In the past ten years, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown increasingly dependent on the rest of the world to supply players.
When Michael Jordan and Larry Bird won gold in Barcelona in 1992, the Americans were praised for teaching the world how to play basketball. This season, however, 20 percent of NBA rosters① will be filled by non-Americans. NBA commissioner David Stem happily embraces the trend. On a visit to Paris in October, Stern outlined his vision for the future, which is likely to see Europe hosting NBA games by 2010.
The NBA is now planning to take China by storm.
“Our experience in China has been that it is going to be explosive in its growth,” said Stern. The strategy② in China is television. “We’ve made 14 deals in China with local and national networks on cable and satellite.” The success of Chinese centre Yao Ming has paved the way for the NBA marketing blitz in China. The NBA, which is broadcasted in more than 200 countries in 42 languages, will put that to the test in October 2004 when the Houston Rockets play two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. The NBA knows that it needs a global market to compensate for tough times on home soil.
“It doesn’t matter where the players come from, all the NBA teams now know that they have to scout③ internationally,” said Terry Lyons, the NBA’s vice-president of international public relations. “It has increased the level of competition here.” As Frenchman Tony Parker and Argentine Emanuel Ginobili showed in winning championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs last season, many people can earn the respect of their American peers. Others, such as the Houston Rockets’ Chinese centre Yao Ming — number one draft pick in 2002 —and the Detroit Pistons’ 18-year-old Serb Darko Milicic —number two overall in this year’s draft —are icons④in-waiting. It is the ultimate⑤ revolution — the rest of the world teaching the US how to play basketball.
Notes:
① roster n. 花名册
② strategy n. 战略，策略
③ scout vt. 寻找，觅得
④ icon n. 偶像
⑤ ultimate adj. 最后的，根本的
Choose the best answers according to the above:
小题1: According to the report, ___.
A．Michael Jordan is still playing a very important role in NBA
B．the part played by the foreign players in NBA will be great
C．Yao Ming is to play two pre-season games in NBA
D．European countries will host the 2004 NBA games小题2: The underlined phrase “take China by storm” has the meaning of ___.
A．NBA intends to make China its “marketing center”
B．NBA is planning to set up some training centers in China
C．there’ll be a big storm when NBA comes to China to play against the Sacramento Kings
D．the NBA’s live basket games will be broadcasted on all the TVs in China小题3:. What seems to be the biggest change that is happening to NBA?
A. NBA is expecting more foreign players to join the league.
B. China’s rapid development in sports affects NBA.
C. Yao Ming has taken the place of Michael Jordan.
D. The NBA will stop teaching the world how to play basketball.
小题4: When the writer talked of “home soil”, he was referring to __.
A．farms in the States
B．native Americans
C．the NBA training center
D．the USA小题5: Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?
A．The Non-American Basketball Players
B．NBA Is Coming to China
C．The Foreign Ties That Bind the NBA
D．NBA Is Making Big Progress