“时报内情”(Times Insider)专栏为读者呈现《纽约时报》所发报道幕后的故事。西蒙?罗梅罗(Simon Romero)在这篇文章中讲述的是，自从世界各地的朋友和同事为奥运会纷纷现身里约之后，他作为巴西分社社长的工作如何逐渐演化，囊括了其他种种（出人意料的）职责。

　　Reaching the favelas at the heights of Complexo do Alem?o is nothing less than breathtaking.

　　抵达阿莱茂住宅区(Complexo do Alem?o)最高处的贫民区，绝对是一个激动人心的过程。

　　An awe-inspiring aerial tramway connects the densely populated hillsides, their maze of passageways a testament to resilience and ingenuity in the face of hardship. Brazil would be awash in more medals if an Olympic category existed for the young kite fighters practicing their sport at the precipice where the gondola car makes its last stop.

　　一条令人惊叹的空中索道连结着一个个人口稠密的山坡，山坡上迷宫般的通道，证明着人们在困难面前有着怎样的应变能力和生活智慧。缆车的最后一站位于一道悬崖边，一些年轻人正在那里练习斗风筝，如果奥运会有这个项目，巴西一定可以拿到更多奖牌。

　　But I knew I had truly arrived in Alem?o when I heard the spine-tingling sound of gunfire.

　　但当听到令人毛骨悚然的枪声时，我意识到自己真的到了阿莱茂。

　　“It’s coming from down there,” said one of the boys, kite string in hand, pointing to the sprawling agglomeration of dwellings below. He couldn’t have been older than 10. He and his friends didn’t even flinch when the shots echoed around them, as if the sounds were as normal as the birdsong of Rio’s great kiskadees.

　　“枪声是从下边传来的，”其中一个攥着风筝线的男孩，指向下方的大片住宅说道。他的年纪应该不超过10岁。枪声在耳畔回荡之际，他和朋友们甚至没有表现出一点点畏缩，仿佛这枪声和里约的大食蝇霸鹟的鸣叫声一样稀松平常。

　　“What are you doing in Alem?o?” he asked.

　　“你来阿莱茂干什么？”他问。

　　Some of the best questions come from those who are being interviewed.

　　有些最出彩的问题其实来自受访者。

　　The Rio Olympics were starting, and thousands of journalists from around the world were swarming around the city’s new sports venues. As the bureau chief here for The Times, I was also excited about the Games. But I felt the need to report outside the Olympic bubble, especially in Alem?o, where the long war between drug gangs and the police was flaring up once again.

　　当时正值里约奥运会开幕之际，来自世界各地的数以千计的记者不断汇聚在这座城市崭新的体育场馆周围。作为时报巴西分社的记者，我也对奥运会充满热情。但我觉得做报道时，有必要置身于奥运会这个大泡泡之外，尤其有必要来到阿莱茂。在这里，长期对峙的贩毒团伙和警方正再度发生激烈冲突。

　　The actors in this conflict didn’t get the memo that Rio wasn’t supposed to be a theater for gun battles during the Olympics. The authorities had promised that the city would be safe during the Games, deploying tens of thousands of troops to patrol the streets. Still, I found entire families cowering in their hovels in Alem?o as the fighting raged around them.

　　这场冲突的参与者没有收到备忘录，不知道奥运会期间的里约不该有枪战上演。当局此前已经承诺保障这座城市在奥运会期间的安全，并调动了数万名军人在街上巡逻。不过，当枪战在身边激烈进行的时候，我发现阿莱茂德的许多人家都躲在自己的小屋里。

　　This disconnect — Olympic festivities alongside Rio’s brutal drug war — reflects the city’s fault lines. Of course, many of the journalists parachuting in for the Games are expressing awe about what they see. The city, with its teeming beaches and soaring granite peaks, remains as enchanting as ever. Television crews couldn’t ask for a better backdrop.

　　这种脱节——一边是奥运庆祝活动，一边是里约残酷的毒品战争——折射出了这座城市的裂痕。当然，许多为了奥运会空降到这里的记者都在说，自己见到的一切是多么动人。里约有着熙熙攘攘的海滩和高耸的花岗岩山峰，一如既往地散发着迷人的气息。电视工作者很难找到比这更好的拍摄背景。

　　At the same time, some of the impressions I’ve come across remind me of that oldie but goody from The Onion, “Woman Who ‘Loves Brazil’ Has Only Seen Four Square Miles of It,” about a dental hygienist from the United States who is enthralled after soaking up the atmosphere at a luxury resort on Rio’s outskirts without ever making it into the city proper.

　　与此同时， 对这个国家的一些印象让我想起了洋葱网(The Onion)上的一篇文章——《“热爱巴西”的女人只看到四平方英里之内的巴西》(Woman Who ‘Loves Brazil’ Has Only Seen Four Square Miles of It)，说的是一位来自美国的牙科工作者，完全沉侵在里约郊区一个奢华度假村所制造的氛围之中，连市区都没去过，却已深深地爱上了巴西。文章是很早以前发的，但其中的一些说法至今依然适用。

　　I’m also still enthralled with Brazil after covering the country for more than a decade, based in Rio for much of that time. The Olympics have been thrilling. The opening ceremony, sublimely choreographed by Deborah Colker, was uplifting. I’ve cheered for Brazil’s volleyball teams in Maracan?zinho alongside my wife and kids, who are proud Brazilian citizens.

