"奔逃活命"遊戲 與殭屍賽跑大綱

Daniel Smith had run over hills, scrambled through streams and climbed over walls on a recent hot Saturday here, when he came face-to-face with his greatest obstacle yet: a field full of zombies.
印第安納州奈茨敦（Knightstown），最近一個炎熱的週六，丹尼爾•史密斯（Daniel Smith）越過山崗，穿過溪流，翻過高牆，這才與他的最大障礙正面相遇：一片遍佈殭屍的田野。

He dodged through about 20 groaning, glassy-eyed antagonists with oozing facial wounds and streaks of red splattered across their clothes. 'I felt like it was just nonstop sprinting for my life,' said the 18-year-old from nearby Yorktown.

他左躲右閃，避開了大約20個目光呆滯、不停呻吟的敵手，他們臉上的傷口滲滴着血液，衣服上濺滿了紅色血斑。史密斯說，"我感覺就像爲了逃命在不停地全速奔跑。"18歲的史密斯是個高中生，家住附近的約克城（Yorktown），他在學校參加過徑賽和越野賽跑。

Mr. Smith, who runs high school track and cross-country, paid $87 for the privilege, while the zombies chasing him paid $25 - and got a free makeup job and, for those over 21, a complimentary beer at the end of the race.
史密斯玩此遊戲支付了87美元，而追逐他的那些殭屍則每人支付了25美元──化妝是免費的，那些年齡超過21歲的人在比賽結束後還可以獲贈一杯啤酒。

Obstacle-course races and zombie-themed events - from proms to marches to film festivals - have been spreading across the country like a flesh-eating bacteria. Now, a series of races called 'Run For Your Lives' are bringing the two together.
從逍遙音樂節到遊行活動到電影節，障礙賽跑和殭屍主題的活動已經像食肉菌一樣在全美各地流傳開來。現在，一系列名爲"奔逃活命"（Run For Your Lives）的比賽把這兩種遊戲融爲了一體。

Runners wade through pools of fake blood, duck under electrified wires and try to avoid letting zombies steal their 'health flags' worn on a belt around the waist. A runner with no flags left is ruled dead - or is it undead? - and isn't eligible for awards at the end of the five-kilometer race. Crossing the finish line alive is no small feat: Only about 20% of racers make it with at least one of their three flags left.
參賽選手要在人工血潭中涉水而過，鑽電網，還要盡力避免殭屍偷去自己別在腰帶上的"健康旗"。身上沒有旗子剩下的選手就被判定爲死亡──也許可以稱其爲不死一族了？──因此在五公里的賽跑結束時沒有資格贏得獎品。能夠活着在終點撞線可是個不小的成績：只有20%的選手能夠在最後還保留着三面旗子中的至少一面。

Mr. Smith had managed to hold on to his flags through several close encounters with zombies when he suddenly found his path blocked by a pair of female twins in checkered blue-and-white dresses, their faces bruised and heads cocked to one side. 'They looked sort of demented,' he said.
史密斯好幾次與殭屍近距離遭遇，但他都設法保住了旗子。奔跑過程中，他突然發現路被一對身穿藍白格子衣服的孿生姐妹攔住了，她們的臉又青又腫，腦袋歪向一邊。他說，"她們看上去有點精神錯亂。"

He dodged to the side and into a shin-deep creek to pass them, but lost his first flag to a grasping hand.
他閃到一邊，?進齊小腿的河裏，好從她們旁邊掠過，但是還是有一隻手伸過來抓走了一面旗子。

Zombies come up with their own outfits, but organizers do their makeup, including pale skin, sunken eyes and fake blood - a mix of corn syrup, cornstarch and food coloring - splashed on their clothes. Adhesive plastic molds and red goo give some zombies gaping wounds.
殭屍們都是自己攜帶裝備，但是由組織者負責給他們化妝，裝束包括蒼白的皮膚、深陷的雙眼和濺在衣服上的人造血液──用玉米糖漿、玉米粉和食物着色劑混合而成。有粘性的塑料模具和紅色粘膠用來做成殭屍的傷口。

