No doubt the Rio Olympics got a bad reputation for being disorganized before the games had even started, but not a lot of words have been spent on the amiable volunteers of Rio. I’ll be leaving Rio on August 13, leaving the city where I learned and experienced so much. In these two short weeks, I’ve run into a lot of random problems I didn’t even know could become problems. So much media attention has been devoted to revealing them that I’m not even going to bother retelling stories of bad traffic, illogical rules, and no food.
毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，里約奧運(yùn)會(huì)在開(kāi)始前就落下了一個(gè)組織不力的壞名聲，但時(shí)至今日，仍沒(méi)有很多言語(yǔ)著筆在里約熱內(nèi)盧那些親切可愛(ài)的志愿者身上。我將在8月13日離開(kāi)里約熱內(nèi)盧，離開(kāi)這個(gè)讓我學(xué)習(xí)并經(jīng)歷了那么多的城市。過(guò)去短短兩個(gè)星期里，我隨機(jī)地碰到了很多問(wèn)題，有些我甚至不知道它們可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)。在眾多媒體致力于揭露這些問(wèn)題時(shí)，我則想要避開(kāi)復(fù)述那些糟糕的交通，不合邏輯的規(guī)則，和食物短缺的故事。

What I’ve really noticed that’s worth discussing is that the volunteers here are so friendly. Something you expect to happen might not work out, but they will cheerfully offer you suggestions. The vast majority of volunteers I’ve met were so eager to help and just happy to chat, even if it’s in broken English. I remember one fencing event I watched was on a rainy night and volunteers were nowhere to be found in the Olympic Park. After scouting around, eyes scanning the raincoats and umbrellas around me, I finally spotted a lady in a yellow volunteer jacket. I ran over.
因?yàn)槲易⒁獾秸嬲档糜懻摰氖牵@里志愿者都那么友好！當(dāng)有些你認(rèn)為本應(yīng)該順利得到的服務(wù)，卻無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)時(shí)，他們會(huì)暢快地告訴你的確無(wú)法提供，并為你提出其他解決方案。絕大多數(shù)我遇到的志愿者是如此熱情地幫忙并且樂(lè)意同你溝通，即使是用蹩腳的英語(yǔ)。我記得，去看一場(chǎng)擊劍比賽時(shí)，是在一個(gè)雨夜。那時(shí)，奧林匹克公園到處都找不到志愿者。我在周圍尋找一圈，雙眼不停掃視身邊穿雨衣和打雨傘的身影，終于認(rèn)出一個(gè)穿黃色志愿者外套的姑娘后，我立馬跑過(guò)去。

“Sorry, do you know where this arena is?” I asked and showed her my ticket. “Oh it’s behind this stadium. You go there and turn left and it’s over there,” she said, pointing out the directions. I squinted in confusion. “Here, I’ll walk you over,” she said with a laugh. Yes, my savior! I thought. I thanked her and we started talking. Her name is Desiree Alves and she’s from Florida. She’s been working by the entrance bars for four days from 4PM to midnight and this was her first day off. Wow, I thought, she finally gets time away from directing people around and she’s still happy to walk me? I couldn’t help but smile.
“不好意思，請(qǐng)問(wèn)你知道這場(chǎng)擊劍比賽場(chǎng)館在哪兒?jiǎn)幔俊蔽乙贿厗?wèn)一邊給她看了我的票。“哦，在這個(gè)體育場(chǎng)后面。你先往那兒走，左轉(zhuǎn)，然后就在那兒“，她邊說(shuō)邊指著方向。我迷惑地瞇著眼睛望去。“這樣吧，我?guī)阕哌^(guò)去?！彼χf(shuō)。“好棒，你是我的救星！”我心里默默地想。我謝過(guò)她后我們便開(kāi)始交談。她的名字是西瑞阿爾維斯，來(lái)自美國(guó)佛羅里達(dá)州。她在入口處工作從每天下午4點(diǎn)一直到次日凌晨，已經(jīng)4天了！這是她第一天休息。哇！我想，在她終于有時(shí)間不用四處引導(dǎo)人流時(shí)，她還樂(lè)意給我?guī)穯?？我忍不住微笑?/p>

“I heard that only a small number of the volunteers who signed up actually came,” I said to her, “Is that true?”“I don’t know, but they only gave us our schedule one month in advance,” she shrugged, “A lot of people had problems coming here with their flights. I almost couldn’t come, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.”
“我聽(tīng)說(shuō)所有報(bào)名的志愿者最終只有一小部分人來(lái)了，”我問(wèn)她，“是真的嗎？”“我不知道，但他們只提前一個(gè)月才給到我們時(shí)間表，”她無(wú)奈地聳聳肩，“很多人因?yàn)樗麄兊暮桨鄦?wèn)題都來(lái)不了。我差點(diǎn)都來(lái)不了，所以如果你說(shuō)的是真的，我一點(diǎn)不會(huì)感到驚訝。”

