节选A Life in Two Worlds 作者: 姚明
At just 24 years old, Yao Ming is already one of the most popular and respected players in the NBA. But Yao\'s road to professional basketball wasn\'t clear-cut until just a few years before he joined the league. In this excerpt from his new book, "Yao: A Life in Two Worlds" (written by Yao Ming with Ric Bucher), Yao recounts the winding and often humorous road he took from China to the NBA. Here\'s how Yao and others remember his journey to sports stardom.
<<我的世界我的梦>> \'A Life in Two Worlds\' 作者： 姚明 I left China for the first time in 1997 to go to the Nike camp in Paris. That’s where I met my first NBA star, Tim Hardaway, who was one of the camp counselors. He looked like the rest of us—two hands, two legs, one head—but he was quicker than anybody I’d ever seen, especially the way he dribbled the ball. His footwork, his hands—all quick. He would challenge everyone to play one-on-one until he was too tired to move. I don’t remember who the best player in camp was because I didn’t know what good basketball was then. There were eighty-five players at the camp, and I wore number 85. I wasn’t worried about how good Hardaway was because at that time I was just thinking I’d play in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). I didn’t think I’d see anyone like Hardaway again. 1997年我第一次出国，去耐克的巴黎训练营。蒂姆·哈达威是我见到的第一个美国球员，他后来成为NBA的明星。他看上去和我们其他人都一样———两只手、两条腿，一个脑袋，只是，他好快，尤其是运球的时候，他的步伐和手都很快。他会挑战每个人和他一对一，直到他累得打不动为止。我不记得他是不是营地最好的球员了，因为那时我不知道篮球打成什么样才算好。营地有85个球员，我的编号是第85，你自己想那意味着什么吧。那时候我不担心蒂姆·哈达威有多好，因为我想的是在CBA打球，反正以后不会再碰到蒂姆·哈达威那样的人。 Yao at a recent book signing at the NBA Store in New York.
(Jennifer Pottheiser
NBAE/Getty Images)
Buy a copy of the bookYAO ZHI YUAN (Yao Ming\'s father): The trip to Paris made a big impression on Yao Ming. He was there for only six days, but he learned a lot—not just about basketball, but maybe about himself and his place in the world of basketball. He found out there are a lot of great players outside of China and how good a player could be. He knew for the first time where he stood among the best young players in the world. He thought, “I’m not that good, but I’m not that bad.” When he went to Paris, he learned what was possible. There was no way to really know that until he left China. Then when he went to the U.S., it was more about learning how to improve his game and reach the level he’d seen in Paris. 姚志源（姚明父亲）:巴黎之行给他留下了最深刻的印象。他只去了6天，但学了很多。
不是关于篮球的，而是关于自己，以及自己在篮球世界的位置。他发现，中国之外还有许多优秀球员，而且他们打到了那样高的水平。他第一次知道自己和世界上最好的年轻球员相比位置怎样。他想，“我是比上不足，比下有余。”去了巴黎，他知道了什么是可能的，踏出国门前是不可能知道的。他在巴黎发现了篮球的境界，去美国的时候，他做得更多的就是改进自己以达到在巴黎看到的水准。The winter after I went to Paris, I broke my left foot. This was near the end of my last season with the Shanghai Sharks’ junior team. I jumped for a rebound and landed on somebody else’s foot. I sprained my ankle on that play, too. I think if I hadn’t gotten hurt, they would’ve brought me up to the Sharks before the season ended. 巴黎之行后的那个冬天，我崴断了左脚。那时我在东方青年队的最后一个赛季就要结束了，我跳起来抢篮板，但踩在别人的脚上，那一次我还扭伤了踝骨。我想，要不是受伤的话，那个赛季结束前我就会进大鲨鱼队了。Instead, I finally joined the Sharks the next season, didn’t get hurt, and averaged 10 points and 8.3 rebounds. I didn’t win Rookie of the Year, just like in the NBA—but the CBA didn’t have a Rookie of the Year award at that time. Now they do. They also have moved the CBA All-Star Game from after the season to the middle of the season, just like in the NBA. The two leagues are looking more and more alike.
