溫布爾頓網球賽中的那些球童們

As Ivo Karlovic whacked a tennis ball at 135 miles per hour towards Andrew Murray on Wimbledon's Centre Court last week, I found myself staring at something behind his back that wasn't moving at all. Two kids of about 15 were standing in symmetrical formation, stock still. When a stray ball came their way, they scooped it up, threw it with speed and perfect accuracy into the player's hand and then returned to being statues once more.

前幾天，在溫布爾頓中央球場舉行的一場網球比賽中，當伊沃•卡洛維奇(Ivo Karlovic)向安德魯•穆雷(Andrew Murray)發出一記時速高達135英里的球時，我發現自己正盯着他身後那個一動不動的小東西。兩個15歲左右的孩子對稱地站在場地兩端，一動不動。只要有球越過邊線，朝他們飛來，他們便會敏捷地撿起球，迅速而準確地扔給運動員，然後回到場邊，重新成爲一座"雕像"。

As someone who has spent a decade trying and failing to get teenagers to pick up stray dirty socks from the floor and throw them in the general direction of the laundry basket, I found this performance even more remarkable than the one being given by the grown-up men with the tennis racquets.

作爲一個十年來一直試圖讓幾個少年人撿起他們散落在地板上的髒襪子、然後扔向一個統一的方向——洗衣筐，但卻屢屢失敗的人，我發現球童們的表現甚至比那些拿着網球拍的成年人更加令人讚歎。

It turns out that there is a formula for drilling these Wimbledon ball boys that has been in operation for decades. It is the last training course on earth that makes no concessions whatsoever to modern management methods; it also produces better results than any I've seen.

原來，對於溫布爾頓球童，早已有一套訓練方案，這套方案已經實行了數十年。它是世界上最不願向現代管理方法做出任何妥協的培訓課程；而在我看來，它的訓練效果卻是最好的。

Four months before the tournament begins, 700 teenage hopefuls begin to learn how to stand still, throw, march, look people in the eye and tuck their shirts into their shorts. Each has a number pinned on them – there is no truck with anything as namby-pamby as calling people by their names. They are expected to memorise rules and understand that following them isn't optional. Only a third of the hopefuls get selected; absenteeism, even through illness, is not tolerated.

在賽事開始前的四個月，700名十幾歲左右的球童候選人開始學習如何站立不動、如何擲球、行進、與人對視，以及如何將他們的上衣塞到短褲裏。每個人身上都別有一個數字——相比起直呼其名，數字的使用使得訓練氣氛中少了一些矯飾與人情味。他們需要記住比賽規則，並且懂得，這些規則必須遵守，沒有其他選擇。在這些候選人中，只有三分之一被篩選出來；曠課，即便是由於生病，也是無法容忍的。

In return for their time, effort and devotion, ball boys get paid nothing at all. They don't even get thanked. When they threw the ball back to Karlovic he didn't turn round and say "great job!" to help boost their self-esteem. He ignored them. Ball boys understand it is their job to be invisible and merge into the background. They aren't even allowed to enjoy the tennis.

儘管他們付出了時間、精力和熱誠，但這些球童卻不會得到一分錢的報酬。甚至都不會有人對他們表示感激。當他們把球扔回給卡洛維奇時，他並沒有轉過身說一句"幹得好！"來增強他們的自尊心。他對他們視而不見。球童們知道，讓自己從人們的視線中消失，成爲背景之一，這是他們的本職工作。他們甚至不能欣賞整場比賽。

On paper it all sounds most unattractive. Yet half the children in Years 9 and 10 in south-west London schools would gladly saw off their right arms for the chance – were it not for the fact that minus a limb they'd be less useful on court.

通過這些描述，球童的工作聽上去簡直太沒意思了。可在倫敦西南部學校就讀9年級和10年級的孩子們當中，有一半的人寧願在訓練中折掉右胳膊，也不願錯過這個機會——要不是考慮到如果少了一條胳膊，他們在球場上的表現就沒有那麼靈活了。

You might think that what makes a normal, Facebook-addicted teenager so desperate to become a ball boy is no mystery. It is proximity to sporting royalty as well as to actual royalty. It is also the chance to be on television, though as they all look identical in their navy uniforms, even the proudest parent might struggle to identify their offspring.

