倫敦奧運會的十個“第一次”
First: City to Host a Third Time
第一次：第三次舉辦奧運會的城市
Having previously hosted in 1908 and 1948, London proved itself to be a gracious host, as it will soon come to host more times than has any other city. With everything it has in store this year, it will have no trouble winning over the Olympic Committee a fourth time.
倫敦1908年和1948年舉辦奧運會後，世人公認其爲一位和藹可親的東道主，相比其他城市，它將創舉辦次數之最。隨着今年奧運會一切蓄勢待發，第四次贏得奧運會主辦權對倫敦來說不是什麼難事。
First: Completed Venue, the Velodrome
第一次：完成對自行車室內賽場的建設
The first completed venue of the Olympic Park was the Velopark’s Velodrome, a giant indoor cycling track. Fitting the “green” theme of the games, the venue is outfitted with rooflights to cut back on artificial lighting, and natural vents to minimize air conditioner usage. Also, the roof is designed to collect rainwater as a supplemental water source.
奧林匹克公園中最早建成的就是自行車賽車場——一個巨型的室內自行車賽道。該場館與本屆奧運會“綠色環保”的主題相呼應，採用了採光屋頂以減少使用人工照明，使用自然通風也減少了空調的使用。同時，房頂的設計使其能收集雨水來作爲補充水源。
First: Broadcast in 3D
第一次：3D直播
While the 2008 Olympics were the first to be broadcast entirely in HD, the 2012 Olympics are the first to broadcast in HD as well as 3D. Sean Taylor, a spokesperson for Panasonic – provider of some of the technologies – said it effectively, “Each Games, from a technology perspective, tries to have a first. London will be the first HD and 3D Games.” The games were first televised in Berlin in 1936 and played on big screens about the city. Then came the first games to enter households (strictly in London that is) in 1948, followed by the first internationally televised games during the 1960 Olympics in Rome. And ever since, that feeling of physically standing in the crowd and watching these mighty contestants has only gotten clearer, more defined. Now, they more literally than ever actually compete in your living room.
2008年北京奧運會是第一屆採用高清轉播的奧運會，2012年奧運會則是第一屆採用高青與3D聯合轉播的奧運會。松下公司對此提供部分技術支持，其發言人肖恩·泰勒說得很實在，“每一節奧運會，從技術層面上來說，都想要突破自我。倫敦奧運會將成爲第一屆同時使用高清和3D轉播的奧運會。”奧運會第一次採用電視轉播是在1936年的柏林奧運會上，城市裏的大屏幕上播放着比賽。然後就是1948年奧運會，這是第一屆電視直播入戶的奧運會（嚴格地說僅限於倫敦），然後是1960年羅馬奧運會，這是第一屆國際轉播的奧運會。隨後，那種彷彿身臨其境站在人羣中環視強大對手的感覺逐年清晰。現在，你會比以往更真切地感受到比賽彷彿就在自己客廳一般。
First: Time Since 1960 England Will Have a Competing Football (Soccer) Team
第一次：自1960年來英國再次迎來了自己的國家賽隊
Part of the reason England hasn’t been trying to qualify for the games was a decision in 1972 to stop allowing ‘amateur’ players to play, which impeded those planning to play for the British team who fell under such a category. While these players were able to compete again in 1984, they simply opted out. Their playing again this year will make exactly one hundred years since they last won the gold (before that, in 1908 and 1900). Maybe in this revisiting of past ideals, the Brits will stumble upon some of whatever steam-powered them to glory in the early part of the 20th century.
英國並沒有盡力爭取足球比賽的資格，部分原因是因爲1972年的一項決議，決議中拒絕讓“業餘”球員出賽，這阻攔了一些想要爲英國隊效力的球員，因爲他們被歸爲此類人羣。當這些球員終於能夠在1984年出賽爲國效力時，他們選擇了退出。這次比賽，距離他們上次在奧運會奪金恰好是一百年（在那之前，他們還囊括了1908年和1900年的金牌）。或許通過這次舊夢重遊，英國人會偶然撞見20世紀初蒸汽時代的輝煌。
Ladies First: Women’s Football (Soccer) Comes First
女士優先的第一次：女足開賽
The first event to take place in the 2012 Olympics, before even the opening ceremony, is women’s football; this seems to be an overt way of announcing an increased sense of gender-equality. For one thing, Saudi Arabian women will for the first time be allowed to compete, this coming only after the Olympics threatened to ban the Saudi Arabian team over gender discrimination. Show jumper Dalma Rushdi Malhas will gallop into action as the first female representative of the nation.
