怪谈

谁能想到，当曼联球迷还在畅想新赛季继续保持在联赛前列时，现实立刻浇上了一盆冷水！北京时间8月22日19点30分，26-27赛季英超第1轮，曼联客场挑战升班马赫尔城，结果遭遇0-2爆冷开门黑，队史首次在顶级联赛首轮比赛输给升班马球队！一边是今夏大力引援补强阵容，向着更高联赛排名全力进发的英超豪门曼联。另一边是时隔9年重返英超，首要目标立足保级的英冠升班马赫尔城。    London, Oct 18 (UNI) "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" by Sri Lankan Shehan Karunatilaka, a supernatural satire set amid a murderous civil war in the island nation, has won the Booker Prize.

The novel is about a photographer who wakes up dead, with a week to ask his friends to find his photos and expose the brutality of war, BBC and other media reported.

Camilla, the Queen Consort, presented the prize, and the author said it had been "an honour and a privilege" to be on the shortlist.

Karunatilaka said as he accepted his prize: "My hope is that in the not too distant future... Sri Lanka has understood that these ideas of corruption and race-baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work."

The writer said he decided in 2009 to write "a ghost story where the dead could offer their perspective" after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, "when there was a raging debate over how many civilians died and whose fault it was".

"I hope it's in print in 10 years... if it is, I hope it's written in a Sri Lanka that learns from its stories, and that Seven Moons will be in the fantasy section of the bookshop, next to the dragons, the unicorns and will not be mistaken for realism or political satire," the BBC reported

He added that he had "self-censored" a couple of short stories after author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in August, having faced years of death threats for his novel "The Satanic Verses", which some Muslims see as blasphemous.

"I was in the process of publishing a collection of short stories when this incident happened, and I discovered a couple which I don't think was offensive to any religion," Karunatilaka said.

"But my wife said, can you not do that? You've got two young kids. This story is not that good. Just leave it out."

He added that "this is something that hangs over all of us if we're writing in South Asia, especially writing about politics or religion", the BBC said.

Head judge Neil MacGregor praised the "scope and the skill, the daring, the audacity and hilarity" of the novel, calling it an "afterlife noir" which "takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey through life and death".

He said the judges' decision had been unanimous, adding all of the shortlisted books were "all really about one question, and that is what's the point of an individual life?"

The prestigious £50,000 prize, for a single work of fiction published in the UK in English, also gives the other five writers on the shortlist £2,500 each.

"The Seven Moons of Maali" is Karunatilaka's second novel, having previously won awards including the Commonwealth Book Prize for his debut book Chinaman, which was called the "second best cricket book of all time" by cricketers' almanac Wisden.

Born in 1975, the writer has also worked as an advertising copywriter, and his songs, scripts and stories have been published in Rolling Stone, GQ and National Geographic.

MacGregor, a former director of London's National Gallery and the British Museum, added that the judges read all 170 books put forward for the prize, then whittled them down to 30. They then re-read those, before deciding on the final six, which they read for a third time, the report said.

The other nominees were: "Glory" by NoViolet Bulawayo, "The Trees" by Percival Everett, "Treacle Walker" by Alan Garner, "Small Things Like These" by Claire Keegan and "Oh William!" by Elizabeth Strout.

The Booker-winning novel tells the story of the photographer of its title, who in 1990 wakes up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. With no idea who killed him, Maali has seven moons to contact the people he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos of civil war atrocities that will rock Sri Lanka, the Daily Mirror reported.

The judges were unanimous in their decision to award the prize to Karunatilaka, according to the chair.

Receiving his prize, Karunatilaka addressed the people of Sri Lanka in Tamil and Sinhalese. He summarised what he said in English: “I write these books for you… Let’s keep sharing these stories.”

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is published by the independent press Sort of Books. This year is the first time a book by the publisher has been longlisted for the prize.

