曼聯與曼城俱樂部原定于國家體育場“鳥巢”舉行的比賽在開場當天宣布取消，從全國各地奔赴北京的球迷內心是崩潰的：“寶寶不能接受。寶寶心里苦！”兩家俱樂部的CEO表示，暴雨導致球場狀況糟糕，此舉是為保證球員的安全。鑒于中國龐大的商業市場和粉絲數量，兩隊未來都不會放棄再次前來踢球。

The chaos surrounding the cancellation of Monday’s Manchester derby in Beijing will not deter either club from touring the Far East in future, according to United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and his City counterpart Ferran Soriano.
原定于周一在北京進行的曼徹斯特德比被取消。曼聯的執行副主席艾德?伍德沃德和曼城的首席執行官費蘭?索里亞諾都表示，由此造成的混亂并不會阻礙兩家俱樂部未來繼續來遠東巡回比賽。

The game was called off less than five hours before kick-off due to the awful state of the pitch at the Bird’s Nest Stadium following overnight downpours.
因前夜暴雨導致鳥巢體育館的球場狀況不佳，比賽在距離開場不到五小時宣布取消。

It highlighted the problem of playing pre-season games during the rainy season here after United and City both experienced severe problems with the pitch on their visit to Hong Kong three years ago.
曼聯和曼城隊都在三年前造訪香港時因球場而遭遇嚴重問題，本次更突出了在雨季進行季前熱身賽的問題。

However, the huge commercial spin-offs in China make it more than worthwhile. United have an estimated 110million fans here, while City’s decision to sell a 13 percent stake in their parent company to a group of Chinese investors for ￡265m in December underlined their bold plans in the Far East.
然而，在中國產生的巨大商業效應證明這一切是絕對值得的。曼聯在這里有大約有1.1億球迷，而曼城去年12月以2.65億英鎊向中國投資者出售母公司13%的股份，也顯示了其在遠東的大膽計劃。

Therefore, it was no surprise to hear both clubs insisting that they will be happy to return to the region in future despite the problems they have encountered over the past few days.
因此，盡管過去幾天里碰到一些問題，聽聞兩家俱樂部強調他們很愿意在未來重回此地也并不奇怪。

Woodward said: ‘The recent torrential rain would have caused problems anywhere in the world and has left the pitch unplayable.
伍德沃德說：“最近的暴雨在世界任何地方都會帶來麻煩，導致球場無法進行比賽。”

‘We know our fans in China will, like the players and staff, be saddened by the cancellation of the match, but I am sure they appreciate that the players’ safety has to be the top priority.
“我們明白，我們的中國粉絲會因比賽取消而難過，球員和工作人員也是一樣。但我相信，他們理解球員的安全必須放在首位。”

‘I am sure we will return to the Bird’s Nest in the future to give them the chance to see the team in action.’
“我可以肯定，將來我們會重返鳥巢，讓他們有機會看到球隊的比賽。”

While United flew home from China on Monday, City will carry on to Shenzhen, where they meet Borussia Dortmund on Thursday.
周一，曼聯從中國返英，而曼城將繼續開赴深圳，于周四對陣多特蒙德。

Soriano, City’s chief executive, said: ‘We know how much everyone was looking forward to the game, but we understand that this bad weather is beyond anyone’s control, and that the rain has made it totally unsafe to play on this pitch.
曼城首席執行官索里亞諾表示：“我們知道大家對比賽有多么期待，但我們明白，糟糕的天氣無人可以掌控。大雨之后，在這個球場上踢球毫無安全性可言。”

‘It has been a pleasure and an honour to experience such a warm welcome from the people and supporters here in Beijing, and we remain committed to playing here in the future.’
“在北京受到群眾和支持者們如此熱情的歡迎，我們很高興也很榮幸。將來也會繼續來這里踢球。”

The playing surface at the Bird’s Nest resembled a patchwork quilt after desperate attempts were made to ensure the first Manchester derby to be staged on foreign soil went ahead.
為確保首場在國外打響的曼切斯特德比順利開展，主辦方不顧一切進行了努力，但鳥巢的球場草皮還是有如拼布床單。

But the match was called off just after 7am UK time following a pitch inspection and 90 minutes of talks between delegations from clubs and organisers of the International Champions Cup.
比賽在英國時間上午7點后宣布取消。此前，國際冠軍杯的主辦方和俱樂部代表進行了90分鐘的談話并檢查了場地。

