from halfway across the world.

george postolos (president, rockets): he’s such a huge star in china already, the sort of meeting chinese citizens here are so connected back to the homeland that it takes on added significance and it’s created an incredibly passionate response with them. and you’re seeing you know, nearly ten times the sales to the chinese community that we had a year ago.

tim mcdougall (marketing vp, rockets): we thought this would be the biggest individual sports story of the century, or a long time and that yao would be that big, just by the number of people who are interested in him. put that up right against the other great individual sports stories there in history and he ranks up there really well.

姚明之年

你不能为这位篮球巨人的球员生涯谱写更好的结束篇章了。圣安东尼奥马刺队获得的nba总冠军头衔为队里37岁的中锋大卫·罗宾逊漫长而光辉的职业生涯划上了圆满的句号。当人们还在深深地怀念罗宾逊鲜明的风格和良好的形象的时候，姚明，这个来自经济增长速度最快的国家的nba第一高度，已经在联盟里刮起一股强烈的旋风。nba的高层兴奋地把即将到来的姚明时代称为“明朝”。

姚明是篮球界的巨人,而这不仅仅因为他身高七尺六寸，相当于2.286米。

卡罗尔·道森（休斯顿火箭队总经理）：无论我们走到哪里，谈论什么话题，总会有姚明的名字出现。而我在这行业里干了二十五年，过去在nbn工作过，还当过很长时间的大学教练，却从来没有看见过这种情况。

当选秀状元姚明签下一份为期四年、价值一千八百万美元的合同时，他已经获得了超过四百万美元的产品广告收入，一些分析家预期这个数目明年将上升到八位数字。现在已经有人把他的收入和nba的传奇人物迈克尔·乔丹相比，乔丹的身价估计超过四亿美元。到目前为止，在第一年加入nba的球员当中姚明是最受瞩目的。许多公司都想利用他身上的神秘感和超凡的魅力，当然还有他的身材去获得利益。

通过姚明所在的火箭队的影响，整个职业联赛在中国这个世界上最大的市场上所得到的关注程度越来越高。nba这个赛季通过十二个中国电视网络转播了一百七十场比赛，而且明年计划在中国播放季前赛和出售nba商品。有来有往，中国公司也开始进入了美国市场。中国第二大酿酒厂生产的燕京啤酒已经签约成为了休斯顿火箭队的合作伙伴。

萨德·布朗（火箭队副主席）：他们与球队合作是因为这样不仅能够在美国市场登陆，建立产品的分销点，而且在当地球赛播出的时候中国的消费者也能看得到自己的品牌。姚明的笑容很灿烂，人很谦卑，也很聪明，他为自己和球队树立了很好的形象。可以这样说，所有的好因素汇集在一身，使人们完全为之倾倒，他确实成为了中美友好关系和贸易的一个闪亮点。

nba方面希望由姚明这颗新星在国际上带来的吸引力能挽回它在国内市场的损失。联赛本季票的销量总体下跌了百分之五。而最近的调查表明自从1998年迈克尔·乔丹从公牛队退役后，有百分之四十的美国篮球迷对美国职业篮球联赛失去了一些兴趣。而火箭队即使是客场票的销售额也有大幅上升，从上赛季排名第十八位上升到第七位。从姚明那里，火箭队的对手们都能从中获益。

穆奇·诺里斯（队友）：好像在你周围的都是一片“姚、姚、姚”声。你知道这种情况对他的困扰更甚于球队。我想有时他并不清楚的是：很多时候，每到一个城市都有一大群人在等待他的到来，等待着他走进大楼里。

尽管nba对每一支球队的经济收入都有一定的限制。但通过姚明，火箭队能获得额外的收入。球队建立了一个中文的网站，并增加了一个电台节目以满足二十五万亚裔美国球迷的需要。

球票销量增加了百分之十六，当地的电视收视率上升了将近一倍，网络流量与去年相比增加了四倍，这些收益主要是因为休斯顿和地球另一边的中国访客大量点击中文网站所致。

乔治·波斯托罗斯（火箭队主席）：他在中国已经是个非常耀眼的明星，（他的到来）对在这里思念祖国的中国人有特殊的意义，产生了热烈的反响。与一年前相比，我们在华人社区的产品销量增加了近九倍。

蒂姆·麦克杜格尔（火箭队营销副主席）：我想这是本世纪最成功的体育传奇故事，至少在相当长的一个时期会这样。姚明的力量究竟有多巨大，只要看看对他有兴趣的人有多少就知道了。把他的传奇作为个人体育故事载进历史，他将占一席之地。

注释:

1) buzz n. 嘁嘁喳喳，嘈杂声

2) reign n. 盛行，支配

3) the drafts 指2002年的nba选秀，姚明成为当年的选秀状元。

4) endorsement n. 商品广告

5) capitalize on 利用

6) reciprocate v. 互给，报答

7) brewery n. 啤酒厂

8) beachhead n. 登陆场

9) converge v. 会聚，集中

10) buffer v. 缓冲

11) entourage n. 随从，随行人员

★★《2003年11月号-第43期-disc02-02》★★

prince william grows up!

at eton, william 1)breezed through his 2)a-level year. he shined at sport and he was elected by his schoolmates to "pop," the college's elite 3)prefect's club, made up from the eleven most popular boys of his year. and although, like many windsors, he was not academic, he took three a-levels. he left eton in the summer of 2000.

following in his father's footsteps, william had developed a particular love for polo, the sport of kings and millionaires. the next summer, william made his public debut for the highgrove team, with his brother and father at the 4)cirencester polo club.

at first, william wanted to play polo in argentina before going to university. but charles thought that that would be a mistake, and that he would be a mistake, and that he should do something more worthwhile. so william joined up with 5)raleigh international, an organization his father had helped set up. william raised money to go on an expedition in chile, south america.once in chile, william travelled with a small group of raleigh venturers to tortel, where he carried out volunteer work for the poor rural community.

as well as helping in less developed countries, raleigh gives privileged school leaders, like prince william, the chance to work alongside young people from different backgrounds in the uk. this wasn't an excuse for an exotic holiday. it was hard work, and william took his turn to "6)muck in" with the team building walkways.

william: i don't know i've been treated any different at all than i... special treated at all... which is why i just... i think i get along with these guys so well as well. they all treat me the same. the locals treatme the same, and i just, i love being... having no restrictions, you know?

william lived with his new companions in an old nursery they nicknameed "hotel tortel." boys and girls camped together at very close quarters.

companion: we had to set up our sleeping bags around the slides and the climbing frames. and at the back, the base, there was will. i think he set... he set up his underneath the slide, right next to the toilet. so there's no luxury from day one.

all 7)trappings of royalty dropped away as william got stuck in with the other young volunteers.

during his gap year, prince william had found great freedom and happiness out of the public eye, living as an ordinary person. the reality of his royal background