Gunning for revenge
枪手----复仇
Deep wounds rarely heal. When something hurts as bad as 1999's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Man United hurt Arsenal fans, it can never really go away. For some reason, it is that game, more than any other in my time as an Arsenal supporter, that I just cannot seem to let go of. While I have ably managed to put the despair of Nayim '95, Cardiff ‘01 and Stamford Bridge '04 behind me, Ryan Giggs' late, late goal in that game five years ago has left a deep scar on my footballing memory.
旧伤很难痊愈。如果有什么东西象1999年足总杯半决赛输给曼联一样刺痛着阿森那球迷的心，它就永远也不能从心头抹去。因为某种原因，在我成为阿森那球迷后，那成了我最最不能释怀的一场比赛。95年的尼严，01年的加迪夫，亦或是04年的斯坦福桥都已经不再是令我百般痛苦的回忆，惟独伊恩·吉格斯5年前在那场比赛终场前的进球，在我的心中烙下了深深的疤痕。
Perhaps it was because we had been so excruciatingly close to winning the game in the last seconds of normal time. Perhaps it was because I, like most Arsenal fans, had so desperately wanted us to remain the dominant force in Premiership football after winning the title the year before. Or perhaps the wounds left from that game still linger because of our failure to take revenge in last season's semi-final. Whatever the reason, that match remains deeply etched on my mind.
或许是因为我们在比赛的最后阶段离胜利是那样的近；或许是因为我和大多数阿森那球迷一样，是那样痴情地盼望我们能在这项赛事中卫冕；那场比赛带来的创伤今天依然未消去，或许还因为上个赛季我们在半决赛中复仇的失败。不管是什么原因，这场比赛已经深深地刺伤了我的心灵。
And now once again, in the midst of all the disappointment this season has wrought, the footballing gods have contrived to give us another chance to erase that memory, and at the same time, to put this season's woes behind us. While the FA Cup has taken a considerable knocking in recent years, the prospect of an Arsenal – Man United Cup final remains breathtakingly irresistible.
而今天，上帝再一次为我们精心安排了一个拭去旧日痛苦记忆，同时能让我们把这个赛季无尽的失望抛到脑后去的机会。虽然现在足总杯水平已远不如昔，但阿森那和曼联在决赛中对决的魅力依然不可抗拒。
Without wanting to tempt fate, we can expect Arsenal to beat Blackburn when the teams meet in the FA Cup semi-final in Cardiff . Of course, we will need to be in much better shape then we were for last Saturday's league game, but barring a catastrophic dip in concentration or a massive injury crisis, we will be far too strong a proposition for a Blackburn side decidedly lacking in real quality.
无须幸运垂青，我们在加迪夫千年球场击败足总杯半决赛对手布莱克本是在情理之中的。毫无疑问，我们需要比上周六联赛更好的状态，但是，只要不出现注意力不够集中或大面积伤病，我们肯定比实力较弱的布莱克本处于更为有利的位置。
Unfortunately for those on Tyneside, FA Cup heartbreak is part & parcel of being a Newcastle supporter these days, and while I wouldn't put it past Alan Shearer to come up trumps in his final year as a professional footballer, Newcastle will have it all to do if they are to take anything from their clash with Man United.
对于泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔的支持者们来说，足总杯被淘汰出局早已为他们司空见惯。但糟糕的是，我不能忽略阿兰·希勒对职业生涯的最后一年里获得胜利的渴望，而纽卡斯尔也会在与曼联的比赛中尽力而为。
So as the semi-finals approach, we can perhaps be more certain of who will contest the final game than at any time at this stage in years gone by. The prospect of an Arsenal – United Cup final awaits, and any Arsenal fan who would prefer to see Newcastle make it to Cardiff should we get past Blackburn is afraid to embrace the possibility of a game that could turn our dour season on it's head.
因此，随着半决赛的临近，我们可以比过去几年里的这个时候更加肯定参加决赛的队伍。阿森那-曼联的决赛？有这种可能。而任何一个期待着纽卡斯尔与战胜布莱克本的阿森那在加迪夫千年球场进行对决的球迷，同时也害怕完全相反的情况，令我们郁闷的赛季更加郁闷。
While it would inevitably lead to Jose Mourinho making snide remarks about how Chelsea romped to the title while their two ‘rivals' were left to battle it out for a smaller prize, an Arsenal-Man United final has all the potential to be the most highly anticipated, hotly contested game of football so far this decade, encompassing all of the brilliance and benevolence of recent years' rivalry into a single game on one of the biggest stages of all.
此时，穆里尼奥难免会发表一些讽刺性的言论，诸如切尔西将轻松夺得联赛冠军，而它的两个“对手”只能为了一个小小的奖项争的鱼死网破云云。但阿森那和曼联的决赛依然值得我们期待----一场即使放在十年范围里依然能称之为火暴的比赛----将两队近年来比赛中的非凡技艺饱和，在所有时代中最伟大的舞台中释放。
So put all this season's troubles behind you, keep your fingers crossed that Blackburn don't pull off an unlikely upset, and shout for Man United to beat the Geordies. Should everything go as expected, you can look forward to what will promise to be the best FA Cup final since 1979, where Arsene Wenger's boys will be handed a momentous opportunity, to turn 2005 from a year of agony into a year of ecstasy, and to finally heal the deep, deep wounds that still linger from Old Trafford 1999.
因此，你可以把本赛季的烦恼统统扔到脑后，祈祷着不要让布莱克本真正做到让你郁闷，还有让曼联击败基尼人。只要一切如愿，你就可以期待自1979年以来最精彩的足总杯决赛----阿瑟·温格的弟子们将碰到难得的机会，能够把痛苦的2005年变成快乐的2005年，也就可以治愈他们自1999老特拉福德烙下的心病。
消息来源:http://www.arsenal-land.co.uk/Columns/LennyOMalley/Revenge.htm
