They do not speak German, French and Italian at the obsessively gray stadium in the swamplands. The sections are not divided into cantons (not a bad idea, actually). And the stadium is not a repository for international bank accounts — unless one counts the personal seat license money the patrons will fork over for the privilege of buying tickets.

他们不会说德语、法语和意大利语，在这个吸引人的灰色体育馆里。场地区间也没有分州别国别（实际上那也不是什么坏主意）。这体育馆也不象是国际银行账号的资料库——除非某人要计算那些赞助人会为购票优先权而不顾斯文的专用座位牌照费。[这段感觉不太对？]

But in one important way, the new place does resemble a certain nation known for its neutrality.

但是在一个重要的方面是，新的地方确实类似个中立国。

“We need to be Switzerland,” said Mark Lamping, the president of what is still — lacking a corporation willing to spring for naming rights — New Meadowlands Stadium.

我们需要象瑞士，马克-兰平说，新草地体育馆——看起来缺乏企业命名权意愿——主席。

Management has been careful to please both tenants, who on Monday night held the first football game ever played here, a 31-16 victory by the Giants over the Jets in their intentionally neutral shared stadium.

管理层已经十分小心地去安抚两个住客：周一，他们在他们的国际中立共享的场所举行了有史以来的第一次美式足球赛，巨人队以31-16胜喷气机队。

Preseason exhibitions are mostly uninteresting, but this one saw Eli Manning, the Giants quarterback, leave in the second period with a bloody cut on his forehead that required 12 stitches. Later, Victor Cruz, a rookie from Massachusetts, caught three touchdown passes, giving fans something to remember of this first football game in the new place.

季前表演赛通常没什么意思，但这次看到了艾里-曼宁，巨人队的四分卫在第二局前额流血离场，共缝了12针。然后，维克多-克鲁，来自曼城的新丁，接了三个触地传球，多少给球迷在新的地方的第一场球带来一点记忆。

Just like a color war at some lakeside summer camp, the two sides imported their green vs. red-and-blue wills on the intentionally neutral backdrop.

就象一些地方的湖边露营的色彩战，两军在这个国际性中立的背景下，已经导入了他们的“绿”对“红-兰”的意志。

The stadium, which cost $1.6 billion, replaces the perfectly fine Giants Stadium where the Jets were tenants for more than a quarter of a century. In the name of more luxury boxes, and greater presence for the Jets, the teams agreed to share the new stadium with its eventual corporate logo.

用这个价值1.6亿的体育馆，取代喷气机队客居过了超过1/4世纪的超完美的巨人体育馆。以豪华的名义，以及更好地代表喷气机队，两军协议，一起分享这个用了最后确立的企业标志的新体育馆。

The biggest complaint about the new place — aside from its very existence, at such a staggering cost — has been the drab grayness, as seen from the New Jersey Turnpike or Route 3 or any other artery. From the outside, its stolid grayness is more Soviet than Swiss. But modern technology takes care of some of that sameness, providing electronic backdrop for the home team. And the fans are expected to do their part.

关于这个新地方最大的抱怨：不谈它的存否，在于这样庞大的成本之下——却是一片单调的灰色，就象在新州快线，或者3号公路及其他交通主干道上看到的一样。从外表看它的迟钝的灰色调，更接近前苏而非瑞士。但现代科技为主场队提供电子背景解决了这些无差别的情况。而球迷则被期待着履行好他们的角色。

“Nothing brings life to a stadium more than the fans,” Lamping said earlier. “It should feel like the Jets’ stadium tonight,” he added.

“除了球迷，没有什么能够给体育馆带来生气，”兰平早些时候说道，“我绝对感觉得到今晚这里就是喷气机队的主场。”

He had a good point. Even in the emptiness of the new bowl three hours before game time, the end zones were a lush Jets green and so were the message strips between levels. The names of Jets’ worthies were displayed on a Ring of Honor below the upper deck.

他的观点完全正确。尽管比赛前3个小时空旷的新场地，在比赛区的尽头是耸动的喷气机队的绿色，以及层与层之间的信号旗。喷气机队的高身价成员的名字，被放置在上层舱台下的荣誉圈中间。

When a rainstorm subsided and the fans took their seats, there were plenty of Giant-blue jerseys in the crowd, somewhat reminiscent of the large Yankee contingent that ate the Mets’ lunch in old Shea Stadium in the Subway Series of 2000. In the section in front of me, there was: Sanchez 6, Taylor 56, Klecko 73, Manning 10, Strahan 92, Pennington 10, Namath 12, B. Smith 16 Chrebet 80 and Mantle 7, whoever that was.

在暴雨之后，球迷就座，人群中有非常多的巨人队球衣，象2000年地铁联赛时大洋基队坐在老西尔体育馆内吃着网队的午餐的怀旧经典。在我前面的区域，可以看到——（球迷身上的巨人队队员专属球衣）。

Lamping has seen more unanimous displays of loyalty. For more than a decade, he was president of the St. Louis Cardinals, whose fans wear red jerseys, red caps, red pants and red sneakers. This place may never approach that manic color scheme but last Tuesday, 77,000 soccer fans provided slightly more yellow Brazil shirts than red United States gear. And no doubt Giants fans will set their own tone at this place, which will house the Super Bowl in 2014.

兰平已经看到了不二的忠实表演。在过去10年多来，他曾是圣-路易丝-红雀队的主席，他们的球迷穿着红色球衣、红帽、红裤和红鞋。

A more practical concern for the fans is the traffic and parking. The delay in leaving after the soccer match last week was epic — it took me an hour just to get to a public road. But Lamping says soccer crowds arrive close to match time and leave after the final whistle, whereas football crowds come earlier and leave later, which they surely did on Monday. And for those who can’t stand traffic, a rail spur has been operating on game days since last season, a true sign that civilization has come to the Meadowlands.

The lot over the site of the demolished old stadium was finally paved Sunday night, providing another 1,000 spaces to give a total of 28,500, and Lamping said all three roads circling the new stadium would be in operation Monday night. Tailgating will be permitted, as long as people do not take over extra spaces for their grills.

While some soccer fans last week grumbled about confusing signage, crowded restrooms, and lack space in corridors and concession counters, Lamping said everything was bigger and better here.

Monday’s game was more a trial run for the stadium than for the players. Commissioner Roger Goodell has talked about cutting the number of exhibitions to two and raising the regular season to 18 games from 16 in the near future. The league does not want to totally wear down the players but it could force fanatic coaches to rest the players for a few months rather than holding sadistic mini-camps in the so-called off-season.

The fans and the two teams probably could have made do with the old place for another decade or three, but the new place will have its own legends — long before the 2014 Super Bowl, when white snow banks will surely provide the predominant color.