电子竞技
The business of eSports
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语，我是尼尔。
And I'm Sam.
我是萨姆。
Now Sam, how would you define eSports?
萨姆，你怎么定义电子竞技？
eSports?
电子竞技？
Well this is essentially competitive video gaming.
好吧，这本质上是一种竞争性的电子游戏。
Individuals and teams take part in competitions where they play video games.
个人和团队参与比赛，玩电子游戏。
So just like me and my kids at the weekend?
所以就像我和我的孩子周末那样吗？
Well, no!
哦，不！
eSports is enormous.
电子竞技是庞大的。
Tens of thousands of people turn up to watch these events.
成千上万的人前来观看这些活动。
The players are professional and get paid huge salaries – the best ones are millionaires.
玩家都是职业选手，报酬也很高——报酬最丰厚的玩家都是百万富翁。
Well, maybe I’m not quite in that league yet!
嗯，也许我还没有完全到那个档次！
But the business of eSports is our topic for this programme.
但是电子竞技是我们本期节目的主题。
Before we press 'play' on the subject though, a question.
在我们按下该主题的“播放”键之前，有一个问题。
Approximately how much was generated by eSports and video games in the last year?
去年电子竞技和电子游戏大约创造了多少价值？
Was it… a) $130 million? b) $13 billion? c) $130 billion?
是a) 1.3亿美元？b) 130亿美元？c) 1300亿美元？
What do you think then, Sam?
你觉得呢，萨姆？
I’m going to say $130 billion.
我会说是1300亿美元。
It’s a huge amount, but I think it’s that successful at the moment.
这是一个巨大的数字，但我认为目前它有那么成功。
OK, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme.
好的，我们将在节目的最后揭晓你是否正确。
Not so long ago the idea of making a living playing computer games would have seemed impossible.
不久以前，靠玩电脑游戏谋生似乎是不可能的。
However, times have changed as technology has improved.
然而，随着技术的进步，时代已经改变了。
eSports are even going to be included in the 2022 Asian Games.
电子竞技甚至将被纳入2022年亚运会。
So it might not be long before they make an appearance at the Olympics.
所以它可能很快就会出现在奥运会上。
Gabriël Rau is a pro-eSportsman.
加布里埃尔·劳是一位支持电子竞技的人士。
He was interviewed for the BBC programme In Business.
他接受了BBC节目In Business的采访。
He thinks eSports are going to grow and grow, but does he think that’s a bad thing?
他认为电子竞技正在不断发展，但他认为那是坏事吗？
It's becoming more of a normal sports thing with this generation about to have children and moving forward I feel like it might even become a staple.
随着这一代人即将有孩子，电子竞技更多地成为一种正常的体育活动，而且我觉得这甚至可能成为一种基本事物。
Might become as normal as sports are right now.
可能会变得和现在的运动一样正常。
I don't think it necessarily has to be a bad thing.
我不认为这一定是件坏事。
It is time-consuming though, so I feel like, if you do want to introduce anybody, especially children, into video games, discipline is the way to go.
不过这很耗时，所以我觉得，如果你真的想让任何人，尤其是孩子，了解电子游戏，那就要约束自己。
So, is the growth of eSports a bad thing?
那么，电子竞技的发展是件坏事吗？
Not, according to Gabriël.
据加布里埃尔说不是。
He thinks that people having children now have grown up with computer games and these are beginning to be seen in the same way as traditional sports.
他认为，现在有了孩子的人是和电脑游戏一起成长的，而且这些游戏开始以与传统运动相同的方式被看待。
In fact, he thinks they will become a staple.
事实上，他认为它们将成为常见事物。
And what does he mean by that?
他那么说是什么意思？
Something that is a staple is a basic element, something we expect.
基本事物是一种基本要素，是我们所预料到的。
For example, in the UK we talk about potatoes being a staple food and football being a staple of the school curriculum.
例如，在英国，我们说土豆是主食，足球是学校课程的基本科目。
But he does mention a disadvantage, doesn't he?
但是他确实提到了一个缺点，不是吗？
Yes. He speaks quite quickly but he says that it is time-consuming.
是的。他说得很快，但他说这很耗时。
It eats up a lot of time!
它会占用很多时间！
Oh yes, I know that from my own experience.
哦，是的，我从我自己的经验中知道的。
I can start playing a game then find that many hours have passed and it’s the middle of the night.
