The article in Der Spiegel trashes numerous aspects about the Games, from the 'clattering³' Tube system that will transport most spectators to Olympic venues⁴ to pavements that are 'too narrow' and a passport control situation at Heathrow bordering on chaotic⁵.

 

'London and the Olympic Games are clearly not made for each other,' it said.

 

'Visitors will need determination and, most of all, patience to reach the venues at all. And, for the locals, it all can't end soon enough.'

 

The article claims that the Olympics, which will run from July 27 to August 12, will be an 'arduous⁶（努力的） obstacle course for everyone'.

 

'Starting this week, the world's biggest financial centre will be gripped by a special condition usually only seen in wartime,' it reads.

 

'Its 7.8million inhabitants are about to be joined by an average of 1million additional visitors per day.

 

'The already overloaded⁷ public-transportation system will be burdened with an additional 3 million fares per day.

 

'A total of 109 miles of the city's streets will be closed off to normal traffic.

 

'Almost twice as many soldiers as Britain has in Afghanistan, a helicopter carrier and special forces units armed to the teeth will make the city look like it's under siege.'

 

The Germans, whose last efforts at hosting the Olympic Games saw Israeli athletes murdered in Munich in a security fiasco in 1972, then criticise⁸ an aspect beyond our control - the weather.

 

It reads: 'And then there's England's classic bad weather, which has some wondering whether the Summer Games will turn into a fiasco.

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