「十年之前」你在哪，做什么？那年2008北京奥运
Beijing Olympics 2008: A hope lost or fulfilled?
Ten years ago this week, the Beijing Olympic Games drummed themselves onto television screens across the globe.
[1]drum通常作名词是鼓的意思，这里作为动词。
短语: drum sth. into sb.: to teach something to someone by repeating it many times 反复教（某人）…，反复向（某人）灌输…
The importance of good manners was drummed into us at an early age.我们很小就被反复叮嘱要注重行为举止。
这里drum themselves onto television screens意思可以理解为10年前的这一刻，北京奥运会在电视上反复的出现。
It brought waves of hype[2] in China that the country was preparing to celebrate not only a festival of sport but the return of the "Middle Kingdom*" to the centre of the universe.
[2]hype: (n.) a situation in which something is advertised and discussed in newspapers, on television, etc. a lot in order to attract everyone's interest （新闻媒体的）大肆宣传，炒作
media hype 媒体炒作
*维基百科上称Middle Kindom“中央王国”是旧时对“中国”的翻译，The Middle Kingdom, a.k.a. China (traditional translation of its Chinese name)
At least that is how it felt at the time.
In the years leading up to[在...之前] the Olympics it was as if there was nothing this place could not achieve. The economy was charging ahead, newspapers were starting to dig up investigative stories, millions of poor people were able to buy electrical goods for the first time and bars and restaurants were heaving[3] with 24-hour hedonistic[4] temptation.
[3]heave: If a place is heaving or if it is heaving with people, it is full of people. 挤满
The Happy Bunny Club was heaving.
快乐兔子俱乐部里挤满了人。
[4]hedonistic:means relating to hedonism. 享乐主义的
...an eccentric and flamboyant nobleman with a hedonistic lifestyle.
…一个崇尚享乐主义的生活方式、古怪而派头十足的贵族。
"There was a party every night. That's how I felt," laughs 45-year-old architect Dong Hao.
"The whole city; the whole country was not only about fun but that a lot of things were now possible. Everything was more tolerant and more liberal."
Dong Hao is a native of Beijing and studied in New York. Before, say, 2005 you might have expected somebody like him to make his career overseas but the pre-Olympic potential drew him home.
After all he is an architect and there was a building boom[5]. The Olympics were coming and enormous structures with breath-taking designs were being erected[6] at breakneck speed[7].
[5]boom
1) a quick increase of business activity 〔生意〕繁荣，兴旺，激增
2) an increase in how popular or successful something is, or in how often it happens 流行，风靡
baby boom 婴儿潮
a sudden boom in the housing market 房产市场的突然兴旺
[6]erect: to build something such as a building or wall 建造，建立
an imposing town hall, erected in 1892
一座气势宏伟的市政厅，建于1892年
[7]at breakneck speed/pace: extremely and often dangerously fast 以惊险的高速
He drove away at breakneck speed.
他以惊险的速度开车疾驰而去。
Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing South Train Station, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the Water Cube and, of course, the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium… up up up!
"Everyone wanted something exciting and maybe it was unreasonable," says Dong Hao.
"Maybe not functional, maybe not necessary: it doesn't matter, let's have it!"
Some of the unique possibilities of the pre-Olympic frenzy[8] may have dried up but that the process is now more considered, he says.
[8]frenzy: a time when people do a lot of things very quickly 疯狂，狂热〔指一段时间〕
a selling frenzy 抛售
"Now the market and the clients are more mature."
Dong Hao adds that it is pretty hard to impress anyone in China with your design now that people have seen the China Central Television (CCTV) building.
When two huge towers were growing, jutting[9] up and out to eventually link and become the seemingly impossible to balance CCTV headquarters, I remember them initially being joined by an enormous net.
[9]jut: something that juts out sticks out further than the other things around it 突出，伸出
Tall jagged rocks jutted out over the beach.
高耸嶙峋的岩石突兀于海滩之上。
Along that net you could see Chinese workers up in the air crawling from one side to the other.
It looked terrifying.
There aren't exact figures on industrial accidents accompanying the speed with which the city's architectural wonders appeared, but they certainly provided a lot of jobs for once poor farmers.
More than just sport
Ordinary Chinese people, known affectionately as "lao bai xing(老百姓)", were supposed to get more healthy and active as a result of the Games. Mass fitness displays were featured on television and more participation in sport encouraged.
But some say this hasn't really had its intended results.
"You couldn't really say that the Olympics had a huge impact on say children playing sport", says junior soccer coach Yao Liwei. "The football world cup has had a much bigger impact."
The ex-footballer also thinks that China has not improved its overall sporting performance since the Games.
And yet Beijing's Olympics was about much more than just sport.
节选自：BBC