VOA慢速英语2021 NHL由于本土疫情爆发缺席北京冬奥会（在线收听）

The National Hockey League, or NHL, says it will not send players to the Olympic Games in China because of COVID-19 concerns.

美国国家冰球联盟（以下简称NHL）表示，出于对新冠肺炎的担忧，它将不会派遣球员参加在中国举办的冬奥会。

NHL chief Gary Bettman made the announcement Wednesday following a sudden, sharp rise in cases of the disease among players. At least 50 professional hockey matches have been postponed as a result.

NHL主席加里·贝特曼周三宣布了这一消息，在此之前，球员中的新冠病例突然急剧增加。至少有50场职业冰球比赛因此被推迟。

The 16 days of winter sports competition begins in Beijing on February 4. The NHL says it will use that period to play the regular season games it had to postpone.

为期16天的冬奥会将于2月4日在北京开幕。NHL表示将利用这段时间来进行被迫推迟的常规赛。

"Our focus and goal have been and must remain to responsibly and safely complete the entirety of the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs in a timely manner."

“我们的重点和目标一直是，而且必须是继续以负责任和安全的方式，及时完成整个NHL常规赛和斯坦利杯季后赛。”

This will be the second straight Olympic season the NHL will miss. It did not send players to the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, because of a contractual dispute.

这将是NHL连续第二次缺席冬奥会。由于合同纠纷，它没有派遣球员参加2018年韩国平昌冬奥会。

Earlier this week, the NHL decided to temporarily stop playing games until after the Christmas holiday to stop the spread of the virus. The league is also bringing back more COVID-19 safety policies, like daily testing and limits on the size of player gatherings.

本月早些时候，NHL决定暂时停赛至圣诞节假期之后，以阻止新冠病毒传播。NHL还恢复了更多的新冠肺炎安全政策，例如每天检测和限制球员聚会规模。

The league had until January 10 to withdraw from the games without paying a financial penalty. As a result, the men's Olympic hockey tournament will continue without NHL players for the second straight time.

NHL必须在1月10日前退出奥运会，这样就无需支付罚款。因此，奥运会男子冰球比赛将连续第二次在NHL球员缺席的情况下继续进行。

The NHL did not participate in the Olympics until 1998. NHL players played in five Olympics in a row through Sochi in 2014.

NHL直到1998年才参加奥运会。NHL球员连续5届参加了奥运会，直到2014年索契冬奥会。

During labor negotiations last year, the NHL and players' union agreed to participate in the 2022 Olympics. But the deal was dependent on pandemic conditions not worsening.

在去年的劳资谈判中，NHL和球员工会同意参加2022年冬奥会。但是这项协议取决于大流行情况不会恶化。

A generation of hockey stars, including Swede Victor Hedman, will need to wait until 2026 to play in the Olympic men's hockey tournament for the first time.

包括瑞典人维克多·赫德曼在内的一代冰球明星将需要到2026年才能首次参加奥运会男子冰球比赛。

"It's a thing you've been looking forward to for a very long time," Hedman said. "For us to not be able to go, it's going to hurt for a while."

赫德曼表示：“这是我们期待已久的事情。对我们来说，不能去参赛要伤心一阵子。”

The NHL was set to participate in the Olympics until the Delta and Omicron variants began spreading in North America. Before an outbreak in Calgary, Alberta, in early December, only five NHL games needed to be rescheduled.

NHL原定参加这届冬奥会，直到新冠病毒德尔塔和奥密克戎变种开始在北美传播。在 12 月初阿尔伯塔省卡尔加里爆发疫情之前，只有5场NHL比赛需要重新安排。