新视野大学英语第二版第二册第二单元

Nikolai Petrovich Anikin was not half as intimidating as I had imagined he would be.
尼克莱·彼得罗维奇·安尼金一点都不像我想象的那么吓人。
No, this surely was not the ex-Soviet coach my father had shipped me out to meet.
不，他不可能是我父亲特地送我来见的那位前苏联教练。


But Nikolai he was, Petrovich and all.
可他的确是尼克莱·彼得罗维奇·安尼金本人。
He invited me inside and sat down on the couch, patting the blanket next to him to get me to sit next to him.
他请我进门，在沙发上坐下，又拍了拍身边的垫子，让我坐在他旁边。
I was so nervous in his presence
在他面前，我真的很紧张。 .

"You are young," he began in his Russian-style English.
“你还年轻，”他的英语带着俄语口音：
"If you like to try for Olympic Games, I guess you will be able to do this.
“如果你愿意试着向奥林匹克运动会进军，我想你能行。
Nagano Olympics too soon for you, but for in Salt Lake City, you could be ready."
长野奥运会来不及参加了，但你可以准备参加 年盐湖城奥运会。”

"Yes, why not?" he replied to the shocked look on my face.
“完全可以，不是吗？”看到我脸上惊愕的表情，他又说道。
I was a promising amateur skier , but by no means the to skier in the country.
我那时是一个很有前途的业余滑雪运动员，但在国内决不是顶尖选手
"Of course, there will be many hard training sessions , and you will cry, but you will improve."
“当然，你需要进行很多艰苦的训练，你会哭鼻子，但你一定会进步的。”

To be sure, there were countless training sessions full of pain and more than a few tears, but in the five years that followed I could always count on being encouraged by Nikolai's amusing stories and sense of humor.


的确，后来我经历了无数痛苦的训练，还为此流了不少眼泪。但在后来的五年里，我总能从尼克莱讲的有趣故事和他的幽默感中得到鼓励。

"My friends, they go in the movies, they go in the dance, they go out with girls," he would start. "But I," he would continue, lowering his voice, "I am practice, practice, practice in the stadium.
他开始总是说：“我的朋友们常去看电影，去跳舞，去和女孩子约会，”然后他会压低嗓门接着说：“我就在运动场上训练、训练、再训练。
And by the next year, I had cut - minutes off my time in the -kilometer race!
第二年，我的 公里滑雪比赛成绩缩短了 . 分钟。”

"My friends asked me, 'Nikolai, how did you do it?' And I replied, 'You go in the movies, you go in the dance, you go out with girls, but I am practice, practice, practice.' "
“朋友们问我：‘尼克莱，你怎么做到的呢？’我回答：‘你们去看电影、跳舞、和女孩子约会，而我一直在

训练、训练、再训练。’”

Here the story usually ended, but on one occasion, which we later learned was his th wedding anniversary , he stood proudly in a worn woolen sweater and smiled and whispered, "And I tell you, I am years old before I ever kiss a girl! She was the woman I later marry."

故事通常到这儿就结束了。但有一次──后来我们知道那天是他结婚 周年纪念日──他穿着一件旧的毛衣，很自豪地站着，微笑着轻声说道：“告诉你们，我可是在 岁那年才第一次亲吻女孩子。她后来就和我结了婚。”

Romantic and otherwise, Nikolai knew love.
不管他是不是懂得浪漫，尼克莱知道什么是爱。
His consistent good humor, quiet gratitude , perceptivity , and sincerity set an Olympic standard for love that I continue to reach for, even though my skiing days are over.
他以一贯的幽默、默默的感恩、敏锐的感觉和真诚的态度为爱设立了奥林匹克般的标准。即使在我结束了滑雪生涯之后，我仍一直努力去达到那个标准。

Still, he never babied me.
但他又从不娇惯我。
One February day I had a massive headache and felt quite fatigued .
二月里的一天，我头很疼，感到十分疲倦。
I came upon him in a clearing , and after approximately minutes of striding into the cold breeze over the white powder to catch him, I fussed , "Oh, Nikolai, I feel like I am going to die."
我在一片空地上遇见了他，在寒风中的雪地里滑了大概十五分钟后，我赶上了他，有点小题大做地说：“嘿，尼克莱，我感觉我要死了。”


"When you are a hundred years old, everybody dies," he said, indifferent to my pain. "But now," he continued firmly. "Now must be ski, ski, ski."
如果活到一百岁，人人都会死的，”他对我的痛苦无动于衷，态度坚决地接着说：“但你现在必须滑、滑、再滑。”

And, on skis, I did what he said.

