Asked for a signature to embellish the dressing room wall of the Arsenal Hub, the brand new community centre which has been built to support local folk, Francis Coquelin does not just grab the pen for a quick scribble. He thinks for amoment. He wants his message to be meaningful. He begins writing, carefully and neatly. The sentiment is absolutely him: “The most important thing in life isto never GIVE UP.”
当被要求在阿森纳新成立的社区中心写上几句时，科克林并不敷衍。他认真想了一会儿，希望自己的话是有意义的。然后他开始写，仔细而整齐，而他的话绝对是他的真实写照：“生命中最重要的事是永不放弃！”

If anybody at Arsenal embodies that impulse, it is this persistent Frenchman. Ever since he arrived at the club as a 17-year-old on a week’s trial, and felt the inimitable wrath of Jens Lehmann when he did not understand someone behind him yelling: “Keeeeper!” and kicked the ball away before th egoalie could grab it, the pathway has been demanding. Coquelin has faced challenges that might have provoked more fragile characters to throw in the towel. He is no giver-upper, however, whatever the circumstances.
在破厂，要选谁是“永不放弃”的代表，法国人当之无愧。从他17岁初次来阿森纳试训一周时，他就感到这股斗志——他记得试训时，有人在他身后对着莱曼喊“抓住”，而他将球踢飞使莱曼根本抓不到，莱曼暴怒的样子，这时“永不放弃”就植入了他的内心。科克兰面对的艰难和挑战，会使无数性格脆弱者折腰，但他没有放弃，永远向上，无管处于何种境地。
PS：红字部分理解不了，请英文帝来纠正。

Since returning to the Arsenal line up as an emergency option to cover for a spate of midfield injuries, Coquelin has become the surprise answer to the balance question which had nagged for years. His expert interpretation of the Claude Makelele role has underpinned a progressive 2015 that has the clubeyeing second place in the Premier League and the FA Cup final. The way he sees it, it is all about the blend between his interceptions and Santi Cazorla,Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez’s creations. “If I can take away 10% of theirdefensive duties then they can have 10% more to attack and score goals and winus the game and I’m delighted,” he says of the team’s improved equilibrium.
自从因为破厂伤病不断而回归破厂后，科克兰意外地解决破厂平衡问题，成为破解阿森纳这几年腰无力的“正确答案”。他成为破厂的马克莱莱，支撑着破厂在2015年一路高歌，现在破厂的目标是联赛第二以及足总杯卫冕。他的踢球方式，就是拦截，抢下球权，为三弟、272和374这帮创意型球员提供后勤保障，“如果他们少去10%的防守责任，那就多了10%的进攻能量，这样就能得分，赢下比赛，我也会很高兴。”他说球队的防攻平衡已经改善许多。

“I remember Zidane and a lot of great players saying when you took out Makelele you took out the heart of their team,” Coquelin explains. “I think players who play this position don’t want the spotlight. They like to do their job and then they leave the bling-bling for other players.”
“我记得齐丹和许多伟大的球员说过，如果把马克莱莱拿走，就等于球队少了心脏。”科克兰解释说。“我想，打这个位置的球员并不想着在球场上高光，他们热爱自己的工作，他们成就了其他球员的星光闪耀。”

This status, as a vital player, has been a long time coming. Perhaps he just likes being fashionably late. He only came to football at around 10 years old. Before that his grandmother took him to judo and he was keen on tennis. “I couldn’t serve properly and I remember we had a tournament and at thesemi-final this guy beat me. It was the first game I lost and I stopped.” He went off tennis abruptly. A friend told him to come and join his football team,so Coquelin gave it a try, just for fun.
科克兰主力地位的确立，来得有点迟了，也许他真是个大器晚成的球员。他在10岁左右才开始足球生涯。之前，他的祖母带他去练柔道，而他自己喜欢网球“我记得参加了一个巡回赛，在半决赛输了。这是我第一场失利，然后我就不打了。”他中止了自己的网球生涯。一个朋友叫他来参加他的足球队，然后科克兰去了，试了试发现还蛮有趣的。

He returned to Laval without great expectations. “I had missed a week ofschool and everyone was asking how it was at Arsenal. I was in my class and myphone rang and I looked at it. It was some weird number +44. I couldn’t answerthe phone so they left a voicemail. It was the boss. In France he used to dothe commentating on TV so obviously everyone knows his voice. I was listening:‘Hello, Francis, how are you?’” Coquelin passed the phone to his amazed school friends.
他回到拉瓦勒，并没有抱很大希望：“我缺了一周的课，每个人都来问我阿森纳怎么样。当我在上课时手机响了，我看了一下，是个很怪的号码+44，我没有接，然后对方就留了一条语音信息。那是温格的声音，在法国他经常去电视台担任评论嘉宾，每个人都认得他的声音，我听到他说：‘你好，弗朗西斯科。’”科克兰把这条语音信息给所有的小伙伴们听了一圈。

