主题：【原创】旧金山，我们和巴黎说再见 -- 萨苏

更改路线不是警方的要求。

的确，旧金山政府做这个决定是慑于华人的众多，然而，他们的理由并不是为了怕出人命，而是因为：

"The official word is that the torch route was drastically changed because of "public safety," but the crowd at AT&T Park was no threat to the runners. In fact, they broke into wild cheers when someone in a torchbearer's track suit walked down the street."

翻译：官方的解释是由于“安全原因”更改了火炬传递路线，但在ATT公园的人群显然没有任何对火炬传递手的威胁，事实上，他们看到一名穿火炬传递人员服装的工作人员出现的时候，爆发出了热烈的欢呼。

At that moment, the China supporters seemed to think that they'd carried the day. The "Free Tibet" crowd had been harassed to the point that they packed up and walked toward the Ferry Building. It appeared that the torch would be coming down the street any minute, and the news photos and video would feature thousands and thousands of cheering China supporters waving red flags.

翻译：这时候，中国人可能以为自己已经赢得了这一天，“自由西藏”成员被压缩并不得不逃开。看来火炬每一分钟都可能到来，成千上万欢呼着支持中国的人（没有说中国人，只是支持中国的人 -- 译者注，）挥舞红旗的场面将被录像和照片载入新闻。

“Those inside the command center say city officials and Mayor Gavin Newsom watched the spectacle with growing concern. Although there was a brief scuffle with "Team Tibet" supporters around a bus early in the morning, the vast majority of the crowd was flag-waving China supporters. Sending the torch down those streets would have been like providing the Chinese government with a made-for-television commercial to show that hardly anyone in San Francisco - or North America - had any qualms about human rights abuses in China.”

翻译：指挥中心里的市政官员和市长纽森望着这种有倾向的画面越来越担忧。尽管有一小队“藏队”支持者清早乘一辆巴士（文中同时提到中国人时用了“Dozens of Buses” -- 译者注）赶来，但是被绝对多数挥舞着旗帜的中国支持者完全压倒。在这些道路上传送火炬，将给中国政府提供一种电视宣传的机会，显示几乎没有人在旧金山，或北美关心发生在中国的人权灾难。

Newsom won't come out and say that, but he did concede that he took the decision right down to the final minutes.

翻译：纽森没有说出这个，但是他在最后一分钟作出了决定

“we had two choices," he said in a phone conversation en route to the closing ceremony at the airport. "We could cancel the event or move forward in a different manner. We went to the torchbearers themselves, and overwhelmingly they said they supported the change."

翻译：“我们有两种选择，”他在讨论向机场终点的电话中说，“我们可以取消它，或者走另外一条路。我们问了火炬传递团队，他们说支持走另外一条路。”

mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard might have been closer to the truth when he said that the new route let people "enjoy the torch rather than political kabuki theater."

翻译：市政府发言人内森.巴拉德可能算对内情比较了解的人，他说新的路线让人们“享受火炬，而不是一个政治表演剧的剧场。”

(记者在文中不断渲染中国人的可怕压力，以显示其为无理智的一群，他的证据大体如此 -- ）

A cocky young man walked past me and read his sign out loud, "Welcome to Beijing," he said.

翻译：一个看来形象挑衅的年轻人走过我，并大声念出标语上的字 -- “欢迎来北京”他说

It was about then that it was announced that the torch was unexpectedly up in the Marina district, running through tree-lined neighborhoods past a small crowd of ordinary people without a political point to make.

翻译：结果就在这个时候，又宣布火炬已经令人措手不及地在马丽娜区开始传递，在一条林荫的普通老百姓的街上，穿过一群普通人，他们不会做政治文章。

（事实上改变路线后新的路线两侧出现了大量藏独的宣传旗帜，让火炬在他们中间穿过，中国的部分支持者只是用最快的速度赶去，才避免了没有支持的声音，但对比明显和街上的实际情况不同。中国留学生的看法，这些藏独是因为是本地人，所以能够快速赶到新的路线上。

对火炬改变传递路线，美方记者快意地评论 -- ）

Just for future reference, China - or for that matter, anyone else: You can try to take over, but good luck. This is San Francisco.

翻译：作为给未来发生事件的参考，中国，或任何其他人在这件事上：你可以试图掌握局面，不过只能寄托好运而已。这里，是旧金山。

消息来自《旧金山纪事报》我和办公室的一个美国同事一起看这个新闻，我问他 -- Is this a fair play? I see the rules changed from baseball to valleyball during the match.

他说 -- Right, but how you feel about Bill in BJ?

我知道，他是说那次克林顿访问北京，在某个大学受到据称审查后组成的学生代表的攻击性提问。

哦，看来美国在和中国那个“集权政府”做事的方式看齐。

看来，真是一堂好课，让我们知道了没有国家只有民主会怎样。谢谢纽森市长。