(流利说)亚洲最后的赛狗跑道关闭

今日导读

相信你早就知道香港有个赛马会，可是你听说过香港的邻居澳门原本有个赛狗会吗？其实，对于澳门人来说，赛狗这项活动历史悠久，是澳门人的集体回忆。但是随着赛狗活动的式微，加上土地资源不足，澳门政府早在 2016 年就要求逸园赛狗股份有限公司（赛狗会）两年内停办或搬迁。逸园赛狗会今年确认关闭这个赛场，这意味着，这个有着八十多年历史的赛狗场将成为历史。可原本驰骋赛场的狗狗该怎么办呢？今天，就让我们跟着 Daniel 老师一起来看看《经济学人》的相关报道。

带着问题听讲解

Q1: 唐小姐来到逸园赛狗场看到了怎样的场景？

Q2: 赛狗场属于哪一大家族？

Q3: 赛狗场的老板是谁？她的另一个身份是什么？

新闻正文

Asia's last dog-racing track has closed

亚洲最后的赛狗跑道关闭

The kennels reeked of excrement. The dogs inside looked weak. Many were suffering from visible injuries. Such was the scene that greeted Zoe Tang at the Canidrome, a greyhound-racing stadium in Macau, an autonomous region of China, on the morning of July 21st.

狗窝散发着粪便的恶臭。窝里的狗狗们形容憔悴。许多狗狗身上有肉眼可见的伤口，备受折磨。这就是佐伊唐在 7 月 21 日来到逸园赛狗场时，映入她眼帘的一幕。逸园赛狗场是澳门一片格力犬竞赛场地，澳门则是中国的特别行政区。

The evening before, its billionaire boss had left behind all 533 race dogs owing to the expiry of the venue’s operating concession, forcing the authorities to step in to mind them. Since then Ms Tang, who works for Anima, a local animal-welfare organisation, has been recruiting volunteers to help feed, walk and bathe the forsaken canines. Hundreds of people have turned up daily, far more than had been betting on the races.

前一晚，身价数十亿的赛狗场老板因为赛场的经营许可到期，抛弃了 533 只赛犬。政府部门不得不介入来照顾这些狗狗。从那时起，为澳门当地的动物福利机构 Anima 工作的唐小姐，就一直在招募志愿者，帮忙喂养这些被遗弃的犬只，并带它们遛弯，给它们洗澡。每天都有数百人前来，这个人数远远超过参与赛狗博彩的人数。

The Canidrome is one of the last vestiges of a grittier, seedier Macau. The greyhound track opened in 1963 (after a false start in the 1930s), when Macau was a Portuguese colony, and drew crowds of day-trippers from Hong Kong. Owned by the family of Stanley Ho, who once enjoyed a stranglehold on local gambling concessions, it was the last place in Asia where punters could wager legally on dog racing. But in the new Macau, with its glitzy casinos, it had lost its lustre. Attendance dwindled to just dozens a day. 

逸园赛狗场是一个更顽固，更肮脏的澳门的残余之一。格力犬的赛道在 1963 年开放，（曾在 30 年代开放后又关闭），当时澳门还是葡萄牙的殖民地，赛狗跑道吸引了大量来自香港的一日游旅客。赛狗场属于何鸿燊家族，何家曾经垄断了当地博彩业的经营权，这片场地是亚洲最后一个可以供赌徒合法进行赛狗博彩的地方。但在有着奢靡赌场的新澳门，赛狗场失去了它的光彩，观看人数逐渐减少到数十人一天。

Animal-rights groups had urged the track be closed. They alleged that greyhounds were put down if they failed repeatedly to win races. In 2011 the head of Macau’s animal-control division said that 30 dogs a month were being killed. Angela Leong, wife of Mr Ho, boss of the Canidrome and an elected lawmaker, denied any cruelty. She said her charges were the “happiest dogs in the world”.

动物权利组织曾强烈要求赛道关闭。他们指控说，如果格力犬屡尝败绩，它们就会被杀死。2011 年澳门动物管控部门的负责人说，每个月有 30 只狗被杀害。何鸿燊的妻子梁安琪是逸园赛狗场的老板兼澳门立法会议员，否认任何残忍行径的存在。她说她的赛狗们是“全世界最幸福的狗”。

—————  文章来源 / 经济学人

重点词汇

kennel/ˈkenl/

n. 狗窝

reek/riːk/

v. 发臭

excrement/ˈekskrɪmənt/

n. 排泄物

leave behind

抛开，抛弃

e.g.

The boat sailed away, leaving the coast behind.

You must leave all that behind you and start afresh.

concession/kənˈseʃn/

n. （尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权

forsake/fərˈseɪk/

v. 放弃；舍弃

canine/ˈkeɪnaɪn/

n. 犬

vestige /ˈvestɪdʒ/

n. 遗迹；痕迹

e.g.

the vestige of the ancient civilization

There is not a vestige of truth in this rumor.

gritty/ˈɡrɪti/

adj. 坚韧不拔的；顽固的

seedy/ˈsiːdi/

adj. 破烂的；粗鄙的

track/træk/

n. 轨道；跑道

stranglehold/ˈstræŋɡlhoʊld/

n. 束缚；控制；垄断

punter/ˈpʌntər/

n. 赌徒

glitzy/ˈɡlɪtsi/

adj. 浮华的；耀眼的

e.g.

glitzy hotels in Las Vegas

lustre/ˈlʌstər/

n. 光泽

e.g.

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the lustre of it will never appear.

dwindle/ˈdwɪndl/

v. 减少；变小

charge/tʃɑːrdʒ/

n. 掌管；负责