-
U5 A
Cliff Young, an
unlikely hero
克里夫?杨，令人意想不到的英雄
Considered one of the toughest marathon
events in the world, the 875-kilometer
annual
Australian
race,
a
route
from
Sydney
to
Melbourne,
is
a
harsh
test
of
endurance
for
the
world
’
s
top
athletes,
regardless
of
their
age.
The
young,
super-fit runners
train for months before a competition and are
under contract to
prominent sponsors
like Nike and Adidas, who finance them and furnish
them
with
a
substantial
support
mechanism
of
money
and
equipment.
The
contest
takes
up
to
seven
days
to
complete
and
is
a
challenging
test
of
fitness
and
strength
even
for
world-class
athletes
who
compete
for
distinction
and
a
cash
prize.
澳大利亚一年一度的悉尼至墨尔本的马拉松比赛全长
875
公里，
被认为是世界上最艰难
的
马拉松赛事之一，
对任何年龄段的世界顶尖运动员来说都是一
项严酷的耐力考验。
体能超好
的年轻选手在赛前要进行数月的训
练，而且还和像耐克和阿迪达斯这样著名的赞助商签约，
这些赞助商通过强大的资金和装
备支持机制为选手提供资助和装备。
这项比赛历时七天，
即
使对那些为荣誉和奖金而赛的世界一流运动员来说，
这项比赛也是对
体能和力量的严峻考验。
On the day of
the race in 1983, Cliff Young, a toothless
61-year-old farmer and
amateur runner,
wearing rubber boots, and much older than the
other runners,
was in attendance. No
one paid any attention to this odd-looking man who
might
as
well
have
been
invisible.
The
assembled
crowd
assumed
Cliff
was
there
to
observe
the
race.
When
he
asserted
his
intention
to
compete,
the
world-class
athletes
around
him
reacted
with
apparent
disbelief
and
then
with
disrespect.
Obviously, this
was some sort of publicity trick.
1983
年比赛那一天，克里夫?杨，一个牙齿已全部脱落的
61
岁的农民业余选手也来参加
比赛
。
他脚穿橡胶靴，年龄也比其他选手大得多。
没有人注意到这个
外表古怪的老头，
他就
跟个隐身人差不多。
聚集的人群以为克里夫只是来观看比赛的。
当克里夫明确表示自己是来
参赛的时候，他周围的世界级选手先是表示出明显的怀疑，继而予以鄙视。
显
然，
人们认为
这只是媒体的炒作而已。
But the press was curious, so as he
took his number and moved into the crush of
runners in their special, expensive
racing gear, the camera focused on him and
the
assembled
reporters
shouted
question
after
question
at
Cliff.
They
asked:
但是媒体记者颇为好奇
，
所以当克里夫领好自己的参赛号码，
走进配备昂贵的特殊装备
的参
赛选手队伍时，
镜头对准了他，
聚
集的记者们向他抛来一个又一个问题。
他们问：
“你是谁？”<
/p>
“你来做什么？”
Cliff
Young.
I'm
from
a
large
farm
where
we
raise
sheep
outside
of
Melbou
rne.
“我是克里夫?杨。我来自墨尔本郊外的一个大农场，我们在那里养羊。
”
They went on,
run this race on no more than six hours
of sleep a night!
他们接着问道：
“你为什
么认为自己有能力参加这项比赛？跑完全程要花一周的时间，而且
每晚的睡眠不足六个小
时。
”
Cliff
replied,
克里夫回答道：
“我放羊时每一次都要跑上
两三天。
This race should only
be a couple more days than that. I believe I can
do it.
这项比赛只是需要再多花几天而己。我相信我可以做到。
< br>”
Soon,
the
marathon
started
and
the
young
athletes
left
Cliff
far
behind.
The
crowds smiled, and some
laughed out loud because he didn't even run
properly.
He had the strangest running
style; he appeared to shuffle. As the race
progressed
along, of course, the
attention of the sports commentators and viewers
alike was
on
the
athletes
at
the
front
of
the
pack.
Imagine
everyone's
surprise
the
next
morning
when the news showed Cliff was still in the race!
Not only that, but he
had run through
the entire night without sleeping. And it seemed
that he intended
to keep running until
he reached the finish line or fell ill or was
injured as many
viewers now began to
fear. They were uneasy and very concerned for his
welfare.
Many people said and even more
people thought:
this insane old man
before he really harms himself!
很快，
马拉松比赛开始了，年轻的运动员把克里夫远远地甩在了后面。
人们笑了，
有些人还
大声地笑，
因为克里夫甚至连
跑步的姿势都不正确。
他跑步的样子怪极了，
因为他似乎是在<
/p>
拖着脚走。随着比赛的进行，体育解说员和观众们的注意力都放到了那些领先的选手身上。
想象一下第二天早上看到新闻报道说克里夫还在比赛的队伍里时，
人们有多么惊奇！
不仅如
此，他还彻夜未眠，一直在跑。而且
，看起来他决意要一直跑到终点，或一直跑到病倒或受
伤为止，
这正是许多观众现在开始担心的事情。
他们变得不安起来，
而且
非常担心他的身心
健康。许多人在说，甚至更多的人在想：
“不
用说，应该有人制止这疯狂的老头儿，免得他
真的把自己弄伤！
”
But
Cliff
had
no
intention
of
stopping.