Zombies preparing for the race here lined up to stand in front of a hanging white sheet and have a makeup artist throw handfuls of blood on their backs and chests before they set out to populate a 70-acre course rigged with water pits, log barriers and monkey bars.
比賽籌備過程中，殭屍們在一塊掛着的白布前站成一排，化妝師會在他們的背上和胸前灑上一把一把的血液，然後他們動身，分散部署在方圓70英畝賽場內的各個角落，賽場內到處是水坑、樹障和攀吊架。

'That felt really good because it was hot out,' said Michael Packer, who drove 45 minutes from Indianapolis with his girlfriend and two other friends - all wearing surgical gear. 'It soaked through pretty well and it stayed wet for a long time.'
邁克爾•帕克（Michael Packer）和女友及另兩個朋友從印第安納波利斯開了45分鐘的車趕來參加比賽──全都是一身外科醫生的行頭。他說，"這身行頭感覺太好了，因爲室外天氣很熱。這衣服吸水性很好，可以很長時間保持潤溼。"

Reed Street Productions, a company based in White Marsh, Md., and formed by two friends in their 20s, is making a killing on the races. It held its first race just last year near Baltimore and unexpectedly drew 12,000 people, the company said. It will hold a total of 13 similar events in cities from Boston to Los Angeles this year. Next year, it hopes to double that. The company said it expects revenue of $18.8 million this year, but declined to disclose its profits. Between 3,000 and 10,000 people participate in the races, with about 5,000 at the event here.
由兩名20出頭的朋友共同組建、總部設在馬里蘭州懷特馬什（White Marsh）的Reed Street Productions公司因爲舉辦這種比賽大賺了一把。這家公司稱，他們去年纔在巴爾的摩附近舉辦了首次比賽，意外地吸引了12,000人前來參賽。今年，從波士頓到洛杉磯，他們要舉辦總共13場類似的比賽。明年，他們希望這個數字再翻一番。公司稱，今年的收入可望達到1,880萬美元，但利潤是多少卻拒絕透露。參加比賽的人數一般在3,000至10,000人之間，眼前這場比賽大約有5,000人蔘加。'Why a zombie race?' asked Derrick Smith, co-founder of the Run For Your Lives races and no relation to Daniel Smith. 'We came up with the name, and we said, 'Well, what do people run from?' We figured zombies was going to be a pretty popular idea,' he said.
戴裏克•史密斯（Derrick Smith）是"奔逃活命"比賽的共同創辦人，他和丹尼爾•史密斯沒有任何關係。他說，"爲什麼是殭屍賽跑呢？在想這個主題的時候，我們說‘人們一般想要逃離什麼東西呢？’我們覺得殭屍會是一個大受歡迎的主題。"

Indeed, zombies seem to be everywhere these days, including on television. AMC Networks Inc.'s apocalyptic zombie drama 'The Walking Dead' has drawn millions of television viewers.
的確，如今殭屍似乎無所不在，連電視節目裏都有。AMC廣播網的殭屍劇《行屍走肉》（The Walking Dead）吸引了數百萬的電視觀衆。

Zombies in the Run For Your Lives races are split into two groups. 'Chasers' run after racers to grab their flags, while 'stumblers' are supposed to 'crawl, shuffle, drag, or perform any other type of slow movement in order to horrify runners and take their flags,' according to instructions for zombies on the race website.
"奔逃活命"比賽中的殭屍分爲兩組。根據比賽網站上公佈的殭屍規則，"追逐殭屍"在選手後面追蹤奪取旗子，而"絆腳殭屍"則要"做出爬行、拖步、拉拽或者任何可以嚇唬選手並從其身上奪取旗子的慢動作"。

