在空蕩蕩的球場中 台灣棒球依舊全揮擊 - 棒球

Baseball in full swing in Taiwan, even in empty stadiums
即使在空蕩蕩的球場中，台灣棒球依舊全揮擊


RALPH JENNINGS (Associated Press)
The Associated Press Apr 25, 2020, 11:30 AM


NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan (AP) -- When Wang Wei-chen had a base hit for the
Chinatrust Brothers, no one booed or cheered from the stands at the suburban
Taipei ballpark. No one hurled insults at the umpires. And no one yelled the
Chinese-language line of encouragement “add oil” to either team.

台灣新北市(美聯社) -- 當王威晨為中信兄弟擊出一壘安打時，在台北的這個郊區球場，
看臺上沒有人發出噓聲或讚聲。沒有人對著裁判大聲叫罵，也沒有人為任何一隊吼叫出中
文的激勵用詞─「加油」。

The 12,150 blue plastic seats were devoid of fans Friday night for the game
between Chinatrust Brothers and Fubon Guardians, down from the average crowd
of 6,000 at professional baseball games in Taiwan. No fans have come to any
games here since play started on April 11.

12150個藍色塑膠座位，在禮拜五晚上這場中信兄弟與富邦悍將的比賽中空空如也。台灣職
業棒球比賽平均入場人數低於6000人。自從4月11日球季開幕以來，沒有球迷進入過球場。

Taiwan’s five-team Chinese Professional Baseball League is barring
spectators over concerns of spreading the coronavirus in a crowded space. But
Taiwan has relatively few cases of COVID-19, so the league decided it was
safe to let in players, coaches, cheerleaders, costumed mascots, face
mask-wearing batboys and the media.

台灣的五隊聯盟中華職棒擔憂冠狀病毒會在人員聚集的場所傳播，而將觀眾關在門外。但
台灣的COVID-19(武漢肺炎)病例相對較少。因此聯盟決定讓球員、教練、啦啦隊員、吉祥
物、戴口罩的球僮與媒體記者們得以進入球場。

“We’d like to have fans coming into the stadium to cheer us on, yet due to
the outbreak they can’t,” said Wang, an infielder for Brothers. “We are
still lucky, since we have not stopped our season and people can still see us
in this way.”

「我們也想讓球迷進場為我們加油，但擔心傳染爆發所以無法讓球迷們進來。」兄弟的王
姓內野手(應該是王威晨)說：「我們還是很幸運，我們依然沒有停止賽季，人們仍夠能這
樣子看我們比賽。」

Other baseball leagues around the world have been postponed to May or later.
Beyond baseball, organized sports worldwide have canceled or delayed
competition. The Tokyo Olympics have been pushed back a year.

全世界的其他棒球聯盟都已經推遲比賽到五月甚至更久以後。不只棒球，世界性的團體運
動也紛紛取消或推遲比賽。東京奧運也已經被延後一年。

At the Taiwan ballpark, about 150 placards were placed upright on the seats.
They wished luck to particular players from the Guardians home team, some
with cut-out effigies, and thanked Taiwan’s medical personnel for keeping
coronavirus caseloads low on the Western Pacific island.

在台灣的球場，約150個立牌被放置在座席上。它們祈求主場球隊富邦的參賽球員好運，其
中有些是半身的人像，並感激台灣的醫護人員在這個西太平洋島嶼上維持著冠狀病毒的低
病例數。

Rock and roll sounds blasted out of the bleachers as if in a normal game, and
players did some cheering for their teammates to replace the din of fans.

搖滾聲樂在露天看台上大聲播送，就如同正常比賽時那樣，而球員也不時為隊友喝彩來替
代球迷的嘈雜喧囂。

“I think it feels like a real game,” said Mac Huang, a longtime baseball
fan and middle school teacher in Taipei who is following the league now
online. Fan-less games, he said, are “a good way to stop coronavirus, but no
one knows when coronavirus will stop, and it’s good to have the games on
anyway.”

「我認為它感覺就像一場真正的球賽」，一位正在網路上關注這個聯盟的老棒球迷與台北
的中學老師Mac Huang這樣說。他說，無觀眾比賽「是一個阻止冠狀病毒的好選擇，雖然沒
人知道冠狀病毒的流行何時會結束。無論如何，有球賽可看都是好事。」

League officials delayed the season twice from its originally scheduled
opening day on March 14, and only started competition after close
consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare. They’re ready to allow
all 240 regular games in empty parks through the season’s end in
mid-November, if needed.

聯盟官方將原先表定的球季開幕日3月14日，延遲了兩次。並在與衛生福利部密切協商後才
開始賽程。他們也準備好至11月中球季結束時，全部240場例行賽都在無觀眾入場的情況下
舉行，如果有必要的話。

Taiwan has had just 428 coronavirus cases among a population of 23 million.
Bars, restaurants, shops and schools still run normally. Taiwan has limited
the spread by imposing flight restrictions and through contact tracing of
anyone who comes near a confirmed patient.

