“板桥杯”青年翻译竞赛作为专业的军事翻译赛事，自2008年至今已成功举办了十五届，吸引了一大批优秀青年翻译人才的积极参与。为适应军事翻译的新形势新变化，瞄准培养和储备具有国际视野的高素质、专业化新型军事翻译人才，第十六届“板桥杯”青年翻译竞赛定于2024年4月份举行。本届大赛由江苏省翻译协会主办，国防科技大学外国语学院承办。比赛不收取任何参赛费用。
第十六届“板桥杯”（Bambridge）青年翻译竞赛分笔译和口译两项子赛事。具体参赛规则如下：
第一部分 笔译比赛
军事、外交、政治和国际关系等题材的文章，形式为英译汉。笔译参赛原文：参赛人员请登陆江苏省翻译协会网站下载、查看通知附件或相关微信公众号。1.参赛译文需用电脑A4纸宋体小四号打印。译文正文内请勿书写译者姓名或透露任何有关译者的个人信息。2.参赛译文请将报名表作为封面，写清参赛者的姓名、性别、出生年月、工作（学习）单位、联系电话和地址，参赛译文需邮寄纸质版到指定地址（南京市雨花区板桥街道国防科技大学外国语学院军事翻译教研室，郭老师 收，邮编：210039）。3.同时将译文电子稿发送至竞赛专用邮箱：guoqiong@nudt.edu.cn，主题以姓名+译文题名标注。4.参赛译文须独立完成，杜绝抄袭现象。一经发现，将取消参赛资格。奖项设置：笔译比赛设特等奖四名，一等奖十二名，二等奖二十名，三等奖若干名，并设优秀指导教师奖。颁奖典礼：本届竞赛颁奖典礼将于2024年10月下旬（具体时间待通知）在国防科技大学外国语学院教学楼军事外交模拟中心举行，笔译获奖证书将通过邮寄或邮件方式发放，获奖人员将受邀参加颁奖典礼。截止日期：2024年7月14日（参赛译文投递截止日期以寄出邮戳为准）。投寄（挂号）地址：南京市雨花区板桥街道国防科技大学外国语学院军事翻译教研室
郭老师 收 邮编：210039
（请在信封上注明：“参赛译文”字样，只接受邮局投递和EMS。）
笔译竞赛原文：
The Ostrich Complex and Leadership in Crisis
Concepts of effective leadership during crises are generally understood but often difficult to execute. Difficulty in concept execution results from the significant effort that is required of a commander to impose his or her mental acuity and will in order to solve a particular problem and to ensure mission success. On the fault lines of modern-day conflict, there are various knowledge management processes for commanders and other leaders. These processes are fed by information management systems that are designed to assist commanders and staff by providing a structure for them to process and communicate relevant information and make decisions. Despite these processes, unexplained disruptions in their flow have led to leadership and operational setbacks; these disruptions can be categorized as examples of the “ostrich complex.” The ostrich complex is defined as the disruption of a decision-makers knowledge management processes that results in a paralysis of active leadership or state of inertia, with a subsequent distinct negative effect on the outcome of a specific operation. This complex, therefore, requires early identification and mitigation in order to prevent systematic failures.
The utilization of ostrich-related themes and terminology in both professional and popular culture is tied primarily to the unscientific belief that ostriches, as big and powerful as they are, bury their heads in the sand in order to hide themselves from perceived danger. On the contrary, ostriches bury their eggs in the sand and routinely lower their heads to check on them, thereby giving the impression that their small heads have totally disappeared. Scientific realities aside, the description has firmly embedded itself in the collective lexicon as a synonym for the either deliberate or unexplained hiding from one’s fears or perceptions. In the legal profession, it is known as the “ostrich instruction,” which refers to a defense’s concept of a client’s willful “blindness.” In both the financial and health-care sectors, it is the ostrich effect, and in international relations, it is the ostrich doctrine. However, all variations across the disciplines are tied to the concept of avoidance and the individual or collective complexes built upon the foundation of fear.
Carl Gustav Jung posited that a “complex” is a system of interrelated, usually repressed, emotionally charged ideas, feelings, memories, and impulses, that if allowed avenues to vent, can disrupt the normal links in the human consciousness; and as a result, the intentions of the will are impeded or made impossible. Feelings of self-doubt, confusion, fear, ambition, willful ignorance, and the consequence of accountability are ever present as part of the human condition, and all of these feelings encompass possible complexes. The commander and staff who experience the ostrich complex therefore become mentally burdened. Subsequently, their ability to rapidly and accurately portray the meaning and the necessary level of information that helps the commander maintain situational understanding and update their visualization is paralyzed. This ostrich-type behavior will continue to the detriment of their unit unless the commander is able to fight through the emotional white noise and make a balanced decision.
