The Olympic sinkhole.docx

The Olympic sinkhole” 本文选自《华盛顿邮报》5月18日中一篇名为 “The Olympic sinkhole” 的文章。文章以近期大热的巴西奥运会困境为话题，援引两位科学家最新的研究，指出举办奥运会并不像人们想象得那么光鲜，随着经济增速放缓，承办奥运会风光不再，甚至从经济角度看承办奥运会已然成为“赔钱买卖”。文章中作者剖析了奥运经济背后的原因，并在结尾提出解决之道。希望读者能对体育金融方面的相关热点有所了解，积累相关词汇。 原文 I ①Brazil can’t seem to catch a break. ②It’s suffering the worst economic slump in decades; its president may be thrown out of office; it’s contending with the Zika virus.③Now, to add to these indignities, come the huge subsidies to pay for this summer’s Olympics. ④The costs exceed $10 billion, with only a fraction to be covered by revenue from the Games. II ①Once upon a time, hosting the Summer or Winter Olympics was considered a national trophy and global status symbol. ② Sure, costs were high, but with rapid economic growth, they seemed bearable. ③No more. ④Hosting the Olympics has become a financial sinkhole, made less attractive because economic growth and tax revenue have slowed. ⑤By one estimate, Russia’s Sochi Winter Olympics cost $51 billion. ⑥The estimated price tag for Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics was $45 billion. ⑦These expenses dwarf the income from television rights, tickets and licensing sales. III ①We know this because a recent paper by two economists — Robert Baade of Lake Forest College and Victor Matheson of College of the Holy Cross — has reviewed public data and scholarly studies of recent Olympics. ②“In most cases the Olympics are a money-losing proposition for host cities,” they write in the spring issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. ③Costs are high in part because the International Olympic Committee imposes stiff demands on cities that host the games. ④These include an Olympic Village capable of housing at least 15,000 athletes and officials, as well as 40,000 hotel rooms (Rio de Janeiro had to construct 15,000 rooms). ⑤After 9/11, security costs also soared. In 2000, they were $250 million for the summer Sydney Games; by the 2004 Athens Games, they had climbed to $1.6 billion and “have stayed near that fi