有2300萬人口的台灣當中，僅有428例的冠狀病毒病例。酒吧、餐廳、商店與學校仍然照常
運作。台灣藉由施加飛行航班的約束以及追蹤確診病患的接觸者來限制疫情傳播。

“We have to be grateful to Taiwan’s citizens for keeping the outbreak under
control and let us do this,” league commissioner Wu Chih-yang said.

聯盟會長吳志揚說：「我們要感激台灣公眾保持疫情控制，使我們得以運作。」

To keep fans watching on their phones, PCs and TVs, the league is encouraging
teams to give their stadiums a realistic, lively feel. That’s where the
placards and cheerleaders come in. Online game commentary is being broadcast
in English as well as Chinese this year in case fans overseas want to watch a
live season.

為了讓球迷在他們的手機、電腦與電視上收看比賽，聯盟鼓勵球隊在他們的球場中製造逼
真與生氣蓬勃的感受，讓立牌與啦啦隊員進入球場。假如海外球迷想收看賽季實況轉播的
話，這年也有和中文賽評一同播出的英語線上賽評。

“Because there is so much room up there in the stands, it leaves space for
creativity and each team can be creative as it wishes,” the commissioner
said.

吳會長：「因為看台上多出許多空間，這讓每支球隊都有能夠如願發揮創造力的場地。」

Teams are still making some money from broadcast games, he added. The league
charges a subscription fee for online viewers.

他補充道：球隊能夠從轉播比賽獲得收入。聯盟也從線上觀眾那裏收取訂閱費用。

In Taiwan’s Taoyuan city, the unbeaten Rakuten Monkeys are charming fans by
placing 40 mannequins in the stands - to be sent to local clothing stores
once their duties are done. Stadium seats support four long LED-lit display
boards that twinkle with slogans to inspire base hits and home runs.

在台灣的桃園市，不敗的樂天桃猿(但昨天輸給我喵)透過在座位上擺放40具模型假人，來
吸引球迷的目光。這些假人會用到它們完成其職責後再被送往當地的服飾店。球場座位配
有4個長型LED照明顯示板，會閃耀標語來激勵球員擊出安打與全壘打。

The Monkeys, last season’s champions, deploy six robots to bang drums along
with the cheerleaders. Fans are excited enough that about 50 of them have
sponsored the LED boards, cheer squad leader Eric Chiu said.

上個賽季的冠軍桃猿隊部署了六名機器人和啦啦隊員一同打鼓。啦啦隊長Eric Chiu(阿誠)
說：球迷們很興奮，他們其中有50人還贊助了LED板。

A Monkeys game on April 15 attracted about 650,000 viewers in different
countries, according to the Taiwan government-backed Central News Agency.

在4月15日的桃猿比賽，據有台灣官方背景的中央社報導，這吸引了不同國家約65萬收視者
觀看。

“They think what we’re doing now is OK, but we still hope this outbreak
passes soon,” Chiu said. “It’s better to have the fans back.”

阿誠說：「球迷們認為我們現在所做的措施還不錯，但我們依然希望疫情趕緊過去。球迷
們回來還是更好。」

Guardians manager Hong I-chung is less sure.

富邦悍將總教練洪一中卻不這麼確信。

“If you ask the players, they won’t find it so different actually,” Hong
told reporters before Friday’s game. “They need to focus on the field, and
often noise from fans can throw off their state of mind.”

「如果你們詢問球員，他們不會認為實際上有多大差異。」洪一中在周五的賽後對記者們
說道：「球員需要專注在球場上，來自球迷的頻繁雜音會擾亂他們的心理狀態。」

He particularly noted the impact of players being “scolded” by comments
from fans in the stands.

他特別指出球員被看台上球迷們各種言語斥責「嚇壞」的影響。

Other people on the field Friday said they were ready to play as usual.
Pre-game chatter with reporters focused more on hitting, pitching and lineups
than on the lack of fans or Taiwan baseball’s world outlier status. The
Brothers won 11-0.

週五場內的其他人說，他們已經準備好照常比賽。記者們賽前的談話更多圍繞在打擊、投
球與比賽陣容中，而不是關於沒有球迷或台灣棒球是世界特例的事情。兄弟最終以11:0贏
得比賽。

“The fact that were playing in front of empty seats, that’s fine, we’re
still playing the game, getting the opportunity to come out here and play,”
said Rob Ducey, a former Major League Baseball outfielder who is now a
hitting coach for the Guardians.

前大聯盟外野手─現在是富邦悍將的打擊教練羅伯‧杜西說：「現實就是比賽要在空蕩蕩
的座位前進行，這也沒關係，我們依舊在比賽，得到來這裡比賽的機會。」


新聞網址：https://reurl.cc/exdjOW

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這篇我拿來當作練習英文的機會，
如果有翻得不好的部分希望各位能熱心指正，我會盡快改正

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你知道怎麼種出又大又美的木瓜嗎？

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