Yao Ming: New Center Style
“你怎么就知道我明年來就不是狀元秀了呢?”
——2001 年隨國家隊(duì)赴達(dá)拉斯集訓(xùn),有記者問及“今年參加選秀有可能是狀元,沒參
加是否遺憾”時(shí)如是說?!?br />
“什么時(shí)候他們能把中文講得那樣好我們就厲害了!”
——在更衣室采訪的時(shí)候親耳聽見科比夸贊他英語好,大姚卻輕嘆一口氣。
這就是姚明。
If 20 years ago you asked the average American basketball fan if a Chinese man could play center for an NBA team, his answer might have sounded something like this: “Ha ha. No, he’d be too short!” But now, the doubters are silent. Who closed their mouths? Houston Rockets, 2.26-meter-tall center Yao Ming, from China. Yao Ming grew up in a family of basketball players. When he was 12, Yao Ming started going to an athletics academy outside of Shanghai and later spent a lot of time studying NBA games televised in China. All this has paid off. Yao’s first NBA honor was his ranking as number-one draft pick, and he’s been elected for a Rookie-of-the-Month award. Yao Ming has a style different from those of tall centers in the past. He rarely goes for the flashy slams. He’d rather show off his silk-smooth free-throw shots, or use his height to pop in jump shots from the three-point line.
[注釋]:
doubter: 持懷疑態(tài)度的人
athletics: activities, such as sports, exercises, and games, that require physical skill 體育運(yùn)動(dòng)
academy: 學(xué)院
televise: to broadcast or be broadcast by television (電視)播放
pay off:還清,贏利
ranking: of the highest rank 排名
draft: a system in which the exclusive rights to new players are distributed among professional
teams (美國)職業(yè)運(yùn)動(dòng)的選秀
pick: the act of selecting or choosing; choice 挑選
rookie: a first-year player, especially in a professional sport 新秀選手
flashy: cheap and showy; gaudy 花哨的,華麗的
slam: to hit something with force; crash 灌籃
show off:炫耀
pop in:投入