据美联社报道，两场世界杯同时上演——一场在球场上，另一场在巴西的大街小巷上。

As Brazilians raise the curtain this week on what is arguably the world's most popular sporting event, the country's fervent love of soccer is butting up against public anger over charges of wasteful spending, corruption, traffic jams, strikes and a litany of other complaints.

随着巴西人拉开这世界上可以说是最受欢迎的体育赛事的大幕，巴西对足球热忱的喜爱逐渐盖过了公众因控诉铺张浪费、腐败、交通堵塞、罢工以及其它一连串抱怨产生的愤慨情绪。

After enduring a year of anti-government protests that tied up roads and strikes that paralyzed public transport, schools and other services, many exhausted Brazilians finally are preparing to cheer on their beloved team, though in what may be the flattest pre-Cup climate they have yet seen.

忍受了一年反政府抗议造成的道路堵塞和罢工带来的公共交通、学校和其它服务瘫痪，许多精疲力竭的巴西人最终开始为他们喜爱的球队加油助威，虽然赛前氛围可能是他们见过的最不激昂的。

On a dark, rain-soaked street in Rio's Copacabana neighborhood, Francisco Nascimento climbed a rickety wooden ladder to hang plastic streamers in the colors of Brazil's national flag. With only a few days to go before the Cup's opening match, Nascimento was running out of time to repeat the ritual he has completed for every World Cup since 1982.

在里约热内卢科帕卡巴纳区一条黑暗、湿漉漉的大街上，弗朗西斯科·纳斯克蒙多（Francisco Nascimento）爬上一架摇摇晃晃的木梯，挂上与巴西国旗一样颜色的塑料彩带。自1982年以来每届世界杯他都要完成一些老规矩，离世界杯开幕式只有短短几天时间了，今年他没有多少时间去完成这项任务了。

"I started putting the decorations up really late this year, I can't say why. Normally I would have done this a month earlier," Nascimento said. "Still, I feel a responsibility to show the world our pride, even if it's just these little streamers.

“我今年挂装饰品的时间真的很晚，我说不清为什么。通常，一个月前我就要做这些了，”纳斯克蒙多说。“我还是觉得有责任向世界展示我们的自豪，即使只是挂些小彩旗。

"Brazil's struggles, our frustration with politicians, have dampened excitement, and that anger won't go away. But I don't know anybody who isn't praying for our team to show its grit, to show our swagger, and win this Cup."

“巴西的挣扎、我们对政客的失望令大家的兴奋之情有所消退，而且这种愤怒不会消失。但我知道所有人都祈祷我们的球队能展现他们的坚毅、自信，在世界杯中夺冠。”

Anticipation is building over the tournament's expected drama: Will boy wonder Neymar help Brazil avenge its haunting 1950 Cup loss in Maracana? Will Lionel Messi finally lead Argentina to glory on its archrival's home turf? Or will an underdog team emerge to captivate the world's imagination?

对于比赛中可能出现的传奇，人们猜想不断。神童内马尔（Neymar）能帮助巴西报1950年世界杯在马拉卡纳球场上念念不忘的一球之仇吗？里奥·梅西（Lionel Messi）能在对手主场最终带领阿根廷队赢得荣耀吗？或者是否会有弱势球队逆袭，超乎世界的想象？

But on the Cup's eve and with great hopes that Brazil's team will win its sixth world title, surely attention will focus on the soccer and not on the street?

不过在世界杯前夕，带着希望巴西队能第六次捧起大力神杯的宏伟愿望，毫无疑问，人们的注意力会集中到足球上，而不是大街上。

"There is certainly a mood of 'we've already paid for the party so we might as well enjoy it'," said Juca Kfouri, one of Brazil's best-known sports commentators. "But there is also the feeling that a lot of people are ashamed. They're ashamed to wear the Brazil jersey or put a Brazilian flag in their window because of the protests, because they don't want to be associated with the exorbitant spending on the Cup."

“人们确实有这么一种情绪，‘既然我们已经为这场大聚会付了钱，不如好好享受它’，”巴西著名体育评论员杰卡·考夫瑞（Juca Kfouri）说。“不过还是有一种许多人都感到羞耻的感觉。因为之前的抗议，他们不好意思穿巴西队服，或在窗户上挂巴西国旗，因为他们不想与世界杯的铺张有牵扯。”

Brazilians question whether the expense of hosting the Cup will prove to have been worth it, considering their constant pain of having one of the world's heaviest tax burdens yet still enduring dilapidated hospitals, roads, security and other poor public services. Many demand Brazil build schools as spectacular as the new stadiums.

巴西是世界上税收负担最重的国家之一，鉴于巴西人一直承受重税的痛苦，却仍要忍受破旧的医院、道路、安保和其它质量低下的公共服务，他们质疑举办世界杯的支出能否证明是值得的。许多人要求巴西应该建造和新体育馆一样宏伟的学校。

Recent polls show half the population disapproves of Brazil hosting the event; a position once unthinkable for the nation that embodies soccer like no other. Three-fourths polled are convinced corruption has tinged World Cup works which have cost the country $11.5 billion.

最近的民调显示半数人口反对巴西举办世界杯，这一态度对于视足球如命的巴西来说，在以前是无法想象的。巴西为世界杯支出了115亿美元，四分之三的受访者相信腐败让世界杯变味了。

The struggles with the Cup have become emblematic of Brazil's larger ills, of citizens' feelings that they are forever hamstrung by politicians on the take and their anger at dealing daily with a broken, frustrating system.

巴西和世界杯的抗争透露许多信息：国内存在重大弊病、民众将长期笼罩在政客腐败的阴影中，以及他们每天面对破败、令人失望的体制的怒不可遏。

Brazilians are split on whether their country's international reputation will be helped or hindered by the event, according to a recent Pew Research Center report, despite leaders' grand hopes that the event would unveil a newly-powerful Brazil on the global stage.

皮尤研究中心近期的一项报告显示，尽管国家领导殷切希望世界杯能在国际舞台上展现一个新兴强大的巴西，巴西民众对世界杯会否有助于提升或有损于巴西的国际声誉产生了分歧。

Even a popular poll giving the "temperature reading" of how Brazilians feel about the Cup indicates mixed sentiments, with about 40 percent telling the Ibope polling group they were on the cold-to-frozen end of the spectrum, 30 percent on the warm-to-boiling side, and the rest in the lukewarm middle.

甚至一项“世界杯热度”的民意调查也显示了人们的复杂情绪。40%的民众告诉佐格比民意调查机构人员，他们的热度处于“寒冷至结冰”段位，30%的人称处于“温暖至沸腾”段位，其余则处于“不冷不热的中间地带”。

President Dilma Rousseff, whose popularity in polls continues to slip ahead of an October presidential election, has repeatedly invoked the warm nature of the Brazilian people as being the country's saving grace.

总统迪尔玛·罗塞夫（Dilma Rousseff）在十月前总统大选前的民调支持率持续下滑，她一直不断地呼唤巴西的一大优势——民众的热情本性。

Kindness and smiles will make up for incomplete airport renovations, public transportation works that never got off the ground and worries of logistical struggles for the hundreds of thousands of fans as they move around a continent-sized nation with already seriously strained infrastructure, Rousseff hopes.

巴西机场改造仍未完成，公共交通工程从未开工。此外，巴西面积相当于一个大洲，但基础设施严重受限加上后勤保障不足，这让球迷们担心在巴西几个不同球场间往返会有所不便。罗塞夫希望善意和微笑能弥补这些不足。

（译者 巴黎的思不灵 编辑 齐磊）