你或許會認爲，沉迷於Facebook的普通少年之所以會如此熱切地想成爲球童，箇中原由並不難解釋。既是因爲體育的魅力，也是由於它本身所帶來的一種榮耀。除此之外，還有機會在電視上露臉，儘管他們穿上統一的深藍色服裝後，看起來全都一個樣，即便是最感到得意的父母，要想認出他們的孩子，或許也要花一番力氣。

But I suspect there is something more important going on too. It is about being part of something wonderful. It is understanding that a valuable institution rests on the perfect behaviour of everyone who works there. The draconian training is not a drawback, it's a selling point. The stricter the rules, the more seriously the institution takes itself and therefore the greater the glory in being a part of it.

但我總覺得，背後還有一些更重要的因素在起作用。被選爲球童，你便成爲了一項非凡事業的一份子。人們都知道，一個偉大的組織有賴於在其中工作的每一個人的完美表現。嚴格的訓練不是一件壞事，而是一種優勢。規則越嚴格，這個組織自身就會越嚴謹，而成爲其中一員所帶來的榮耀感就會愈加強烈。

Yet this sort of training, based on pride and obedience and anonymity, is not merely out of fashion in the corporate world, it has vanished without trace. Only last week I received a survey showing how even punctuality is no longer seen as a thing of value. Three-quarters of bosses apparently don't care if their employees are half an hour late for work. Such flexibility is "brilliant news for workers everywhere", said Mozy, the company that did the survey. But is flexibility really so good? And what about its sister trend, individuality? The ball boys are more than capable of doing the best possible job without it. Why shouldn't office workers be so too?

然而在企業界，這種建立在自豪感、服從和默默奉獻基礎之上的訓練方式，卻不單單只是"過時"而已，它已經消失得無影無蹤了。就在最近，我還看到了一項調查，調查顯示，就連守時也不再被認爲是一項重要的品質。有四分之三的老闆似乎並不在意他們的員工上班是否遲到了半小時。發起這項調查的公司Mozy表示，這種靈活性"無論對哪裏的員工來說，都是一件好事"。可是，靈活性果真有那麼好嗎？那與它如影隨形的另一種趨勢，個體性呢？雖然不能展現自己的個性，但球童們依然出色地完成了自己的工作。那職場上的白領們爲何不能如此呢？

In modern offices, individuality is so rampant it is getting in the way of work. Last week I was sent a dull press release about a wealth management business and as I hovered my cursor over the email to delete it, a picture of a pouting blonde popped up. She turned out to be the PR girl – a cog in a machine if ever there was one – who forwarded the release, and here she was stamping not just her name on the message, but her face too. Surely even in PR there could be someone stern enough to tell staff that the job matters, that the company is bigger than they are and they should be proud to be invisible components of a well-oiled machine?

在現代職場上，員工的個性極盡張揚，以至於工作都會因此受到影響。前些天，我收到了一封枯燥無趣的理財公司新聞稿，正當我移動光標，準備刪除這封電子郵件時，突然，一個撅着嘴的金髮女子彈了出來。原來，她是發來這份新聞稿的公關部員工——即便公司設有這樣一個職位，也不太重要。出現在郵件中的，不僅有她的名字，還有她的那張臉。即便是在公關界，也應該有一些厲害的人物站出來告訴員工：這項工作很重要，應該將公司置於員工之上，能夠在一部運轉順暢的機器中充當一枚看不見的元件，員工應該感到自豪，不是嗎？

Admittedly this might be a stretch for PR; it is an even bigger stretch for the socks. I can think of two very fine and worthwhile traditions that are maintained by the prompt picking up of socks: having a tidy house and sharing chores evenly. The snag is that the average 15-year-old has no interest in upholding either of these.

誠然，這或許是對公關的誤解，更是對襪子的曲解。我想起了這樣兩項值得發揚的優良傳統——保持房間整潔和平均分攤家務——只有及時拾起髒襪子，這些傳統才能得到保持。可問題在於，一個普普通通的15歲孩子對於保持這兩項傳統毫無興趣。