粉丝们满怀自豪地在网上庆祝，相互发着各种推文和表情包。总统宣布，她们在女子双打比赛中取得的胜利是提前送给国家的“生日礼物”（印尼独立日是8月17日）。除了其他一些奖励外，政府还承诺赠予两位夺冠选手每人50亿印尼盾（约合34.7万美元）的奖金以及一套房子、一间肉丸餐厅和5头奶牛的奖励。
In England, where the modern version of the sport originated, badminton is a lawn game, played by people drunk on Pimm’s and sunshine. In Asia it is a serious business. At the Badminton World Championships in 2019, Asian countries won 19 of 20 medals.
在现代羽毛球运动的发源地英国，羽毛球是一项草坪运动，人们一边喝着皮姆酒，一边在晒着太阳打着球。而在亚洲，羽毛球却是一项严肃的运动。在2019年世界羽毛球锦标赛中，亚洲国家夺得了全部20枚奖牌中的19枚。
In recent decades China has emerged as a heavyweight. But Indonesia is the sport’s juggernaut. It has won more titles at the Thomas Cup, the most prestigious tournament, than any other country.
近几十年来，中国已发展成为一个羽毛球强国。但印尼才是这项运动的霸主。在最负盛名的赛事托马斯杯上，印尼赢得的冠军比其他任何国家都要多。
Badminton is the only sport in which it has ever won gold at the Olympics—and it has done so at all but one since the sport was introduced in 1992. Indonesia is the “home of badminton”, Kompas, a newspaper, boasted after the match.
羽毛球是印尼唯一在奥运会上赢得过金牌的体育项目——自1992年羽毛球被纳入奥运会项目以来，印尼仅有一届未获得金牌。《罗盘报》在赛后夸耀道，印尼是“羽毛球之乡”。
Wherever one travels in the archipelago, says Raja Oktohari, president of the Indonesian Olympics Committee, “within a second you can find people playing badminton.” It is simple to get a game going. Racquets and shuttlecocks can easily be bought or made (just stick some feathers into a cork), and once a clothesline and an opponent have been located, the match is on.
印尼奥委会主席拉贾·奥克托哈里表示，无论你来到印尼群岛的哪个地方，“一秒钟之内，你就能看到有人在打羽毛球。”羽毛球打起来很简单。球拍和羽毛球都很容易买到或制作（只需要在软木塞里插上一些羽毛），一旦找到晾衣绳和对手，就可以开始比赛了。
It is little wonder then that badminton is Indonesia’s favourite sport. It is also the country’s most developed, and boasts the only national team for which the government runs a training centre. Scouts scour the country’s 3,500 badminton clubs for fresh talent.
难怪羽毛球是印尼人最喜爱的运动。羽毛球也是印尼发展最成熟的体育项目，该国仅有羽毛球国家队配备有由政府管理的训练中心。球探们会在全国3500个羽毛球俱乐部里搜寻好苗子。
Parents encourage their children to take it up. The rewards for skill and hard work are handsome—not always a given in a country where corruption and nepotism are rife. Broto Happy, the Indonesian Badminton Association’s spokesman, estimates that new recruits to the national squad earn about 30m rupiah ($2,087) a month, ten times the average income.
印尼的父母也鼓励孩子们打羽毛球。天赋再加上勤加练习使他们能够收获丰厚的回报——在一个腐败和裙带关系盛行的国家，这并非理所当然之事。印尼羽毛球协会发言人布罗托·哈皮表示，印尼羽毛球国家队新人的月收入可达3000万卢比（约合2087美元），是印尼平均收入的10倍。
Those in the top tier can earn billions of rupiah through sponsorship deals. Ignatius Sunito, a sports journalist, noted two decades ago that badminton “eliminates suffering, poverty, powerlessness and injustice”.
顶级球员还可以通过接代言获得数以亿计印尼盾的收益。早在20年前，体育记者伊格内修斯·苏尼托就指出，羽毛球能够“消除痛苦、贫困、无助和不公正”。
Perhaps most importantly, badminton is a source of national pride. It is the only sport to produce a string of heroes; Rudy Hartono, for instance, has won eight titles at the All-England men’s singles, more than any other player. Many of its champions come from ethnic minorities. As Mr Raja says, the sport “cannot be separated from Indonesia”.
或许最重要的是，羽毛球是印尼民族自豪感的源泉。它是唯一能造就一连串英雄的运动；例如，鲁迪·哈托诺曾八次赢得全英羽毛球公开赛男单冠军，比其他任何球员都要多。印尼许多羽毛球冠军都是少数民族。正如拉贾所说，这项运动“与印尼有着不解之缘”。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
小编说
羽毛球是印尼的国球，也是印尼人最喜爱的运动。在羽毛球世界历史最悠久的汤姆斯杯，印尼队在1982年中国队登上世界赛场前一口气从1958年-1979年拿了七次冠军。而从1992至2008年连续5届奥运会，印尼获得6金、6银、6铜的成绩，合计18枚奖牌。全民的参与以及强大的实力使印尼成为当之无愧的羽球王国。
重难点词汇：
whack [wæk] vt. 重打；猛击
nepotism [ˈnepətɪzəm] n. 裙带关系
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