纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 038球赛带(6)

And one of the striking characteristics of organised games throughout history is their capacity to transcend¹ cultural differences, social divisions and even political unrest. Straddling the boundary between the sacred and the profane², they can be great social unifiers and dividers.

历史上，这种有组织的比赛有极为显著的特点:能够跨文化差异，社会等级甚至政治动荡。它游荡在神圣与世俗的边界，能成为社会的黏合剂，也能让社会分化。

As Nick Hornby says, perhaps there are few other things that we collectively care about so much in our society today.

就如同尼克霍恩比所言，这是当今社会所有人共同关心的极少数问题之一。

Our Mexican ceremonial belt acts as a powerful symbol of exactly how far all societies can take the obsession³ for mass, organised sport.

墨西哥腰带强有力地证明，所以社会都热衷于大型有组织的运动。

1 transcend   

vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围

参考例句：

• We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
• Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。

2 profane   

adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污

参考例句：

• He doesn't dare to profane the name of God.他不敢亵渎上帝之名。
• His profane language annoyed us.他亵渎的言语激怒了我们。

3 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。