Basketball Diplomacy

　　CHINA”S TALLEST SOLDIER never really expected to live the American Dream. But Wang Zhizhi, a 7-foot-1 basketball star from the People’s Liberation Army, is making history as the first Chinese player in the NBA. In his first three weeks in America the 23-year-old rookie has already cashed his first big NBA check, preside over “Wang Zhizhi Day” in San Francisco and become immortalized on his very own trading cards. He’s even played in five games with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, scoring 24 points in just 38 minutes. Now the affable Lieutenant Wang is joining the Mavericks on their ride into the NBA playoffs — and he is intent on enjoying every minute. One recent evening Wang slipped into the hot tub behind the house of Mavericks assistant coach Donn Nelson. He leaned back, stretched out and pointed at a plane moving across the star-filled sky. In broken English, he started singing his favorite tune: “I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.”

　　Back in China, the nation’s other basketball phenom, Yao Ming , can only dream of taking flight. Yao thought he was going to be the first Chinese player in the NBA. The 7-foot-5 Shanghai sensation is more highly touted than Wang: the 20-year-old could be the No.1 overall pick in the June NBA draft. But as the May 13 deadline to enter the draft draws near, Yao is still waiting for a horde of business people and apparatchiks to decide his fate. Last week, as Wang scored 13 points in the Dallas season finale, Yao was wading through a stream of bicycles on a dusty Beijing street.

　　Yao and Wang are more than just freaks of nature in basketball shorts. The twin towers are national treasures, symbols of China’s growing stature in the world. They’re also emblematic of the NBA’s outsize dreams for conquering China. The NBA, struggling at home, sees salvation in the land of 1.3 billion potential hoop fans. China, determined to win the 2008 Olympics and join the World Trade Organization, is eager to make its mark on the world — on its own terms. The two-year struggle to get these young players into the NBA has been a cultural collision — this one far removed from U.S.-China bickering over spy planes and trade liberalization. If it works out, it could be — in basketball parlance — the ultimate give-and-go. “This is just like Ping-Pong diplomacy,” says Xia Song, a sport-marketing executive who represents Wang. “Only with a much bigger ball.”

　　Two years ago it looked more like a ball and chain. Wang’s Army bosses were miffed when the Mavericks had the nerve to draft their star back in 1999. Nelson remembers flying to Beijing with the then owner Ross Perot Jr. — son of the eccentric billionaire — to hammer out a deal with the stone-faced communists of the PLA. “You could hear them thinking: ‘What is this NBA team doing, trying to lay claim to our property?’” Nelson recalls. “We tried to explain that this was an honor for Wang and for China.” There was no deal. Wang grew despondent and lost his edge on court.

　　This year Yao became the anointed one. He eclipsed Wang in scoring and rebounding, and even stole away his coveted MVP award in the Chinese Basketball Association league. It looked as if his Shanghai team — a dynamic semicapitalist club in China’s most open city — would get its star to the NBA first.

　　Then came the March madness. Wang broke out of his slump to lead the Army team to its sixth consecutive CBA title — scoring 40 in the final game. A day later the PLA scored some points of its own by announcing that Wang was free to go West. What inspired the change of heart? No doubt the Mavericks worked to build trust with Chinese officials (even inviting national- team coach Wang Fei to spend the 1999-2000 season in Dallas). There was also the small matter of Chinese pride. The national team stumbled to a 10th-place finish at the 2000 Olympics, after placing eighth in 1996. Even the most intransigent cadre could see that the team would improve only if it sent its stars overseas to learn from the world’s best players.

　　參考答案：

　　籃球外交

　　姚和王不僅僅是籃球隊(duì)員中的奇人。這兩座塔是國(guó)家的財(cái)富，是中國(guó)在世界上地位提高的象征。他們也是NBA夢(mèng)想征服中國(guó)的象征。NBA，還在國(guó)內(nèi)爭(zhēng)斗的時(shí)候，就看到了在13億潛在籃球迷的國(guó)土上的前景。中國(guó)——志在奪取2008年奧運(yùn)會(huì)主辦權(quán)和加入世界貿(mào)易組織——正急于在世界上留下標(biāo)記，當(dāng)然是按照自己的條件。兩年來(lái)，讓這些年輕球員加盟NBA的斗爭(zhēng)已經(jīng)演變成一場(chǎng)文化沖突——這種沖突被美中之間關(guān)于偵察飛機(jī)和貿(mào)易自由化的爭(zhēng)吵大大淡化了。如果成功的話，它可能是——用一句籃球術(shù)語(yǔ)來(lái)說(shuō)——最終的二人配合。“這就像乒乓外交，”夏松，一個(gè)代表王的體育市場(chǎng)經(jīng)理人說(shuō)，“只不過(guò)球個(gè)大些�！�

　　兩年前，這件事情更像是鎖鏈。當(dāng)小牛隊(duì)早在1999年要挑選他們的明星時(shí)，王所在部隊(duì)的頭頭們非常惱火。尼爾森仍記得與當(dāng)時(shí)(小牛隊(duì))的擁有人羅斯·小皮勞特——那個(gè)行為古怪的億萬(wàn)富翁的兒子——一塊飛往北京，同面孔古板的人民解放軍干部敲定一項(xiàng)交易的情景�！澳隳苈�(tīng)見(jiàn)他們所想的：‘這個(gè)NBA球隊(duì)在干什么，想對(duì)我們的財(cái)產(chǎn)提出要求嗎?’” 尼爾森回憶道�！拔覀�?cè)噲D解釋這對(duì)王和中國(guó)都是一件光榮的事�！苯灰讻](méi)達(dá)成。王變得十分沮喪，失去了場(chǎng)上鋒芒。

　　這年，姚成為選定球員。他在得分和掙搶藍(lán)板球方面超過(guò)了王，甚至在中國(guó)籃球協(xié)會(huì)聯(lián)賽中奪走了他垂涎已久的MVP(最有價(jià)值球員)獎(jiǎng)。表面看來(lái)，似乎他所在的上海隊(duì)——一個(gè)中國(guó)最開(kāi)放城市中充滿(mǎn)活力的半資本主義俱樂(lè)部——將首先把它的球星送進(jìn)NBA。

　　后來(lái)，3月巔峰來(lái)臨。王打破消沉，率領(lǐng)八一隊(duì)連續(xù)第六次摘取聯(lián)賽桂冠——他在決賽中獨(dú)得40分。一天以后，人民解放軍宣布王可以自由地去西方，又為自己贏了不少分。是什么因素導(dǎo)致了這種變化?毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，與小牛隊(duì)致力于與中國(guó)官員建立信任的努力密不可分(甚至邀請(qǐng)國(guó)家隊(duì)教練王飛在達(dá)拉斯度過(guò)1999-2000賽季)。當(dāng)然還有一些小小的中國(guó)人的自尊心因素。國(guó)家隊(duì)在2000年奧運(yùn)會(huì)結(jié)束時(shí)踉踉蹌蹌地?cái)D到第10位，而在1996年列第8位。即使是最頑固的干部也會(huì)明白，只有把自己的球星派到海外向世界最優(yōu)秀的球員學(xué)習(xí)，才能提高球隊(duì)的水平。