War is a fundamental unchanging human endeavor that violently pits opposing forces against each other as a result of “fear, honor, and the pursuit of interest.” Within this construct, commanders and staffs of opposing forces play a high-stakes cognitive chess game in which each searches for an advantage that will enhance their own probability of success. Carl von Clausewitz posited that “if the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle, two qualities are indispensable, coup d’oeil or an intellect that even in the darkest hour retains some glimmerings of an inner light and second is determination.” However, what happens when our processes are disrupted by the ostrich complex and the light fades?
In the modern-day multi-domain battlespace, there has been an exponential increase in information available to commanders compared to the battlefields of World War II. There is now a virtual torrent of data gathered from a plethora of sensors that feed nonstop information for enhanced situational awareness into various information management systems. This proliferation of mass data has served to paralyze commanders on both sides of the leadership coin. There is the danger of too much available data, but paradoxically, the existence of that data also compels commanders and staffs to seek out more data in order to enhance their visualization and battlespace management. This constant search for enhanced situational awareness by commanders and staffs leads to leadership paralysis as a consequence of simply having too many choices. In order to prevent cognitive overload, effective network management is therefore key to filtering the torrent of raw data into a steady stream of manageable information.
On 21 February 2010, during Operation Enduring Freedom, a seemingly routine cordon and search mission involving multiple sensors, weapons systems, and supported by personnel across continents, unfolded in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. An official investigation launched in the aftermath of the incident outlined the following in the official report:
On 21 February 2010, up to 23 local Afghan nationals were killed and 12 others injured when the convoy they were travelling in was mistaken for an insurgent force and engaged with air to ground fire ... initial observations appeared to indicate a threat force. The ODA commander on the ground displayed tactical patience in letting the situation develop over several hours before the engagement. The time brought by that patience was however wasted because of the Predator crew’s inaccurate reporting and the failure of both command posts to properly analyze the situation and provide control, insights, analysis or options to the ODA commander ... The tragic loss of life was further compounded by a failure of the commands involved to timely report the incident.
Evidently the Predator flight crew reportedly ignored or downplayed information outlining that the convoy was anything other than an attacking force. However, the information provided was supposed to have been vetted through multiple knowledge management systems at other headquarters where commanders were supposed to complete a long checklist before authorizing an attack. In this instance, the false confidence generated by an overreliance on the various sensors and systems and imbued with the commanders’ own complexes and biases provided false situational awareness. This false positive thereby facilitated an example of the ostrich complex where the commanders’ “misperception and misinterpretation of the data” caused a paralysis of leadership and led to the unfortunate loss of life.
In the modern-day battlespace, the art of command requires leaders to acknowledge and manage greater expectations in exercising authority and accepting greater responsibility for their organizations. With that greater expectation and authority, there is also an increasing torrent of data, gathered from an ever increasing number of sensors. There are various knowledge management processes designed to assist commanders and staff by providing them with an enhanced cognitive and situational advantage. However, the ostrich complex disrupts these processes, forcing designated commanders to retreat into their own consciousness and take a proverbial knee. This pause can be optimal under stressful conditions in order for the commander to check the “eggs” and seek clarity. However, the complex has to be quickly identified and mitigated in order to prevent commanders from burying their decisions further into the sand to the detriment of the mission.
本届口译竞赛形式为对话口译（中英交替传译），参赛对象以邀请赛方式进行。2.受邀参加的江苏地区高校青年学生（年龄为40周岁以下），以邀请函为准。1.每所院校限报两名参赛选手，各院校负责组织本校的初选工作。2.拟报名参赛的选手需要在截止日期前将参赛报名表寄回，写清参赛者的姓名、性别、出生年月、工作（学习）单位、联系电话和地址。奖项设置：口译比赛设特等奖二名，一等奖四名，二等奖六名，三等奖若干名，并设优秀指导教师奖。比赛时间及颁奖典礼：本届口译竞赛将于2024年10月下旬（具体时间待通知）颁奖典礼之前在国防科技大学外国语学院教学楼军事外交模拟中心举行，比赛结束后当场颁奖。
报名截止日期：2024年7月14日（投递截止日期以寄出邮戳为准）。
投寄（挂号）地址：南京市雨花区板桥街道国防科技大学外国语学院国际军事合作教研室（请在信封上注明：“口译报名”字样，只接受邮局投递和EMS。）
