滑，有人歸咎於這些醜聞，其他人則認為是因為太多外籍球員的關
係。

A newspaper columnist complained in 1998 that so many foreign pitchers were
being signed that the pitchers’ mound was practically a “foreign concession,
” a bitter allusion to China’s experience as a nation exploited by the
colonial powers of Europe.
1998年，一個報紙專欄作家寫到，說有這麼多的外籍投手，投手丘基本上就像是一個"租
界"，就跟百年前的中國被歐洲殖民的狀況很像。

At the game’s nadir in 2009, Taiwan’s government and league executives
intervened and vowed to clean up the sport, improving salaries and policing
gambling more aggressively.
2009年棒球的狀況達到新低，台灣政府以及聯盟決定介入，宣誓會肅清棒球，改善球員薪
資，以及更積極防止賭博介入棒球。

The league since then has settled down with four teams: the Lamigo Monkeys;
the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, named after the convenience store, which is
ubiquitous here; the Chinatrust Brothers, the franchise that emerged from the
tainted Brother Elephants; and the newest, the Fubon Guardians.
從那之後聯盟就成了四隊：Lamigo桃猿，統一7-11獅，從兄弟象接手過來的中信兄弟，以
及最新的富邦悍將。

Only the Monkeys, winners of the championship three of the last four years,
have a dedicated stadium, beside the high-speed train station in Taoyuan. The
others rotate home stadiums, though they are associated with their cities:
the Guardians in Taipei, the Uni-Lions in Tainan and the Brothers in Taichung.
只有在過去四年拿下三屆冠軍的桃猿有指定的主場館，位於桃園高鐵站旁。其他三隊則是
輪替主場館，雖然跟它們所在的城市有關：悍將在台北，統一獅在台南，兄弟在台中。

There is a consensus the league has been making a comeback. One reason is the
most famous foreigner to play here: Manny Ramirez, a player with a stellar,
though checkered career in the United States.
有個共識是聯盟在努力想達到之前的榮景。其中一個理由是有個超大牌的外籍球員來這裡
打過球：Manny Ramirez，一位在美國有過發光但也有不穩定表現的球員。

In 2013, after two suspensions for violating Major League Baseball’s drug
policy, Mr. Ramirez came to Taiwan. While he played in only 49 games,
attendance soared and it has remained steady since.
2013年，兩度違反MLB藥物規則被禁賽，Ramirez到台灣打球，他只打了49場比賽，但是觀
眾回來了，從那之後進場人數就穩定了下來。

(His presence might have been fleeting, but he was here long enough to be the
source of what is arguably one of the most memorable home run calls by a
television announcer. Ever. “This ball is long gone,” he shouted,
punctuating each word, “just like the ex-girlfriend who will never return!”)
他在這邊打球的時間雖然很短，但是這也夠讓電視轉播員創出了幾句令人印象深刻的台
詞。「這球就像變了心的女朋友，回不來啦！」

While the league might not have the renown of Japan’s professional league,
it has sent a dozen players to the Major Leagues, and continues to attract
foreign players.
雖然這個聯盟不像日本職棒這樣有名，但是還是有十幾位球員前往MLB，也有一些外籍球員
被吸引到台灣打球。

“On the road it’s the worst,” said Michael Nix, an American pitcher for
the Monkeys, describing the hometown cheers for the batters he has to face. “
You get used to it.”
「打客場戰是噩夢，」桃猿美籍投手尼克斯在描述對方主場觀眾在幫對方打者加油時說
到。「得要習慣。」

Attending games at the stadiums can feel like a tailgate party that rolls
right into the stands before turning into an aerobic workout. Everyone seems
to know not only the words to a lineup’s worth of chants, which have a
delirious mix of English and Chinese, but also the dances that go with them.
去球場看球感覺就像是把美國球賽在停車場開趴給搬到看台一樣，整場就跟跳有氧運動一
樣。觀眾不只知道所有的加油口號，而且口號還是中英夾雜，觀眾甚至還知道要配合怎樣
的加油舞步。

The experience at the ballpark can be so giddily polyglot that it seems only
a little odd that a cheesy 1979 pop song by the German band Dschinghis Khan
could be repurposed as a cheer for the Monkeys. “Go, go, Lamigo ….”
在球場看球的經驗是神奇的多國語言混雜，就像1979年一首由德國團體Dschinghis Khan唱
的一首流行歌在重新譜曲後居然成為桃猿的加油歌一樣神奇，「Go，Go，Lamigo...」
Dschinghis Khan水管影片:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzmI3vAIhbE

Ms. Chin is a devoted fan of the Monkeys but also of the vibe in the stands.
She commutes regularly to the games from Miaoli, an hour south by train. She
was there on a recent evening with her boyfriend.
秦小姐是桃猿的忠心粉絲，也是很愛看台氣氛的人。她常會花一個小時坐火車從苗栗到桃
園看比賽，最近一場是跟她男朋友一起。

“He likes baseball,” she explained, speaking a little more loudly since at
that particularly deafening moment the Monkeys were padding their lead over
the Guardians, 15-2, “but he doesn’t like to dance.”
「他喜歡棒球，」她得要大點聲講，因為桃猿正以15:2領先悍將，旁邊聲音震耳欲聾，
「但是他不喜歡跳舞。」

Asked what attracted her to the game, she used a two-word phrase in Chinese
whose meaning might not otherwise translate were it not uttered in a Taiwan
ballpark on a sultry summer night:
被問到什麼東西吸引她到場看球，在這潮濕悶熱的夏天晚上在台灣球場，她用兩個字來描
述再精準不過：

“Hot noisy.”
「熱吵。」


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