Pele, Ronaldinho, Garrincha -- the names of past Brazilian superstars -- roll off the tongue like a verse of great romance poetry. These monikers are not always formal names but instead are often nicknames adopted for soccer.
据《洛杉矶时报》报道，贝利、罗纳尔迪尼奥、加林查，这些曾经的巴西足坛巨星的名字，让人读起来朗朗上口，押韵地如同罗马诗句。这些名字其实不是他们的本名，而是他们为了足球取的“艺名”。
Pele, widely considered the best soccer player ever, is actually named Edson Arantes do Nascimento, after the American inventor Thomas Edison.
贝利被认为是有史以来最伟大的足球运动员，他的本名其实是埃德森·阿兰蒂斯·多·纳西门托（Edson Arantes do Nascimento），源自于美国发明家托马斯·爱迪生（Thomas Edison）。贝利曾说他之所以叫贝利，是因为其孩童时期误把巴西队守门员Bilé叫成 Pilé。朋友用贝利的口误来开他玩笑，当他到了巴鲁（巴西东南部的一城市）， Pilé就变成了 Pele（贝利），而他用这个名字代表巴西队出战了四届世界杯。“感谢守门员Bilé，也感谢我朋友的小玩笑，我成为了贝利，”他写道，“现在全世界都知道了贝利这个名字。”
Hulk, the star forward on the current Brazilian World Cup team, got his nickname because he was obsessed with the comic book character as a child. But physical attributes are often used to peg nicknames and if you take one look at Givanildo Vieira de Souza’s muscular build it’s easy to see why “Hulk” stuck.
浩克（Hulk），本届杯赛巴西阵中一员，司职前锋。他之所以叫浩克，是因为他从小痴迷于漫画人物绿巨人浩克。但是身形体格也是一个原因，当你看到吉万尼尔多·维埃拉·德·索萨（浩克的本名）结实的肌肉之后，浩克这个名字也就说的通了。
Dunga, captain of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup title team, got his nickname from the Brazilian name for Dopey, from Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” film – because of his short stature as a kid.
邓加（Dunga），以队长身份率领巴西夺得1994年世界杯冠军。而Dunga在葡萄牙语中意为Dopey，Dopey是迪士尼动画片白雪公主与七个小矮人中的迷糊鬼，邓加小时候很瘦小，因而有了这个绰号。
Garrincha (for “little bird”), who played for Brazil in three World Cups from 1958 to 1966, was given his nickname because he flew right through defenders with his dribbles.
加林查（葡萄牙语中意为小鸟），从1958年至1966年代表巴西队参战三届世界杯，他在球场上盘带过人，轻盈地如同小鸟，所以有了这个绰号。
A boy named Artur became Arturzico (little Artur), which was then abbreviated again to Zico, the famous Brazilian player of the '70s and '80s.
Arturzico缩减成zico，就是七八十年代著名的巴西球星济科的名字。
Sometimes the diminutive is not a choice. Ronaldinho used his nickname to avoid being confused with his slightly older teammate Ronaldo – they both were on Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning team.
但有些时候，缩减名字也行不通，小罗就用他的昵称 Ronaldinho 以区别另一稍比他年长的巴西球星罗纳尔多，他们于2002年一起代表巴西队出战韩日世界杯。
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