下一赛季我终于加入了大鲨鱼，平均得10分，8.3个篮板。我没能拿到新人奖，就像在NBA的第一年一样，是因为那时CBA还没有新人奖，而现在有了。他们还把CBA全明星赛从赛季后移到赛季中，CBA跟NBA的有些方面越来越像了。
The next year, I broke the same foot again, this time in a pre-season game in December. Someone stepped on my left foot just before I tried to move. I didn’t play until the end of the season, the last twelve games. When Houston first saw X-rays of my feet, they saw that my left foot had been broken a couple of times and were worried I might have serious problems and not be able to play. They had their team doctor fly to Beijing and check me out. 第二年，我伤了同一只脚，在12月的季前赛中。我正要移动，有人踩了我的左脚。直到赛季末我才打球，打最后的12场比赛。休斯顿火箭队第一次对我的脚作X光时，他们看到我的左脚断过2次，担心我有严重问题不能打球。他们的队医飞来北京，对我进行检查。The doctor said I was OK, but I can tell you I haven’t jumped the same since the second break. Not that I could jump high before then. The first time I tried to dunk, I was thirteen years old and about 6-2. I didn’t miss by a little, I missed by a lot. Dunking wasn’t that important in China, so I didn’t worry about it. A couple of years later I tried again and still couldn’t do it. Then one day when I was fifteen, about six months after I’d last tried, I was walking across the court to put a ball away after a junior Sharks practice and decided to try. I surprised myself. I did it. I was about 6-8 then. The Chinese always say, “You don’t want to think about it, you just do it. That’s how you become strong.” But when I tried again the next day, I missed. 医生说没问题。但我可以说，第二次受伤之后，我再也不像过去那样弹跳了。并不是说以前我跳得更高，我13岁第一次试着灌篮，那时我1米88。我不是差一点点，而是差一大截。 在中国灌篮不是那么重要，所以不必担心。两年后我再试，还是办不到。15岁的一天，大概是上一次试过灌篮之后的大约6个月，青年队的一次训练后，我走过球场，准备把球收好，忽然我决定再试一下，我自己也大吃一惊，成功了!那时我只有2米03。中国人总是说:“不要多想，放手去干———这样你就会变得强大。”第二天我再试，没有成功。
It was after that season, playing for the junior national team, that I dunked in a game for the first time. I had fallen down near our basket, and the other team went on a fast break but missed the layup. Someone threw me the ball, and I was all alone. I remember I jumped really, really high. My head was at the rim. 那个赛季后，在国家青年队打球，我第一次在比赛中灌篮。我在篮下摔倒，对手快速进攻，但是单手跳投没中，球传到我这里，无人防守。我记得我跳起来，真的很高，我的头就在篮框边。The next time I dunked was playing for the Sharks in my second game as a rookie. We were down by 10 with a minute left and won! I scored 7 points, including a dunk while being fouled. A guard drove and passed the ball to me, and I made it even though someone bumped me. 第二次灌篮，是在大鲨鱼队作为新人的第二场比赛。我们在剩下1分钟的时候还落后10分，但最后获胜了。我得了7分，包括被判犯规罚下的第一次灌篮。后卫突破，将球给我，尽管有人在撞我，我还是将球灌入。I know I can’t jump very well, but I feel lost at the start of a game when I don’t jump for the tipoff. I’m almost always the tallest player on the court, so it feels strange to watch someone smaller jump center. I’ve had time to get used to it; even before I joined the Rockets, there were times I didn’t jump center. When both Wang Zhi Zhi and I were on the national team, he would jump for tipoffs because he can jump much quicker and higher than I can. He even won the CBA dunk contest during his last year playing in China. In my rookie year with the Rockets, our power forward, Eddie Griffin, jumped center, except for the first time I played Shaquille O’Neal. Eddie started to line up to jump when Stevie pushed me in the middle and told me to do it. That meant a lot. It showed he had confidence in me. It was almost like a movie the way he did it, waiting until the last second and then pushing me in there. Very dramatic. 虽然我不能再跳，一场比赛开始时我不跳着出场会觉得失落。我几乎总是场上最高的球员，看个头小得多的球员跳入场中觉得很奇怪。我有时间慢慢去适应———即使在加入火箭队之前，我也有不跳着出场的时候。王治郅和我都在国家队的时候，他会跳入场，因为他比我跳得高得多。我在火箭队的新人年，我们的大前锋埃迪·格里芬跳入场中。埃迪格排队准备跳的时候，斯蒂夫会把我推到中间，让我也做。这对我意味着许多，说明他对我有信心。 他的做法几乎像部电影，等到最后一秒钟推我出场。非常有戏剧性。
I first thought I might be good enough to play in the NBA when I was eighteen years old and came back to China after two months of playing in the U.S. I never expected to play as well as I did. As a junior player, I had played against players in China who were two and three years older, and when I joined the Sharks senior team at seventeen, the players were as much as five and six years older than me. I struggled because they were so much stronger and had been playing much longer. In the U.S., I finally played against players around my age, and it made a big difference. 我第一次想到自己可以跻身NBA是在1998年，那时我18岁，在美国打了两个月球回到国内。我从未想到我能打得那么好。知道为什么吗?那以前，我在中国打球的对手都比我大得多，在青年队时对手大我两三岁，在17岁进入大鲨鱼队时对手大我五六岁。这让我打得很费力，因为他们长得比我壮，球龄比我长。在美国，我终于跟自己同龄的人打球了，感觉很不一样。 Yao earned respect from Tyson Chandler during amateur basketball camps.
(Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images)The trip started in Indianapolis with a Nike camp. Then (Chinese national team and Shanghai Sharks teammate) Liu Wei and I went to Dallas to join an AAU team called High Five. That team traveled all over the country playing in tournaments. That was when you could take players from anywhere and put them on one team. Now it’s different, I guess: you have to live within 100 miles of your team’s home city. Dallas is where I first met Teyo Johnson, who is now a tight end for the Oakland Raiders. Teyo and I have been friends ever since. 美国之行是从位于印第安纳波利斯的耐克训练营开始的。而后，刘炜和我前往达拉斯加入了AAU（美国业余体育联合会）的一支叫HighFive的球队。这支球队在全美四处巡回，参加锦标赛。在巡回比赛时，球队可以从任何地方挑选球员到他们队里。现在不同了，球队只能从其所在城市100英里范围内挑选球员。我在达拉斯第一次见到泰约·约翰逊，他现在是奥克兰突击者队的边锋，我们从那时起就一直是朋友。
TEYO JOHNSON (tight end for the Oakland Raiders): I flew on a red-eye into Dallas. When I got to the hotel and gave my name, the girl at the front desk said, “Oh, you’re with the big Chinese dude.” I thought, “What, I’ve joined a team of foreign-exchange students?” I went up to the room and knocked, but when no one answered, I stuck my key in the slot. Just then Yao Ming answered the door. In his underwear. Tighty-whities. And all I could see was up to his chin in the doorway. He and Liu Wei were sacked out. He let me in and went back to bed. They had a cot set up for me. I called my mom right away and whispered, “There’s this 7-6 dude in my room, and he’s Chinese!” She said, “Yeah, the Mongolians and Huns can be really big.” I didn’t know what to think until we went to practice the next day. That’s where I found out—this dude could play. 泰约·约翰逊:（姚明训练营队友）我搭乘红眼航班来到达拉斯。到了酒店，报上我的名字，前台的小姐说，“噢，你跟那个大个子的中国帅哥住一起。”我的心咯噔了一下，“什么，我参加了外国交换学生的球队?”我走到客房，敲门没人回应，我就用钥匙开门。这时，姚明给我开了门，他穿着内衣，是白色紧身的。在门口我只能看见他的下巴。他和刘炜已经睡下了。他让我进门后，就回到了床上。他们为我铺好了一张小床。我马上打电话给我妈，小声说，“有个7英尺6的家伙在我房间，他是中国人!”我妈说，“哦，中国人可真能长个
儿啊。”第二天练习的时候，在球场上我发现———这家伙还真是厉害。I played everywhere in those two months. After Dallas we went to Stetson University in Florida; AAU summer leagues or tournaments in Orlando, San Diego, Phoenix, and Augusta, Georgia; and Michael Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara. We didn’t know where we were or where we were going most of the time. At Stetson I worked out every day with Lee Scruggs, the center who played at Georgetown. He’s playing now in the NBDL, the NBA’s minor league. The coach working with us was Tates Locke. He had just become a scout for the Blazers, after many years as a college coach. 在那两个月里，我到处打球———达拉斯之后去了佛罗里达的斯泰森大学;印第安那波里斯的耐克营;奥兰多、圣地亚哥、菲尼克斯、奥古斯塔、佐治亚的AAU（美国业余体育联合会）夏季联赛或锦标赛，圣塔巴巴拉的迈克尔·乔丹营。大多数时候不知道自己身处何处，要去哪里。在斯泰森我每天和乔治敦的中锋李·斯克拉格斯一起训练，他现在在NBDL（美国篮球发展联盟）打球，是NBA的次级联赛。我们的教练是塔兹·洛克，在做了多年大学教练后，他那时刚开始给开拓者队做球探。I played with High Five for the last time in San Diego. We stayed in dormitories at United States International University. The High Five camp was in a big building right next to the campus. On the other side of the highway there was a military base with fighter jets; we could see them landing and taking off every morning as we walked from the university to the High Five gym. I played against Tyson Chandler for the first time in San Diego. He was only fifteen years old, and people were already saying he could play in the NBA. He dunked on me and he played very well, but I played good defense, and I had a good jumper already then. I was three years older, but after that I thought, “Some day I could be good enough to play in the NBA, too.” 在圣地亚哥，我为High Five队打最后一次球。我们住在美国国际大学，就在HighFive夏令营所在的高大建筑物隔壁。隔着高速公路的对面是个军事基地，每天早上从大学走到High Five体育馆的路上，我们都看到战斗机起降。在圣地亚哥我第一次和泰森·钱德勒打球。他只有15岁，人们已经说他能打NBA。他对着我灌篮，球打得非常好，但我防守很好，跳投也已经很不错。我比他大3岁，从那以后我就想，“也许有一天我也能够打入NBA。”TEYO JOHNSON: We lost that game by one point. I thought Yao destroyed Tyson. He threw one of his shots back to half-court near the end of that game. Yao was hitting his jumper, too. Even then he could shoot and I could tell how athletic he was. I knew he’d get tougher and that’s all he really needed. 泰约·约翰逊:（姚明训练营队友）我们以一分之差输掉了比赛。我想，是姚明击败了泰森。在比赛快结束时，姚明把泰森的几次投篮扔回了半场。姚明也截住了他的跳投。我可以看出他的运动素质多棒。我知道他还需要长得再结实些，他所有欠缺的就是这点。TYSON CHANDLER (forward and center for the Chicago Bulls): The first time I saw him, I thought, “That’s an amazing man.” I was always the biggest guy around, but he towered over me—a big dude with a soft touch who could pass the ball. I hadn’t played with any foreigners at that time. Being on the court with this huge man, someone who didn’t know English and came all the way from China, was just a crazy experience for me, so it had to be a crazy experience for him. 泰森·钱德勒（芝加哥公牛队的前锋和中锋）:第一次见到他时，我想，“这人真了不得。”此前，我总是场上最高的，但他还要高我一截，这个大家伙接球很轻，你可以放心把球传给他。此前，我没和外国球员同场打过球。这个大个子，不懂英语，又是不远万里从中国而来，和他同场打球，对我来说是种疯狂的体验，对他来说，也一定是这样的。
