43.
On
a child’s birthday in Belgium,
a parent _____.
A. spanks
the child B.
pricks the child
C. sleeps
in the child’s bedroom D.
asks the child to sleep with him/her
B
“Someday,
there’ll be no Americans left in the NBA,” said 12-year-old Xing Tao, who
joined his school team two weeks ago after watching Yao Ming in a televised NBA
game. “The players will all be Chinese, like Yao.”
To China, Yao
is a home-grown superstar who helped make the world’s first basketball league
closer to Chinese players. To the NBA, the 2. 23-meter center offers an opening
of a different sort into the world’s largest new market. Yao’s
NBA first appearance against the Indiana Pacers in October reached 287 million
families in the US.
That game might have been a bit of a letdown
to Yao’s fans:
He played just 11 of the 48 minutes, had two rebounds and got no points. Comparing
that with his performance on December 19, also against Indiana,
Yao won 29
points and 10 rebounds. “This was one of the most exciting games I’ve had,” Yao said after Houston’s
95-83 victory. The NBA has to be excited about his on-count success. In all his
games, he’s averaging 12. 7 points and 7. 7 rebounds, quite good for a new star.
“Yao Ming has brought the NBA closer to the Chinese,” said NBA spokeswoman
Cheong Sau Ching, “That makes the dream seem practical for other people in China
and proud to be Chinese.”
The
22-year-old Yao
is not the country’s first player in the NBA: Wang Zhizhi broke down the Dallas
Mavericks in November 2003. But Yao’s
combination of modesty and skills make him a favourite back home.