http://tinyurl.com/4u5t4w 此篇为 SI 在 4/29 刊登的文章
http://tinyurl.com/5q2fam 福留登上当期 SI 封面 (!)
Kosuke Fukudome Tastes Good
福留孝介适应良好
By Lee Jenkins
He had agreed to the contract. He had put on the jersey. He had taken his
seat inside the stadium club, at the table draped in bunting, and he had
begun that final rite of free agency, the introductory press conference.
Only then did the magnitude of what he'd signed on for become clear.
他同意签下合约，也穿上了球衣，现在坐在球场的休息室里，面前摆着一张悬吊著
旗帜的桌子，然后开始自由球员的最终仪式－－这是他的见面记者会。直到这时候，
他才真正清楚签下他的球团目前的状况。
His interpreter was translating reporters' questions from English to
Japanese, but one question, even when translated, sounded incomprehensible:
Did it factor into your decision that it has been 100 years since the Cubs
won a championship?
他的翻译忙着将记者们的问题从英文翻成日文，但是有个问题，即使透过翻译，还是
有点听不太明白：小熊队有一百年没得到冠军了，这件事情当初是否有对你的决定造
成影响？
Kosuke Fukudome knew enough history to recognize that he was not joining
a dynasty. He realized that the Cubs were in the midst of a difficult stretch.
But a difficult century? For some reason, team officials had neglected to
mention this little detail in the three-plus years they had spent scouting
and courting him.
福留孝介所知的球团历史，足以让他了解他并不是加入一支战绩辉煌的王朝，他明白
小熊正处于一段艰困的黯淡时期。但是，有黯淡到一个世纪这么久？不知为何，球团
官方人员派出球探跟他连络、招募他加入小熊队的这三年期间，似乎对于这个小细节
只字未提。
So Fukudome scratched his head. He took a breath. He flashed a nervous
half-smile. His contract was for four years, and his name was already
stitched across the back of his jersey. He could not exactly run out of
Wrigley Field and fly back to Japan. He also could not act daunted. "That
didn't factor too much into my choice," he told the assembled reporters
on Dec. 19. It was no lie, not technically. How could something be a factor
if he had not even been aware of it?
所以福留抓了抓头，吸了一口气，脸上闪过要笑不笑的紧张神情。他签的是四年的合
约，他的名字早已绣上球衣背面，他不可能真的逃离 Wrigley Field，然后搭上飞机
飞回日本，他也不能让人感觉他有被这消息吓到。“那并没有对我的决定造成太大的
影响，”他在 12 月 19 日如示回答了当天聚集的记者。这并不是谎话，至少技术上
来说不是。如果他根本都不晓得有这件事，那么那怎么可能会对他的决定造成影响？
Four months later, sitting in the coffee shop of a downtown Chicago hotel,
Fukudome came clean. "I had no idea it had been 100 years," he said through
his interpreter, Matt Hidaka.
四个月后，福留坐在芝加哥下城区一间旅馆里的咖啡店，终于说出了实话：“我不知
道已经有一百年这么久了，”他透过他的翻译 Matt Hidaka 如此表示。
The fact that Kosuke Fukudome stuck around is making this 100th-anniversary
season a whole lot easier to stomach. Instead of picking at old scabs, the
Cubs are celebrating a new player who does not know Bartman from Bart Simpson.
Fukudome has been a Cub for only a month, but he already gets the loudest
pregame ovations at Wrigley Field. Every time he walks to home plate, the
organist plays a catchy melody that inspires chants of "FOO-koo-DOUGH-may."
Vendors say his jersey is their best seller, by approximately two to one. He
has also spawned a cottage industry outside the ballpark, where you can buy
bandanas with Fukudome's name spelled in Japanese characters or T-shirts with
shout-outs such as FUKUDOME IS MY HOMIE. (The Cubs, though, did have to pull
one unlicensed T-shirt from the outdoor marketplace because it featured their
bear logo with slanted eyes and Harry Caray glasses, over the words HORRY KOW.)
