一连读了好些本历史小说，这次终于换了本non-fiction的非小说类。 "The Boys in the Boat" 是一本传记，记录的是华盛顿大学赛艇队九位大学生一步步迈向1936年柏林奥运夺金的真实故事。
我不是体育迷，对这类运动励志的故事一向兴趣缺缺。 但吸引我的是故事的历史背景：美国的经济大恐慌（惨烈！），柏林奥运的筹备，战前美国的社会变迁，东西两岸的对比和交锋，还有希特勒和其幕僚对舆论和宣传的操纵。。。 作者很巧妙地从赛艇切入时代背景，以男主角Joe Rantz的成长和比赛历程为整个时代的缩影，写得丝丝入扣，居然叫我这个绝对的非体育迷都读得津津有味。
老实说，赛艇对我实在很陌生，除了瞄过几眼奥运会的赛艇highlight镜头，好像就没怎么认真看过赛艇比赛。 可是在当年，赛艇，尤其是长艇比赛，是顶尖大学非常重视的赛事，也是奥运会最受欢迎的项目之一。 传统上，因为设备昂贵和场地设施的要求，赛艇是有钱人才玩得起的贵族运动。 最早开始赛艇比赛的，是牛津和剑桥两所顶尖学校；传到美国后，也基本上被常春藤名校垄断，直到加州大学后来居上。
华盛顿大学的这支校队和东部名校权贵子弟组成的赛艇队简直是云泥之别－－9位大学生都来自蓝领劳工阶层的家庭，成长于美国历史上最令人绝望的经济大萧条背景下。 在应付繁重的学业同时，他们每天坚持3小时以上风雨无阻的高强度训练，还要辛苦地靠各种工资菲薄的课余半工来维持生活和学费。 但就是这种吃苦耐劳的劲头和锻炼出的强健体魄，加上过人的勇气和毅力，令他们从众多好手中脱颖而出，并且发展出深刻的友情和团队精神，真正做到八浆合一，齐心协力。 先打败西岸的强劲竞争对手，再击退东岸的精英队伍，最后代表美国参赛柏林奥运，过关斩将，战胜种种不利，击败全世界的顶尖好手，终至夺冠。
意气风发的奥运赛艇队。前排是舵手coxswain Bob Moch，后排第二就是Joe Rantz.
胜利的一刻！美国队在最外，风最大的第六道，相差第二（意大利）第三（德国）不到一秒。
故事一开始先科普，来个下马威－－赛艇这项运动可不是悠悠然在小河中晃荡。 “Physiologists, in fact, have calculated that rowing a two-thousand-meter race—the Olympic standard—takes the same physiological toll as playing two basketball games back-to-back. And it exacts that toll in about six minutes.”
故事的主角，Joe Rantz，真是个苦孩子：母亲早逝，父亲再婚后遇上了大萧条，家道艰难，继母不容于他，把他赶出家门。 才15岁就要靠双手自己养活自己，Joe在山林中采摘蘑菇，入溪流偷猎三文鱼，当街头艺人卖唱，给邻居伐木、盖屋顶。。。甚至还偷酒卖。 生活如此坎坷，他还是维持一等一的功课，顺利进入华盛顿大学，一边打工，晚上还要在YMCA做清洁工以换取简陋的住宿。 穷到什么程度？
"He showed up every day in the same rumpled sweater, the only one he owned, and almost every day there were snide remarks about it int he locker room. "Hobo Joe," the boys snickered ... Joe took to arriving early to change into his rowing clothes before the others showed up." 读来实在太心酸了（这是最初期的赛艇队，大部分是少爷们，不过175人一个月后就被残酷的训练淘汰至80人，然后再被砍一半，最后的奥运赛队九个都是穷孩子出身。）
Joe的坚忍、刻苦为他赢得了赛艇队的珍贵一席；但单打独斗惯了，他坚信一切靠自己，这种自我保护、不合群的‘独行侠’特质却成为赛艇队的阻碍。 “Where is the spiritual value of rowing? . . . The losing of self entirely to the cooperative effort of the crew as a whole.” 在教练和造船师的引导下，Joe逐渐学会放下自我、信任队友，继而发展出全团的友谊和默契，这也是这支团队最令人敬仰的一点：九位大男孩同舟共济、全心付出，不是为了追求个人英雄、自我荣耀，而是在彼此的尊重和信赖中团结一心，荣辱与共。 对比如今社会高举自我意识的旗帜，Joe和队友们最感念最推崇的合作精神实在值得我们欣赏和深思。
作者的文笔详实、生动，渲染力十足，特别是有关比赛现场的描述，栩栩如生，真的令人仿佛置身其境，没想到对赛艇完全外行的我也能读的热血沸腾。 而且就算知道结局，还是激动到一边读一边跟老公直叫，“好紧张！好紧张！”
巨细靡遗是作者的优点，但也是缺点。 书里不厌其烦地描述Joe在四年大学生涯里的大大小小每一场比赛，唯恐挂万漏一，但一般非赛艇迷的读者经不起一而再再而三的疲劳轰炸，难免会读到腻。 这实在要怪editor的不负责不专业，难道现在都没有editor会拿红笔大段大段的画叉叉了？ 这本书如果砍掉一百来页，该是更吸引人、更经典的一本书。
无论如何，这部运动励志的故事超级霹雳推荐给各位，尤其是家里有梦想有冲劲的青少年，可以读青少年版本的。
除了全书超级强调的团队精神，还有不少值得我们效仿这组超级赛艇队的优秀品质：
* 专心。 船桨入水的一刻开始，所有队员的心中就要隔绝杂念，“Your thoughts must be directed to you and your own boat, always positive, never negative.”
* 正面态度。 别浪费精力怨恨不如意不公平的待遇。 尽管生活艰难，依然不要吝惜你的笑容，不要犹豫对陌生人伸出友谊的手。 “It takes energy to get angry. It eats you up inside. I can't waste my energy like that and expect to get ahead... I have to stay focused.”
* 意志力。 人生不是赢在起跑线的一场短跑，而是一场超级马拉松。 面对逆境和困阻，那些不屈不饶的人从每一次的挑战中学习、成长，只要目标明确、方向正确，专心致志地拼搏下去，我们都可以在生命的航道上划出最灿烂的轨迹。
