VOA常速英语2014--Sochi Olympics Most Expensive, but Not Best Organized 索契冬奥会:最贵却不是组织最好(在线收听

 

Sochi Olympics Most Expensive, but Not Best Organized 索契冬奥会:最贵却不是组织最好

Organizers of the Winter Olympics in Russia are scrambling to fix problems that are plaguing hotels and other facilities ahead of the Games opening ceremonies on Friday. Some foreign workers have alleged that they were operating under inhumane conditions in Sochi and then dismissed without their agreed upon pay.

在索契冬季奥运会开幕式就要开始之际,俄罗斯冬奥运的组织者们正在焦头烂额地抓紧解决旅店和其它设施出现的各种问题。一些外国工人说,他们在索契的工作条件简直就是非人待遇,随后他们又被解雇,却拿不到事先讲好的工钱。

Foreign dignitaries arriving in Sochi include some of the world's top leaders, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon. They are sure to enjoy red carpet treatment in the Russian resort, but others are not.

中国国家主席习近平、联合国秘书长潘基文等国际政要名流陆续抵达索契。在这处俄罗斯度假胜地,他们肯定会享受到红地毯式的待遇。

VOA reporter Parke Brewer said journalists have encountered a host of problems - the most serious being a lack of Internet connectivity. However, he said, that is not all.

在索契采访冬奥会的美国之音记者布鲁尔说,记者们遇到了一系列的问题,最严重的包括上网难。他说,问题还不止这些。

"Some of the biggest problems, one experienced by my colleague John Speer as he arrived Thursday midday: when he got to his hotel room -- guess what -- there was another person in his hotel room and that's the second story I heard of that happening. There was another gentleman who traveled 23 hours. He got here at 3:00 am in the morning and got into his room, and there was another man in his bed. So there's definitely been some problems. I talked to a Russian lady reporter who had some mice scurrying around in her room. A colleague across the hall from me got locked in her room Thursday morning," said Brewer.

布鲁尔说:“有些最大的问题---,比如我的同事约翰·斯皮尔,他星期四中午赶到,进了旅店房间后,你猜发生了什么?房间里已经住了别人。这是我听到的第二个故事了。还有一位男士,旅途奔波了23个小时,凌晨3点抵达,进了房间之后,床上躺着另外一位男士。所以,绝对是有一些问题的。我跟一位俄罗斯女记者聊天,她说,她的房间里有老鼠跑来跑去。走道对过的一位女同事星期四上午被锁在了房间里。”

Twin toilets lacking privacy partitions have been the object of jokes in the Western media for weeks. Washington Post Moscow Bureau Chief Cathy Lally found them at the Ekaterininskiy Kvartal hotel, where she is staying.

几个星期来,西方媒体一直在嘲笑没有隔离挡板、隐私全无的连环马桶。《华盛顿邮报》莫斯科站长卡西·拉利在她下榻的埃卡特里宁斯基·卡瓦塔酒店就遇到了这样的厕所。

"A couple of weeks ago, there were a lot of conversations about this toilet because one was seen in the biathlon centre. Then, Russians started saying 'Oh no! It's not really like that. That was just a place where the partition has been torn down because they were turning it into a store room.’ So, they were saying that it wasn't true that there are a lot of double toilets. Well, here we have one,” said Lally.

拉利说:“两个星期前,人们对这种厕所议论很多,因为有人在冬季两项运动中心看到了一个。然后,俄罗斯人就开始说:‘啊,其实不是这样的。那间厕所的隔离板被拆了,因为厕所改库房了。’所以他们说,所谓有很多连环马桶的说法与事实不符。结果呢,我们在这就有一个。”

A maintenance worker at the hotel, Pavel Osipov, said partitions are going to be installed.

这家酒店的维修工帕维尔·奥斯波夫说,他们会装上隔离挡板的。

"The partitions and the doors will be installed tomorrow. We apologize to the hotel guests for the inconvenience. This toilet is just not finished yet," said Osipov.

他说:“隔离板和门明天就会装好。我们为酒店客人遇到的不便而道歉。这间厕所只不过是还没装修完而已。”

However, even if toilet partitions are built, problems experienced by some foreign workers who helped build the Olympic facilities will be harder to solve. More than 120 workers from Serbia and Bosnia were deported from Russia earlier this month. Some of them claim they were not paid, or received much less than the agreed amount.

不过,一些帮助修建索契奥运场馆的外国工人遇到的问题,就没有那么容易解决了。本月早些时候,俄罗斯遣返了来自塞尔维亚和波斯尼亚的120多名工人。其中有些人说,他们没有拿到薪水,或者得到的报酬比原先同意的要少得多。

"I think that the orders were given that all the foreign workers had to leave Sochi for security reasons until a certain date, some say until January 5, others say until January 15. Our bosses knew about it and because we stayed after these dates, they used it as a chance to have us arrested by the police without having to pay us for our work," said Predrag Lero, a Bosnian worker who was deported from Russia.

被遣返的波斯尼亚工人普雷德拉格·莱若说:“我觉得,他们下了命令,出于安全原因,所有外国工人都必须在某天之前离开索契。有人说是1月5号,有人说是1月15号。我们的老板都知道这点,因为我们过了日期还留在这里,他们就利用这个机会,让警察抓我们,而不必付我们工钱。”

Workers also said their accommodations were substandard, often lacking such basics as electric light in their rooms.

工人们说,他们的生活条件不合标准,经常缺乏最基本设施,比如寝室连电灯都没有。

Moscow has spent a reported $45 billion on hosting the Games, making these the most expensive winter Olympics in history.

 

莫斯科据报道已经花费了450亿美元主办这场历史上最昂贵的冬奥会。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/voastandard/2014/2/246433.html