(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Sreenivasan: For more than 100 years, the middle of the summer has signaled the Tour De France annual bike race across France. This year, due to the pandemic, the world's most watched bike race is delayed. But there is a heavily watched virtual one going on every weekend.
We look down then on the avatars of the riders in this virtual Tour De France.
Sreenivasan: World class bike riders and teams are racing against each other on their own bikes at the same time often from their homes, and the world is watching them bike and play what looks like a video game. I recently spoke with Eric Min, the C.E.O. Of Zwift, the company enabling this virtual tour, and racer Lauren Stephens, a professional cyclist who recently won the second stage of the virtual Tour De France.
As they make their way across the line, who takes it? It looks to me like Lauren Stephens I think may well have taken the stage.
Sreenivasan: First of all, congratulations. You're a winner of this stage of the Tour De France. You don't get to say that very often. Most people don't understand what's happening here. You're riding in Dallas, Texas, where you are now, and you're competing in a virtual race. How does this work?
Lauren Stephens：So, our bikes are set up on what we call a Trainer.
Sreenivasan: Think of it like a treadmill for a bike.
Lauren Stephens: And what that does is give the resistance to our bike. So if we go up a hill, it's going to put more resistance on our bike. And if we're going downhill, we'll get less resistance.
Sreenivasan: So everybody is feeling the hills, so to speak.
Lauren Stephens:Right. The other component is at the crank of our bike where we pedal it measures our output.
Sreenivasan: So there's basically a video game representation of you riding in a race against video representations of everyone else. This has to take some getting used to considering what you grew up doing was riding a bike against real people in the real world.
Lauren Stephens:Yeah, it's definitely a lot different than riding outside.
Sreenivasan: Riders are racing from all over the world at the same time, some from New Zealand at 2:00 in the morning, many from their basements or garages. You can see how hard the riders are working, how many watts their legs are generating and how fast their hearts are beating to do it.
Lauren Stephens:You can't feel your opponents, can't see if they're getting tired or if they're slowing down. Everyone's avatars, you know, are look happy and fast and full of energy. So, it's a lot of internal motivation in your living room. The other thing on Zwift is you're pedaling 98% of the time where outside, you know, you go down a hill or you're coming to a stop, like, you ease off. But on Zwift, you're pedaling all the time.
Sreenivasan: Virtual racing means Stevens has had to learn a thing or two. When you got on this platform, you were competing against people who are not pros, but are still pretty good.
Lauren Stephens: When I first got onto the platform there's people I've never even raced outside or they haven't even raced outside and they're racing on this virtual platform. And at the beginning, you know, they're beating me. And I had a lot to learn. So this was a new discipline for me, and I think I've figured out a lot of it now.
So they all use some power ups and Lauren Stephens is the winner of that stage.
Eric Min:We have the liberty of doing something you can't do in the real world, for example, having these special powers.
Sreenivasan: This is Eric Min, the C.E.O. Of Zwift, the company that connects all the bike treadmills together.
Eric Min: You can go through different gates within the circuit of our maps and collect these random power ups, and they can make you faster for a short period of time. They can make you lighter. In other cases it takes away the ability for the riders behind you to take advantage of your draft. And sometimes you can go invisible for ten seconds and you have to use these power ups very strategically. So, if you know how to play the game, you have a huge advantage over someone who thinks they're just strong. So just being strong is not enough to do well on Zwift.
Sreenivasan: How many people are watching this virtual Tour De France on television?
Eric Min: We have 20 broadcasters around the world covering about 140 countries. The same broadcasters that would have covered the Tour De France during the month of July is covering the virtual Tour De France. So it's in the millions.
Sreenivasan: So, millions of people are watching what looks like a video game play out. What, what are you learning from that?
Eric Min: The fact that you can, you know, compete on a global scale from the comfort of your home. The fact that there's no travel and time wasted to get to your events. On balance, it's an incredibly affordable, accessible global sport that we're creating.
Sreenivasan: You know, we talked to Lauren Stevens this morning, but, you know, one of the things that is hard to replicate is being able to figure out whether that rider next to you is getting tired or not. Whether they look like they have more in their legs or whether maybe you should try to pass them now, because this is it. They're weak. They're on the ropes.
Eric Min: We're not trying to replicate outdoor, you know, riding or racing, we're trying to create a whole new version of it. It's not a six hour bike race. It's a one hour race that's much more intense. As a viewing proposition it's much more dynamic and exciting.
Sreenivasan: Unlike the real Tour De France, where women only compete in the last stage, these virtual race days all have women's races, same courses, same difficulty. It's something both Min and Stephens see as a positive sign. Lauren Stephens still has stages left to race in this year's virtual tour. We wish her well. Last night's women's race was won by Tonja Erath, a doctor from Germany who became a professional cyclist by winning a competition through Zwift Academy.
重点解析
1.set up 装配
Since the new computer system was set up, our work efficiency has gone up by 50%.
自从装了新的计算机系统后，我们的工作效率提高了百分之五十。
2.ease off 减轻；缓和；放松
After the border agreement was signed, the tension between the two countries began to ease off.
边界协定签订以后，两国的紧张关系开始缓和下来。
3.take advantage of 利用
Product advertisers make positive efforts to take advantage of the various factors in effectiveness.
商品广告商总是在积极努力利用各种各样的有效因素。
4.have an advantage over 胜过，优于
In this respect, both Britain and United States have an undue advantage over China as English is an international medium of communication.
在这方面，英国和美国就占了优势，因为英文是国际上通用的媒介语。
5.on the ropes 濒于失败；完全无力回击；处于困境
By repeatedly undercutting his price, his competitions soon had him on the ropes.
