Ｂａｓｋｅｔｂａｌｌ ｉｎ Ａｍｅｒｉｃａ

Just like football，basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world.

The game of basketball has gone a long way since its first game on December 21，1891. In the beginning the game was played so that students could play a game inside when the weather outside became too cold for sports.

Now basketball is played in many different countries around the world.Fans ofbasketball love playing the games in all seasons——summer，winter，spring and fall. In the United States there is the NBA. It has nearly thirty teams with twenty-eight cities as host cities.

All throughout the history of basketball there have been famous players.The most recent NBA stars are players like Michael Jordan，Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming.These players are famous because they play the game of basketball so well. Most of these players are six feet tall or taller. They practise hard to win each game. With so many great players，basketball is becoming one of the most popular sports in America.

It seems that there is always a game of basketball anywhere you are in America at any time of the day. Do you enjoy watching them on TV？

譯文

美國的籃球運動

和足球一樣，籃球也是世界上最受歡迎的運動之一。

自1891年12月21日舉行第一場籃球賽以來，籃球運動已走過了漫長的歷程。一開始，打籃球只是為了讓學生在天氣過冷、不宜做戶外運動時做些室內活動。

現在，籃球在世界上很多國家里都很受歡迎。球迷們在各個季節里都愛打籃球——不管是夏天、冬天、春天還是秋天。美國有NBA（國家籃球聯賽），它有將近30支球隊和28個主辦城市。

縱觀美國籃球的歷史，有許多著名的球星閃耀其間。目前最著名的NBA球星有邁克爾·喬丹、科比·布萊恩特和姚明。這些球星之所以出名，是因為他們把籃球打得出神入化。這些人中的大多數身高都有六英尺或更高。為了打贏每一場比賽，他們刻苦訓練。擁有這么多偉大的球星，籃球也成了美國最受歡迎的運動之一。

不論身處美國的哪個地方，在一天的任何時間，好像都會有籃球賽。你喜歡在電視上觀看比賽嗎？