* 还有勇气、决心、刻苦、坚持等等，就更不用说了。 看他们日复一日在凄风苦雨中苦练的艰辛，真要有超人意志力才能完成。 读完本书，真叫人有赶快去gym体验划船机的冲动。
节选几段：
“It is hard to make that boat go as fast as you want to. The enemy, of course, is resistance of the water, as you have to displace the amount of water equal to the weight of men and equipment, but that very water is what supports you and that very enemy is your friend. So is life: the very problems you must overcome also support you and make you stronger in overcoming them. —George Yeoman Pocock”
“It wasn't just the rowing but his crewmates that he had to give himself up to, even if it meant getting his feelings hurt. Pocock paused and looked up at Joe. ‘If you don't like some fellow in the boat, Joe, you have to learn to like him. It has to matter to you whether he wins the race, not just whether you do.’”
“They were now representatives of something much larger than themselves - a way of life, a shared set of values. Liberty was perhaps the most fundamental of those values. But the things that held them together - trust in each other, mutual respect, humility, fair play, watching out for one another - those were also part of what America meant to all of them.”
“Perhaps the seeds of redemption lay not just in perseverance, hard work, and rugged individualism. Perhaps they lay in something more fundamental—the simple notion of everyone pitching in and pulling together.”
“He suggested that Joe think of a well-rowed race as a symphony, and himself as just one player in the orchestra. If one fellow in an orchestra was playing out of tune, or playing at a different tempo, the whole piece would naturally be ruined. That's the way it was with rowing. What mattered more than how hard a man rowed was how well everything he did in the boat harmonized with what the other fellows were doing.”
“The trick would be to find which few of them had the potential for raw power, the nearly superhuman stamina, the indomitable willpower, and the intellectual capacity necessary to master the details of technique. And which of them, coupled improbably with all those other qualities, had the most important one: the ability to disregard his own ambitions, to throw his ego over the gunwales, to leave it swirling in the wake of his shell, and to pull, not just for himself, not just for glory, but for the other boys in the boat.”
“And he came to understand how those almost mystical bonds of trust and affection, if nurtured correctly, might lift a crew above the ordinary sphere, transport it to a place where nine boys somehow became one thing - a thing that could not quite be defined, a thing that was so in tune with the water and the earth and the sky above that, as they rowed, effort was replaced by ecstasy. It was a rare thing, a sacred thing, a thing devoutly to be hoped for.”
