Basketball

Basketball, written by Larry Millet. Focus question, how has basketball changed over time?

《篮球》，拉里·米利特著。 探究问题：篮球随着时间发生了哪些变化？

a game of excitement. Basketball is a game of excitement. Things change quickly during games. A few seconds left on the clock can be enough to turn a loss into a win. There is nothing more exciting than watching a player take a last -second shot far from the basket. In that moment, all eyes are on the ball. Everyone wonders if it will fly through the net, bounce off the rim, or be an air ball that misses completely.

一场充满激情的运动。 篮球就是一项充满激情的运动。 赛场上局势瞬息万变。 倒计时剩下的几秒钟，就足够逆转败局反败为胜。 最激动人心的，莫过于看球员在离篮筐很远的位置投出压哨一球。 这一刻，所有人的目光都聚焦在这颗球上。 大家都在猜测，它会穿网而过？弹在篮筐上？还是完全偏出变成空气球。

early days. Although basketball is now a global sport, it started small in 1891. Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian -born teacher in Massachusetts, was concerned about how to get his students to exercise enough during the cold winters. He set out to invent a sport that could played indoors. After a few tries, he hit gold by nailing a peach basket up on the wall. He called his new sport, basketball.

早期起源。 虽然现在篮球是一项全球性运动，但它1891年诞生的时候规模很小。 詹姆斯·奈史密斯博士是一位在马萨诸塞州任教的加拿大教师，他当时在想，怎么让学生在寒冷的冬天也能得到足够的锻炼。 于是他开始着手发明一项可以在室内进行的运动。 几次尝试之后，他大获成功——把一个桃子篮钉在了墙上。 他把这项新运动命名为篮球。

Basketball quickly swept the country, becoming popular at schools. Part of the reason for its popularity was the ease with which it could be played. All you needed was a ball, a basket, and a court. Men's and women's basketball started in schools in 1892, and by the 1920s, dozens of schools in the United States offered varsity high school basketball teams. Basketball remained mostly an American pastime until 1949, when the National Basketball Association, NBA, began. After the NBA formed, basketball became the major league sport that it is today.

篮球很快风靡全美，在各个学校流行起来。 它受欢迎的部分原因，是这项运动很容易开展。 你只需要一颗球、一个篮筐和一块场地就能开玩。 1892年男女篮球就走进了校园，到20世纪20年代，美国已经有几十所高中都组建了校篮球队。 在1949年美国职业篮球联赛（NBA）成立之前，篮球基本只是美国人的休闲活动。 NBA成立后，篮球就发展成了如今我们所知的顶级职业联赛运动。

More popular than ever In the United States, there are professional and amateur players of all different ages. The NBA has 30 teams. The WNBA, Women's National Basketball Association, has 12 teams. There are 336 national college teams. Almost every high school has a basketball team. Basketball camps are available for younger students, and just about every park with a court has regular pickup games going.

比以往更受欢迎 在美国，各个年龄层都有职业和业余篮球爱好者。 NBA一共有30支球队。 女子职业篮球联赛（WNBA）一共有12支球队。 全美共有336支大学篮球队。 几乎每所高中都有自己的篮球队。 还有给低龄学生开设的篮球营，几乎任何带球场的公园，都常有临时凑局的野球比赛。

Global Phenomenon While it is not yet as popular as soccer, the sport of basketball is growing around the world. The tipping point came in 1992 when the United States sent the Dream Team to the Olympic Games. The Dream Team was the first Olympic team made up of NBA players. The whole world saw some of the greatest players ever win the gold medal.

全球热潮 虽然篮球目前还没有足球受欢迎，但这项运动正在全世界不断发展。 转折点出现在1992年，这一年美国派出梦之队参加奥运会。 这支梦之队是第一支由NBA球员组成的奥运代表队。 全世界都见证了这群史上最顶尖的球员拿下奥运金牌。