体育颂(Ode to Sport)

 

 

作者:[法]皮埃尔.德.顾拜旦                                                                                      

 

 

啊，体育，天神的欢娱，生命的动力。你猝然降临在灰蒙蒙的林间空地，受难者，激动不已。你像是容光焕发的使者，向暮年人微笑致意。你像高山之巅出现的晨曦，照亮了昏暗的大地。       

 

    啊，体育，你就是美丽！你塑造的人体，变得高尚还是卑鄙，要看它是被可耻的欲望引向堕落，还是由健康的力量悉心培育。没有匀称协调，便谈不上什么美丽。你的作用无与伦比，可使二者和谐统一；可使人体运动富有节律；使动作变得优美，柔中含有刚毅。

 

    啊，体育，你就是正义！你体现了社会生活中追求不到的公平合理。任何人不可超过速度一分一秒，逾越高度一分一厘。取得成功的关键，只能是体力与精神融为一体。

 

    啊，体育，你就是空气！肌肉用力的全部含义是敢于搏击。若不为此，敏捷、强健有何用？肌肉发达有何益？我们所说的勇敢，不是冒险家押上全部赌注似的蛮干，而是经过慎重的深思熟虑。

 

    啊，体育，你就是荣誉！荣誉的赢得要公正无私，反之便毫无意义。有人要弄见不得人的诡计，以此达到欺骗同伴的目的。他内心深处却受着耻辱的纹缢。有朝一日被人识破，就会落得名声扫地。

 

    啊，体育，你就是乐趣！想起你，内心充满欢喜，血液循环加剧，思路更加开阔，条理愈加清晰。你可使忧伤的人散心解闷，你可使快乐的人生活更加甜蜜。

 

    啊，体育，你就是培育人类的沃地！你通过最直接的途径，增强民族体质，矫正畸形躯体；防病患于未然，使运动员得到启迪；希望后代长得茁壮有力，继往开来，夺取桂冠的胜利。

 

    啊，体育，你就是进步！为人类的日新月异，身体和精神的改善要同时抓起。你规定良好的生活习惯，要求人们对过度行为引起警惕。你告诫人们遵守规则，发挥人类最大能力而又无损健康的肌体。

 

    啊，体育，你就是和平！你在各民族间建立愉快的联系。你在有节制、有组织、有技艺的体力较量中产生，使全世界的青年学会相互尊重和学习，使不同民族特质成为高尚而和平竞争的动力。

 

 

 

Ode to Sport

 

Pierre de Coubertin

 

        O Sport, delight of the Gods, distillation of lift! In the grey dingle of modern existence, restless with barren toil, you suddently appeared like the shining messenger of vanished ages, those ages when humanity could smile. And to the mountain tops came dawn's first glimmer, and sunbeams dappled the forest's gloomy floor.

        O Sport, you are Beauty! You - the architect of this house, the human body, which may become object of sublime according as to whether it is defiled by base passions or cherished with wholesome endeavour. There can be no beauty without poise and proportion, and you are the incomparable master of both, for you create harmony, you fill movement with rhythm, you make strength gracious, and you lend power to supple things.

        O Sport, you are Justice! The perfect fairness which men seek in vain in their social institutions rises around you of its own accord. No man can surpass by one centimetre the height he can jump of the time for which he can run. His combined strength of body and mind alone set the bounds to his success.

 

        O Sport, you are Daring! The whole meaning of muscular effort lies in one word - to dare. What good are muscles, what good is it to feel nimble and strong and to train one's nimbleness and strength if not to dare? But the daring you inspire is far from the rashness which impels the gambler to stake his all on a throw. It is a prudent and considered daring.

        O Sport, you are Honour! The titles you bestow are worthless save if won in absolute fairness and perfect unselfishness. Whoever succeeds in deceiving his fellows by some ignoble trick, suffers the shame of it in the depths of himself and dreads the dishonourable epithet which will be coupled with his name if the fraud from which he prospers should come to light.

        O Sport, you are Joy! At your call the flesh makes holiday and the eyes smile; the blood flows free and strong in the arteries. Thought's horizon grows lighter and more clear. Even to the griefstricken you can bring a healing distraction from their sorrows, while you enable the happy to taste the joy of living to the full.

        O Sport, you are Fecundity! You tend by straight and noble paths towards a more perfect race, blasting the seeds of sickness and righting the flaws which threaten its needful soundness. And you quicken within the athlete the wish to see growing about him brisk and sturdy sons to follow him in the arena and in their turn bear off joyous laurels.

 

        O Sport, you are Progress! To serve you well, man must better himself in body and in soul. You enjoin him to observe a loftier hygiene; you require him refrain from all excess. You teach him wise rules which will give his effort the maximum intensity without impairing the balance of his health.

        O Sport, you are Peace! You forge happy bonds between the peoples by drawing them together in reverence for strength which is controlled, organised and self-disciplined. Through you the young of all the world learn to respect one another, and thus the diversity of national traits becomes a source of generous and peaceful emulation.

 

　本文于1912年斯德哥尔摩第五届奥林匹克运动会文艺竞赛中获金质奖，当时作者用德文笔名发表。

现代奥运先驱顾拜旦以霍罗德和艾歇巴赫的笔名创作的散文诗,在1912年斯德哥尔摩奥运会"缪斯五项艺术比赛"中获得奥林匹克文学艺术比赛金奖。顾拜旦在这篇传世的散文诗中充满激情地讴歌体育和奥林匹克运动,高度评价了奥林匹克运动在现代社会文明中的作用和地位,同时也讽刺和批判了奥林匹克运动中的种种弊端,其主导思想是"体育就是和平",这也是他以"奥林匹克理想"为题的《文选》中多次阐释的奥林匹克主义,且被《奥林匹克宪章》所强调。

　　顾拜旦用一个法国名字和一个德国名字署名发表这首散文诗,是用心良苦的。首先是基于他所倡导的"费厄泼赖"的公平竞争原则,为使评委能公平评判而用了笔名;其次,根据国际奥委会委员、匈牙利人梅佐(Ferenc Mezo)博士的解释,顾拜旦先生是想告诉人们:即使像法、德这样有着世仇的国家,也能在奥林匹克运动的大家庭中，增进互相了解而友好相处。

这首诗是“力”与“美”的结合，体现了体育的“纯洁”与“公平”正因为奥林匹克中有顾拜旦的加入，才使得这个盛会充满了激情与勃发，而他倡导的体育复兴的宣言，更是把现代的奥林匹克运动带到了一个新的起点，由他设计的象征着五大洲的会旗，既沟通了世界的交流，又深刻的体现了“团结、友好、和平”的口号，使更多的人们在参与奥运的同时，来更多的品尝与分享奥运带给人类的快乐，“啊，体育，天神的欢娱，生命的动力”顾拜旦是你的出现让体育有了全新的生命，是你的出现让奥林匹亚的火种燃烧不息，你不愧为全人类所称道的“现代奥林匹克之父”！