The Coming of the Ming Dynasty（在线收听）

The Coming of the Ming Dynasty

You could not have written a better closing chapter for one of basketballs’ big men. The NBA title for the San Antonio Spurs gives their center 37-year-old David Robinson a storybook ending, to a long and prosperous career. While his can-do-style and wholesome image will be sorely missed, the NBA has quickly generated a huge ¹⁾buzz around the tallest man in the league, Yao Ming, who has the added benefit of being from the world’s fastest growing economy. NBA officials are so excited they have a name for his expected ²⁾reign, the Ming Dynasty.

Yao Ming is a giant in the basketball world. And not just because he stands seven ft. six inches tall, 2.286 meters.

Carrol Dawson (General Manager, Huston Rockets): No matter where we go or what we are talking about, his name comes up. And I’ve been in this business 25 years and NBA and I’ve been a college coach long time before, and I’ve never seen anything like this.

As ³⁾the draft’s first pick, Yao signed a four year $18 million contract, he already has earned more than $4 million in ⁴⁾endorsement money, an amount which some analysts forecast could rise to eight figures by next year. Yao already is drawing comparisons to NBA legend Michael Jordan, whose net worth has been estimated at more than $400 million. Yao is by far the most visible first year player in the NBA. Companies are ⁵⁾capitalizing on his mystery, charisma and of course his size.

Through Yao’s Rockets, the entire league is raising its profile in the world’s largest emerging market. The NBA showed 170 games on 12 Chinese television networks this season, and has plans to play pre-season games and sell merchandise in China next year. Chinese companies are ⁶⁾reciprocating. In a sure sign of an burgeoning trend, the country’s second largest ⁷⁾brewery, Yanjing Beer has signed on as a corporate sponsor of the Houston Rockets.

Thad Brown (VP, Rockets): They wanted to be associated with the team because they could in fact not only create a ⁸⁾beachhead here in the United States for the distribution of their product, but also it would reach their customers back in China while the games are being broadcast there locally. Well he’s got a great smile, he’s very humble, he’s very smart, and he represents himself and his team so well. Everything has kind of ⁹⁾converged the perfect storm if you will, where he really has become this flash point for U.S.-China relations and commerce.

The NBA hopes the international appeal of its newest star will ¹⁰⁾buffer losses at home. League-wide ticket sales this season are down 5% overall. And a recent survey revealed that 40% of basketball fans in the U.S. have lost some interest in the NBA since Michael Jordan left the Bulls in 1998. But the Rockets are becoming a draw even away from Houston-jumping from 18th last season to 7th, as the Rockets opponents take advantage when Yao comes to town.

Moochie Norris (Teammate): Seems like every time you turn around, it’s just Yao, Yao, Yao. You know it doesn’t bother the team as much as it bothers him. I think sometimes he doesn’t know but for the most part he’s like, every city we go to there is, you know, just this ¹¹⁾entourage of people just waiting for him to step on the floor, just walk in the building.

The NBA restricts the marketing capabilities of individual teams, but the Rockets have profited from Yao’s presence nonetheless. The team launched a Mandarin language website, and radio show to appeal to Houston’s 250,000 Asian Americans.

Ticket sales are up 16%, local television ratings have nearly doubled, Internet traffic is up four times what it was last year in large part to the hits to the Chinese content pages, from Houston and from halfway across the world.

George Postolos (President, Rockets): He’s such a huge star in China already, the sort of meeting Chinese citizens here are so connected back to the homeland that it takes on added significance and it’s created an incredibly passionate response with them. And you’re seeing you know, nearly ten times the sales to the Chinese community that we had a year ago.

Tim McDougall (Marketing VP, Rockets): We thought this would be the biggest individual sports story of the century, or a long time and that Yao would be that big, just by the number of people who are interested in him. Put that up right against the other great individual sports stories there in history and he ranks up there really well.