Mr. Packer, a 41-year-old software designer, was a chaser. He was resting in the shade when two men dressed as Elvis emerged on the path up ahead and began jogging toward him.
41歲的軟件設計師帕克是一名追逐殭屍，他正在樹蔭下休息，這時兩名裝扮成貓王的男子出現在前面並向他慢慢跑來。

He looked around as if sensing the presence of the Elvises, then reached out with his clawed hands and lurched toward them and two other runners, his back stiffly bent.
他環顧了一下四周，彷佛覺察到了貓王的存在，然後他伸出自己的手爪，步履蹣跚地朝着他們和另兩名選手走去，他的背部僵硬地彎曲着。

'I went for the wide-eyed, slobbering, drooling zombie growl,' said Mr. Packer. His startled targets leaped into a sprint down the path to escape.
帕克說，"我努力扮成睜大雙眼、流着口水的殭屍，發出巨吼。"被他攻擊的對象嚇得全速衝刺，匆匆逃離。

Runners Kate Christensen, a 30-year-old microbiologist from Oconomowoc, Wis., and Cindy Rasmussen, a 30-year-old biochemist from Whitewater, Wis., wore plastic hula skirts with hanging green strips that made it harder for zombies to grab their flags. And when Ms. Rasmussen lost her third flag, she started running interference for Ms. Christensen.
30歲的微生物學家凱特•克里斯滕森（Kate Christensen）和30歲的生物化學家辛迪•拉斯馬森（Cindy Rasmussen）分別來自威斯康辛州奧康諾摩沃（Oconomowoc）和白水市（Whitewater），她們穿着綠色條帶的呼啦舞裙，讓殭屍不太容易抓走她們身上的旗子。當拉斯馬森失去第三面旗子時，她開始干擾殭屍，以掩護克里斯滕森。

'We worked together as a team and tried to use other people as bait,' Ms. Christensen said.
克里斯滕森說，"我們像團隊一樣合作，儘量利用別人做誘餌。"

But the zombies worked together too. Daniel Smith, the high-school runner, lost a second flag when a large group of zombies forced him to one side of a path, allowing a chaser zombie to catch up to him. He later dove into a mud hole to protect his remaining flag.
但是殭屍們也會合作。一羣殭屍把丹尼爾•史密斯逼到路的一邊，一名追逐殭屍追上了他，他失去了第二面旗子。後來，他跳進了泥坑，以保護剩下的那面旗。

Mr. Smith continued on to a maze, where he narrowly escaped a different chaser, and climbed over a cargo net. With the finish line in sight, the race had one more surprise for him - a low, electrified fence to crawl under. Mr. Smith dropped to his elbows and started pulling himself forward.
史密斯繼續向前，進入了一個迷宮，在那裏他從另一個追逐殭屍手裏死裏逃生，然後從一張吊貨網上翻了過去。終點線已經近在眼前了，但還有一次驚險等待着他──他得從一堵低矮的通電柵欄下爬過。史密斯雙肘伏地，開始匍匐前進。

'I looked up to look at the finish line and got zapped in the head,' he said. 'It stung pretty good.' (Organizers later turned off the electricity when a combination of exhaustion and dehydration caused adverse reactions in some runners.)
他說，"我擡頭想看一眼終點線，結果頭被電着了，着實讓人感到刺痛。"（後來由於比賽帶來的疲倦和脫水引起一些選手的不滿，組織者關掉了電源。）

Mr. Smith learned after he went home that he had finished with the fastest time among living finishers. His prize, which he has yet to claim, was a set of zombie paraphernalia including a keychain, a Run For Your Lives T-shirt and drawstring bag. Asked whether the prizes were worth the ordeal, he hesitated and then said: 'Not that much.'
史密斯回家後才獲知，所有"活着"跑完比賽的人中，他用的時間最短。他獲得的獎品（他還沒有去領取）是一套殭屍主題的用品，包括一個鑰匙鏈、一件"奔逃活命"T恤衫和一個拉繩袋。當問及這些獎品是否值得他去經受這番折磨的時候，他猶豫了一下，然後說，"不是太值。"