竞争者们一再削价与他抢生意，很快就逼得他走投无路了。
参考译文
斯瑞尼瓦桑：100多年来，环法自行车赛每年夏季都会举行，而今年，由于新冠的爆发，世界上最受关注的自行车比赛推迟了，不过每周末都有一场备受关注的虚拟自行车比赛。
我们俯视这场虚拟的环法自行车赛车手的化身。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：世界一流的自行车手和团队在自己家里同一时间进行比赛，全世界都在看着他们像视频游戏一样的比赛。最近，我采访了Zwift(室内自行车健身软件)的首席执行官埃里克·闵，Zwift为这次虚拟巡回赛提供了支持。此外还采访了车手劳伦·斯蒂芬斯斯，他是一名职业自行车手，最近赢得了虚拟环法自行车赛第二阶段的冠军。
他们就要到终点了，夺冠的会是谁呢？我感觉应该会是劳伦·斯蒂芬斯夺得本阶段的冠军。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：首先，祝贺你，你是环法自行车赛本阶段的冠军，你不会经常这么说哈。很多人都还不明白到底发生了什么，你在德克萨斯州的达拉斯骑行，就是你现在在的这个地方，然后你在参加一场虚拟比赛。那么这场比赛究竟是如何运作的呢？
劳伦·斯蒂芬斯：所以，我们的自行车安装在一个我们称之为“骑行台”的设备上。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：把它想象成自行车的跑步机。
劳伦·斯蒂芬斯：它的作用就是给我们的自行车增加阻力，所以如果我们上坡的话，它就会给我们的自行车增加更多的阻力，如果是下坡，阻力就会减小。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：所以说每个人都会有上坡的感觉。
劳伦·斯蒂芬斯：是的，另外一个部件在自行车的曲柄处，也就是我们踩踏板的地方，它会测量我们的输出。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：所以基本就是视频游戏的呈现形式，你会和其他车手的视频形象进行比赛，这样的话你得花点时间去习惯，就是说我是在和真实世界里的真人比赛。
劳伦·斯蒂芬斯：是的，这跟在外面骑完全不同。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：来自世界各地的骑手们要在同一时间参赛，有些新西兰的骑手要在凌晨2点开始，有的就在他们的地下室或者车库里。你能看到骑手们的骑行状态、看到他们的腿产生了多少瓦的能量、以及他们的心跳有多快。
劳伦·斯蒂芬斯：你感觉不到你的对手，看不出他们是累了还是慢下来了。因为每个人的化身看着都很快乐、很快、充满了能量。所以，客厅里有很多内部动力。在Zwift上的另一点就是，你98%的时间都在蹬车，你知道，在外面的话，下山或者要停下来，比如，要休息一下。但是在Zwift上的话，你一直都在蹬车。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：虚拟赛车意味着史蒂文斯必须知道一两件事，就是当你在这个平台上的时候，你是在和那些不专业、但仍然很优秀的人比赛。
劳伦·斯蒂芬斯：我第一次进入这个平台的时候有的人我在外面比赛的时候甚至从来没有见过，或者说他们甚至没有在外面比过赛，他们就只在虚拟平台上比赛。刚开始的时候，你知道，他们打败了我，我有很多东西要学，所以对我来说这是一门新的学科，不过我想我现在已经弄明白很多东西了。
所以他们都使用了道具，劳伦·斯蒂芬斯斯是本阶段的获胜者。
埃里克·闵：我们可以做到在现实世界中做不到的事情，比如，拥有这些特殊的能力。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：这位是埃里克·闵，Zwift的首席执行官，这家公司将所有的自行车骑行台连接在一起。
埃里克·闵：你可以经过地图路线上的不同的门来收集这些随机道具，它们能让你在短时间内提速、能减轻你的体重、其他情况的话就是它能让你后面的骑手丧失利用你的draft的能力、有的时候可以让你隐身10秒，你必须非常有策略地使用这些道具，所以，如果你懂得如何玩这个游戏，那么你就比那些认为自己很强壮的人有很大的优势，所以说仅仅靠身体上的强大在Zwift上是不够的。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：有多少人在电视上观看虚拟的环法自行车赛呢？
埃里克·闵：我们在全球有20家广播公司，覆盖140个国家。本该在7月份报道环法自行车赛的同一家广播公司正在报道虚拟的环法自行车赛，人数在上百万吧。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：所以，上百万的人都在观看一场看似电子游戏的比赛，你从中学到了什么呢？
埃里克·闵：事实就是，你可以在自己的家里参加全球性的比赛，而且你在比赛过程中没有路程和时间上的浪费，总的来说就是，这是我们创造的一种不可思议的、经济上负担得起的、可实现的的全球性运动。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：你知道，今天早上我们采访了劳伦·史蒂文斯，但是，你知道，有一样东西是难以复制的，那就是我们无法知道自己旁边的骑手是不是累了，无法知道其他骑手的样子，无法知道他们的腿上是否有很多肌肉，或者现在应不应该超过他们，这些能力是无法复制的。因为就是这样，他们很弱，他们无力回击。
埃里克·闵：我们并不是要复制户外运动，你知道，骑马或者赛马，我们是要创造一个全新的版本。这不是一场六小时的自行车比赛，这是一场更加激烈的一小时赛。从视觉角度来看它更具活力、更令人兴奋。
斯瑞尼瓦桑：在真正的环法自行车赛中，只有最后阶段才有女子赛，而在虚拟的环法自行车赛中所有阶段都有女子赛，同样的赛道，同样的难度。闵和斯蒂芬斯都认为这是一个积极的信号。在今年的虚拟巡回赛中，劳伦·斯蒂芬斯还有几个阶段的比赛，我们祝她好运。昨晚的女子自行车赛的冠军是托尼亚·伊拉斯，她是德国的一名医生，在“Zwift学院”赢得一场比赛后成为了一名职业的自行车骑手。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