比開幕式更早，奧運會上最早比賽的項目是女子足球；這是在公開宣告男女平等意識的增強。除此之外，沙特阿拉伯的女子第一次得以參加比賽，而就在此之前，沙特阿拉伯隊還因爲性別歧視受到禁賽的威脅。作爲第一位國家女子隊代表，障礙賽騎手達爾瑪·魯斯蒂·馬爾哈斯將騎戰馬參加比賽。
First: Appearance of Women’s Boxing
第一次：女子拳擊入選比賽項目
In keeping with the support of women’s athletics in these games in particular, a new sport has been added, and it’s hardly a dainty one: women’s boxing. That’s right, women will be beating each other to a pulp just like any male boxer would in this new addition to the usual line-up. There will be three weight classes: lightweight, featherweight, and middleweight.
越來越多人支持婦女運動員參與這些特別的項目，因此一項新運動被加入比賽項目，這不是一項優雅的比賽：女子拳擊。沒錯，在這一新項目裏，女人們會像男子拳擊手一樣，將對手打得“稀巴爛”。比賽將分爲三個重量級：輕量級，次輕量級和中量級。
First: Eco-Conscious Games
第一次：環保比賽
A paradox is presented as the London games celebrate both the Industrial Revolution (a.k.a. the birth of pollution) and a spirit of committed environmentalism; London will be the first to actively measure its own carbon footprint during these games, designing a stadium and accommodations that cut-back on negative emissions when at all possible. They are also shooting for a world record via the “Javelin,” designed specifically to keep as many exhaust pipes at bay as humanly possible.
倫敦奧運會在紀念工業革命（可以說是污染的誕生）的同時也宣揚環保精神，這似乎是個悖論；倫敦將成爲首個在奧運比賽期間測量自身碳排放量的城市，精心設計的大型體育館和奧運村能從各個方面減少有害氣體排放。他們同時通過“Javelin”來爭取世界紀錄，這一特殊設計竭盡所能保留了多個排氣管。
第一次：倫敦舉辦殘奧會
Stoke Mandeville is actually where the Paralympic (a.k.a. “Special Olympics”) movement took place, the first nonofficial events taking place in 1948 in which hospitalized WWII veterans with spine injuries competed in a variety of sports. For the 2012 games, the first to officially recognize the Paralympics in conjunction with the Olympics, disabled individuals will be accommodated better than ever before, per official British mentality of equal opportunity.
實際上斯托克曼德維爾是殘奧會的舉辦地，第一屆非官方殘奧會舉辦於1948年，脊椎受傷的二戰退伍士兵在各種體育運動中競技。2012年殘奧會首次與奧運會同一年舉辦，在今年的奧運會中，殘疾人運動員將受到英國官方理療師的同等照料，過得比以往更滋潤。
First: Stadium of its Kind
第一次：此類運動場館首次亮相
The stadium is designed, like its competing athletes, for efficiency; it is especially lightweight and conservative. With the capacity to seat 80,000 individuals, it was built with less than 10,000 metric tons of steel (the first of such a structure). It boasts myriad energy-cutting measures, including a lack of indoor concessions – food provided external to the stadium, with giant screens so as to watch and eat. In finished form, the stadium will stand as the third largest in the country, after Wembley and Twickenham – not the case, however, when it is scaled down to a fixed 60,000-seat-stadium after the games.
運動場館被設計爲高率型，正如參賽的運動員們；它特別的輕巧，能循環使用。建造使用不到10000公噸的鋼筋（這種結構的首次嘗試），但卻能容納80000名觀衆。它採用多種節能措施，其中包括場館內沒有特許經營商——甚至食物也在場館外，場館外巨大的顯示屏使人們能夠邊吃邊看。在建築規模上，這一體育館將成爲英國第三大體育館，前兩名分別是溫布利球場和特威克納姆體育場——但是，奧運會結束後奧運會場將被縮減爲一個60000坐席的體育館，到時候這一排名就不會是那麼回事了。
First: to Emphasize Public Transportation
第一次：重視公共交通
Another surefire measure to cutback on energy waste is to support public transportation. And the 2012 Olympics will do just that when it unveils the extra-quick “Javelin,” made especially for the purpose of transporting spectators. It will be able to go from central London to the Olympic Park in just seven minutes, transporting as many as 25,000 passengers in a single hour.
另一項節能措施志在必得，那就是支持公交系統。當英國展示了爲運送觀衆而特別製作的特快公交“Javelin”，就表明了其重視公交的想法。乘坐“Javelin”從倫敦中心出發前往奧林匹克公園只需7分鐘，每一小時能運輸25000名觀衆。
