The winter after I went to Paris, I broke my left foot. This was near the end of my last season with the Shanghai Sharks’ junior team. I jumped for a rebound and landed on somebody else’s foot. I sprained my ankle on that play, too. I think if I hadn’t gotten hurt, they would’ve brought me up to the Sharks before the season ended.
巴黎之行后的那个冬天，我崴断了左脚。那时我在东方青年队的最后一个赛季就要结束了，我跳起来抢篮板，但踩在别人的脚上，那一次我还扭伤了踝骨。我想，要不是受伤的话，那个赛季结束前我就会进大鲨鱼队了。
Instead, I finally joined the Sharks the next season, didn’t get hurt, and averaged 10 points and 8.3 rebounds. I didn’t win Rookie of the Year, just like in the NBA—but the CBA didn’t have a Rookie of the Year award at that time. Now they do. They also have moved the CBA All-Star Game from after the season to the middle of the season, just like in the NBA. The two leagues are looking more and more alike.
下一赛季我终于加入了大鲨鱼，平均得10分，8.3个篮板。我没能拿到新人奖，就像在NBA的第一年一样，是因为那时CBA还没有新人奖，而现在有了。他们还把CBA全明星赛从赛季后移到赛季中，CBA跟NBA的有些方面越来越像了。
The next year, I broke the same foot again, this time in a pre-season game in December. Someone stepped on my left foot just before I tried to move. I didn’t play until the end of the season, the last twelve games. When Houston first saw X-rays of my feet, they saw that my left foot had been broken a couple of times and were worried I might have serious problems and not be able to play. They had their team doctor fly to Beijing and check me out.
第二年，我伤了同一只脚，在12月的季前赛中。我正要移动，有人踩了我的左脚。直到赛季末我才打球，打最后的12场比赛。休斯顿火箭队第一次对我的脚作X光时，他们看到我的左脚断过2次，担心我有严重问题不能打球。他们的队医飞来北京，对我进行检查。
The doctor said I was OK, but I can tell you I haven’t jumped the same since the second break. Not that I could jump high before then. The first time I tried to dunk, I was thirteen years old and about 6-2. I didn’t miss by a little, I missed by a lot. Dunking wasn’t that important in China, so I didn’t worry about it. A couple of years later I tried again and still couldn’t do it. Then one day when I was fifteen, about six months after I’d last tried, I was walking across the court to put a ball away after a junior Sharks practice and decided to try. I surprised myself. I did it. I was about 6-8 then. The Chinese always say, “You don’t want to think about it, you just do it. That’s how you become strong.” But when I tried again the next day, I missed.
医生说没问题。但我可以说，第二次受伤之后，我再也不像过去那样弹跳了。并不是说以前我跳得更高，我13岁第一次试着灌篮，那时我1米88。我不是差一点点，而是差一大截。
在中国灌篮不是那么重要，所以不必担心。两年后我再试，还是办不到。15岁的一天，大概是上一次试过灌篮之后的大约6个月，青年队的一次训练后，我走过球场，准备把球收好，忽然我决定再试一下，我自己也大吃一惊，成功了!那时我只有2米03。中国人总是说:“不要多想，放手去干———这样你就会变得强大。”第二天我再试，没有成功。liuxuepaper.com