No doubt the Rio Olympics got a bad reputation for being disorganized before the games had even started, but not a lot of words have been spent on the amiable volunteers of Rio. I’ll be leaving Rio on August 13, leaving the city where I learned and experienced so much. In these two short weeks, I’ve run into a lot of random problems I didn’t even know could become problems. So much media attention has been devoted to revealing them that I’m not even going to bother retelling stories of bad traffic, illogical rules, and no food.
毫无疑问，里约奥运会在开始前就落下了一个组织不力的坏名声，但时至今日，仍没有很多言语着笔在里约热内卢那些亲切可爱的志愿者身上。我将在8月13日离开里约热内卢，离开这个让我学习并经历了那么多的城市。过去短短两个星期里，我随机地碰到了很多问题，有些我甚至不知道它们可能会出现。在众多媒体致力于揭露这些问题时，我则想要避开复述那些糟糕的交通，不合逻辑的规则，和食物短缺的故事。
What I’ve really noticed that’s worth discussing is that the volunteers here are so friendly. Something you expect to happen might not work out, but they will cheerfully offer you suggestions. The vast majority of volunteers I’ve met were so eager to help and just happy to chat, even if it’s in broken English. I remember one fencing event I watched was on a rainy night and volunteers were nowhere to be found in the Olympic Park. After scouting around, eyes scanning the raincoats and umbrellas around me, I finally spotted a lady in a yellow volunteer jacket. I ran over.
因为我注意到真正值得讨论的是，这里志愿者都那么友好!当有些你认为本应该顺利得到的服务，却无法实现时，他们会畅快地告诉你的确无法提供，并为你提出其他解决方案。绝大多数我遇到的志愿者是如此热情地帮忙并且乐意同你沟通，即使是用蹩脚的英语。我记得，去看一场击剑比赛时，是在一个雨夜。那时，奥林匹克公园到处都找不到志愿者。我在周围寻找一圈，双眼不停扫视身边穿雨衣和打雨伞的身影，终于认出一个穿黄色志愿者外套的姑娘后，我立马跑过去。
“Sorry, do you know where this arena is?” I asked and showed her my ticket. “Oh it’s behind this stadium. You go there and turn left and it’s over there,” she said, pointing out the directions. I squinted in confusion. “Here, I’ll walk you over,” she said with a laugh. Yes, my savior! I thought. I thanked her and we started talking. Her name is Desiree Alves and she’s from Florida. She’s been working by the entrance bars for four days from 4PM to midnight and this was her first day off. Wow, I thought, she finally gets time away from directing people around and she’s still happy to walk me? I couldn’t help but smile.
“不好意思，请问你知道这场击剑比赛场馆在哪儿吗?”我一边问一边给她看了我的票。“哦，在这个体育场后面。你先往那儿走，左转，然后就在那儿“，她边说边指着方向。我迷惑地眯着眼睛望去。“这样吧，我带你走过去。”她笑着说。“好棒，你是我的救星!”我心里默默地想。我谢过她后我们便开始交谈。她的名字是西瑞阿尔维斯，来自美国佛罗里达州。她在入口处工作从每天下午4点一直到次日凌晨，已经4天了!这是她第一天休息。哇!我想，在她终于有时间不用四处引导人流时，她还乐意给我带路吗?我忍不住微笑。
“I heard that only a small number of the volunteers who signed up actually came,” I said to her, “Is that true?”“I don’t know, but they only gave us our schedule one month in advance,” she shrugged, “A lot of people had problems coming here with their flights. I almost couldn’t come, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.”
“我听说所有报名的志愿者最终只有一小部分人来了，”我问她，“是真的吗?”“我不知道，但他们只提前一个月才给到我们时间表，”她无奈地耸耸肩，“很多人因为他们的航班问题都来不了。我差点都来不了，所以如果你说的是真的，我一点不会感到惊讶。”
After standing by the entrance bars every day until midnight, I thought she must be sick of it all. “I love what I’m doing here,” she said to my surprise, “It’s been tiring, but I’m having a good time. The people are the best part.” You have to have some real zest and tolerance to say that. I’m happy she’s enjoying her time here. But I wondered about the disorder everyone’s been talking about. That can’t make the job fun, right? “I think it’s getting better and more organized compared to the beginning,” she said, “If you had asked me where the tennis arena was earlier, I wouldn’t have known. I only found out yesterday from other people.”
在入口处每天下午4点站到凌晨，我觉得她一定要站吐了。“我很喜欢我做的事，”她的回答让我感到意外，“累虽累，但我玩得很开心。人们才是这里最好的部分。”能说出这话你必须要有真正强烈的兴趣和包容吧。我很高兴她在这里享受着她的时光。不过，我想知道人人都在议论这里的秩序混乱。这不能使工作变得有趣，对吧?“我觉得情况已经在改善了，相比一开始，现在变得更有秩序，”她说，“如果你早前问我网球赛场在哪里，我也不知道。直到昨天才从其他人口中得知。”
As we parted, I breathe a small, happy sigh of relief. And it’s not because she thinks the organizing is improving. It’s because I realized at the Rio Olympics, I can meet people like her, so willing to help and fun to talk to. I walked toward the fencing arena’s ticket scan. “Fencing?” the lady there asked before I even get to her and I nod, “OK, then you’re in the right place. We’ve been getting a lot of basketball people, but basketball is not here!”
我们道别后，我松了口气，很开心。不是因为她说的秩序正在改善，而是因为我发现，在里约奥运会上我能遇到像她这样的人，真心愿意帮助他人且风趣善谈的人。我向击剑馆的门票扫描处走去。“看击剑比赛吗?”迎面一位小姐在我还没走到的时候就开始问我，我点点头，“那就好，你来对了地方!我们这之前来了好多篮球观众，但篮球比赛并不在这里!“
She laughed at her own words and let me in. “Have fun!” she shouted behind me. “Thanks!” I shouted back and smiled. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t forget the bright side. It’s hard to deny that the Rio Olympics are not very orderly, but it’s also hard to deny the people’s affability. Without the friendly volunteers and welcoming Brazilians, things could be much worse. While Rio’s missteps often stick out in your memory, don’t forget all the times you talked to smiling volunteers who wanted to help you the best they could. Don’t forget the hospitality of South Americans. When my plane takes off back to Shanghai and I see the lights of Rio de Janeiro blinking, I know it’s the people I met at Rio that I’m really going to miss.
说完，她一边觉得自己说得很好笑一边招呼我进去。“玩得开心!”她在我身后喊。“谢啦!”我微笑着大声回答。一天下来，你不应该忘记光明的一面。很难否认里约奥运会不是很有秩序，但同样也很难否认人们的友好和亲切。如果没有友好的志愿者和热情的巴西人民，事情可能会更糟糕。虽然在大家的脑海中里约主办方的失策时常冒出来，但请不要忘记始终愿意尽最大努力帮助你，保持微笑和你交谈的志愿者们。请不要忘记南美人民的热情好客!当我坐的飞机升空返回上海，我看到下方里约热内卢的灯光闪烁，我才知道，里约热内卢那些我遇到的人才会让我真正地想念。
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