Sports officials in northeast China have claimed the gold medal for incompetence after authorising the construction of a running track with right-angled corners.
中國(guó)東北地區(qū)的體育官員竟批準(zhǔn)修建了一條直角跑道，真可謂是最不稱職的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)！

The track was completed recently as part of a major refurbishment of a 100,000 sq ft stadium in Heilongjiang province’s Tonghe County.
這條跑道作為黑龍江省通河縣一座占地10萬(wàn)平方英尺的體育館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.
體育場(chǎng)十分壯觀，中央的足球場(chǎng)鋪著人工草坪，看上去完美無(wú)瑕。

But the running track’s designers got their angles badly wrong – painting 90-degree corners onto the track rather than the usual curves.
但跑道的設(shè)計(jì)則完全不對(duì)路，平常的彎道竟然被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.
一名當(dāng)?shù)鼐用窀械胶芾Щ?，接受?dāng)?shù)仉娨暪?jié)目《新聞夜航》采訪時(shí)說(shuō)道，“它的其他部分都很完美，不過(guò)跑道看上去不大標(biāo)準(zhǔn)?！?/div>

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.
體育館工作人員給出了他們的解釋。他們稱，本來(lái)的跑道也是有彎道的，但由于使用過(guò)多，塑膠表面已被嚴(yán)重磨損。

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.
高層領(lǐng)導(dǎo)最近突然宣布要來(lái)體育館視察，于是他們必須盡快整修。一名官員承認(rèn)，鋪設(shè)成直角要比彎道更快。

“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?”
“為了迎接領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，我們就這樣鋪了”他坦白道，“我們也覺(jué)得寒磣，但如果領(lǐng)導(dǎo)不要求改，我們能做什么呢？”

The botched attempt to please visiting Communist Party dignitaries has turned the Heilongjiang stadium into an online laughing stock.
本是為了取悅視察領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，沒(méi)想?yún)s給搞砸了，這座黑龍江的體育館已然淪為網(wǎng)友的笑料。

“Does the designer have a square brain?” wondered a user of Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media network.
新浪微博的一名網(wǎng)友疑惑道，“難道設(shè)計(jì)者的腦子也是方的嗎？”

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