孫國維

除了足球，這個國家還有奔放的探戈和美味的牛肉——

今年夏天，第21屆世界杯足球賽在俄羅斯舉行。說到足球，少不了要提到阿根廷。

而說到阿根廷，有三樣?xùn)|西是阿根廷人民最驕傲的，第一當(dāng)然是自由灑脫的足球，二是華麗高雅、熱烈奔放的探戈舞，還有就是聲名遠(yuǎn)揚(yáng)的阿根廷牛肉了。

足球神話的煉成

人世間的許多殊死搏斗大都發(fā)端于武力戰(zhàn)爭，而這些爭斗大都憑借射箭、劍擊、標(biāo)槍、鐵錘和拳擊等。而作為影響力最大的運(yùn)動之一的足球，在其誕生之初照樣充滿了野蠻和血腥。

相傳，中國古代黃帝在逐鹿戰(zhàn)中俘獲了蚩尤，但沒有將其頭顱懸掛在高桿上號令天下，而是讓他的士兵當(dāng)成足球，在地上踢來踢去，當(dāng)作對蚩尤部落的一種羞辱。據(jù)稱，這就是洪荒時代足球運(yùn)動的雛形，也就是蹴鞠的由來。

蹴鞠運(yùn)動在中國可謂源遠(yuǎn)流長，其踢球高手初則當(dāng)推蘇東坡的書童，后則要數(shù)北宋權(quán)臣高俅。高俅就因?yàn)樵诰G茵場上的這套看家本領(lǐng)而受到宋徽宗的專寵。

凡此種種，促成國際足聯(lián)在1980年公開表態(tài)說：“足球運(yùn)動發(fā)源于中國?！?004年7月5日，亞洲足聯(lián)秘書長維拉潘更是代表國際足聯(lián)，向山東臨淄頒發(fā)了足球起源地的紀(jì)念獎杯和證書。

隨著時間的推移，世界的足球運(yùn)動也在日新月異地發(fā)展，其文明化的程度也在不斷提高。而足球運(yùn)動的發(fā)展過程，本身也是人類文明不斷進(jìn)步的折射。蠻荒時代的野蠻血腥特征被徹底改造，最后鑄就了現(xiàn)今的公平、公開、公正的競爭。到了1848年，首部足球運(yùn)動的規(guī)則《劍橋規(guī)則》應(yīng)運(yùn)而生，規(guī)則中明確了比賽雙方的上場人數(shù)等細(xì)則；1855年，世界第一個足球俱樂部謝菲爾德成立后，1909年，國際足聯(lián)成立，足球運(yùn)動就像雨后春筍般地蓬勃發(fā)展。拉丁美洲繼歐洲之后，綠茵運(yùn)動也如燎原之勢遍地開花，尤其是南美國家如巴西、阿根廷、哥倫比亞等都先后躍居世界足壇的先進(jìn)行列。

阿根廷足球隊(duì)是南美和世界勁旅，曾19次獲取重大賽事冠軍，其中包括1978年和1986年的世界杯冠軍。2008年，在北京奧運(yùn)會上與巴西一起進(jìn)入決賽；2014年與荷蘭進(jìn)入世界杯決賽。先后涌現(xiàn)了像帕薩雷拉、肯佩斯、馬拉多納和梅西等世界級足球名將。

馬拉多納是繼巴西貝利之后的“世界球王”。他從小心懷大志，一心要以足球報(bào)國。他在綠茵場上健步如飛，行如閃電，勇若猛虎，是全隊(duì)的靈魂。屢屢為國建功，他的足下功夫出神入化，不僅在阿根廷乃至南美州，甚至整個世界都享有無上榮光。

進(jìn)入阿根廷，你就會領(lǐng)略到足球的氛圍，不僅到處有球場，有比賽，而且，那里的男女老少無不在踢球或談?wù)撟闱蛸愂隆Ｓ绕涫悄切┟^小伙子，從小就練就了一身看家本領(lǐng)，似乎生來就要當(dāng)馬拉多納的接班人。