我开始玩一款游戏，然后发现好几个小时已经过去了，到了半夜了。
And that’s why Gabriël goes on to talk about the need for discipline.
这就是为什么加布里埃尔继续谈论约束的必要性。
This is having strict controls and restrictions and importantly sticking to them.
这是说要有严格的控制和限制，重要的是坚持遵守。
So, for example, if you say you are only going to play for an hour every day, you have to stop playing after an hour, even if you want to carry on.
例如，如果你说你每天只玩一个小时，你就必须在玩了一个小时后停止，即使你想要继续玩下去。
That’s discipline.
这就是约束。
And he makes the point that this is important if you are introducing children to video games.
而且他指出，如果你要让孩子们接触电子游戏，这一点很重要。
Not everyone involved in eSports wants to be a player.
并非所有接触电子竞技的人都想成为一名玩家。
It’s now possible to study the business of eSports at university where you can learn how to manage eSports events.
现在在大学里是可以学习电子竞技的业务，在那里你可以学习如何管理电子竞技活动。
These are the thoughts of a student on one of those courses talking about her response to seeing a big eSports event.
这是一名学生在其中一门课上谈论她看到大型电子竞技赛事时的反应。
When you look at the background of how it all comes together and the people that spend all that time getting into it,
当你看看电子竞技的背景，它是如何组织起来以及人们花费时间参与其中,
for me I would love to put something like that together, not so much to play it but to put that together and create that experience for other people,
对我来说我喜欢把类似的东西组织起来，并不是那么想玩电子竞技，就是把它组织起来，为其他人创造那种体验，
and that was just my main aspiration really.
那真的就是我的主要志向。
So she doesn’t want to play, does she?
所以她不想玩电子竞技，是吗？
No, she doesn’t.
不，她不想玩。
She seems more interested in putting together an event, which means setting up and managing an event for others to take part in.
她似乎对组织一个活动更感兴趣，这是说为其他人设立和管理一个活动来参加。
That, she said, was her aspiration, her ambition.
她说，那是她的抱负，她的志向。
Right, before we review the vocabulary, let’s have the answer to our quiz question.
好的，在我们复习词汇之前，让我们先看看今天问题的答案。
Approximately how much was generated by eSports and video games in the last year?
去年电子竞技和电子游戏大约创造了多少价值？
a) $130 million? b) $13 billion? c) $130 billion?
是a)1.3亿美元？b) 130亿美元？c) 1300亿美元？
What did you say, Sam?
你说是什么，萨姆？
I thought $130 billion.
我觉得是1300亿美元。
And, for once, you’re right so well done.
这一次你答对了，所以做得好。
The actual figure was approximately $137 billion, which was more than the music industry when you include music sales and concerts.
实际数字约为1370亿美元，比算上音乐销售和音乐会的音乐行业还要多。
Right on now to remind ourselves of some words and phrases from today’s programme.
现在让我们回顾一下今天节目中的一些单词和短语。
Yes, we’ve been looking at eSports, the world of competitive video gaming.
是的，我们一直在关注电子竞技，一个竞争性电子游戏的世界。
We heard that it was becoming so normal that it might become a staple, an expected basic activity in the same way sports like football are.
我们听说它变得如此正常，以至于可能会成为一种基本事物，一种像足球等运动一样的基本活动。
But be warned, playing video games is very time-consuming.
但是要注意，玩电子游戏是非常耗时的。
It eats up a lot of time.
它会占用很多时间。
So you need to have discipline.
所以你需要约束。
That means you need to have and keep to restrictions such as the length of time you play or the time of day you play.
这意味着你需要有一些限制并遵守限制，比如你玩游戏的时长或一天中你玩游戏的时间。
That is particularly important for children.
这对儿童尤其重要。
If you organise an event, you can say that you put it together.
如果你组织了一个活动，你可以说你“put it together”。
And your ambition, your hope for the future is an aspiration.
你对未来的抱负和希望是“aspiration”。
And my aspiration is to beat my high score on my favourite game, so are we done now, Neil?
我的志向是在我最喜欢的比赛中取得高分，尼尔，我们结束了吗？
Yes, it’s game over for us today.
是的，我们今天的节目结束了。
Bye for now.
再见了。
Bye everyone!
各位，再见啦！