福留孝介能够加入小熊，对于这个时届百周年的球季，缓和了不少紧张的情绪。小熊
忙着欢迎这个分不清楚 Bartman (注 1) 跟 Bart Simpson (注 2) 谁是谁的球员，
而不用沈浸在过去的伤痛。而福留成为小熊球员才一个月的时间，就已经在 Wrigley
Field 获得赛前最热烈的欢呼声。每次他走上打击区，就会传来旋律让人朗朗上口的
风琴声，然后球迷就会跟着唱和："FOO-koo-DOUGH-may"。摊贩们说他的球衣是畅销
商品，三个人之中就有两个人是买他的球衣。这股热潮也蔓延到球场外那些小贩的自
制商品：你可以买到以日文字拼出福留名字的方巾，或是印有例如 FUKUDOME IS MY
HOMIE 之类大写字的Ｔ恤。(然而，小熊球团有要求外面的摊贩将一项未授权的Ｔ恤
下架，因为这件Ｔ恤印有他们的小熊标志，而且小熊图案的眼睛是东方人的小眼睛，
然后配上 Harry Caray 的大黑框眼镜，上面印着 HORRY KOW 几个大字。) (注 3)
注 1. Bartman 就是在 2003 年国联冠军赛 Game 6 接走界外球，让比赛从此风云
变色的小熊球迷。
注 2. Bart Simpson 则是卡通辛普森家庭里面的小男孩霸子。
注 3. 这个带有种族歧视味道的标志请见 http://tinyurl.com/6pteq4
另外，Harry Caray 是小熊比赛的转播员，Holy Cow 跟 Cubs wins! Cubs wins!
是他的招牌名句。
Fukudome, though, should not be viewed as some novelty act. There are
plenty of reasons why the Cubs were in first place in the Central Division
at week's end: the rediscovered power stroke of first baseman Derrek Lee,
a strong bullpen and, not least of all, a newfound plate discipline that
starts with Fukudome. Through Sunday, the lefthanded-hitting Fukudome was
batting .326 with a .444 on-base percentage. The notoriously rowdy fans in
the Wrigley bleachers not only hang signs of tribute to him in Japanese, but
they also chant in the rightfielder's native tongue. Their efforts are
flattering, if occasionally puzzling, to Fukudome. Placards with the Cubs'
slogan IT'S GONNA HAPPEN in Japanese have been read by Fukudome to say IT'S
AN ACCIDENT. And one well-meaning bleacher bum keeps yelling a phrase that
translates as, "It tastes good!"
但全队不是只有福留让大家觉得换然一新，有很多理由是小熊在这个周末登上中区
宝座的原因：一垒手 Derrek Lee 重新找回自己的打击实力、强健的牛棚，另外还
有很重要的一点，从福留开始所激起的全队选球能力。截至星期日为止，左手打击
的福留打击率.326，OBP .444。Wrigley 外野看台上以粗暴闻名的小熊球迷不旦挂
著日文标语向福留致意，而且还会以这名右外野手的母语唱和，福留对于他们的行
为感到万分荣幸，但有时也感到困惑：以日文表示小熊口号 IT'S GONNA HAPPEN的
牌子，福留唸起来却是 IT'S AN ACCIDENT (就是之前的"偶然")。一名外野看台的
球迷出自好意持续大喊的话语，翻译成日文却是“好吃”。
"It's like he became a legend here," shortstop Ryan Theriot says. "In one day."
“一切就好像是他已经成为这里的传奇球星，”游击手 Ryan Theriot 说：“而且才
花短短一天的时间而已。”
The fanfare has come as a bit of a surprise to Fukudome, who came to the
States without the mythology that preceded Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and
Daisuke Matsuzaka, each of whom is a celebrity in Japan. Fukudome believes
he already has more fans in Chicago than back home in Japan, where he was
merely a very good player with two batting titles, four Gold Gloves and an
MVP award, in 2006. His Japanese team, the Chunichi Dragons, played in a
midsized market and went 53 years without a championship before capturing the
Central League title last season