The ICC insisted that the 50,000 fans who paid between ￡60 and ￡300 for tickets will be reimbursed, but many were upset when they learned of the decision to cancel the game after reaching the stadium.
國際冠軍杯方面表示，花費了60到300英鎊買票的5萬名球迷將獲得退款。但許多到達場館后得知比賽取消的粉絲感到非常失望。

United fan Hu Mu Lin said: ‘I am angry because I had a ticket and now they can’t play the match. We drove here by car and it took six or seven hours with my father and my friend.’
曼聯的粉絲胡木林（音）說：“我很氣憤，因為我買了票可現在他們不能比賽了。我和我的父親和朋友開了六七個小時的車到這里來。”

City supporter Sun Zhenbo, who had travelled 700 miles from Suihua, added: ‘We have come to Beijing especially for this. I don’t know how this has happened. We cannot accept it. It took us eight hours by train to get here and then we walked for two hours from Tiananmen Square to get to the stadium.’
支持曼城的孫振博（音）從700英里外的黑龍江省綏化市趕來，他補充道：“我們特地為了比賽來到北京。我不知道怎么就取消了。這讓人無法接受。我們花了八個小時坐火車來京，又從天安門廣場走了兩個小時才到場館。”

The bad weather also forced United’s team flight to divert to Tianjin on Saturday night, while Jose Mourinho’s pre-match press conference was initially scrapped and then moved outside because of the intense humidity.
糟糕的天氣還迫使周六晚曼聯隊乘坐的航班轉飛天津。而何塞?穆里尼奧的賽前發布會一開始被取消，而后因新聞中心太過潮濕而轉移到了室外。

*************************************

許多中國球迷是特地跑來北京看比賽的，但是卻等來了這一讓人崩潰的結果。來看看微博上網友的反應：

就愛巴蒂：北京歡迎你，用菜地感動你

MuzicDog：鳥巢嘛 本來就是放鴿子的地方

二分之一的雙子星：球票還能退，外地球迷的機酒怎么辦。。。肯定還有不少學生黨，存了大半年零花錢，就這么沒了。。。

蔣天林Trevor：有些人可能抽調了一個月的休息時間趕來北京看比賽，卻因草皮問題把比賽取消。

二沙小少爺：我覺得至少搞個見面會，全隊出來和大家見見面。說幾句話也好。然后主辦方全額退票。

UlyssesCat：所以，整個北京城找不到第二塊符合要求的場地了？？？

Minsky-千江萬湖都是水：場地不行，踢不了球，那改成演唱會也行啊。

你咬我吖77：這個主辦方太業余了，場地如果不行應該好幾天前就通知，下午才通知。人家一句話不踢了，誰倒霉還是球迷唄。從全中國各地跑過去就為了看場比賽，你們拿球迷當禮拜天過了？

你大爺我叫小宇：我覺得兩隊最好直接踢點球。。。

Leon耶：真的心疼球迷

CR7的小老太：這屆天氣不行，場地不行，俱樂部也不行。不是我們的錯

安東毛-：球迷是最可愛的人，他們本不應該被這樣辜負。

_瓦系烏暗熊：真的當初是有想著去看的，還好成本太高放棄了，要不現在肯定哭著回來

公子姜_為了_楚宇瀟_奮斗：說取消就取消 你咋不上天呢 誠意那 信譽那

隔壁盧叔叔下面給你吃：一面懵逼的看著鳥巢

*************************************

各類比賽中的“德比大戰”到底指什么？

In many countries the term local derby, or simply just derby means a sporting fixture between two teams from the same town, city or region, particularly in association football.
在很多國家，本地德比（local derby）或者德比（derby）都指來自同一個小鎮、城市或地區的兩支隊伍之間的體育比賽，尤多見于足球聯賽。

A soccer game between two rival teams is also sometimes referred to as a "derby." A derby is the soccer equivalent of the sort of game that is called a "crosstown rivalry" in North American sports.
兩支相互競爭的球隊之間的足球比賽有時也叫做德比。足球比賽中的德比相當于北美體育比賽中的“同城競技”。

The phrase most likely originated from The Derby, a horse race in England, founded by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1780, since at least as early as 1840 'derby' has been used as a noun in English to denote any kind of sporting contest.
德比這個說法很有可能來源于1780年第12世德比伯爵在英格蘭開創的賽馬活動The Derby。早在1840年時，德比一詞就在英語里用作名詞來指代任何一種體育比賽。

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯：實習生徐曉彤
審校&編輯：丹妮