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Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, was a French aristocrat with an enormous waxed mustache that hung on his face like a rogue accent mark. In 1914, the baron announced that he had designed a symbol for the 20th anniversary of the Games. “This, truly, is an international emblem, ” he wrote of the five rings, linked together to suggest the unity of humankind. But where did the baron get his idea for the design? In 1984, a sports historian named Robert Barney was exploring a Greek archaeological site when he leaned over to tie his shoe and noticed a symbol etched into a weather-beaten stone: five linked rings. His heart fluttered. As it happened, Barney specialized in the history of the Olympics, and he believed that he had just stumbled across a breakthrough: Had Baron Coubertin — decades before — seen this same etching? Had it been his inspiration?
皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦男爵(Baron Pierre de Coubertin)是现代奥林匹克运动会的创始人。他是一位法国贵族，脸上留着浓密的、好像上过蜡似的小胡子，看起来像是个重音符号。1914年，这位男爵宣布他为纪念现代奥林匹克运动会20周年设计了一个标志。“这真的可以称得上是一个国际性的标志，”他描述说，这个标志以五个圆环为素材，相套连成一体，象征着人类团结。那么，男爵的灵感是从哪里获得的呢？
1984年，体育历史学家罗伯特·巴尼(Robert Barney)正在勘察一处希腊考古遗迹，当他俯身系鞋带时，注意到一块已经风化的石头上蚀刻着五个相连的圆环。这个发现让他的心脏砰砰直跳。巴尼专门研究奥林匹克运动史，他相信自己刚刚无意间发现了一个突破点：几十年前，顾拜旦是否也见过同样的图案？是否就是它带给他灵感？
Actually, it had not. The “ancient” carving, which fooled historians before, turned out to be a relic of Nazi filmmakers. When Leni Riefenstahl passed through Greece to document the torch ceremony for the 1936 Olympic Games, she stage-crafted a mythic backdrop. Someone — perhaps a set designer — hacked that stone into an ersatz relic of antiquity. It was pure Goebbels-style kitsch: the Nazis would have liked us to believe that the Olympic symbol emerged from the mists of Delphi.
事实并非如此。这块糊弄了历史学家的“古老的”石刻，实际上是位纳粹制片人留下的。当年雷妮·瑞芬舒丹(Leni Riefenstahl)要录制1936年的奥林匹克运动会火炬仪式，中途路过希腊，她在这里搭建了一个神秘的舞台背景。有人——也许是个布景设计师，雕刻了这块石头，来冒充古迹。这块石头纯粹是戈培尔式的玩意儿。纳粹本打算迷惑我们，让我们以为奥运五环标志起源于希腊古城特尔斐(Delphi)。
In fact, the design simply burst forth from the imagination of a baron with effulgent facial hair. Baron Coubertin believed in sport as a kind of religion “with its own church, dogmas and ritual. ” And when he cast about for a logo, he may have been inspired by — of all things — an advertisement for Dunlop tires. The baron had been perusing a magazine illustrated with five bicycle tires at around the same time that he invented his design, according to the historian Karl Lennantz.
事实上，五环设计是留着考究胡子的顾拜旦男爵灵光一现的想法。顾拜旦相信体育是一种“有着它自己的教堂、信条和仪式的信仰。”据历史学家卡尔·里南兹(Karl Lennantz)介绍说，在顾拜旦考虑设计标志时，最有可能带给他启发的，应该是当时的一则邓禄普(Dunlop)轮胎广告。
The Olympic rings were inaugurated in June 1914, the same month that a bullet felled an archduke and sent the world tumbling into war. It has since become one of the most-recognized logos in the world and a symbol for peace.
奥运五环诞生于1914年6月，同月一位皇位继承人被枪杀（指奥匈帝国皇位继承人斐迪南——译注），世界就此卷入战争中。此后，奥运五环成了全世界辨识度最高的标志之一，也成为和平的象征。?
皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦男爵(Baron Pierre de Coubertin)是现代奥林匹克运动会的创始人。他是一位法国贵族，脸上留着浓密的、好像上过蜡似的小胡子，看起来像是个重音符号。1914年，这位男爵宣布他为纪念现代奥林匹克运动会20周年设计了一个标志。“这真的可以称得上是一个国际性的标志，”他描述说，这个标志以五个圆环为素材，相套连成一体，象征着人类团结。那么，男爵的灵感是从哪里获得的呢？
1984年，体育历史学家罗伯特·巴尼(Robert Barney)正在勘察一处希腊考古遗迹，当他俯身系鞋带时，注意到一块已经风化的石头上蚀刻着五个相连的圆环。这个发现让他的心脏砰砰直跳。巴尼专门研究奥林匹克运动史，他相信自己刚刚无意间发现了一个突破点：几十年前，顾拜旦是否也见过同样的图案？是否就是它带给他灵感？
Actually, it had not. The “ancient” carving, which fooled historians before, turned out to be a relic of Nazi filmmakers. When Leni Riefenstahl passed through Greece to document the torch ceremony for the 1936 Olympic Games, she stage-crafted a mythic backdrop. Someone — perhaps a set designer — hacked that stone into an ersatz relic of antiquity. It was pure Goebbels-style kitsch: the Nazis would have liked us to believe that the Olympic symbol emerged from the mists of Delphi.
事实并非如此。这块糊弄了历史学家的“古老的”石刻，实际上是位纳粹制片人留下的。当年雷妮·瑞芬舒丹(Leni Riefenstahl)要录制1936年的奥林匹克运动会火炬仪式，中途路过希腊，她在这里搭建了一个神秘的舞台背景。有人——也许是个布景设计师，雕刻了这块石头，来冒充古迹。这块石头纯粹是戈培尔式的玩意儿。纳粹本打算迷惑我们，让我们以为奥运五环标志起源于希腊古城特尔斐(Delphi)。
In fact, the design simply burst forth from the imagination of a baron with effulgent facial hair. Baron Coubertin believed in sport as a kind of religion “with its own church, dogmas and ritual. ” And when he cast about for a logo, he may have been inspired by — of all things — an advertisement for Dunlop tires. The baron had been perusing a magazine illustrated with five bicycle tires at around the same time that he invented his design, according to the historian Karl Lennantz.
事实上，五环设计是留着考究胡子的顾拜旦男爵灵光一现的想法。顾拜旦相信体育是一种“有着它自己的教堂、信条和仪式的信仰。”据历史学家卡尔·里南兹(Karl Lennantz)介绍说，在顾拜旦考虑设计标志时，最有可能带给他启发的，应该是当时的一则邓禄普(Dunlop)轮胎广告。
The Olympic rings were inaugurated in June 1914, the same month that a bullet felled an archduke and sent the world tumbling into war. It has since become one of the most-recognized logos in the world and a symbol for peace.
奥运五环诞生于1914年6月，同月一位皇位继承人被枪杀（指奥匈帝国皇位继承人斐迪南——译注），世界就此卷入战争中。此后，奥运五环成了全世界辨识度最高的标志之一，也成为和平的象征。?