讀點好英文:The God in Youth：MichaeI Jordan　少年天才——邁克爾·喬丹

The God in Youth：MichaeI Jordan　少年天才——邁克爾·喬丹

·Leander·

There were already signs that he had a good deal of talent. Harvest Smith, a classmate and close friend who in those days played basketball with him practicaIIy every day, thought he was the best player on their ninth-grade team-he was small, but he was very quick.“You'd see him get a shot off, and you'd wonder how he did it, because he wasn't that big，”Smith said，“but it was the quickness.The only question was how big he was going to be-and how far up he would take his skill level.”

The summer after ninth grade, Jordan and Smith both went to Pop Herring's basketball camp. Neither of them had yet come into his body, and almost all of the varsity players, two and sometimes three years older, seemed infiniteIy stronger at that moment when a year or two in physical development can make all the difference.In Smith's mind there was no doubt which of the two of them was the better player-it was Michael by far.But on the day the varsity cuts were announced-it was the big day of the year, for they had all known for weeks when the list would be posted-he and Roy Smith had gone to the Laney gym.Smith's name was on it, Michael's was not.

It was the worst day of Jordan's young life. The list was alphabetical, so he focused on where the Js should be, and it wasn't there, and he kept reading and rereading the list, hoping somehow that he had missed it, or that the alphabetical listing had been done incorrectly.That day he went home by himself and went to his room and cried.Smith understood what was happening-Michael, he knew, never wanted you to see him when he was hurt.

“We knew Michael was good，”Fred Lynch, the Laney assistant coach, said later，“but we wanted him to play more and we thought the JV was better for him.”He easily became the best player on the JV that year. He simply dominated the play, and he did it not by size but with quickness.There were games in which he would score forty points.He was so good, in fact, that the JV games became quite popular.The entire varsity began to come early so they could watch him play in the JV games.

Smith noticed that while Jordan had been wildly competitive before he had been cut, after the cut he seemed even more competitive than ever, as if determined that it would never happen again. His coaches noticed it, too.“The first time I ever saw him, I had no idea who Michael Jordan was.I was helping to coach the Laney varsity，”said Ron Coley.“We went over to Goldsboro, which was our big rivaI, and I entered the gym when the jayvee game was just ending up.There were nine players on the court just coasting, but there was one kid playing his heart out.The way he was playing I thought his team was down one point with two minutes to play.So I looked up at the clock and his team was down twenty points and there was only one minute to play.It was Michael, and I quickly learned he was always like that.”

Between the time he was cut and the start of basketball in his junior year, Jordan grew about four inches. The speed had always been there, and now he was stronger, and he could dunk.His hands had gotten much bigger, Smith noticed.He was as driven as ever, the hardest-working player on the team in practice.If he thought that his teammates were not working hard enough, he would get on them himself, and on occasion he pushed the coaches to get on them.Suddenly Laney High had the beginning of a very good basketball team, and its rising star was Michael Jordan.

李安德

邁克爾的天賦早已有所顯露。他的一位同班同學(xué)和親密伙伴海維斯特·史密斯，當(dāng)時基本每天都和他一起打籃球。他認為喬丹是九年級球隊中最出色的——他身材不高但非常靈活。史密斯說：“你看到他蓋帽兒，就想問問他是怎么蓋的，因為他沒那么高大，可他身手敏捷。唯一的問題是他將會長多高，他的技能會提高到什么程度。”

讀完九年級的那個夏天，喬丹和史密斯一同參加了波譜·赫里的籃球夏令營。他們倆在當(dāng)時還未長大成人，而當(dāng)時幾乎所有的校隊隊員都比他們大兩三歲，在這個年齡段，大一兩歲在體魄上就大相徑庭，因而看上去校隊隊員都比他們強壯得多。在史密斯的頭腦中，他們兩人誰更出色是毫無疑問的——邁克爾比他要強得多，但是到了宣布校運動隊隊員篩選名單時——這可是一年中的大日子，因為他們幾星期前就知道名單何時會公布——他和羅伊·史密斯都去了蘭尼體育館。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)名單上有史密斯的名字，卻沒有邁克爾的名字。

對于年輕的喬丹來說這一天簡直糟透了。因為名單是按字母順序排列的，他就注意看可能有“喬”字的地方，可是沒有。他一遍又一遍地找，真希望是自己看漏了，或者是字母順序排錯了。那天，他獨自回了家，進屋后便大哭起來。史密斯明白所發(fā)生的一切——當(dāng)邁克爾傷心或沮喪的時候，他不愿意見人。

蘭尼的助理教練里德·里奇后來說：“我們知道邁克爾很出色，但我們想讓他多練練，所以覺得二隊更適合他?！蹦且荒晁p松地成了二隊中最出色的隊員。憑借著敏捷而非身高，他在隊中就已舉足輕重。許多比賽他都能得到四十分。實際上他突出的表現(xiàn)使二隊的比賽備受歡迎。為了能看到有他參加的二隊比賽，整個校隊的隊員都開始提早到場。

史密斯發(fā)現(xiàn)在喬丹被篩選掉之前是不甘于人后的，而在落選之后他的好勝心似乎有過之而無不及，好像決心不讓歷史再次重演。他的教練們也注意到了這一點。羅恩·康利說：“我一直在蘭尼的運動隊做教練，當(dāng)我第一次看到邁克爾·喬丹時，還不知道他是誰。我們?nèi)ヅc勁敵戈爾茲伯勒隊打比賽，當(dāng)我進到體育館時，兩隊的比賽就要結(jié)束了。場上的九名隊員都已無心戀戰(zhàn)，只剩下一個孩子還在竭盡全力?？此蚯虻臉幼樱蚁胨麄冴犜谑Ｏ碌膬煞昼娎镆欢ㄖ宦浜罅艘环?，可當(dāng)我抬頭看計時鐘時，他們隊在最后的一分鐘里竟落后了二十分。這就是邁克爾，我很快就得知他一貫如此?！?/p>

從喬丹少年時開始打籃球到被篩選掉的這段時間，他長了四英寸。他的速度仍然是那么快，只是現(xiàn)在他健壯了許多并且也能扣籃了。史密斯注意到，喬丹的手也大了不少。喬丹一直都充滿著緊迫感，他是隊中最勤于練球的隊員。倘若喬丹發(fā)現(xiàn)隊友不夠努力，他就會親自去說服他們，或者鼓動教練去。一時間，蘭尼中學(xué)出了一個非常優(yōu)秀的籃球隊，邁克爾·喬丹成了冉冉升起的明星。

核心單詞

practicaIIy['pr?ktik?li]v.幾乎，差不多

infiniteIy['infinitli]adv.無限地，無窮地；極其

assistant[?'sist?nt]n.助手，店員；adj.助理的；輔助的

dominate['d?mineit]v.支配，統(tǒng)治，控制

competitive[k?m'petitiv]adj.競爭的；競爭性的

rivaI['raiv?l]n.競爭者，對手，敵手

實用句型

The entire varsity began to come earIy so they couId watch him pIay in the JV games.

為了能看到有他參加的二隊比賽，整個校隊的隊員都開始提前到場。①這是由so 引導(dǎo)的結(jié)果狀語從句。

②begin to 開始，著手，動手，類似的表達還有begin with 以……開始等固定搭配。

翻譯練習(xí)

1.我確信我最終會成功。（no doubt）

2.她是公司中最優(yōu)秀的決策人之一。（by far）

3.大庭廣眾之下要注意言行。（on occasion）