美国《体育画报》姚明是位文雅的天才英语美文

　　在第3个赛季，人们对姚明的批评不绝于耳，但这位谦谦君子宁肯用自己的努力和赛场上的表现来回答，而不是其他的什么。

　　Yao Ming might be a gentle giant, but he is slowly learning the rough-and-tumble ways of the NBA.

　　国际在线报道：美国《体育画报》3月2日发表文章说，在第3个赛季，人们对姚明的批评不绝于耳，但这位谦谦君子宁肯用自己的努力和赛场上的表现来回答，而不是其他的什么。

　　文章说，进入第3个赛季，人们对于姚明能否在如此受关注的情况下达到人们的期望仍持怀疑态度。尽管他在许多方面有了进步，也参加了3次全明星赛，但人们对他的嘲讽却要多于里克·史密斯、奥尼尔和哈基姆·奥拉朱旺。姚明也许是一位文雅的天才，对NBA司空见惯的口水战领会“迟钝”。在面对这些批评时，姚明还是那么地友善，他只会说类似于这样的话——“不要在背后滴嘀咕咕，你们美国人不能关注点别的吗?”然后他会说：“我所能做的就是改进，我以前学习到的篮球理论和这里不太一样。”

　　如果姚明是一名普通的球员的话，那他的表现已无可挑剔，职业生涯平均得分18.6分，篮板8.3个，盖帽1.89个，排名联盟第11位。但现实是，这位中国的天才被认为是联盟的四大中锋之一。火箭队主教练范甘迪对媒体抱怨，说那些批评姚明的人根本就不了解他。他说：“姚明目前正处于一个很自然的阶段，那就是人们更多地谈论他的不足，而不是他的优点。他平均上场时间为31分，有18分和8个篮板的表现，更重要的.是，他是一个打球无私的队员。”

　　也许姚明的一部分问题在于联盟中的其他年轻球星，如詹姆斯、韦德和斯塔德迈尔等都很快融入了联盟，进步也非常神速，而姚明的进步却显出不足。最近，姚明自己也表示对自己的进步感到不满意，在到了芝加哥后他对记者说：“斯塔德迈尔的进步太让人惊讶了，他投篮是那么地轻松，我不知道他是怎么做到的。上一赛季，我只要贴身防守就行了，可现在他能够跳投或突破上篮，要防守他就很困难了。”

　　虽然姚明的局限性是真实存在的：功守转换慢，传接球容易受到压制，犯规次数过多过早，缺乏控制篮板的意识等等，虽然范甘迪也知道其中的一些指责并非空穴来风，但他始终认为这就是一个队员的两面性，也是一个队员能力平衡所在。他说：“他(姚明)最大的优点就在于他有能力将球放进篮框内。他并不是一个天生的篮板王，那不是他的特长。他是在进步，但对于他来说，要转变一些东西确实不容易。再说，一些其他人的进步并不能说明他不能达到人们预先的期望。他在进步，在为球队而进步，为自己进步。”

　　姚明意识到了自己的不足，对于他来说，要在NBA占有统治地位也许比较困难，作为一位22岁的年轻人来到一个完全陌生的国家打球，他甚至还不能讲当地的语言，他需要更多适应的时间。姚明仍然很年轻，火箭队也度过了赛季开始的困难时期，队中的多名队员的合同也将持续到下一赛季，火箭队仍然有机会发生完全的化学反应，取得更好的成绩。

　　Yao Ming might be a gentle giant, but he is slowly learning the rough-and-tumble ways of the NBA. Earlier this season, the 7-foot-6 Rockets center even engaged in a little friendly trash-talking with Bulls forward Tyson Chandler. "He told me he was going to make me swallow my mouthpiece," Chandler said.

　　If only Yao could do the same to his critics. Now in his third season, the former No. 1 overall pick still hears whispers that he hasn"t lived up to the hype. Despite solid progress in many areas of the game and three All-Star trips, Yao still is scoffed at by many for being more Rik Smits than Shaquille O"Neal or Hakeem Olajuwon.

　　"All I can do is try to prove myself," he says. "I"ve learned that my method of playing basketball is a little different from how it"s done over here."

　　As usual, Yao is being too nice. What he should say is something like: Get off my back! I"m only 24 years old! Can"t you Americans ever wait for anything?!

　　The reality is that while Yao might not be dominating the NBA, he is doing just fine by most reasonable standards. As of Wednesday he was averaging a career-best 18.6 points to go with 8.3 rebounds while ranking third in the NBA in field goal percentage (55.0) and 11th in blocks (1.89). While he still has many areas to improve upon, including on the backboards and in his overall aggressiveness, the Chinese phenom is generally regarded as one of the top four true centers (along with Shaq, Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas) in the league.

　　"He"s going through that natural period where people want to nitpick the very few negatives he may have instead of extolling all his positives," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy says. "And in a little over 31 minutes a game he averages 18 and 8. He comes to work every day. He"s totally selfless. Yet some want to badger the guy about whatever perceived shortcomings he has. I find that unfortunate because if they spent half the time looking at all his positives it would be a much better story."

　　Part of the problem for Yao is that other young NBA stars such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire have been able to come into the league and show more dramatic progress right away. It has made Yao"s development seem almost snail-like in comparison, especially as those players fill the SportsCenter highlights on a nightly basis while Yao plods along in more of a supporting role to Tracy McGrady.

　　Even Yao recently came out and said he wasn"t satisfied with his development. After his team"s shootaround Tuesday in Chicago he marveled at the improvement shown by Stoudemire, who edged him for Rookie of the Year honors in "03. "He can really shoot easier now," Yao says. "He can shoot it from 17-18 feet. I don"t know how he did it. ... When I played against him last year, on defense I just sagged back all the way to paint. This year you have to come out to contest his long-range jump shot and defend his penetration. It"s much harder."(：夏根建)

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