提升幸福指數(shù)的探戈舞

“探戈”是西班牙文tango的譯音，可見它自歐洲傳入。上世紀(jì)三十年代又傳入中國，特別在上海一帶更是流行，因?yàn)樗?jié)奏明快，旋律優(yōu)雅，很容易為人們所接受，尤其在舞廳更是風(fēng)靡。中國改革開放之后，它更風(fēng)靡大江南北，受到各階層的青睞。

探戈舞是一種采用連續(xù)切分音并突出頓步的雙人舞。其舞姿特點(diǎn)是上身平穩(wěn)，腿部動作靈活多變，男女伴舞時，從頭部到腰部保持自然挺直，動作穩(wěn)健端莊。隨著舞曲切分音的鮮明節(jié)奏，腿部動作就得相應(yīng)作出前進(jìn)、后退、側(cè)身旋轉(zhuǎn)、交叉換步等優(yōu)美舞姿。

探戈音樂是一種帶有幾分懷鄉(xiāng)念舊情調(diào)的樂曲，令人產(chǎn)生一種沉渾、憂郁之感，卻十分優(yōu)美動人。在十八世紀(jì)末到十九世紀(jì)初，大批歐洲人移民到布宜諾斯艾利斯，沉重的勞作和枯燥乏味的生活使他們常常懷念起大洋彼岸的故鄉(xiāng)和親人，正是這種情懷使探戈應(yīng)運(yùn)而生并植根于阿根廷土壤，同時吸收當(dāng)?shù)孛褡逅囆g(shù)特色漸漸地形成一種雜交藝術(shù)，然后傳遍了整個拉丁美洲。

阿根廷人十分喜愛探戈。他們的生活富有浪漫情調(diào)，于是決定把1888年定為探戈的誕生之年。日常生活中經(jīng)常歌舞升平，慢條斯理。尤其是男女之間談情說愛，總少不了弦歌彈唱、閑情小酌，而一曲探戈更是家常便飯。在阿根廷人的幸福指數(shù)中，探戈是必不可少的文藝形式。如今它已經(jīng)從“劣等市民的享受”轉(zhuǎn)換成能登大雅之堂的世界經(jīng)典樂曲。不過，它的演奏形式起了變化，不再光是由曼陀鈴伴奏，而是加進(jìn)了諸如小提琴、大提琴和鋼琴等樂器。它不僅成為布宜諾斯艾利斯的社交舞蹈，而且走進(jìn)世界各地的大劇院，成為阿根廷人的驕傲。

叫人饞涎欲滴的烤牛肉

阿根廷素有“世界肉庫和糧倉”之稱，其天然牧場和人工牧場占全國總面積278萬平方公里的55%。全國牲畜的80%集中在潘帕斯大草原，那里具有世界最大的活牛市場。自2000年以來，全國牛的出欄頭數(shù)一直保持在每年5000萬頭左右，比阿根廷4000多萬的人口總量還要多。阿根廷人對于小牛肉的需求量十分可觀。阿根廷的牛肉出口只占小部分，大量是用來供應(yīng)國內(nèi)消費(fèi)的?？梢姲⒏⑷说目诟２粶\。

首都布宜諾斯艾利斯集中了全國四分之一的人口，大約在1000萬之上。它與我工作的新華社圣地亞哥（智利首都）分社相距不遠(yuǎn)，中間只隔了一座科迪勒拉山脈。我去那里出差很方便。當(dāng)我進(jìn)得布市除了滿街烤牛肉餐館之外，馬路兩旁還到處擺設(shè)烤肉攤販。滿街青煙繚繞，焦香四溢，真叫人饞涎欲滴。