After standing by the entrance bars every day until midnight, I thought she must be sick of it all. “I love what I’m doing here,” she said to my surprise, “It’s been tiring, but I’m having a good time. The people are the best part.” You have to have some real zest and tolerance to say that. I’m happy she’s enjoying her time here. But I wondered about the disorder everyone’s been talking about. That can’t make the job fun, right? “I think it’s getting better and more organized compared to the beginning,” she said, “If you had asked me where the tennis arena was earlier, I wouldn’t have known. I only found out yesterday from other people.”
在入口處每天下午4點(diǎn)站到凌晨，我覺(jué)得她一定要站吐了。“我很喜歡我做的事，”她的回答讓我感到意外，“累雖累，但我玩得很開(kāi)心。人們才是這里最好的部分?！蹦苷f(shuō)出這話你必須要有真正強(qiáng)烈的興趣和包容吧。我很高興她在這里享受著她的時(shí)光。不過(guò)，我想知道人人都在議論這里的秩序混亂。這不能使工作變得有趣，對(duì)吧？“我覺(jué)得情況已經(jīng)在改善了，相比一開(kāi)始，現(xiàn)在變得更有秩序，”她說(shuō)，“如果你早前問(wèn)我網(wǎng)球賽場(chǎng)在哪里，我也不知道。直到昨天才從其他人口中得知?！?/p>

As we parted, I breathe a small, happy sigh of relief. And it’s not because she thinks the organizing is improving. It’s because I realized at the Rio Olympics, I can meet people like her, so willing to help and fun to talk to. I walked toward the fencing arena’s ticket scan. “Fencing?” the lady there asked before I even get to her and I nod, “OK, then you’re in the right place. We’ve been getting a lot of basketball people, but basketball is not here!”
我們道別后，我松了口氣，很開(kāi)心。不是因?yàn)樗f(shuō)的秩序正在改善，而是因?yàn)槲野l(fā)現(xiàn)，在里約奧運(yùn)會(huì)上我能遇到像她這樣的人，真心愿意幫助他人且風(fēng)趣善談的人。我向擊劍館的門(mén)票掃描處走去。“看擊劍比賽嗎？”迎面一位小姐在我還沒(méi)走到的時(shí)候就開(kāi)始問(wèn)我，我點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，“那就好，你來(lái)對(duì)了地方！我們這之前來(lái)了好多籃球觀眾，但籃球比賽并不在這里！“

She laughed at her own words and let me in. “Have fun!” she shouted behind me. “Thanks!” I shouted back and smiled. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t forget the bright side. It’s hard to deny that the Rio Olympics are not very orderly, but it’s also hard to deny the people’s affability. Without the friendly volunteers and welcoming Brazilians, things could be much worse. While Rio’s missteps often stick out in your memory, don’t forget all the times you talked to smiling volunteers who wanted to help you the best they could. Don’t forget the hospitality of South Americans. When my plane takes off back to Shanghai and I see the lights of Rio de Janeiro blinking, I know it’s the people I met at Rio that I’m really going to miss.
說(shuō)完，她一邊覺(jué)得自己說(shuō)得很好笑一邊招呼我進(jìn)去?！巴娴瞄_(kāi)心！”她在我身后喊。“謝啦!”我微笑著大聲回答。一天下來(lái)，你不應(yīng)該忘記光明的一面。很難否認(rèn)里約奧運(yùn)會(huì)不是很有秩序，但同樣也很難否認(rèn)人們的友好和親切。如果沒(méi)有友好的志愿者和熱情的巴西人民，事情可能會(huì)更糟糕。雖然在大家的腦海中里約主辦方的失策時(shí)常冒出來(lái)，但請(qǐng)不要忘記始終愿意盡最大努力幫助你，保持微笑和你交談的志愿者們。請(qǐng)不要忘記南美人民的熱情好客！當(dāng)我坐的飛機(jī)升空返回上海，我看到下方里約熱內(nèi)盧的燈光閃爍，我才知道，里約熱內(nèi)盧那些我遇到的人才會(huì)讓我真正地想念。

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本文為讀者投稿稿件，僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn)，與本網(wǎng)立場(chǎng)無(wú)關(guān)。

作者：

Emma Li，SECA重劍劍手，《Around the Rings》實(shí)習(xí)記者

（編輯：Helen）