A match turned round in the last three minutes, a teenager watching instead of playing, and a pitch taken over by the evening dancers.
Chen Hao
昨天那场球你看了吗？最后三分钟翻盘。
Zuótiān nà chǎng qiú nǐ kàn le ma ? Zuìhòu sān fēnzhōng fānpán.
Did you watch the match yesterday? It all turned round in the last three minutes.
Xiaoyu
看了后半场。说实话，前四十分钟我差点睡着。
Kàn le hòu bàn chǎng. Shuōshíhuà, qián sìshí fēnzhōng wǒ chàdiǎn shuì zhe.
I watched the second half. Honestly, I nearly fell asleep during the first forty minutes.
Auntie Wang
我孙子天天抱着手机看球，作业都不写。
Wǒ sūnzi tiāntiān bào zhe shǒujī kàn qiú, zuòyè dōu bù xiě.
My grandson watches sport on his phone all day long and does not do his homework.
Chen Hao
阿姨，这比打游戏强多了。至少他还知道规则。
Āyí, zhè bǐ dǎ yóuxì qiáng duō le. Zhìshǎo tā hái zhīdào guīzé.
Auntie, that is a good deal better than video games. At least he is learning the rules.
Auntie Wang
一样。都是坐着不动。
Yīyàng. Dōu shì zuò zhe bù dòng.
It is the same thing. Either way he is sitting still.
Zhang laoshi
王阿姨这句话，把中国体育的毛病说完了：看的人多，练的人少。
Wáng āyí zhè jù huà, bǎ zhōngguó tǐyù de máobìng shuō wán le : kàn de rén duō, liàn de rén shǎo.
That sentence of Auntie Wang's sums up everything wrong with Chinese sport: plenty of watchers, few players.
Xiaoyu
我们小区连个像样的场地都没有。想打球得开车二十分钟。
Wǒmen xiǎoqū lián gè xiàngyàng de chǎngdì dōu méi yǒu. Xiǎng dǎ qiú de kāi chē èrshí fēnzhōng.
Our compound does not even have a decent pitch. To play you have to drive twenty minutes.
Chen Hao
有倒是有，晚上被跳舞的占了。
Yǒu dǎo shì yǒu, wǎnshang bèi tiào wǔ de zhān le.
There is one, but in the evenings the dancers have it.
Zhang laoshi
所以职业队再强，底下也接不上。一个省几万人踢球，和几十万人踢球，不是一回事。
Suǒyǐ zhíyè duì zài qiáng, dǐxia yě jiē bù shàng. Yī gè shěng jǐ wàn rén tī qiú, hé jǐ shí wàn rén tī qiú, bùshì yī huí shì.
So however strong the professional teams are, the base does not follow. A province where a few tens of thousands play and one where several hundred thousand do are not the same thing.
Xiaoyu
家长也不让。练体育，万一出不来呢？
Jiāzhǎng yě bù ràng. Liàn tǐyù, wànyī chū bù lái ne ?
Parents object too. Go in for sport, and what if it comes to nothing?
Auntie Wang
那倒是。我邻居家孩子练了八年游泳，后来膝盖坏了，学也耽误了。
Nà dǎo shì. Wǒ línjū jiā háizi liàn le bā nián yóuyǒng, hòulái xīgài huài le, xué yě dānwu le.
That is true. A neighbour's child swam for eight years, and ended up with a ruined knee and his studies behind.
Zhang laoshi
这就是关键。退下来以后的路，没人给他铺。
Zhè jiùshì guānjiàn. Tuì xiàlai yǐhòu de lù, méi rén gěi tā pù.
And there is the crux. The road after the career, nobody lays it for them.
Chen Hao
国外是先上学，顺便练。
Guówài shì xiān shàng xué, shùnbiàn liàn.
Abroad they study first and train alongside.
Zhang laoshi
对。我们是先练，顺便上学。顺序反了，代价就落在孩子身上。
Duì. Wǒmen shì xiān liàn, shùnbiàn shàng xué. Shùnxù fǎn le, dàijià jiù là zài háizi shēnshang.
Exactly. Here they train first and study alongside. Reverse the order and it is the children who pay the price.
Xiaoyu
说得我都不想看球了。不过下周有决赛，我还是会看。
Shuō de wǒ dōu bù xiǎng kàn qiú le. Bùguò xià zhōu yǒu juésài, wǒ háishi huì kàn.
Listening to you I hardly want to watch another match. Even so, the final is next week, and I shall watch it.
有倒是有: "there is one, but". The pattern verb + 倒是 + the same verb grants the existence of the thing the better to announce the reservation that follows. It works with any verb or adjective: 好倒是好, 便宜倒是便宜. The reservation is compulsory; without it the sentence hangs.
职业队再强，底下也接不上: however strong the professional team is, the base does not follow. 再 before an adjective sets up a concession with no limit, taken up by 也 in the second half. It is the most economical concessive turn in Chinese, and very common in speech.
万一出不来呢: and what if the child does not make it? Used alone, 出来 here means to break through, to stand out, to succeed in a field where few do. The negative potential complement 出不来 states the fear of every family faced with sport or the arts, and has no short English equivalent.
