黑龙江直角跑道 领导您满意了吗？

Sports officials in northeast China have claimed the gold medal for incompetence after authorising the construction of a running track with right-angled corners.

中国东北地区的体育官员竟批准修建了一条直角跑道，真可谓是最不称职的领导！

The track was completed recently as part of a major refurbishment of a 100,000 sq ft stadium in Heilongjiang province’s Tonghe County.

这条跑道作为黑龙江省通河县一座占地10万平方英尺的体育馆的主要翻新工程的一部分，已于近期竣工。

The stadium itself appears to have been impressively built and features an immaculately laid artificial grass football pitch at its centre.

体育场十分壮观，中央的足球场铺着人工草坪，看上去完美无瑕。

But the running track’s designers got their angles badly wrong – painting 90-degree corners onto the track rather than the usual curves.

但跑道的设计则完全不对路，平常的弯道竟然被90度的直角所代替。

“It all looks jolly good - apart from the track which doesn’t really look up to standard,” a bemused local told Newsnight, a regional television programme.

一名当地居民感到很困惑，接受当地电视节目《资讯夜航》采访时说道，“它的其他部分都很完美，不过跑道看上去不大标准。”

Stadium officials had another explanation. They claimed their original track had once featured curves but said its rubber surface had become severely worn down from overuse.

体育馆工作人员给出了他们的解释。他们称，本来的跑道也是有弯道的，但由于使用过多，塑胶表面已被严重磨损。

When senior Communist Party leaders recently announced plans for a last-minute visit to the stadium, a quick makeover suddenly became necessary. Painting right angles was faster than painting curves, one official admitted.

高层领导最近突然宣布要来体育馆视察，于是他们必须尽快整修。一名官员承认，铺设成直角要比弯道更快。

“In order to get it ready for the leaders, we painted it like that,” he confessed. “We think it is ugly too but if the leaders don’t ask us to change it, what are we supposed to do?”

“为了迎接领导，我们就这样铺了”他坦白道，“我们也觉得寒碜，但如果领导不要求改，我们能做什么呢？”

The botched attempt to please visiting Communist Party dignitaries has turned the Heilongjiang stadium into an online laughing stock.

本是为了取悦视察领导，没想却给搞砸了，这座黑龙江的体育馆已然沦为网友的笑料。

“Does the designer have a square brain?” wondered a user of Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media network.

新浪微博的一名网友疑惑道，“难道设计者的脑子也是方的吗？”