A Daredevil’s Pastime, Born on the Street, Is Moved Indoor
戶外極限運動轉入室內
By Samantha Storey

They are skateboarders without skateboards, urban acrobats who scale walls, hurdle mailboxes and leap between buildings in stunts that might give Spider-Man pause.
他們是不帶滑板的滑板玩家，是攀牆、翻越郵筒及在高樓之間跳躍的特技表演者，蜘蛛人可能也會自嘆弗如。

Practitioners of parkour, a daring pastime born in the streets, have long seen public spaces as their playground, and parkour as the ultimate rebel’s game, one with no rules, league, equipment or winners. It started in France (the name is derived from the French word for “course”) and has spread around the world: Gaza, Tokyo, Rome and Miami are parkour towns.
跑酷（parkour）是在街頭誕生的冒險娛樂活動，玩家一向以公共空間為遊樂場，並將它視為終極的叛逆遊戲。它沒有規則、組織、裝備或贏家，發源於法國（跑酷源自法文，原義是「course，跑道」），目前已風行全球。加薩地區、東京、羅馬與邁阿密都是跑酷盛行的地區。

One thread binds them all: parkour takes place outdoors. Bringing it inside, purists argue, would be like asking swimmers to perfect the breaststroke on grass.
這種運動具有一項共同的特色：在戶外進行。純粹主義者認為，把它轉入室內直如要泳者在草地上游蛙式。

But now, parkour has grown up, traded the pavement for padding and turned into a big business.
然而如今跑酷已經長大，人行道換成了墊塞，並已蔚為一門大生意。

Parkour gyms have opened all over, from California to New York to Britain and Sweden, featuring juice bars, private classes and children’s birthday parties that cost $450 (cake not included).
跑酷健身房已經遍及全球，包括加州、紐約、英國與瑞典，提供果汁吧、私人課程及要價450美元的兒童生日派對（不含蛋糕）。

“Parkour is definitely blowing up,” said Shem Rajoon, 27, an owner of Bklyn Beast, a parkour gym in Brooklyn that opened this year. “I see it becoming something very mainstream.”
27歲的拉吉恩今年在紐約布魯克林區開辦「布魯克林野獸」跑酷健身房。他說：「跑酷絕對已經起飛。我認為，它已逐漸成為主流。」

While the gyms’ owners say they are broadening the activity’s appeal, and making it safer in the process, hard-core enthusiasts say parkour’s renegade soul is at risk.
跑酷健身房經營者表示他們使這種運動的魅力得以擴大，並在推廣過程中使它變得更安全。然而死硬派的熱中者說，跑酷的叛逆精神已經面臨危機。

“If you limit parkour to the indoor setting, you effectively nullify its very point,” said Dan Edwardes, 37, author of “The Parkour and Freerunning Handbook.” “The prevalence now of ‘parkour gyms’ in some countries, particularly the States, is worrying, as it means within a few years parkour will not exist anymore in its original form.”
「跑酷與自由奔跑手冊」的37歲作者愛德華斯說：「把跑酷限制在室內，它的精髓將蕩然無存。在部分國家，『跑酷健身房』相當盛行，尤其是美國。這種現象令人憂心，因為它意味，不出幾年，跑酷將失去原貌。」

Parkour’s popularity has boomed in the YouTube era, as daredevils across the world record themselves leaping, and sometimes crashing, in a digital game of one-upmanship. Kudos go to the person who most creatively turns a parking meter into a diving board, a wall into a ladder.
跑酷崛起於YouTube時代。在這種時代環境下，全球各地許多勇於冒險的年輕人會以手機錄下自己跳躍、有時候墜落的畫面，只希望能夠比別人技高一籌。讚賞歸給能以最具創意的方式將停車計時器化為跳板，把一道牆化為梯子的人。

The gyms, with their padding and liability waivers, offer a more sanitized version of the urban landscape. Many gyms are decorated with urban costumes, adopting indoor graffiti, scaffolding and handrails to mimic the outdoors.
這些健身房備有墊塞與放棄索賠聲明書，提供經過修改且較安全的城市景觀。許多健身房具有城市外觀，引進室內塗鴉、鷹架與欄杆，以模仿戶外景觀。

On a recent Saturday at Bklyn Beast, children and adults leapt across a purple, springy floor, launching over vaults with abandon. They climbed fire poles and swung from monkey bars in front of walls tagged with spray paint.
最近的一個周末，一些小孩與成人在「布魯克林野獸健身房」躍過一個有彈力的紫色地板，放懷躍過障礙。他們爬桿，在留有噴漆的牆前單槓之間擺蕩。

Elizabeth Bellis Wolfe, a 29-year-old lawyer, said she found parkour to be a more exciting workout than another session on the treadmill.
29歲的律師伊莉莎白‧伍爾夫表示，她認為，跑酷是比在跑步機上練跑來得刺激的運動。

“It’s just scary enough that you’re thinking about being scared and in pain, but not so scary that you don’t want to do it,” she said.
她說：「它有些嚇人，因為它會讓你想到可能出現的害怕與痛苦，但它沒有恐怖到讓你不想從事這種運動。」

But as with any subculture on the verge of gaining wider popularity, purists scoff at what they see as the commodification of their beloved pastime.
然而正如任何即將流行的次文化，純粹主義者對他們心愛的這種消遣活動商品化的現象嗤之以鼻。

Many gym owners say they encourage their members to practice parkour inside and outside. And there are signs that even some hard-core parkour enthusiasts have taken to the indoors.
許多健身房業者表示，他們鼓勵會員在室內與戶外都練跑酷。跡象顯示，有些死硬派的愛好者也已轉入室內。

In June, New York hosted the seventh annual PKNY Jam, a weekend-long event that brings together enthusiasts from across the country. This year, for the first time, it also included an indoor session at Bklyn Beast.
今年六月，紐約主辦第7屆年度PKNY Jam。這項整個周末的活動吸引全美各地跑酷愛好者參加。今年還首次包括在「布魯克林野獸」舉辦一項室內講習。

Beyond the gyms, groups are looking to capitalize on the trend. Red Bull started an annual freerunning contest in 2007. Video games like Assassin’s Creed and Infamous feature characters performing parkour tricks.
除了健身房，一些組織也試圖趁這股流行搭順風車。2007年，紅牛能量飲料公司主辦一項年度自由奔跑賽，電視遊戲「刺客教條」與「惡名昭彰」的主角則表演跑酷的花招。

On a recent afternoon spent vaulting over chin-up bars in a Lower Manhattan park, Vanya Prokopovich, a 20-year-old lab technician from Ann Arbor, Michigan, extolled outdoor parkour.
最近某個下午，來自密西根州安娜堡的20歲實驗室技師普洛科波維奇在曼哈坦一座公園裡，用單槓練引體向上。他讚美戶外跑酷。

“You feel free, and you feel such happiness,” he said. Then he added: “You just have to be close to the concrete. Inside, it doesn’t feel as natural.”
他說：「你覺得自由自在，非常快樂。」他接著又說：「你只要接近混凝土就可以。室內缺少那種自然的感覺。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/sports/parkour-a-pastime-born-on-the-streets-moves-indoors-and-uptown.html

Slideshow：Parkour Gyms Grow in Popularity
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/08/09/sports/Parkour.html

Video：Parkour Heads Indoors: Parkour is a sport that originated in urban outdoor spaces. But gyms like Bklyn Beast have begun offering indoor parkour training for those looking to expand beyond the streets.
http://nyti.ms/18flLyy

2013-09-10聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版上