PBS高端访谈:今年的“环法自行车赛”变成虚拟骑行

Sreenivasan: For more than 100 years, the middle of the summer has signaled the Tour DeFrance annual bike race across France. This year, due to the pandemic, the world's mostwatched bike race is delayed. But there is a heavily watched virtual one going on everyweekend.

We look down then on the avatars of the riders in this virtual Tour De France.

Sreenivasan: World class bike riders and teams are racing¹ against each other on their ownbikes at the same time often from their homes, and the world is watching them bike and playwhat looks like a video game. I recently spoke² with Eric Min, the C.E.O. Of Zwift, the companyenabling this virtual tour, and racer Lauren Stephens, a professional cyclist who recently wonthe 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 Ithink 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. Howdoes this work?

Lauren Stephens：So, our bikes are set up on what we call a Trainer.

Sreenivasan: Think of it like a treadmill³ 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 lessresistance.

Sreenivasan: So everybody is feeling the hills, so to speak.

Lauren Stephens:Right. The other component⁴ is at the crank of our bike where we pedal itmeasures our output.

Sreenivasan: So there's basically a video game representation of you riding in a race againstvideo representations of everyone else. This has to take some getting used to considering whatyou 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 NewZealand at 2:00 in the morning, many from their basements or garages. You can see how hardthe riders are working, how many watts⁵ their legs are generating and how fast their hearts arebeating to do it.

Lauren Stephens:You can't feel your opponents, can't see if they're getting tired or if they'reslowing down. Everyone's avatars, you know, are look happy and fast and full of energy. So, it'sa 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 onthis platform, you were competing against people who are not pros⁶, but are still pretty good.

Lauren Stephens: When I first got onto the platform there's people I've never even racedoutside or they haven't even raced outside and they're racing on this virtual platform. And atthe beginning, you know, they're beating me. And I had a lot to learn. So this was a newdiscipline 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 biketreadmills together.

Eric Min: You can go through different gates within the circuit of our maps and collect theserandom power ups, and they can make you faster for a short period of time. They can makeyou lighter⁷. In other cases it takes away the ability for the riders behind you to take advantageof your draft. And sometimes you can go invisible for ten seconds and you have to use thesepower ups very strategically. So, if you know how to play the game, you have a hugeadvantage over someone who thinks they're just strong. So just being strong is not enough todo 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 samebroadcasters that would have covered the Tour De France during the month of July is coveringthe 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 ofyour home. The fact that there's no travel and time wasted to get to your events. On balance, it's an incredibly affordable⁸, accessible global sport that we're creating.

Sreenivasan: You know, we talked to Lauren Stevens this morning, but, you know, one of thethings that is hard to replicate⁹ is being able to figure out whether that rider next to you isgetting tired or not. Whether they look like they have more in their legs or whether maybe youshould 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 tocreate a whole new version of it. It's not a six hour bike race. It's a one hour race that's muchmore 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 somethingboth Min and Stephens see as a positive sign. Lauren Stephens still has stages left to race inthis year's virtual tour. We wish her well. Last night's women's race was won by Tonja Erath, adoctor from Germany who became a professional cyclist by winning a competition throughZwift Academy.

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

4 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

5 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

6 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

8 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

9 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。