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1、Paralympics prompt some re-education in Beijing北京令残疾人感到更“宜居”1It is two-and-a-half years since Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson told me that the Beijing Paralympics could be the most important opportunity to make social changes for disabled people that there has ever been in China.1两年半以前，英国最杰出的轮椅运动员坦尼格雷-汤普森女
2、士曾对我说，北京残奥会可能是为中国的残疾人带来社会变革的最重要的机会。2I dont think theyve got any idea of what four and a half thousand disabled athletes hitting Beijing is going to do to them, Britains foremost wheelchair athlete added. Stuff will change.2她又说：我认为他们还不知道4500名残疾运动员来到北京，将给他们带来什么。很多事情将会改变。3A little more than a week befo
3、re the Games get under way on September 6, she is sitting in a pizzeria in the Chinese capital, professing herself a bit of a Beijing convert.3距离9月6日残奥会召开还有1周多的时间，她已经坐在中国首都的一家比萨饼店中。4Her frame of mind is explained by a series of incidents in recent weeks suggesting that attitudes towards the disabled
4、 in the city actually compare rather favourably with those elsewhere.4这是因为，最近数周遇到的一些事情表明，北京人对残疾人的态度，实际上要比其它地方友善。5It is usually tricky to nail down the benefits of the Olympics; to define just what the host city has got for its enormous investment. These days, there are no such problems with the Para
5、lympics. They have become a powerful tool for making cities more liveable for their disabled inhabitants and visitors.5考虑到主办城市巨大的投入，要保障奥运会获利通常是相当棘手的问题。然而，就残奥会而言，却无须考虑这类问题。对于残疾的居民和到访者，残奥会已经成为使主办城市变得更宜居的最有力工具。6A former senior Greek ministry official once told me that, prior to the upgrading of Athenss
6、 hotel stock ahead of the 2004 Games, there were only about 40 rooms with wheelchair access in the entire city. Now, even the Acropolis has become accessible to people with disabilities, he said.6一名前希腊高级军官曾告诉我，在为举办2004年奥运会而对雅典旅馆进行升级改造之前，整个雅典只有大约40个房间具备残疾人可用的设施。现在，他说：甚至卫城都变得适合残疾人光顾了。7In Beijing, Dame
7、 Tannis experiences suggest that preparations have been typically thorough. Now retired from Paralympic competition, the multi-gold medallist has had time to explore the city with her family.7在北京，格雷-汤普森女士的经历表明，这里的各项准备工作是相当周密的。现在这位退休的前多项冠军获得者有时间同家人一起探索这座城市了。8During one 12-mile walk, she reports, they
8、 came across only one kerb that had not been lowered. Tactile paving for blind people is everywhere, she says. Apparently this week they are making the Tube accessible . . . It is just their ability to make things happen really quickly.8她说，在长达12英里的步行过程中，他们只遇到一处不够平缓的地方。她说：到处都是盲人专用的盲道，地铁也变得更好走了他们的确有能力
9、使事情以很快的速度发生改变。9It should be said my research suggests that improvements in at least one of these areas are much needed. A Beijing-based colleague reports that what facilities there are on the older subway lines, such as ramps, are patchy and often interrupted by flights of stairs. I have never, ever
10、 seen someone with a disability taking the subway in China, he says.9然而我的调查表明，至少还有一个地方需要改进。我的一位驻北京的同事说，一些地铁通道内有一段段的楼梯。他说：“在中国，我从来没见过残疾人乘坐地铁。”10Dame Tanni, for her part, has also been impressed by the sensitivity of her Chinese hosts. I have never been patronised by a single Chinese person here, she
11、says. It seems to me they accept you for how you are and they watch and they learn. At home I have been patronised by the same people for 20 years.10格雷-汤普森女士则对东道国人民的敏感性印象深刻。她说：在这里，我从来没有受到一个中国人居高临下的对待。他们似乎根据你是怎样的人，以及他们看到和了解到的你而接受你。但是在我家，我被人傲慢地对待了20年。11But does Beijing pass the Acropolis test? Like At
12、hens four years ago, this years Paralympic Games host happens to be located close to one of the wonders of the world: the Great Wall of China.11但是，北京真的通过卫城考验了吗？同4年前的雅典一样，今年残奥会的主办国恰好也位于靠近一个世界奇观的地方。这个奇观就是长城。12What Dame Tanni has to say on this point astonishes me. Yes, she did get to sit on the Great
13、Wall. This is because, having ascended part of the way in a ski lift, three men - two drivers and a translator - carried her easily a mile up the final steep stretch.12在这一点上，格雷-汤普森女士的话让我大为吃惊。她的确登上了长城。这是因为有3个男人-2名司机和1名翻译-抬着她攀登了很长距离，爬完了最后的陡坡。13Maybe I shouldnt have been so surprised: after all, this i
14、s the worlds most populous nation I can even imagine enough sturdy limbed helpers being on hand to offer a stream of Paralympians a similar service in the closing days of the Paralympics, when demand to visit the wall is likely to be at its peak.13或许我不应该太吃惊。毕竟这是世界上人口最多的国家。我甚至可以想像，在残奥会来临之际，攀登长城的需求可能达
15、到最高峰，将有足够多的协助者等待着为残疾运动员提供类似的服务。14Wheelchair users who visit in, say, six months time may not, however, be so fortunate.Dame Tanni says she wants to come back in a year to see what the attitude is like and whether there have been further changes. If she can sit on the Great Wall again then, it will be cause for some sort of celebration.14然而，6个月后的轮椅使用者可能就没这么幸运。格雷-汤普森女士说，她希望“在1年后回来看看人们的态度如何，以及是否会有进一步的改变”。如果她可以再一次坐在长城上，那么我们就有理由庆祝了。