整场比赛，姚明毫不留情地一次次拦下泰约的跳投。然后我上场，对着他灌篮，向他尖叫。噢，天哪———我听不懂他在说些什么，但后面他拦下球后就会击掌，示意把球传给他。他挡住了每一个对手的进攻，将投篮截住。对手们毫无办法。The whole game he was just knocking down his jump shot, showing no emotion. Then I came down, dunked on him, and screamed at him. Amunicate, but we connected. We’ve been boys ever since. I didn’t see him again for years, but I’d call him every six months or so and set up a three-way conference call with a translator. He called me from China the day I was drafted by the Raiders to congratulate me, and when I saw him at his second All-Star Game, he gave me his jersey. The way I see it, we’re friends for life. 我们无法交流，但很要好。从那时我们成了朋友。几年没见到他了，但我大约半年给他打个电话，请一个翻译，和他开三边会议。我被招入突击者队的当天，他从中国打来电话祝贺。他在全明星队的第二场比赛我见到他时，他把球衣送给了我。在我看来，我们是一生的朋友。
After San Diego, I went to Jordan’s camp and worked as a counselor, but we played every night. In the trophy case in my home in Shanghai, I have two pictures of me with Jordan. One is the picture he took with everybody who worked or played at the camp. The other is of me walking off the court and Jordan patting me on the back. I’m smiling, but I look very skinny. One reason is that I had only $200 for the whole two-month trip. Liu Wei took something like $150 with him. The first two weeks, we didn’t need to pay for anything; Li Yaomin, the Sharks GM, took care of us. But after the Nike Camp in Indianapolis, he went back to China and took all his money with him. We were two young Chinese kids without any money, playing in places like Augusta, Georgia, and Orlando. 在圣地亚哥之后，我去了乔丹训练营，但我们还是每晚打球。我在上海家中的奖杯陈列柜中有两张我同乔丹的合影。一张是他同营地每个球员及工作人员的集体照，另一张中，我正往场外走，他拍了拍我的背，我在笑，但看上去很瘦。一个原因是整整2个月我只有200美元可用，刘炜大概带了150块。前两周，我们什么都不用付钱，大鲨鱼的总经理李耀民照顾我们。但在印第安纳波利斯的耐克训练营之后，他回国了，把他的钱都带走了。我们两个中国小孩没有钱，完全自己管自己，继续在奥古斯塔、乔治亚、奥兰多等地打球。So for two weeks, Liu Wei and I ate nothing but 99-cent double cheeseburgers and the free breakfast they had in our motel lobby every morning. We made sure to get there very early. 因此，在两个星期里，我和刘炜只能吃99美分一个的双层干酪汉堡包，刘炜每天吃一个，我吃两个，以及旅馆里每天供应的免费早餐，我们每天都要很早跑去吃。 Liu Wei and Yao lived off of cheeseburgers and hotel breakfasts during their stay in the U.S.
(Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images)When another coach from China came over to check on us, he said, “You look skinny.”“Of course,” I said. 另一位教练从中国过来看我们的时候，对我说:“你看上去皮包骨头。”“当然了。”我说。LIU WEI: Actually, Yao Ming ate two cheeseburgers every day while I had one. Since I was injured and couldn’t play, we decided he needed more food than I did. 刘炜（国家队队员）:其实，姚明每天吃2只干酪汉堡包，我只吃1个。我受伤了不能打球，所以我们决定，让他多吃一点。I guess Li Yaomin didn’t know that in America a player has to pay for his own food. Maybe he thought it was like in China, where there’s always a free buffet for the players at every hotel or the team pays for everything. I’m hoping that’s what he thought. The High Five coach, Rle Nichols, lent us each $100 after we used up our own money. Rle is 5-6 and I couldn’t speak English then, so we called him “Little Coach” in Chinese. I don’t know where he is now, but I still owe him $100. 我猜李耀民不知道在美国球员自己付饭钱，也许他以为像中国一样，每个酒店都有免费自助餐给球员，或者球队会包揽所有费用。我希望他是那样想的。我们的钱用完后，HighFive的教练里尔·尼克斯借给我们每人100元。里尔只有5英尺6（1米68），那时我不会英文，就叫他“小教练”。我不知道他现在在哪里，我得还给他100元。After Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara, Nike took me to Portland to relax. They let Liu Wei come with me. We went to a batting cage and I tried to hit a baseball. Out of ten swings, I hit the ball maybe once. Maybe. They also took us to Jet Ski on the Willamette River. I liked it, but that was pretty scary—maybe the scariest thing I’ve ever done. 到圣塔巴巴拉的乔丹营后，我去波特兰跟耐克签合同，并休息一下，他们让刘炜和我一起去。我们去击球练习场打棒球，10次挥杆我只打着1次。他们还带我们去威拉米特河玩水上摩托，我很喜欢，但很惊险———也许是我做过的最惊险的事情。
TEYO JOHNSON: He had me flown up to Portland, too, to hang out with him. Nike was going after him hard then already. He showed no fear Jet Skiing that I could see. When I was riding on the back he’d gun it, take a sharp turn, and fling me off the back. He got a kick out of doing that. 泰约·约翰逊（姚明训练营队友）:姚明让我也一起飞到了波特兰，去跟他一块玩。耐克那时就很看重他。他玩起水上摩托来毫无惧色，在我看来是这样———当我紧追其后时，他
加大油门，来个急拐弯，一下把我甩得远远的。他这样做得到了极大的乐趣。LIU WEI: When we went to the batting cage, he took more than ten swings and didn’t come close to hitting the ball, not even once. The best part of the Jet Skiing was when Yao Ming fell off and couldn’t climb back on. He finally had to grab the back of my machine, and I towed him back to the dock. 刘炜（国家队队员）:我们去棒球练习场，他打了十几杆，1杆都没打着，差得远。水上摩托最好玩的乐子，就是当姚明从自己的摩托上摔下爬不回去的时候。最后他抓住我的摩托后部，我把他拖回码头。When we finally flew back to Shanghai, there was a lot of media waiting at the gate. I’d been away two months, and I hadn’t had a haircut the whole time. My hair was so long, I thought I looked like Dr. J or Ben Wallace. And even though we ate better in San Diego and Portland, I was still really skinny. Big hair, skinny body. When I saw myself on TV, I thought, “That’s me?”
