球王贝利 | 经济学人讣告

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英文部分选自经济学人20221229讣告

Pelé

King of the beautiful game

球王贝利

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pelé, footballer, died on December 29th, aged 82

埃德松·阿兰特斯·多·纳西门托，亦称贝利，足球运动员，12月29日去世，享年82岁

He was just a boy, only 17. Yet in the World Cup final of 1958 Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, showed the poise and supreme skill that would mark his career. As Brazil led Sweden, the hosts, by two goals to one he received a high pass in the penalty area. With a defender on his shoulder, he caught the ball on his chest, took one pace and flipped the ball high over another defender before running to meet it and driving an unstoppable volley low into the net.

年仅17岁的他还只是个大男孩。然而，在1958年的世界杯决赛中，埃德松·阿兰特斯·多·纳西门托（更为人熟知的名字是贝利）展现出矫健的身姿和高超的技艺，成为其职业生涯浓墨重彩的一笔。巴西2比1领先东道主瑞典之际，贝利在禁区接获一记高传。面对一名后卫近身紧盯，他胸部停球，迈出一步，再将球挑高越过另一名后卫，旋即又跑动接球，踢出一脚势不可挡的凌空抽射，足球低飞入网。

Though he said so himself, it was a nice goal. After looping in another, realising they were about to win the whole tournament, he passed out with emotion on the pitch. He felt he had achieved everything, all his dreams come true—even to a fling with a blonde, blue-eyed Swedish girl who was crazy for this little black Crioulo, as he loved to call himself.

尽管他自己也说这个进球不错。等他又射进一粒弧线球，他意识到，队伍将赢下世界杯冠军。他在球场上竟激动得晕倒了。他感觉自己已经拥有了一切，梦想全数实现——甚至是与一名金发蓝眼的瑞典女孩共度春宵。女孩疯狂地迷恋这个小黑人土哥们（贝利喜欢如此自称）。

注释：

Crioulo: 葡萄牙语，克里奥尔人。

This was only the first of three World Cups he won, more than any other player. It might have been four, but in 1966 the Bulgarian and Portuguese defenders kicked him to pieces, the referees didn’t protect him and Brazil, he thought, were badly prepared anyway, so they crashed out.

这只是他赢得的第一座世界杯，此后他又摘得两座，独占鳌头。本来可能拿下四座的，但1966年英格兰世界杯上，保加利亚和葡萄牙的后卫对他猛下狠脚，裁判也没有在判罚上对他有何关照。他自己也认为，巴西队本身准备得不够充分，所以惨烈出局了。

Three Argentines—Alfredo Di Stéfano, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi—all had their claims to be the world’s greatest footballer. But he held the world record for goals, 1,279 in 1,363 matches, and that was unlikely to be surpassed. Even a goal he didn’t actually score, against England in the 1970 World Cup, became famous, because few—including him—could work out how Gordon Banks had managed to save it. Ever confident, he shouted “Goal!” as he launched his header. It was scooped over the bar.

三名阿根廷人——阿尔弗雷多·迪·斯蒂法诺、迭戈·马拉多纳和利昂内尔·梅西——都拥有过“世界上最伟大的足球运动员”的称号。但贝利独享总进球数的世界纪录——出场1363次，打入1279粒进球，无法超越的存在。甚至他在1970年世界杯对阵英格兰时并未打入的一粒进球也闻名天下，因为几乎没有人（包括贝利在内）能琢磨出戈登·班克斯有什么办法扑救。一向自信的贝利，纵身头球攻门时甚至已经喊出“球进了”。可惜球被托出横梁。

As a forward he was not that tall, but he was strong, fast and had thighs as thick as his waist. He could read the game like a book, and control the ball as if it was drawn to him like a magnet. He could also tell exactly where he was needed, and when, and what the opposition might have in mind to try to block him. All this seemed to make him a natural captain, but he never wanted that role officially. He would just show the team his best moves, organising by example, and was happy to provide the killer pass for others to finish.