His loans were character building. In particular, a spell with Freiburglast season tested him to the limits. “Very tough,” he says, exhaling. “Ididn’t get on with the manager, I was played out of position all season, leftwing or right wing.”
他的租借之路也不顺遂，特别是上个赛季他在弗赖堡的租借，限制了他的表现。“真的很难，”他吐了口气说“我和主帅相处不洽，我打在不擅长的位置上，左边锋或右边锋。

The manager, Christian Streich, seemed down on him from day one. “I went many times to his office and said: ‘You know what? I am not asking a lot, I amjust asking give me one game in the middle of the park, so you can see what Ican do. Then if you are not happy with me, play someone else in that position.’He never gave me that opportunity.”
弗赖堡的主帅，斯特莱希斯，似乎从第一天起就看不上他。“我去了他的办公室好几次，说‘你知道，我不要求许多，我只请求你给一次机会，让我在场上打中路，这样你可以看到我的能力。如果你感觉我打中路不好，那你再让其它人打这个位置。’他从来没有给过我这次机会。”

Coming back from the mid-season break, things got worse. “We played friendly games and I was always a sub. The last game of the friendlies they were losing 5-0 at half-time against a German second division club. I came on,we scored, and lost 5-1. We had a meeting after, the whole group, and he didn’t say a word about the team who were losing 5-0, it was all about me. I went to see him and asked to go back to Arsenal. He said: ‘No, we are counting on you.’Then I played zero games.”
冬歇期回来，事情变得更糟了，“我们打友谊赛，我总是替补，最后一场友谊赛他们对阵一支德乙球队，输了个5-0，我上场后他们进球了，结果是5-1。赛后我们开了一个会，他没有批评任何一个输了5-0的球员，而是批评了我的表现。会后我去见主师，要求回阿森纳，他说，‘不行，我们还指望着你帮助球队呢’，但后来我一场比赛也没打上。”

Isolated, in a different country, frustrated by a manager who seemed tobait him and not playing, he dealt with the situation with personal resilience.Rather than breaking his spirit, the experience merely strengthened hisresolve. “Mentally it was tough. Then one day I woke up and realised: ‘OK, I amnot going to play. Now I am training to be ready for next season at Arsenal.’”
孤独，异乡，偏心的主帅，无法上场的痛苦，使科克兰面对艰难的处境显得十分有韧性。相较于他运动生涯的停滞，这种职业经验增强了他的阅历：“精神是痛苦的，有一天我醒来，意识到‘是的，我不为比赛作准备，现在我开始为下个赛季回阿森纳作准备。’”

A new contract and some standout moments in his whirlwind past few months symbolise how significant he has become to Arsenal. “It was nice to go back to Old Trafford,” he grins, having played his part in a victory in the FA Cup. “A big one isprobably Man City because people were thinking: ‘You’re going in with Coquelinin midfield? Against Man City? You’re going to get smashed.’ And we won 2-0.”
新合约和好评如潮的几个月标志着他在俱乐部的成功：“再次来到OT，感觉不错”他笑了，在那里他们足总杯淘汰了曼联，而他，是其中的一员“打曼城的比赛是个转折，人们想‘你准备让科克林打主力后腰？对阵曼城？你们会被横扫的。’但我们赢了个2-0。”

Since then he has performed with admirable regularity. Arsenal’s recent run makes him feel they are getting close to a serious assault on the PremierLeague. “After what we’ve done in 2015 we will be aiming, next season, to fight for the title. I think there was a point where big players were leaving theclub and it didn’t look attractive to the top players. And then I think signing Santi was the first step. I remember his first training session. Everyone knew:this one is from another planet. If you’re someone who doesn’t love football,you will love it after looking at him. And Mesut was a turning point. The very top players want to come to Arsenal because they can see the team is strong.”
自从他受到好评，开始常规首发后，破厂近来的成绩让他们相信，球队有能力冲击联赛冠军：“2015的胜利会让我们定下目标，下个赛季，我们要争冠。以前破厂最好的球星想离开球队，而球队也没有能力吸引顶级球员，这是一个问题，而现在不同了。我想签入三弟是第一步，我记得他的第一次训练课，每个人都看到了：这个人来自外星球。如果有人不是球迷，看了他的表现，就会喜欢足球喜欢上三弟。而272是破厂的转折点，这个级别的球星希望加入球队，因为他们看到了球队强大之处。”

All the stronger for the boy from Laval who never gave up.
来自Laval永不放弃的男孩将越来越强大。
（完）