Reasons to watch the Olympics can be various. Some look for national pride, some for cliffhangers, and even some for fashion.
观看奥运会的理由有许多种。有些是为了寻求民族自豪感，有些是为了观看扣人心弦的比赛，甚至有些是冲着时尚去的。
What about those athletes' bodies? Zoe Williams of the Guardian recently wrote about her obsession with the perfect physical appearance of athletes.
还有多少人是冲着运动员的外形去的呢？最近，来自《卫报》的佐伊•威廉姆斯最近撰文，表明了自己对运动员们外在美的痴迷。
To Williams, watching these near-deities for whom every muscle has a purpose and every tweak of a body is a bid for greatness, "we are allowed to make remarks we would never normally make. We're allowed to gawp at perfection, marvel at beauty, openly wish we could prod chests and have a go on triceps – it's the Olympic Gaze."
对于威廉姆斯而言，这些运动员近乎神一样，他们的每一块肌肉都富有意志，身体的每一次扭动都在向着非凡发力。在欣赏他们时，"我们得以发表一些不同寻常的看法。我们可以直视着他们完美的一举一动，惊诧于其中的美丽，并可以毫不掩饰地表示希望能够戳一下他们的胸肌，甚至动一动那些三头肌。这就是‘奥运关注'。"
Olympic-watchers of yore admitted upfront that open-mouthed staring was one of the core purposes of the games.
以往诸多观看奥运比赛的人都公开承认，人们目瞪口呆的关注是奥运会的核心目的之一。
In ancient Greece, the athletes were asked to march naked through the streets before the games began – it was a warm-up exercise for the spectators, before the main event of watching them all compete naked, which takes an incredible amount of concentration.
在古希腊，奥运会开幕前，运动员被要求赤身裸体地在街道上行进。对于观众们来说，这只是个赛前热身。在之后的正式比赛中，他们会看到运动员们的裸体竞技，这往往吸引来巨大的关注。
According to the Guardian, the story is that the naked-sport tradition began when a runner's loincloth fell off, and he appeared to go faster than the others.
《卫报》的文章中称，裸赛传统始于这样一个故事，当时一位赛跑选手的缠腰布掉了之后，他似乎比其他人都跑得快。
At that time, wearing clothes came eventually to signify Barbarianism, or at the very least, shame.
在那个时候，穿着衣服是野蛮人的表现，或者至少是件丢脸的事。
Remember the famous statue Discobolos, of a man holding an iron disc? He's all naked, folks.
还记得那尊著名的"掷铁饼者"雕像吗？各位，他是全裸着的啊！
Another reason why staring at an athlete's body is not offensive is that attention falls upon males and females equally.
凝视运动员的身体，而并无冒犯之意的另一个原因是人们对于男女选手身体的关注是均等的。
"When it falls equally upon everybody, you have to think that maybe there is no ulterior motive. Maybe we're staring because they're amazing.
"当人们将注意力均等地放在每个人身上时，你理所当然认为这种关注或许并非别有用心。也许我们目不转睛只是因为他们太了不起了。
"That's it! How are you going to not stare? That would be like being too polite to stare at a comet," Williams wrote.
"正是如此！你又怎能移开视线呢？这就好比你太过文雅以致错过凝视彗星一样。"威廉姆斯写道。
Indeed, how top athletes' bodies work is amazing. Some lift weights many times greater than their own, while others run 100-meters in less than 10 seconds.
顶尖运动员们的身体机能的确令人惊讶。一些人能举起相当于自身体重许多倍的重量；而另一些人百米比赛的成绩不到十秒。
"You do not debase them when you go on about an athlete's thighs; his or her body is indivisible from their life's work, which is their pride and joy," Williams said.
"当你就某位运动员的大腿发表言论，滔滔不绝时，你并没有在贬低他们。他们的身体是他们毕生事业中不可分割的一部分，也是他们的骄傲所在。"威廉姆斯说道。
"To say she's perfect is like telling someone they have cute children. Plus, there is the simple mathematics that it's impossible to offend, by objectifying, gazing, fixating, or obsessing over in any other way, someone who is so superior."
"评价她很完美，就好比是在告诉人们，他们的孩子很可爱。此外，简单一算便知，对于那些如此优秀的人来说，把他们看做是一件物品具象化，目光牢牢地锁定他们，或任何其他形式的痴迷，都不会是冒犯。"
"Look at this … what a beautiful boy … Sorry …" The father of Chad Le Clos, talking as a guest commentator on the BBC, was overwhelmed.
"看看…多么漂亮的小伙子啊…对不起…"，BBC特约评论员——查德•勒•克洛斯的父亲情不自禁地说道。
"Is this live?" he asked. "Yes," his partner said, cheerfully. Before he'd even considered the fact that South African swimmer Chad Le Clos had beaten Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time, in the 200m butterfly, he was baffled, brought to the very edge of comprehension, by his own son's beauty.
"这是直播吗？"他问道，"是的。"他的搭档兴奋地回答道。南非游泳选手查德•勒•克洛斯当时在200米蝶泳项目中击败了奥运会历史上最伟大的运动员——迈尔克•菲尔普斯。在这位父亲意识到这点之前，他几乎不能理解自己的儿子是如此出众。