Although
he
was
still
far
behind
the
world-class athletes, he
kept at it. When he got to a major town, he was
asked
about his plan for the rest of
the race. He said he would just keep running, and
he
did. With every passing hour and
every shuffling step, he got just a little bit
closer
to the race leaders. Later, he
told people that throughout the race he kept
focused
by imagining he was gathering
his sheep and trying to outrun a storm.
但是克里夫没有要停下的意思。
虽然他仍然远远落后于那些世界顶级的选手，
但他还一直坚
持着。
当他抵达一个大城镇时，<
/p>
有人问他对接下来的比赛有什么计划。
他说他会继续跑下去，
而且他也的确是这样做的。
随着每一小时的流逝和迈出的每一次拖拖
拉拉的步履，
他一点一
点地接近领先的选手们。
事后，
他告诉人们，
整个比赛过程中他都很专注，
他把自己想象成
是在赶着羊群、努力与暴风雨抢时间。
By the fifth night, he had
overtaken them all. By the sixth day, he led the
whole
pack of runners by a wide lead.
He led all the way to the finish line, smashing
the
record by finishing the
875-kilometer race in 5 days, 15 hours and 4
minutes - 9
hours faster than anyone
before! In that instant, Cliff Young became a
beloved
national hero.
到了第五天
夜里，他追上了所有的选手。
到了第六天，他把整个队伍甩开一大截。
< br>他一路领
先，直到终点，以
5
天
15
小时
4
分钟跑完
875
< br>公里的赛程，打破了纪录，比之前最
快的选手还快了
9
个小时！在那一刻，克里夫?杨成为受人爱戴的民族英雄。
In that instant, Cliff Young became a
beloved national hero.
在那一刻，克里夫
< br>.
杨成为受人爱戴的民族英雄。
When Cliff was awarded the first prize
of $$10,000, he said he didn't know there
was a prize and insisted that he had
not entered for the money. He said,
five other runners still out there
doing it tougher than me,
$$2,000 each.
He did not keep a single cent for himself. That
act increased his fame
and endeared him
to all of Australia.
当克里夫得到一万元奖金时，
他说他不知道比赛还有奖金，
并坚持说他不是为了钱才参赛的。
他说：
“还没有到达终点的那五位选手，
他们比我
跑得更艰苦。
”
他给他们每人
2
，
000
元。
他自己一分钱都没留。这一举动提高了他的声望，使他受到了所有澳大利亚人的爱戴
。
Cliff came to prominence
again in 1997, at age 75, when he attempted to
become
the oldest man to run around
Australia and raise money for homeless children.
克里夫在
1997
年
75
岁
时又一次赢得了声望。
当时他试图成为环澳大利亚长跑年龄最大
的人，并为无家可归的孩子们筹集善款。
For the
rest of his life, Cliff kept running. Over the
years, despite increasing age
and
physical challenges, he participated in many races
and won a number of
them. It was said
that Cliff Young never kept a single prize. People
gave him
watches because he never had
one. He would thank them because he did not want
to hurt their feelings, but then gave
them away to the first child he saw. He said,
don't need a watch. I know when it's
daylight, when it's dark, and when I'm
hungry.
在他的余生里，克里夫一直坚持在跑。多年来，尽管年纪越来越大，身体
状况也不如从前，
但是他还是参加了许多比赛，
并赢得了其中的
多次比赛。
据说克里夫从未为自己留下过任何
奖品。
因为他从没戴过表，所以人们就送他手表。
他会感谢送他手表的人，
因为他不想伤害
他们的感情。
但是随后，
他就把表送给沿途上他看见的第一个孩子。
他说：
< br>“我不需要手表。
我知道什么时候是白天、什么时候是黑夜、什么时候肚子饿了。
”
His love for running never
dimmed, but in the year 2000, he suffered a mild
stroke
that ended his heroic running
days. Cliff Young, the running legend, passed away
on November 2, 2003. He was 81.
他对跑步运动的热爱从未衰减。但在
2000
年，他得了轻度中风，从而结束了他具有英雄
色彩的跑步生涯。
2003
年
11
月
2
日，
克里夫?杨这位长跑传奇人物与世长辞，
享年
< br>
81
岁。
To this day, Cliff Young remains a
magnificent reminder and brilliant example of
how ordinary individuals can inherently
achieve remarkable results. As the
famous saying goes,
preparation, we can achieve distinction
and be a brilliant example to others.
直
到今天，克里夫?杨依然是一个伟大的标杆和辉煌的榜样。他向世人表明，普通人也能凭
潜在的能力取得非凡的成就。有句名言说得好：
“有志者，事竟成！”有坚定的决心和充
分
的准备，我们就能获得殊荣，也能成为别人的光辉榜样。