　　我报道巴西新闻已有十多年之久——很多时候是以里约为根据地——至今却也依然对这个国家感到着迷。奥运会一直都是激动人心的。由德博拉?库克尔(Deborah Colker)精心编排的开幕舞蹈令人振奋。我曾在马拉卡纳齐诺体育场(Maracan?zinho)内为巴西排球队欢呼，以身为巴西公民为荣的妻子和孩子当时就坐在我身旁。

　　But it’s been surreal to see Rio, a place normally on the global news back burner, turn into something of a media circus during the Olympics.

　　但看到里约这样一个通常难以贡献头条国际新闻的地方，在奥运会期间突然成为媒体关注的焦点，还是有种超现实之感。

　　As friends and colleagues descend on the city, my own job of bureau chief has evolved to include additional roles like ticket procurer, restaurant critic, translator, security adviser and consultant on the attributes of Rio’s pés-sujos, the great unkempt neighborhood watering holes that Cariocas call “dirty feet.”

　　随着朋友和同事纷纷在这座城市现身，我本人作为分社社长的工作逐渐囊括了许多额外的职责，比如门票掮客、餐厅评论家、翻译、安全顾问，以及对里约各个“pés-sujos”的特色了如指掌的咨询师。“pés-sujos”指的是虽不甚整洁却令人愉悦的社区小酒馆，里约人称之为“脏脚馆子”。

　　I’ve relished the coverage of the Games by visiting colleagues from The Times, some of whom are seeing Rio for the first time. Now I know how Belize cheers for Simone Biles; what synchronized divers say to one another before the plunge; how easily table tennis balls crumple; how Brazil’s judo champion, Rafaela Silva, emerged from Rio’s favelas.

　　到访的时报同事对奥运会的报道让我读得津津有味，他们中的一些人是首次来到里约。现在我知道了中美洲国家伯利兹如何为西蒙?拜尔斯(Simone Biles)欢呼；知道了双人跳水运动员纵身一跃之前会跟对方说些什么；知道了乒乓球有多容易会变瘪；知道了巴西的拉斐拉?席尔瓦(Rafaela Silva)如何走出贫民区，成为柔道冠军。

　　When Brazil’s Olympic moment is finished, Rio, like some cities in the United States, will still be grappling with vexing levels of inequality and bloodshed. Certain favelas, the urban areas here that largely coalesced as squatter settlements, are festering with ire over the Games — especially those that were literally torn apart to make way for the Olympic overhaul.

　　等到巴西的奥运时刻画上句号的时候，里约像美国的一些城市一样，仍然要竭力应对令其备受困扰的不平等问题和流血事件。在某些贫民区，也就是基本已经聚合为棚户区的城市地带，人们对奥运会怒恨满腔——尤其是在那些为了给奥运会改造工程让路而变得支离破碎的地方。

　　Long before the Olympics began, I started chronicling the complex war for control over Complexo de Alem?o, the vast maze of favelas thought to be named for Leonard Kaczmarkiewicz, a Polish immigrant who once owned the land in Rio’s north zone where squatters put down stakes. (A light-skinned foreigner in Brazil is still often called “alem?o,” or German.)

　　在奥运会开幕很久之前，我就已经逐年记录对阿莱茂住宅区控制权的争夺所引发的复杂冲突。这是一片巨大的迷宫般的贫民区，其名字被认为取自波兰移民莱昂纳德?卡茨马基维奇(Leonard Kaczmarkiewic)，此人一度拥有里约北部这片供棚户区居民安营扎寨的土地。（在巴西，肤色较浅的外国人至今依然常常被称作“alem?o”，意为“德国人”。 ）

　　Some of the stories I’ve covered in Alem?o have been heartbreaking, like that of Alda Rafael Castilho, a young police officer who dreamed of being a psychologist. At the age of 27, she was fatally shot when gunmen stormed her police outpost. I still shudder when remembering how hard it was to interview the parents of Eduardo de Jesus Ferreira, the 10-year-old boy who was shot dead last year by the police in Alem?o.

　　我报道过一些关于阿莱茂的令人心碎的故事，有一篇文章写的是阿尔达?拉斐尔?卡斯蒂略(Alda Rafael Castilho)，一名曾梦想成为心理学家的年轻警察。27岁那年，她被冲进她所在的警察哨所的枪手射杀。而每当回想起10岁男孩爱德华多?德热苏斯?费雷拉(Eduardo de Jesus Ferreira)去年被阿莱茂的警察枪杀后，采访他的父母有多艰难，我仍然感到不寒而栗。

　　Someday, I hope to take the tramway in Alem?o again all the way to the last stop, to visit friends who live in the Favela das Palmeiras. If they tell me that the echo of gun battles has become a distant memory, as peace finally breaks out, that would be a triumph to rival all the stunning feats I’ve witnessed during the Rio Olympics.

　　我希望有一天再度乘坐阿莱茂的缆车，一直到最后一站，去拜访住在达斯帕尔梅拉斯贫民窟的朋友们。如果他们告诉我，随着和平终于到来，回荡在耳畔的枪战声已经成为了遥远的回忆，那将是一场媲美我在里约奥运会期间见证的所有惊世伟绩的胜利。