Karunatilaka has become the second Sri Lankan-born author to win, following Michael Ondaatje, who won in 1992 with "The English Patient".

In his Guardian review, Tomiwa Owolade said the book’s “scenarios are often absurd … but executed with a humour and pathos that ground the reader”. He added: “Karunatilaka has done artistic justice to a terrible period in his country’s history.”

Karunatilaka, was born in Galle, Sri Lanka, in 1975 and grew up in Colombo.

UNI MR。

二 | 两队实力与目标的鸿沟一目了然，曼联全队总身价8.7 亿欧元，赫尔城为1.4亿欧元，约为对手的6.2倍，纸面差距十分悬殊。可足球赛场从无绝对定论，赫尔城用极致的防守韧性和高效的把握机会能力取得开门红！赫尔城的战术布置十分清晰，球队立足稳守反击，专注巩固后防线，利用身体对抗和高强度拼抢限制曼联的进攻推进。

三 | 同时，他们精准抓住了曼联防守端的最大漏洞：定位球防守！第17分钟，赫尔城角球进攻，麦克布涅射门被拉门斯扑出后击中立柱，阿贾伊跟进得分，赫尔城1-0领先！有意思的是，慢镜头回放显示，这次防守曼联后卫马奎尔竟然抱住了队友马兹拉维，导致阿贾伊近距离攻门，踢进赫尔城新赛季英超首粒进球。前赫尔城后卫马奎尔：曼联球衣穿在身，我心仍是赫尔城！来到第38分钟，赫尔城获得任意球机会，斯莱特将球开出，诺贝尔-门迪头球破门，将比分改写为2‑0！两粒进球全部来自对方后卫，曼联定位球防守的顽疾再度暴露，禁区盯人混乱、二点保护缺失，给了对手轻松得分的机会。下半场卡里克做出调整，拉什福德替补登场完成回归首秀，两名表现平平的中场新援桑托斯、蒂莱曼斯也被替换下场，曼联试图压上围攻。然而，面对赫尔城收缩的五后卫铁桶阵，曼联真没多少进攻办法，不断发起传中和远射，全场多达21脚射门却仅有5次射正！尤其单箭头库尼亚状态低迷，反倒是司职后卫的马奎尔试图为球队打开局面，全场交出2射1正，2次过人全部成功，送出2次关键传球。谁能料到，两百斤的英格兰大理石居然在场上整起了边路内切射门，也是活久见了！全场战罢，曼联客场0-2爆冷不敌赫尔城，卡里克转正后的首场正式比赛失利，遭遇新赛季英超开门黑！赫尔城52年来首次在联赛击败曼联，上一次还是在1974年，魔鬼筋肉人在东南亚打自由搏击。与此同时，曼联创造了一项尴尬纪录：自进入英超时代后，首次连续两个赛季在联赛首轮输球！无独有偶，上上个赛季的保级兄弟热刺也遭遇了英超开门黑，客场0-3惨败不敌布伦特福德，曼联同积0分位列第18，热刺紧随其后排在第19！从赛后统计来看，曼联各项数据均占优最终却输掉了比赛，英超首战暴露出多重隐患：定位球防守漏洞依然没有得到解决，新援尚未磨合到位，面对密集防守缺少高效攻坚手段。赫尔城门将措拉基斯发挥稳健，贡献5次成功扑救，当选全场最佳球员。

四 | 谁能想到，新赛季英超的前两场比赛，两名希腊球员闪耀全场！一场开门黑，显然不能直接定义球队整个赛季的前景。但这场爆冷不敌升班马足够敲响警钟，场面占优并不等于胜利，如何解决定位球防守、盘活中场、阵地战攻坚，是卡里克接下来必须解决的问题。赫尔城首战击败曼联，再度印证了英超无弱旅，就算是升班马也可以凭借顽强的执行力击败豪门球队！对于曼联0-2爆冷不敌赫尔城，球迷们有何看法呢？