Dachshund racing
达克斯狗赛

Dogs in a hurry
小狗快跑
Apr 30th 2009 | BUDA, TEXAS
From The Economist print edition

Stubby-legged racers take off
短粗腿的赛犬们起跑了

Illustration by Claudio Munoz

ROSCOE, a piebald dachshund, was the runt of his litter. No one wanted to buy him. So the breeder gave him to Jeremy Dingle, who soon realised that he had a special pup, now a top dog in the dachshund-racing[1] world. Fresh from victory in Lubbock, Texas, Roscoe was a potential winner as he prepared this week for the semi-final of the Wiener Dog Races in Buda.

Roscoe是一只长满花斑的达克斯狗，他是窝中的小侏儒，没有人愿意买他，所以饲养员把他送给了Jeremy Dingle。Jeremy Dingle很快就发现，他得到了一只特别的小狗，现在是达克斯狗赛[1]界的佼佼者。经过数周的准备后，Roscoe在美国得克萨斯州的卢博克市初战告捷，并有望在布达（Buda）的腊肠狗赛的半决赛中一举胜出。

Dachshunds, sometimes known as wiener or sausage dogs, are one of the most popular breeds in America. Racing the little creatures got a boost in 1993 when it was featured in a beer advertisement. Now there are dozens of races each year, mostly in southern and western states. (New England eschews the pastime, although there are fancy-dress parties for dachshunds in New York’s Washington Square Park.) The largest event, the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals[2] in southern California, sponsored by a chain of hot-dog restaurants, attracts tens of thousands of visitors.

达克斯狗，有时也叫香肠狗，是美国最受欢迎的品种之一。自1993年在一个啤酒广告中被特写后，拿这种小东西来比赛风靡一时。现在每年有多场达克斯狗赛，大部分都在南部和西部的州（新英格兰人惯于回避这样的消遣，尽管在纽约的华盛顿广场公园有为达克斯狗举行的盛装聚会）。由一家热狗饭店的连锁店赞助的南加利福利亚州最大的赛事Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals[2]，吸引了成百上千的游客。

A wiener dog at full throttle, flying down the lane with his ears inside out and tongue flapping, is a sight worth seeing. And the races return some civic benefits. The Buda event, in which no fewer than 468 dachshunds were taking part, is sponsored by the local Lions Club and has proved to be their best fund-raiser. Proceeds go to scholarships, summer camps and eye care.

一只腊肠狗开足了马力飞奔在赛道上，耳朵紧夹，舌头长垂，这绝对是一个值得观看的景象。这些比赛也给了市民们最好的收益回报。由当地的Lions俱乐部赞助的布达（Buda）赛事，其参与狗不少于468只，成了他们举办奖学金、夏令营和进行眼保健的最好的集资者。

The Dachshund Club of America is opposed to wiener-dog racing on the ground that it is hard on the dogs. But at this point the competitions are hardly cutthroat, and the racers are pets first and foremost. In Buda, one owner bragged that her dachshund could catch a bee in its mouth, and release it unharmed.

美国达克斯狗俱乐部反对腊肠狗比赛，理由是那对狗不公平。但是其实在这一点上参赛者的表现一点都不残酷，他们认为赛犬首先是宠物。在布达（Buda），一位狗的主人吹嘘说她的达克斯狗能追到蜜蜂吃到嘴里然后放出来却一点都不伤害它。

The young sport is even the subject of a new documentary film, “Wiener Takes All”[3]. Shane MacDougall, the documentarian, says that people track him down every week for advice on how to start their own races. Researching the film during the phase of the Iraq war when anti-French sentiment led some Americans to call their chips freedom-fries, he stumbled upon a historical coincidence: during the first world war patriotic owners renamed their dachshunds “liberty pups”. “I think we just need to send more wiener dogs to the United Nations,” suggests Mr MacDougall.

这种新兴的运动甚至成了一部新纪录影片“腊肠狗为王”[3]（“Wiener Takes All”）的主题，影片的导演Shane MacDougall说，人们每周都在向她追索怎样开始他们自己的狗赛的建议。在研究伊拉克战争期间的电影时她偶然发现了一个历史性的巧合：伊拉克战争中反法情绪让一些美国人把他们的薯条称为“自由薯条”，而在第一次世界大战中，爱国的主人们把自己的达克斯狗戏称为“自由小狗”。Shane MacDougall建议说，“我认为我们应该多给联合国送一些达克斯狗。”

Notes:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachshund_racing
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Nationals
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Take_All  没有中文名字，暂且翻译为“腊肠狗为王”，个人并不是很满意，希望有好建议者积极一起探讨。

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译者/Jolin117:  http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=19092