作为前锋，他个头不高，但体格强健，速度飞快，大腿近乎和腰一样粗壮。他对比赛形势了如指掌，控球能力非凡，球就像磁铁一样跟着他。他还能敏锐地知道自己该在什么时候出现在球场的什么地方，也清楚对方球员何时会对他采取什么阻断策略。有这些能力的加持，他似乎天生就是队长，但他从未公开说过想当队长。他只是向球队展示他最好的招式，言传身教，也乐于传出威胁球，助队友完成临门一脚。

Dribbling was his great skill, flummoxing defenders with feints and sudden stops and starts. He could shoot for goal powerfully with either foot and despite his height, or lack of it, was a spring-heeled header of the ball. He jumped so easily over Tarcisio Burgnich, the Italian marking him in the 1970 World Cup final, that Burgnich doubted he was flesh and bone at all. Then he scored the first goal. He knew he was the best player in that tournament and, with the next World Cup four years away, he declared he wouldn’t play any more.

贝利运球技艺高超，擅长运用假动作、急停和急攻来迷惑对手，令防守者措手不及。他左右脚都可以有力射门。即便个子不高，他也拥有惊人的弹跳力，头球破门是他的强项。1970年世界杯决赛，他轻而易举地跳过了盯防他的意大利球员塔西西奥·布尔格尼奇，这让布尔格尼奇怀疑他究竟是不是有血有肉的人类。随后他就打进了第一粒进球。他知道自己是那届比赛中最出色的球员，下一届世界杯还远在四年之后，他却宣布不再参赛。

He retired, he felt, at his best, and before football stopped being fun. His World Cup goal at 17 had been nothing but joy, no nerves, no responsibility, but his thousandth goal, in 1969 from a penalty, was completely different. His legs shook, the whole of the Maracanã stadium was yelling, and he was suddenly crushed by the thought that he, three times world champion, most famous footballer, could not miss this. He had never felt pressure like it.

他认为，自己要趁着还能享受足球乐趣时，在巅峰期退役。17岁那年他在世界杯赛场进球时，感受到的只有快乐，全然不会紧张，也没有任何负担。但1969年他罚进点球，打入第1000个进球时，情况则完全不同。当时他双腿颤抖，整个马拉卡纳体育场人声鼎沸，他瞬间被心中的念头压得喘不过气：他曾三获世界冠军，最负盛名的足球运动员，这个球非进不可。他以前从未有过这样大的压力。

Nor had he imagined he would face it. He was born in poverty in a town in the south-west of Minas Gerais state; his great-grandparents had been slaves. His first trainer was his father, a professional footballer whose career at Vasco da Gama was ended early by injury. His mother preferred him to be unhurt and earning proper money. Even a ball was too costly: he played with anything roughly round, socks stuffed with paper, mangoes or a bundle of rags. His lifetime love took root then, and never left him. The nickname “Pelé”, a classmate’s tease, annoyed him at first (“Edson” was more serious, after Thomas Edison), but he liked it better when he learnt it meant “miracle” in Hebrew. And miracles followed. At only 15 he was snapped up by Santos, his first professional club. Largely because of him it became the best team in the world in the early 1960s, winning two Intercontinental Cups.

他也没想到自己要面对这样的局面。贝利出生在米纳斯吉拉斯州西南部小镇的一个贫困家庭；他的曾祖父母曾经是奴隶。他的第一位教练就是他的父亲——这位曾经的职业足球运动员，因伤提前结束了他在瓦斯科达伽马的职业生涯。母亲更希望他的工作不用受伤，挣一份糊口的工资即可。甚至对当时的他来说，买只球都太奢侈了，只要差不多是圆形的东西他都拿来踢，比如塞满纸的袜子、芒果或一捆破布。他此生的爱好从那时起便牢牢扎根，再未变过。昵称“贝利”源于同学的恶作剧，起初他很恼火（叫埃德松更像回事儿，这名字是跟着“托马斯·爱迪生”取的）。不过，当他知道“贝利”在希伯来语中的意思是“奇迹”时，他不再讨厌这个绰号了。而奇迹也随之而来。年仅15岁，他就被人生中第一家职业足球俱乐部桑托斯抢先签下。桑托斯队在20世纪60年代初成为世界上最好的球队，两次赢得洲际杯冠军，这在很大程度上是贝利的功劳。

