US basketball player Kobe Bryant, 39, is one of the NBA’s most famous stars. AFP
和足球一样，篮球也是项全球性的运动。当你阅读这篇文章时，世界上的某处或许就有年轻人正在开心地传球、运球、投篮。打篮球有着无穷的乐趣，也是和朋友打发时间的一种愉快的方式。
Basketball is a game for everyone. Unlike golf or tennis, it doesn’t require great wealth or a lot of space to play. After all, not many people have a golf course-sized backyard, and tennis equipment is expensive. Basketball, by contrast, just needs a wall with a hoop and a ball.
篮球是项适合所有人的运动。和高尔夫、网球不同的是，打篮球不需要花很多钱，也不需要很大的运动场地。毕竟，没有多少人能拥有一个高尔夫球场大小的后院，网球装备也价格不菲。相比之下，打篮球只需要一面装有篮筐的墙和一颗篮球。
So after its invention by Canadian-American physical educator James Naismith in 1891, the sport took off with US city-dwellers, who quickly became attracted to the game because it suited their circumstances. Today, 126 years later, basketball remains one of the most popular sports in the US, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) has an increasing appeal to fans around the world.
所以，在1981年加拿大裔美国体育老师詹姆斯·奈史密斯发明篮球以后，这项运动在美国的城市居民中风靡。人们很快就被篮球运动所吸引，因为他们所处的环境打篮球十分方便。126年后的今天，篮球仍是美国最受欢迎的运动之一，而美国职业篮球联赛（NBA）对于世界各地球迷的吸引力也与日俱增。
The success of basketball as a global phenomenon is undoubtedly related to the way African-Americans play the game. “The basketball court reflected some of the major cultural shifts in America, such as from segregation to integration,” the LIVESTRONG website noted.
篮球在全球范围内现象级的成功无疑与非裔美国人打篮球的方式息息相关。“篮球场体现了美国在文化上的一些主要转变，如从种族隔离到种族融合等，”LIVESTRONG网站指出。
From the 1950s onwards, segregation rules, which had prohibited African-Americans from playing in NBA games, were no longer used in the US. In 1950, when Earl Lloyd started to play for the Washington Capital team, things began to change. Since then, most of the greats of the game have been African-Americans, like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
美国自上世纪50年代以来废除了禁止非裔美国人参与NBA比赛的种族隔离政策。当厄尔·劳埃德1950年开始为华盛顿国会队效力时，一切都变得不同了。从那以后，大多数伟大的篮球运动员都是非裔美国人，如迈克尔·乔丹、“魔术师”埃尔文·约翰逊、科比·布莱恩特以及勒布朗·詹姆斯。
It’s not difficult to see that there’s a strong link between political liberation and basketball. Something of this is expressed in a quote from the US author John Edgar Wideman. He makes a connection between basketball and hope: “When it’s played the way it’s supposed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams.”
不难看出，政治解放与篮球运动密切相关。这点在美国作家约翰·埃德加·怀德曼的一句名言中有所体现。他将篮球和希望联系了起来：“当人们以应有的方式打篮球时，篮球无处不在；飞翔、漂浮、从地面高高弹起，篮球解放了这个星球上受压迫的人们，让他们在自己的梦想中天马行空。”
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