《挑戰者姚明》精講之一

文化面面觀NBA選秀是一年一度的NBA盛會，在選秀大會上，30支NBA球隊都可以挑選自己需要的新球員，這些球員通常都是來自美國國內的各所大學，但近年來越來越多的國際球員和高中畢業生參加了選秀。

影片簡介時至今日，姚明這個名字在中國恐怕已經沒有人不知道。這部電影講述的就是姚明在2002年成為NBA狀元秀后一個賽季的生活和職業生涯，讓你和主人公一起體驗在NBA的點點滴滴。

Colin: It wasnt until 1971 that Chinas attitude towards the West was visibly changed by, of all things, pingpong. Chinas surprise invitation to the American pingpong team paved the way for President Nixons historic icebreaker trip in 1972. The last thirty years has seen China change in radical ways and also cling stubbornly to the past. But now a group of pingpong balls have again become symbolically tied to the start of a new era. Each spring, the National Basketball Association conducts its draft lottery where a winning pingpong ball can change a teams destiny by granting it the first pick in the coming player draft.

Host: And the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft goes to the Houston Rockets.

Colin: The Rockets immediately made it clear that they would take Yao Ming from China. At 22 years old Yao Ming was the star of the Chinese national team and a huge gamble for the Rockets.

Charles: If I had the number one pick in the draft, I would take Caron Butler or Jay Williams.

Kenny: Well, I have to agree a lot with Charles.

Anchorperson: With the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft, the Houston Rockets select Yao Ming from Shanghai, China and the Shanghai Sharks.

Man: Yao was an unknown to many of the people in the United States. Nevertheless, Houston was using the number one pick to select him. But the extra that was added was literally being asked to carry the hopes of a nation of a billion people and that placed enormous, enormous pressure on him.

妙語佳句，活學活用

1. pave the way

這里的意思是“為……做準備，使容易”的意思，引申為“為……鋪平道路”，比如：His visit paved the way for an agreement. 他的訪問為達成協議鋪平了道路。

2. icebreaker trip

icebreaker 的本意是“破冰船”，icebreaker trip就是“破冰之旅”的意思了。電影中指的是1972年尼克松總統訪華，中美交往的大門終于打開，這在歷史上被稱為“破冰之旅”。

我們來看個例子：Premiers visit to Japan is seen as an icebreaker trip. 總理這次對日本的訪問被視為破冰之旅。

3. draft lottery

NBA的選秀之前要先決定各大球隊的選秀順序和頭三號新秀權的歸屬。頭三號新秀權是以抽簽的形式決定的。因此稱為draft lottery。這個抽簽是用乒乓球的組合形式來實行的。

4. first pick

pick作名詞時的意思是“選擇”，這里是指選秀中的頭號“狀元秀”，比如2002年姚明就是被休斯頓火箭隊以第一輪第一順位選中的，成為當年的選秀狀元。通常first pick 表示“第一選擇”，這里代表著頭銜和榮譽。比如：He is thought to be the first pick. 他被認為是第一人選。