姚明之年

你不能为这位篮球巨人的球员生涯谱写更好的结束篇章了。圣安东尼奥马刺队获得的NBA总冠军头衔为队里37岁的中锋大卫·罗宾逊漫长而光辉的职业生涯划上了圆满的句号。当人们还在深深地怀念罗宾逊鲜明的风格和良好的形象的时候，姚明，这个来自经济增长速度最快的国家的NBA第一高度，已经在联盟里刮起一股强烈的旋风。NBA的高层兴奋地把即将到来的姚明时代称为“明朝”。

姚明是篮球界的巨人,而这不仅仅因为他身高七尺六寸，相当于2.286米。

卡罗尔·道森（休斯顿火箭队总经理）：无论我们走到哪里，谈论什么话题，总会有姚明的名字出现。而我在这行业里干了二十五年，过去在NBN工作过，还当过很长时间的大学教练，却从来没有看见过这种情况。

当选秀状元姚明签下一份为期四年、价值一千八百万美元的合同时，他已经获得了超过四百万美元的产品广告收入，一些分析家预期这个数目明年将上升到八位数字。现在已经有人把他的收入和NBA的传奇人物迈克尔·乔丹相比，乔丹的身价估计超过四亿美元。到目前为止，在第一年加入NBA的球员当中姚明是最受瞩目的。许多公司都想利用他身上的神秘感和超凡的魅力，当然还有他的身材去获得利益。

通过姚明所在的火箭队的影响，整个职业联赛在中国这个世界上最大的市场上所得到的关注程度越来越高。NBA这个赛季通过十二个中国电视网络转播了一百七十场比赛，而且明年计划在中国播放季前赛和出售NBA商品。有来有往，中国公司也开始进入了美国市场。中国第二大酿酒厂生产的燕京啤酒已经签约成为了休斯顿火箭队的合作伙伴。

萨德·布朗（火箭队副主席）：他们与球队合作是因为这样不仅能够在美国市场登陆，建立产品的分销点，而且在当地球赛播出的时候中国的消费者也能看得到自己的品牌。姚明的笑容很灿烂，人很谦卑，也很聪明，他为自己和球队树立了很好的形象。可以这样说，所有的好因素汇集在一身，使人们完全为之倾倒，他确实成为了中美友好关系和贸易的一个闪亮点。

NBA方面希望由姚明这颗新星在国际上带来的吸引力能挽回它在国内市场的损失。联赛本季票的销量总体下跌了百分之五。而最近的调查表明自从1998年迈克尔·乔丹从公牛队退役后，有百分之四十的美国篮球迷对美国职业篮球联赛失去了一些兴趣。而火箭队即使是客场票的销售额也有大幅上升，从上赛季排名第十八位上升到第七位。从姚明那里，火箭队的对手们都能从中获益。

穆奇·诺里斯（队友）：好像在你周围的都是一片“姚、姚、姚”声。你知道这种情况对他的困扰更甚于球队。我想有时他并不清楚的是：很多时候，每到一个城市都有一大群人在等待他的到来，等待着他走进大楼里。

尽管NBA对每一支球队的经济收入都有一定的限制。但通过姚明，火箭队能获得额外的收入。球队建立了一个中文的网站，并增加了一个电台节目以满足二十五万亚裔美国球迷的需要。

球票销量增加了百分之十六，当地的电视收视率上升了将近一倍，网络流量与去年相比增加了四倍，这些收益主要是因为休斯顿和地球另一边的中国访客大量点击中文网站所致。

乔治·波斯托罗斯（火箭队主席）：他在中国已经是个非常耀眼的明星，（他的到来）对在这里思念祖国的中国人有特殊的意义，产生了热烈的反响。与一年前相比，我们在华人社区的产品销量增加了近九倍。

蒂姆·麦克杜格尔（火箭队营销副主席）：我想这是本世纪最成功的体育传奇故事，至少在相当长的一个时期会这样。姚明的力量究竟有多巨大，只要看看对他有兴趣的人有多少就知道了。把他的传奇作为个人体育故事载进历史，他将占一席之地。

注释:

1)      buzz [bQz] n. 嘁嘁喳喳，嘈杂声       

2)      reign [rein] n. 盛行，支配

3) the drafts 指2002年的NBA选秀，姚明成为当年的选秀状元。

4) endorsement [in5dC:smEnt] n. 商品广告

5) capitalize on 利用                  

6) reciprocate [ri5siprEkeit] v. 互给，报答

7) brewery [5bru:Eri] n. 啤酒厂                       

8) beachhead [5bi:tFhed] n. 登陆场

9) converge [kEn5vE:dV] v. 会聚，集中

10) buffer [5bQfE] v. 缓冲

11) entourage [7Cntu5rB:V] n. 随从，随行人员