Argentinean NBA player Scola confirms trip to China

     BUENOS AIRES, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's(阿根廷) basketball player Luis Scola on Monday confirmed that he will travel to China later this week while expressing hope he will be fully¹ recovered from a knee injury before the pre-Olympics Mar² del Plata tournament in August, local press reported.

    Scola, who plays in the NBA Houston Rockets and won gold in the Athens Olympics 2004, said he is hopeful that he will be fit to play in the upcoming tournament.

    Scola's visit to China is part of a trip that seeks to promote the sport in several cities across China.

    The Mar del Plata tournament will serve as a qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics and a number of the current players from the period that in international basketball has become known as "the golden generation" are expected to retire from the game.

    "These trips have always been highly³ productive⁴ and culturally. It's all a great experience. It's amazing to see how Yao Ming through the NBA has stirred⁵ so much interest for Basketball in China," he told the daily paper Clarin in an interview, referring to China's NBA player in Rockets abroad.

    "This year I really want to go to Hong Kong and Macao," said Scola, who is captain for the Argentine team.

    Scola injured his left knee in a game for the Houston Rockets on April 15 which forced him to cut the season short.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

3 highly   

adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地

参考例句：

• It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
• The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。

4 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。

5 stirred   

v.（使）移动( stir的过去式和过去分词 )；搅拌；（使）行动；（使）微动

参考例句：

• She stirred her tea. 她搅了搅茶。
• He stirred the coffee until it was a light reddish-brown. 直到咖啡成红褐色，他才停止搅拌。 来自《简明英汉词典》