终于回到上海，许多记者等在机场的出口。出去两个月，我没理过一次发，头发很长。
虽然我在圣地亚哥和波特兰吃得不错，但还是很瘦。长头发加上皮包骨头，在电视上看到自己时，我想，“这真是我吗?” 曲作者姚明 词作者姚明 姚明文选的作者是 姚明 全国人姚明 姚明月 一突姚明 姚明明的个人资料 梦北京曲作者姚明
<<我的世界我的梦>> \'A Life in Two Worlds\' 作者： 姚明 I left China for the first time in 1997 to go to the Nike camp in Paris. That’s where I met my first NBA star, Tim Hardaway, who was one of the camp counselors. He looked like the rest of us—two hands, two legs, one head—but he was quicker than anybody I’d ever seen, especially the way he dribbled the ball. His footwork, his hands—all quick. He would challenge everyone to play one-on-one until he was too tired to move. I don’t remember who the best player in camp was because I didn’t know what good basketball was then. There were eighty-five players at the camp, and I wore number 85. I wasn’t worried about how good Hardaway was because at that time I was just thinking I’d play in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). I didn’t think I’d see anyone like Hardaway again. 1997年我第一次出国，去耐克的巴黎训练营。蒂姆·哈达威是我见到的第一个美国球员，他后来成为NBA的明星。他看上去和我们其他人都一样———两只手、两条腿，一个脑袋，只是，他好快，尤其是运球的时候，他的步伐和手都很快。他会挑战每个人和他一对一，直到他累得打不动为止。我不记得他是不是营地最好的球员了，因为那时我不知道篮球打成什么样才算好。营地有85个球员，我的编号是第85，你自己想那意味着什么吧。那时候我不担心蒂姆·哈达威有多好，因为我想的是在CBA打球，反正以后不会再碰到蒂姆·哈达威那样的人。 Yao at a recent book signing at the NBA Store in New York.
(Jennifer Pottheiser
NBAE/Getty Images)
Buy a copy of the bookYAO ZHI YUAN (Yao Ming\'s father): The trip to Paris made a big impression on Yao Ming. He was there for only six days, but he learned a lot—not just about basketball, but maybe about himself and his place in the world of basketball. He found out there are a lot of great players outside of China and how good a player could be. He knew for the first time where he stood among the best young players in the world. He thought, “I’m not that good, but I’m not that bad.” When he went to Paris, he learned what was possible. There was no way to really know that until he left China. Then when he went to the U.S., it was more about learning how to improve his game and reach the level he’d seen in Paris. 姚志源（姚明父亲）:巴黎之行给他留下了最深刻的印象。他只去了6天，但学了很多。
不是关于篮球的，而是关于自己，以及自己在篮球世界的位置。他发现，中国之外还有许多优秀球员，而且他们打到了那样高的水平。他第一次知道自己和世界上最好的年轻球员相比位置怎样。他想，“我是比上不足，比下有余。”去了巴黎，他知道了什么是可能的，踏出国门前是不可能知道的。他在巴黎发现了篮球的境界，去美国的时候，他做得更多的就是改进自己以达到在巴黎看到的水准。The winter after I went to Paris, I broke my left foot. This was near the end of my last season with the Shanghai Sharks’ junior team. I jumped for a rebound and landed on somebody else’s foot. I sprained my ankle on that play, too. I think if I hadn’t gotten hurt, they would’ve brought me up to the Sharks before the season ended. 巴黎之行后的那个冬天，我崴断了左脚。那时我在东方青年队的最后一个赛季就要结束了，我跳起来抢篮板，但踩在别人的脚上，那一次我还扭伤了踝骨。我想，要不是受伤的话，那个赛季结束前我就会进大鲨鱼队了。Instead, I finally joined the Sharks the next season, didn’t get hurt, and averaged 10 points and 8.3 rebounds. I didn’t win Rookie of the Year, just like in the NBA—but the CBA didn’t have a Rookie of the Year award at that time. Now they do. They also have moved the CBA All-Star Game from after the season to the middle of the season, just like in the NBA. The two leagues are looking more and more alike.
下一赛季我终于加入了大鲨鱼，平均得10分，8.3个篮板。我没能拿到新人奖，就像在NBA的第一年一样，是因为那时CBA还没有新人奖，而现在有了。他们还把CBA全明星赛从赛季后移到赛季中，CBA跟NBA的有些方面越来越像了。
The next year, I broke the same foot again, this time in a pre-season game in December. Someone stepped on my left foot just before I tried to move. I didn’t play until the end of the season, the last twelve games. When Houston first saw X-rays of my feet, they saw that my left foot had been broken a couple of times and were worried I might have serious problems and not be able to play. They had their team doctor fly to Beijing and check me out. 第二年，我伤了同一只脚，在12月的季前赛中。我正要移动，有人踩了我的左脚。直到赛季末我才打球，打最后的12场比赛。休斯顿火箭队第一次对我的脚作X光时，他们看到我的左脚断过2次，担心我有严重问题不能打球。他们的队医飞来北京，对我进行检查。The doctor said I was OK, but I can tell you I haven’t jumped the same since the second break. Not that I could jump high before then. The first time I tried to dunk, I was thirteen years old and about 6-2. I didn’t miss by a little, I missed by a lot. Dunking wasn’t that important in China, so I didn’t worry about it. A couple of years later I tried again and still couldn’t do it. Then one day when I was fifteen, about six months after I’d last tried, I was walking across the court to put a ball away after a junior Sharks practice and decided to try. I surprised myself. I did it. I was about 6-8 then. The Chinese always say, “You don’t want to think about it, you just do it. That’s how you become strong.” But when I tried again the next day, I missed. 医生说没问题。但我可以说，第二次受伤之后，我再也不像过去那样弹跳了。并不是说以前我跳得更高，我13岁第一次试着灌篮，那时我1米88。我不是差一点点，而是差一大截。 在中国灌篮不是那么重要，所以不必担心。两年后我再试，还是办不到。15岁的一天，大概是上一次试过灌篮之后的大约6个月，青年队的一次训练后，我走过球场，准备把球收好，忽然我决定再试一下，我自己也大吃一惊，成功了!那时我只有2米03。中国人总是说:“不要多想，放手去干———这样你就会变得强大。”第二天我再试，没有成功。
