组建团队挑人时 你会被选中吗

When I was a kid growing up in the U.S. Midwest, baseball and American football were very popular after school sports among my friends and schoolmates. Basketball was a close third.
在我小时候，棒球和橄榄球是当时美国中西部同学朋友们放学后最喜欢的体育运动，其次才是篮球。

In primary school days, pick-up games of baseball and football were popular after school and on weekends. We were fortunate to have enough public parks nearby, available for anyone at no cost and without advance booking, accessible either on foot or by bicycle.
上小学时，我们课余和周末最流行的活动就是学打棒球和橄榄球。当年我们运气不错，周边有很多公园，走路、骑车都能到，还不用花钱或提前预定。

These were “pick-up” games, spontaneously organized by kids, without adult supervision, referees, etc. There were also formal programs like Little League baseball and school-organized sports teams, but that’s not what I am talking about here.
作为孩子们自发组织的“入门”活动，球场上既没有大人指导，也不设裁判。当然也有一些正规的组织，比如“少棒联盟”和校队，但这不是我要说的。

A new style of baseball, called “whiffle ball” was introduced when I was a kid. It involved plastic balls and bats, which greatly reduced the risk of breaking a neighbor’s window, thus expanding the range of places where baseball games could be played, to include backyards and driveways.
小时候有种新棒球刚问世，叫作“威孚球”，其实就是塑料做的空心球和球棒。它的出现大大降低了误伤邻居玻璃的风险，连带也放宽了对场地的限制，甚至在后院和车道上都能打。

The participants in these games were local neighborhood kids and schoolmates. The group was somewhat fluid. Some guys — and it was a “guy” thing in those days — played more often than others; but there was room for a wide range of skill levels.
去打球的都是些邻居家的孩子和同学，人员很不固定。有些小爷——那年月打棒球可是件挺“爷们儿”的事儿——打得比别人多，但技术水平却相差甚远。

Prior to secondary school, I don’t recall having that much homework, and no one I knew was getting after-school tutoring or taking after-school lessons in music, ballet or other pursuits. This was, after all, the suburbs. In wealthier downtown neighborhoods, like parts of Manhattan, it would have been a different story.
上中学前，我几乎没什么作业，也没见过谁要去上补习班或者兴趣班学音乐、芭蕾之类。毕竟我们住在郊区，如果换作市里的富人区，比如曼哈顿，那情形肯定大不相同。

In other words, there were few scheduling issues getting in the way of childhood pursuits such as after school sports, so sports assumed a fairly large role in the play time agenda.
换句话说，童年时没有什么既定的日程能阻碍我对课余体育活动的追求，所以运动就成为玩耍的主要内容。

Since these were not fixed, organized teams based on school or neighborhood affiliations, the make-up of opposing teams was subject to discussion and decision each time.
由于人员不固定，球队也不是按照学校或邻里关系成立的，所以每次都要临时商议如何分队。

The usual process of picking sides was to first nominate two ”team captains” and then let the both captains take turns choosing the members they wanted. Team captains were obviously respected as well as considered adept at the particular sport we were playing that day.
分队的一般程序是先任命两名“队长”，然后再由他们轮流挑选想要的队员。当然，队长肯定要受人尊重，并且擅长我们当年热衷的这项运动。

During the selection process there was lively banter, with some of the waiting candidates lobbying the captains: “Pick me, I wanna be on your team…” and so on. The first ones to be picked were fortunate; the last ones not so.
选队员的过程最热闹不过，有些人会向队长拉票，说些“选我选我，我要和你一个队……”之类的话。第一个被选中的往往比较幸运，最后一名就不同了。

Once the selection was complete, the game would begin. Any disagreements about rule infractions or other disputes had to be settled among the players, since there was no adult supervision. There were arguments sometimes, but I don’t recall any very heated ones.
队员一旦选定，比赛就马上开始。因为没有大人监督，所以即便对犯规或其他问题产生分歧，也只能由队员自行解决。虽然有时会起些争执，但我还真不记得发生过什么激烈过火的情形。

Thinking back on those days gives rise to two reflections.
遥想当年，我有两点感悟。

The first relates to the tremendous demographic and social change which has taken place in my home town and most other parts of America in the past 50 years.
首先，过去50年，我的故乡和美国其他大部分地方的人口和社会结构都发生了巨变。

My home town is a suburb of Chicago, and was then predominantly white and middle class.
我的老家在芝加哥郊区，那里曾是中产阶级白人的聚居地。

In primary school, the entire student body lived in that town and was white, and included a handful of recent immigrants from Europe whose English was not yet fluent. Our teachers were mostly Catholic nuns, and in hindsight I’m not sure how many of them had college degrees.
上小学时，学生都是住在镇上的白人，只有寥寥几个欧洲新移民，而且英文还不太灵光。老师大多是天主教修女，事后想想也不知道她们有几位上过大学。