Jordan Retirement

　　I am here to announce my retirement from the game of basketball. It won't be anotherannouncement to baseball or anything to that nature1.

　　Mentally, I'm exhausted; I don't feel I have a challenge. Physically, I feel great. The last time in1993 I had other agendas. I felt that I wanted to play baseball and I felt that at my age, it wasa good opportunity and time to do it. And with the death of my father, and I was basicallytrying to deal with that.

　　Actually I talked to Jerry last year once the season ended and I told Jerry at that time, mentally,I was a little exhausted. I didn't know if I would play next year. I wanted to put him onawareness so that he could possibly prepare going into next season. And Jerry, once we hadour conversation, wanted me to take time as I did in 1993 to make sure that it was the rightdecision because it was going to be the final decision.

　　I retired the first time when Phil Jackson was the coach. And I think that even with Phil beingthe coach I would have had a tough time, mentally finding the challenge for myself. Althoughhe can somehow present challenges for me. I don't know if he could have presented thechallenge for me to continue on to this season. Even though middle way of this season Iwanted to continue to play a couple more years, but at the end of this season I was mentallydrained and tired. So I can't say that he would have restored that.

　　I will support the Chicago Bulls2. I think the game itself is a lot bigger than Michael Jordan. I'vebeen given an opportunity by people before me, to name a few, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, DoctorJ, Jerry West. These guys played the game way before Michael Jordan was born and MichaelJordan came on the heels of3 all that activity. Mr Stern and what he's done for the league, gaveme an opportunity to play the game of basketball. I played it to the best I could play it; I triedto enhance the game itself. I've tried to be the best basketball player that I could be.

　　Ⅰ. 1. A. B. C 2. A 3 . B

　　Ⅱ. Phil Jackson.

　　喬丹退役演說

　　我在這里宣布從籃球場上退役, 而且這次退役后不會再去從事棒球或其他類似的運動。

　　由于精神上很疲憊, 我感到自己缺乏挑戰力, 體力倒還不錯。1993年那次退役時我有其他計劃: 想打棒球, 我那個年紀正是從事棒球事業的極佳時機。父親剛好去世了, 我只想盡力去面對這一切。

　　事實上, 去年賽季剛結束時, 我和杰里談過一次。我告訴他我精神上有些疲憊, 不知下一年還能不能打。我想讓他意識到這一點, 以便為下一賽季做準備。有一次我們談到這個問題時, 杰里讓我像1993 年那樣慎重考慮, 以便做出明智的決定, 因為這將是最后決定。 第一次退役時的教練是費爾· 杰克遜。但我覺得即使本賽季他還擔任教練, 我也會很困難, 我從內心已感受到了挑戰。當然無論如何, 他都會給我一些應對方法的。我不知道他是否還有辦法使我打完這一賽季。在本賽季中我還想著再打幾年呢, 但當賽季結束時, 我卻感覺精神枯竭, 疲憊。因此, 我確實不能說他會使我恢復精力。

　　我將支持芝加哥公牛隊, 我認為比賽本身比邁克爾· 喬丹重要得多。我的很多機會都是籃球前輩們給的: 賈巴爾,J 博士, 韋思特等等。這些人早在喬丹出生前就在賽場龍騰虎躍了。邁克爾· 喬丹只不過是繼承了他們的傳統。斯特恩先生以及他為聯盟做出的貢獻給了我打籃球的機會。我已盡我最大能力打球, 我想努力推動運動本身的發展。我一直在努力, 盡我所能成為最好的球員。

　　1. nature n. 本性, 天性, 性質, 如: human nature ( 人性, 人情) ; the animal nature ( 獸性) ; therational nature ( 理性) ; a man of good / ill nature ( 脾氣好/壞的人) ; Nature will out. ( 本性難隱。) ; sanguine natures ( 性格快活的人, 樂天派的人) ; events of this nature ( 這一類事120 件) 。

　　2. 芝加哥公牛籃球隊。在喬丹時代, 它幾乎每年都是聯賽的冠軍, 但是自喬丹退役后就一蹶不振, 風光難再了。

　　3. 意思相當于follow on ( 或upon) the heels of ( 緊跟在后面) 。這個詞還有個成語the heel of Achilles, 意思相當于Achilles’heel ( 致命弱點, 要害) 。希臘神話中阿基里斯被母親提著腳跟在冥河煉得渾身刀槍不入, 但是被人用箭射中腳跟而死, 說明再強大的事物也有弱點。