It was after that season, playing for the junior national team, that I dunked in a game for the first time. I had fallen down near our basket, and the other team went on a fast break but missed the layup. Someone threw me the ball, and I was all alone. I remember I jumped really, really high. My head was at the rim. 那个赛季后，在国家青年队打球，我第一次在比赛中灌篮。我在篮下摔倒，对手快速进攻，但是单手跳投没中，球传到我这里，无人防守。我记得我跳起来，真的很高，我的头就在篮框边。The next time I dunked was playing for the Sharks in my second game as a rookie. We were down by 10 with a minute left and won! I scored 7 points, including a dunk while being fouled. A guard drove and passed the ball to me, and I made it even though someone bumped me. 第二次灌篮，是在大鲨鱼队作为新人的第二场比赛。我们在剩下1分钟的时候还落后10分，但最后获胜了。我得了7分，包括被判犯规罚下的第一次灌篮。后卫突破，将球给我，尽管有人在撞我，我还是将球灌入。I know I can’t jump very well, but I feel lost at the start of a game when I don’t jump for the tipoff. I’m almost always the tallest player on the court, so it feels strange to watch someone smaller jump center. I’ve had time to get used to it; even before I joined the Rockets, there were times I didn’t jump center. When both Wang Zhi Zhi and I were on the national team, he would jump for tipoffs because he can jump much quicker and higher than I can. He even won the CBA dunk contest during his last year playing in China. In my rookie year with the Rockets, our power forward, Eddie Griffin, jumped center, except for the first time I played Shaquille O’Neal. Eddie started to line up to jump when Stevie pushed me in the middle and told me to do it. That meant a lot. It showed he had confidence in me. It was almost like a movie the way he did it, waiting until the last second and then pushing me in there. Very dramatic. 虽然我不能再跳，一场比赛开始时我不跳着出场会觉得失落。我几乎总是场上最高的球员，看个头小得多的球员跳入场中觉得很奇怪。我有时间慢慢去适应———即使在加入火箭队之前，我也有不跳着出场的时候。王治郅和我都在国家队的时候，他会跳入场，因为他比我跳得高得多。我在火箭队的新人年，我们的大前锋埃迪·格里芬跳入场中。埃迪格排队准备跳的时候，斯蒂夫会把我推到中间，让我也做。这对我意味着许多，说明他对我有信心。 他的做法几乎像部电影，等到最后一秒钟推我出场。非常有戏剧性。
I first thought I might be good enough to play in the NBA when I was eighteen years old and came back to China after two months of playing in the U.S. I never expected to play as well as I did. As a junior player, I had played against players in China who were two and three years older, and when I joined the Sharks senior team at seventeen, the players were as much as five and six years older than me. I struggled because they were so much stronger and had been playing much longer. In the U.S., I finally played against players around my age, and it made a big difference. 我第一次想到自己可以跻身NBA是在1998年，那时我18岁，在美国打了两个月球回到国内。我从未想到我能打得那么好。知道为什么吗?那以前，我在中国打球的对手都比我大得多，在青年队时对手大我两三岁，在17岁进入大鲨鱼队时对手大我五六岁。这让我打得很费力，因为他们长得比我壮，球龄比我长。在美国，我终于跟自己同龄的人打球了，感觉很不一样。 Yao earned respect from Tyson Chandler during amateur basketball camps.
(Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images)The trip started in Indianapolis with a Nike camp. Then (Chinese national team and Shanghai Sharks teammate) Liu Wei and I went to Dallas to join an AAU team called High Five. That team traveled all over the country playing in tournaments. That was when you could take players from anywhere and put them on one team. Now it’s different, I guess: you have to live within 100 miles of your team’s home city. Dallas is where I first met Teyo Johnson, who is now a tight end for the Oakland Raiders. Teyo and I have been friends ever since. 美国之行是从位于印第安纳波利斯的耐克训练营开始的。而后，刘炜和我前往达拉斯加入了AAU（美国业余体育联合会）的一支叫HighFive的球队。这支球队在全美四处巡回，参加锦标赛。在巡回比赛时，球队可以从任何地方挑选球员到他们队里。现在不同了，球队只能从其所在城市100英里范围内挑选球员。我在达拉斯第一次见到泰约·约翰逊，他现在是奥克兰突击者队的边锋，我们从那时起就一直是朋友。
TEYO JOHNSON (tight end for the Oakland Raiders): I flew on a red-eye into Dallas. When I got to the hotel and gave my name, the girl at the front desk said, “Oh, you’re with the big Chinese dude.” I thought, “What, I’ve joined a team of foreign-exchange students?” I went up to the room and knocked, but when no one answered, I stuck my key in the slot. Just then Yao Ming answered the door. In his underwear. Tighty-whities. And all I could see was up to his chin in the doorway. He and Liu Wei were sacked out. He let me in and went back to bed. They had a cot set up for me. I called my mom right away and whispered, “There’s this 7-6 dude in my room, and he’s Chinese!” She said, “Yeah, the Mongolians and Huns can be really big.” I didn’t know what to think until we went to practice the next day. That’s where I found out—this dude could play. 泰约·约翰逊:（姚明训练营队友）我搭乘红眼航班来到达拉斯。到了酒店，报上我的名字，前台的小姐说，“噢，你跟那个大个子的中国帅哥住一起。”我的心咯噔了一下，“什么，我参加了外国交换学生的球队?”我走到客房，敲门没人回应，我就用钥匙开门。这时，姚明给我开了门，他穿着内衣，是白色紧身的。在门口我只能看见他的下巴。他和刘炜已经睡下了。他让我进门后，就回到了床上。他们为我铺好了一张小床。我马上打电话给我妈，小声说，“有个7英尺6的家伙在我房间，他是中国人!”我妈说，“哦，中国人可真能长个
