棒球击手Barry Bonds对其未来有所保留（在线收听）

Baseball Slugger Barry Bonds' Future on Hold

棒球击手Barry Bonds对其未来有所保留

 He is 53 home runs shy of breaking Hank Aaron's all-time Major League Baseball home run record.  He trails New York Yankees' legend Babe Ruth by only 11 home runs on the all-time list.  But baseball slugger Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants might not pass either Ruth or Aaron this year, or ever.  A despondent Bonds said this week that knee problems might keep him off the field until next season. 

With his son Nikolai at his side, Barry Bonds leaned on crutches and lashed out at the media Tuesday for hounding him about possible steroid use in the past few years.

Barry Bonds: I am very tired. I don't really have much to say anymore.  My son and I are just going to enjoy our lives.  My family is tired, just tired. I'm tired. You guys wanted to hurt me bad enough, you finally got there.

The San Francisco slugger then said that he might not play until the middle of the season or even next year.  That means that this year will be the first time the 40-year-old star will miss an opening day game in 19 seasons. And there is speculation, in light of the recent congressional hearings on illegal steroid use by baseball players Barry Bonds might not return to the game at all.

A cloud has surrounded Barry Bonds since a doping case involving a San Francisco area laboratory and his personal trainer broke last year.  The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper leaked Bonds' testimony to a grand jury that he used substances that his trainer gave him, but he did not know they contained steroids.  That version of events was challenged when, according to news reports, a former girlfriend testified that Bonds told her he used steroids. 

Bonds has also recently undergone a second operation to repair damaged cartilage in his right knee.  The seven-time National League most valuable player said this week that he wants to focus on rehabilitating his knee and getting healthy.

Barry Bonds: Right now I am just going to try to rehab myself back to - I don't know maybe next season, maybe the middle of this season. I don't know.

But can Barry Bonds escape the trouble surrounding him? He was not called to Washington to testify at last week's congressional hearing, where the House Government Reform Committee took another former slugger Mark McGwire to task.  Bonds broke McGwire's single-season home run record in 2001.  ESPN television analyst Harold Reynolds, a former player, says he thinks that Bonds will return, despite the difficulties.

Harold Reynolds: I think he is tired of the storm that is going on around him. But the bottom line here is, I think it's a guy who is hurt.  He is at the lowest of lows right now, but I think he is going to come back and play.  When you are going through an injury like that, sometimes you have that down feeling and I think that's where Barry is at right now.

Former Philadelphia Phillies' player John Kruk, who is also a baseball analyst for ESPN, says he believes the controversy of possibly shattering hallowed home run records under a cloud of using illegal performance-enhancing substances will keep Barry Bonds from returning.

John Kruk: The guy is just tired of the media, and I think, honestly my opinion, watching him today [Tuesday], I think he is not going to play baseball anymore.  I think he is done.  I think he has had it.  He wants to try to walk away and just disappear.

Should Bonds miss this season, coming back in 2006 would be that much more difficult because he would be 41 and even more prone to injury than he is now.  And more than likely, Major League Baseball would not want the slugger to retire. The drama of having Barry Bonds chase Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron's records, coupled with the controversy surrounding him, makes for great television ratings and increased fan attendance.  But whether Barry Bonds is willing to undergo the scrutiny and the controversy is not known.  As of Tuesday, he did not look like he was.

I’m David Byrd, VOA Sports.

注释：

slugger [5slQ^E] n. 打击力强的选手

despondent [dis5pCndEnt] adj. 沮丧的

steroid [5stiErCid] n. [生化]类固醇

congressional [kEn5^reFEnEl] adj. 会议的，大会的，国会的

doping [5dEupiN] (半导体)掺杂(质)，加添加剂[填料]

cartilage [5kB:tilidV] n. [解剖]软骨

rehabilitate [7ri:(h)E5biliteit] v. 使(身体)康复，使复职，使恢复名誉，使复原

rehab [5ri:hAb] (=rehabilitation) n. 修复，恢复名誉，复职

prone to 倾于……

chase [tFeis] vt. 追赶，追逐

scrutiny [5skru:tini] n. 详细审查