Several big European clubs begged him to join them: Real Madrid, ac Milan, Bayern Munich. But Santos and Brazil's government refused a transfer. Besides, life was so nice at Santos that he didn't want to change, and he went on playing for the club long after he left the international game. He played before football was a global business: half his career was in black and white. In today's game he would have been a billionaire. As it was, he had a sharp eye for money in deals off the pitch. At 34 he came out of retirement to help launch "soccer" in the United States, joining the New York Cosmos because, he said, Henry Kissinger persuaded him. By 1977, when his tenure ended, he was being called ”O Rei”, “The King” —the very name that the playwright Nelson Rodrigues, a towering figure in Brazil, had given him years before when he had first seen him play for Santos.

皇家马德里、AC米兰、拜仁慕尼黑等几家欧洲巨头都求贤若渴。但是桑托斯和巴西政府都拒绝放人。而且对贝利个人而言，他在桑托斯过得很好，不愿意转会，在结束国际赛事后很长一段时间内，他都在为桑托斯俱乐部踢球。在他踢球的年代，足球还不是一个全球产业：他一半的足球生涯都是在纯粹地踢球。放到现在他早就是亿万富翁了。那时的他确实也不缺钱，在场外，他赚钱也独具慧眼。34岁退役后，他加入纽约宇宙俱乐部，在美国推广足球，他自称是被亨利·基辛格劝服加入。在1977年合同结束后，他为人称为“球王”，被冠以“足球之王”的美誉并不是第一次，为桑托斯效力时，巴西顶级剧作家尼尔森·罗德里格斯第一次看他踢球就称他为球王。

注释：

Henry Kissinger：亨利·阿尔弗雷德·基辛格，本名海因茨·阿尔弗雷德·基辛格，是一位出生于德国的美国犹太裔政治家、外交家、国际政治理论家及地缘政治学者，曾任美国国家安全事务助理，后担任尼克松政府的国务卿并在水门事件之后继续在福特政府中担任此职。

Santos was always close to his heart; as was Vasco, where his father had taken him as a toddler to watch training sessions. In 1994 he even accepted a job as sports minister in the democratic government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. He piloted a law to clean up Brazilian club football, but it was neutered in the Congress, where a powerful lobby defended the corrupt state of things as they were. The activities of that bunch of crooks and the poverty he saw in his rich country often made him cry.

桑托斯永远在他心里；就像瓦斯科，在他学走路的时候，他父亲就带他去那看球员训练。在1994年，他还接受了民主党主席费尔南多·恩里克·卡多佐任命他的体育部长职位。他试行了一条法例，试图清理巴西俱乐部足球，但是被国会推翻了，实力强大的游说团为一直存在的腐败现状辩护。每每看到国家的强权胡作非为、“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”，他就感到心碎。

注释：

Vasco：瓦斯科达伽马划艇俱乐部（葡萄牙语：Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama），是一间位于巴西里约热内卢的体育会，在1898年8月21日成立，而足球部则于1915年11月5日成立。

His life off the pitch was complicated, with three marriages and at least seven children, one of whom—a daughter born of an affair with a cleaner—he refused for a long time to recognise. Women aside, though, he kept his life simple. He hoped to pass as an ordinary guy at airports, and never used the red diplomatic passport President Lula gave him. His way of winding down was to go fishing or to play pião with the wooden top he always carried, spinning it on his palm as long as he could. He was never an activist; just by being himself, he embodied black dignity. And he revelled in the beautiful game he played. His one regret was that he had never scored in the World Cup with a bicycle kick.

他的场外生活比较复杂，经历三次婚姻，生了至少七个孩子。其中一个女儿是他与一个清洁工外遇所生，在之后的很长一段时间他都拒不承认。不过除了女人之外，他的生活很简单。他希望自己在机场通关时能像个普通旅客，从来都不用卢拉总统给他的红色外交护照。他退休后的休闲活动就是钓钓鱼或者玩陀螺，他总会随身带一个木盖陀螺，一有空隙就拿出来在手掌中转圈把玩。他从未当过活动家；但仅仅靠做自己，他就已经体现了黑人的尊严。他陶醉于足球这项运动。没能在世界杯上完成一次倒挂金钩，是他的一个遗憾。