儿啊。”第二天练习的时候，在球场上我发现———这家伙还真是厉害。I played everywhere in those two months. After Dallas we went to Stetson University in Florida; AAU summer leagues or tournaments in Orlando, San Diego, Phoenix, and Augusta, Georgia; and Michael Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara. We didn’t know where we were or where we were going most of the time. At Stetson I worked out every day with Lee Scruggs, the center who played at Georgetown. He’s playing now in the NBDL, the NBA’s minor league. The coach working with us was Tates Locke. He had just become a scout for the Blazers, after many years as a college coach. 在那两个月里，我到处打球———达拉斯之后去了佛罗里达的斯泰森大学;印第安那波里斯的耐克营;奥兰多、圣地亚哥、菲尼克斯、奥古斯塔、佐治亚的AAU（美国业余体育联合会）夏季联赛或锦标赛，圣塔巴巴拉的迈克尔·乔丹营。大多数时候不知道自己身处何处，要去哪里。在斯泰森我每天和乔治敦的中锋李·斯克拉格斯一起训练，他现在在NBDL（美国篮球发展联盟）打球，是NBA的次级联赛。我们的教练是塔兹·洛克，在做了多年大学教练后，他那时刚开始给开拓者队做球探。I played with High Five for the last time in San Diego. We stayed in dormitories at United States International University. The High Five camp was in a big building right next to the campus. On the other side of the highway there was a military base with fighter jets; we could see them landing and taking off every morning as we walked from the university to the High Five gym. I played against Tyson Chandler for the first time in San Diego. He was only fifteen years old, and people were already saying he could play in the NBA. He dunked on me and he played very well, but I played good defense, and I had a good jumper already then. I was three years older, but after that I thought, “Some day I could be good enough to play in the NBA, too.” 在圣地亚哥，我为High Five队打最后一次球。我们住在美国国际大学，就在HighFive夏令营所在的高大建筑物隔壁。隔着高速公路的对面是个军事基地，每天早上从大学走到High Five体育馆的路上，我们都看到战斗机起降。在圣地亚哥我第一次和泰森·钱德勒打球。他只有15岁，人们已经说他能打NBA。他对着我灌篮，球打得非常好，但我防守很好，跳投也已经很不错。我比他大3岁，从那以后我就想，“也许有一天我也能够打入NBA。”TEYO JOHNSON: We lost that game by one point. I thought Yao destroyed Tyson. He threw one of his shots back to half-court near the end of that game. Yao was hitting his jumper, too. Even then he could shoot and I could tell how athletic he was. I knew he’d get tougher and that’s all he really needed. 泰约·约翰逊:（姚明训练营队友）我们以一分之差输掉了比赛。我想，是姚明击败了泰森。在比赛快结束时，姚明把泰森的几次投篮扔回了半场。姚明也截住了他的跳投。我可以看出他的运动素质多棒。我知道他还需要长得再结实些，他所有欠缺的就是这点。TYSON CHANDLER (forward and center for the Chicago Bulls): The first time I saw him, I thought, “That’s an amazing man.” I was always the biggest guy around, but he towered over me—a big dude with a soft touch who could pass the ball. I hadn’t played with any foreigners at that time. Being on the court with this huge man, someone who didn’t know English and came all the way from China, was just a crazy experience for me, so it had to be a crazy experience for him. 泰森·钱德勒（芝加哥公牛队的前锋和中锋）:第一次见到他时，我想，“这人真了不得。”此前，我总是场上最高的，但他还要高我一截，这个大家伙接球很轻，你可以放心把球传给他。此前，我没和外国球员同场打过球。这个大个子，不懂英语，又是不远万里从中国而来，和他同场打球，对我来说是种疯狂的体验，对他来说，也一定是这样的。
整场比赛，姚明毫不留情地一次次拦下泰约的跳投。然后我上场，对着他灌篮，向他尖叫。噢，天哪———我听不懂他在说些什么，但后面他拦下球后就会击掌，示意把球传给他。他挡住了每一个对手的进攻，将投篮截住。对手们毫无办法。The whole game he was just knocking down his jump shot, showing no emotion. Then I came down, dunked on him, and screamed at him. Amunicate, but we connected. We’ve been boys ever since. I didn’t see him again for years, but I’d call him every six months or so and set up a three-way conference call with a translator. He called me from China the day I was drafted by the Raiders to congratulate me, and when I saw him at his second All-Star Game, he gave me his jersey. The way I see it, we’re friends for life. 我们无法交流，但很要好。从那时我们成了朋友。几年没见到他了，但我大约半年给他打个电话，请一个翻译，和他开三边会议。我被招入突击者队的当天，他从中国打来电话祝贺。他在全明星队的第二场比赛我见到他时，他把球衣送给了我。在我看来，我们是一生的朋友。
After San Diego, I went to Jordan’s camp and worked as a counselor, but we played every night. In the trophy case in my home in Shanghai, I have two pictures of me with Jordan. One is the picture he took with everybody who worked or played at the camp. The other is of me walking off the court and Jordan patting me on the back. I’m smiling, but I look very skinny. One reason is that I had only $200 for the whole two-month trip. Liu Wei took something like $150 with him. The first two weeks, we didn’t need to pay for anything; Li Yaomin, the Sharks GM, took care of us. But after the Nike Camp in Indianapolis, he went back to China and took all his money with him. We were two young Chinese kids without any money, playing in places like Augusta, Georgia, and Orlando. 在圣地亚哥之后，我去了乔丹训练营，但我们还是每晚打球。我在上海家中的奖杯陈列柜中有两张我同乔丹的合影。一张是他同营地每个球员及工作人员的集体照，另一张中，我正往场外走，他拍了拍我的背，我在笑，但看上去很瘦。一个原因是整整2个月我只有200美元可用，刘炜大概带了150块。前两周，我们什么都不用付钱，大鲨鱼的总经理李耀民照顾我们。但在印第安纳波利斯的耐克训练营之后，他回国了，把他的钱都带走了。我们两个中国小孩没有钱，完全自己管自己，继续在奥古斯塔、乔治亚、奥兰多等地打球。So for two weeks, Liu Wei and I ate nothing but 99-cent double cheeseburgers and the free breakfast they had in our motel lobby every morning. We made sure to get there very early. 因此，在两个星期里，我和刘炜只能吃99美分一个的双层干酪汉堡包，刘炜每天吃一个，我吃两个，以及旅馆里每天供应的免费早餐，我们每天都要很早跑去吃。 Liu Wei and Yao lived off of cheeseburgers and hotel breakfasts during their stay in the U.S.
(Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images)When another coach from China came over to check on us, he said, “You look skinny.”“Of course,” I said. 另一位教练从中国过来看我们的时候，对我说:“你看上去皮包骨头。”“当然了。”我说。LIU WEI: Actually, Yao Ming ate two cheeseburgers every day while I had one. Since I was injured and couldn’t play, we decided he needed more food than I did. 刘炜（国家队队员）:其实，姚明每天吃2只干酪汉堡包，我只吃1个。我受伤了不能打球，所以我们决定，让他多吃一点。I guess Li Yaomin didn’t know that in America a player has to pay for his own food. Maybe he thought it was like in China, where there’s always a free buffet for the players at every hotel or the team pays for everything. I’m hoping that’s what he thought. The High Five coach, Rle Nichols, lent us each $100 after we used up our own money. Rle is 5-6 and I couldn’t speak English then, so we called him “Little Coach” in Chinese. I don’t know where he is now, but I still owe him $100. 我猜李耀民不知道在美国球员自己付饭钱，也许他以为像中国一样，每个酒店都有免费自助餐给球员，或者球队会包揽所有费用。我希望他是那样想的。我们的钱用完后，HighFive的教练里尔·尼克斯借给我们每人100元。里尔只有5英尺6（1米68），那时我不会英文，就叫他“小教练”。我不知道他现在在哪里，我得还给他100元。After Jordan’s camp in Santa Barbara, Nike took me to Portland to relax. They let Liu Wei come with me. We went to a batting cage and I tried to hit a baseball. Out of ten swings, I hit the ball maybe once. Maybe. They also took us to Jet Ski on the Willamette River. I liked it, but that was pretty scary—maybe the scariest thing I’ve ever done. 到圣塔巴巴拉的乔丹营后，我去波特兰跟耐克签合同，并休息一下，他们让刘炜和我一起去。我们去击球练习场打棒球，10次挥杆我只打着1次。他们还带我们去威拉米特河玩水上摩托，我很喜欢，但很惊险———也许是我做过的最惊险的事情。
TEYO JOHNSON: He had me flown up to Portland, too, to hang out with him. Nike was going after him hard then already. He showed no fear Jet Skiing that I could see. When I was riding on the back he’d gun it, take a sharp turn, and fling me off the back. He got a kick out of doing that. 泰约·约翰逊（姚明训练营队友）:姚明让我也一起飞到了波特兰，去跟他一块玩。耐克那时就很看重他。他玩起水上摩托来毫无惧色，在我看来是这样———当我紧追其后时，他
加大油门，来个急拐弯，一下把我甩得远远的。他这样做得到了极大的乐趣。LIU WEI: When we went to the batting cage, he took more than ten swings and didn’t come close to hitting the ball, not even once. The best part of the Jet Skiing was when Yao Ming fell off and couldn’t climb back on. He finally had to grab the back of my machine, and I towed him back to the dock. 刘炜（国家队队员）:我们去棒球练习场，他打了十几杆，1杆都没打着，差得远。水上摩托最好玩的乐子，就是当姚明从自己的摩托上摔下爬不回去的时候。最后他抓住我的摩托后部，我把他拖回码头。When we finally flew back to Shanghai, there was a lot of media waiting at the gate. I’d been away two months, and I hadn’t had a haircut the whole time. My hair was so long, I thought I looked like Dr. J or Ben Wallace. And even though we ate better in San Diego and Portland, I was still really skinny. Big hair, skinny body. When I saw myself on TV, I thought, “That’s me?”
终于回到上海，许多记者等在机场的出口。出去两个月，我没理过一次发，头发很长。
虽然我在圣地亚哥和波特兰吃得不错，但还是很瘦。长头发加上皮包骨头，在电视上看到自己时，我想，“这真是我吗?” 曲作者姚明 词作者姚明 姚明文选的作者是 姚明 全国人姚明 姚明月 一突姚明 姚明明的个人资料 梦北京曲作者姚明
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