在滑雪板上，我照他说的去做。
On other matters, though, I was rebellious .
但在其他事情上我会反抗他
Once, he packed of us into a Finnish bachelor's tiny home for a low-budget ski camp.
在一次经费并不宽裕的滑雪露营活动中，他让我们十个人挤在一个单身汉住的芬兰式屋子里。
We awoke the first morning to find Nikolai making breakfast and then made quick work with our spoons while sitting on makeshift chairs around a tiny card table.
第一天我们醒来时发现尼克莱正在做早餐。然后我们坐在临时拼凑起来的椅子上，围着张小小的牌桌，用勺子很快地吃完早饭。
When we were finished, Nikolai stacked the sticky bowls in front of my sole female teammate and me, asserting , "Now, girls do dishes!"
吃完后，尼克莱把摞起来的油腻腻的碗向我和我唯一的另一个女队友

前一推，武断地说：“女孩子们，现在去洗碗吧！”


I threw my napkin on the floor and swore at him, "Ask the damn boys! This is unfair ." He never asked this of me again, nor did he take much notice of my outburst .
我把餐巾往地上一扔，向他骂道：“让该死的男孩子们去洗吧！这不公平！”他没再让我去洗碗，也没对我的大发脾气显得太在意。
He saved his passion for skiing.
他只在滑雪时才显露出强烈的情感。

When coaching, he would sing out his instructions keeping rhythm with our stride:"Yes, yes, one-two-three, one-two-three."
训练的时候，他会岁着我们迈步的节奏大声发出指令：“对，就这样，一二三，一二三。”
A dear lady friend of my grandfather, after viewing a copy of a video of me training with Nikolai, asked, "Does he also teach dance?"
我祖父的一个好朋友──一位上了年纪的女士──看了尼克莱带我训练的录像带后问道：“他也教舞蹈吗？”

In training, I worked without rest to correct mistakes that Nikolai pointed out and I asked after each pass if it was better.
在训练时，我一刻不停地纠正着尼克莱指出的错误。每完成一个动作，我都会问他自己是否有了进步。

"Yes, it's OK. But the faster knee down, the better."
“是的，还行。但如果膝盖能屈得更快些就更好了。”

"But is it fast enough?" I'd persist .
“可我滑得够快了吗？”我坚持问他。

Finally he would frown and say, " Billion times you make motion—then be perfect," reminding me in an I've-told-you-a-billion-times tone, "You must be patient."
最后他会皱起眉头说：“你得无数次地重复，动作才能达到完美。”他提醒我“必须有耐心”，言语之间流露出“我已经告诉过你无数次了”的意思。

Nikolai's patience and my hard work earned me a fourth-place national ranking heading into the pre-Olympic season, but then I missed the cut for the Olympics.
尼克莱的耐心和我的勤奋使我赢得了全国第四名的好成绩，并开始为奥运会季前赛做准备。但后来我没能被选拔去参加 年奥运会。

Last summer, I returned to visit Nikolai.
去年夏天，我回去拜访尼克莱。
He made me tea... and did the dishes! We talked while sitting on his couch.
他给我沏了茶......还自己洗了碗！我们坐在沙发上聊天。
Missing the Olympic Team the previous year had made me pause and reflect on what I had gained—not the least of which was a quiet, indissoluble bond with a short man in a tropical shirt.
怀念起前一年的奥林匹克队，我一时沉默，回想起自己曾经获得的一切──很重要的一点就是我和这个穿着颇具热带风情衬衫、个子不高的男人之间形成了并不张扬但又牢不可摧的纽带。


Nikolai taught me to have the

courage, heart, and discipline to persist, even if it takes a billion tries.
尼克莱教会我即使需要无数次的努力，也要凭借勇气、热情和严格的纪律来坚持下去。
He taught me to be thankful in advance for a century of life on earth, and to remind myself every day that despite the challenges at hand, "Now must be love, love, love."
他还教会我为了能在这世界上生活一辈子而预先心存感激，并每天提醒自己：即便面临许多挑战，“现在心里有的必须是爱、爱、爱。”










训练的时候，他会岁着我们迈步的节奏大声发出指令：“对，就这样，一二三，一二三。”
我祖父的一个好朋友──一位上了年纪的女士──看了尼克莱带我训练的录像带后问道：“他也教舞蹈吗？”

在训练时，我一刻不停地纠正着尼克莱指出的错误。每完成一个动作，我都会问他自己是否有了进步。

“是的，还行。但如果膝盖能屈得更快些就更好了。”

“可我滑得够快了吗？”我坚持问他。

最后他会皱起眉头说：“你得无数次地重复，动作才能达到完美。”他提醒我“必须有耐心”，言语之间流露出“我已经告诉过你无数次了”的意思。

尼克莱的耐心和我的勤奋使我赢得了全国第四名的好成绩，并开始为奥运会季前赛做准备。但后来我没能被选拔去参加 年奥运会。

去年夏天，我回去拜访尼克莱。
他给我沏了茶......还自己洗了碗！我们坐在沙发上聊天。
怀念起前一年的奥林匹克队，我一时沉默，回想起自己曾经获得的一切──很重要的一点就是我和这个穿着颇具热带风情衬衫、个子不高的男人之间形成了并不张扬但又牢不可摧的纽带。

尼克莱教会我即使需要无数次的努力，也要凭借勇气、热情和严格的纪律来坚持下去。
他还教会我为了能在这世界上生活一辈子而预先心存感激，并每天提醒自己：即便面临许多挑战，“现在心里有的必须是爱、爱、爱。”