中國駐阿根廷大使湯永貴和夫人曹珉以及政務(wù)參贊劉伯鳴都是我的老相識、老同事。他們力盡地主之誼，選在一家上等餐館讓我品嘗最好的小牛肉，以便一飽口福。

席間，我們一邊敘舊，一邊暢談智阿兩國的風(fēng)土人情。酒過三巡，不覺微醺，感到味濃情更濃。他們介紹說，阿根廷和拉美其他許多國家都曾是西班牙的殖民地，有許多風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣都帶有歐洲風(fēng)格。每當(dāng)節(jié)假日大都有聚會弦歌跳舞、縱情彈唱的習(xí)俗，而且經(jīng)常通宵達(dá)旦。飲紅酒吃烤肉；喝白酒吃海鮮是最佳搭配。因此，幾乎每家每戶的后院都備有烤肉架和鐵爐，到時扛出來架在草坪上供來客隨意品嘗。比較講究的還有烤全牛的設(shè)備，可以邊烤邊上調(diào)料，精心烤制大致要花十來個小時，等到牛肉香嫩松軟，滋滋作響時就可大快朵頤，于是，人們傾觴狂飲，一醉方休，直至東方發(fā)白。

Wonders of Argentina： Football， Tango and Veal

By Sun Guowei， our special reporter in Beijing

Argentina is famously defined by football， tango， and veal. I was a Xinhua News Agency journalist stationed in Chile for many years. Argentina was a big neighbor. Therefore naturally the three famous things of Argentina have stayed in my memory.

Football

Football， the most influential sporting game in the world， has been traced back to China. In 1980， FIFA announced that football originated in China. On July 5， 2004， Zibo， a city where the original form of the modern football was born， received a certificate from FIFA， which recognized Zibo as the birthplace of football.

But modern football evolved in the west. As civilization moved on， rules for fair play were introduced step by step. In 1848， a rule stipulated that players on each side must be equal. It was probably the first rule ever formulated for the fierce game. In 1855， the worlds first football club came into being in Sheffield， England. In 1909， FIFA came into being and football flourished across the world. The sport thrived in South America and Brazil and Argentina cut a brilliant figure in world competitions.

Argentina， in particular， is a top player in the football world. It has won 19 significant championships， including the FIFA World Cup in 1978 and 1986 respectively. At 2008 Beijing Olympic Games， Argentina and Brazil were in the final. At FIFA World Cup 2014， Argentina and Holland were in the final. Argentina has produced world-class football players such as Mario Kempes， Daniel Passarella， Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.

Tango

Tango is a partner dance which originated in the 1880s along the River Plate， the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. It was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries， where natives mixed with slave and European immigrant populations. The tango is the result of a mix of many dances that can be traced to countries in Europe and Africa. It then spread to the rest of the world. Many variations of this dance currently exist around the world. On August 31， 2009， UNESCO approved a joint proposal by Argentina and Uruguay to include the tango in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

Tango came to China in the 1930s and soon enjoyed great popularity in Shanghai and surrounding cities for its clear-cut rhythm， exotic melody， and elegance. After China started its modernization on a full scale through reform and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s， Tango flourished in the oriental country.

Veal

Argentina is famed as the worlds storage of meat and grain. The ranches account for 55% of the 2.78 million square kilometers of the land area of Argentina. About 80 % of the live stock of the country is in the Pampas， part of whose fertile lowlands are in Argentina. Since 2000， the country has been able to deliver about 50 million cattle to slaughterhouses annually. Veal is a key important food in Argentina and most veal is consumed at home. Only a small part of the beef produced is exported to overseas markets.

When I was working as a Xinhua News Agency journalist stationed in Santiago， the capital of Chile， a neighbor of Argentina， I often visited Buenos Aires on business. I had friends at Chinese embassy. More often than not， they regaled me with veal at a good restaurant in the capital. It was from them that I learned about Argentine peoples love for veal. The lifestyle in Buenos Aries carries many European elements. Barbecue is one of the European traditions popular around the city. Families often throw a barbecue party and they celebrate overnight. Veal is a key food at such barbecue parties.