Mentally, I’m exhausted; I don’t feel I have a challenge. Physically, I feel great. The last time in 1993 I had other agendas. I felt that I wanted to play baseball and I felt that at my age, it was a good opportunity and time to do it. And with the death of my father, and I was basically trying 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 on awareness so that he could possibly prepare going into next season. And Jerry, once we had our conversation, wanted me to take time as I did in 1993 to make sure that it was the right decision 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 being the coach I would have had a tough time, mentally finding the challenge for myself. Although he can somehow present challenges for me. I don’t know if he could have presented the challenge for me to continue on to this season. Even though middle way of this season I wanted to continue to play a couple more years, but at the end of this season I was mentally drained 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’ve been given an opportunity by people before me, to name a few, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Doctor J, Jerry West. These guys played the game way before Michael Jordan was born and Michael Jordan came on the heels of3 all that activity. Mr Stern and what he’s done for the league, gave me an opportunity to play the game of basketball. I played it to the best I could play it; I tried to enhance the game itself. I’ve tried to be the best basketball player that I could be.

　　----------------------------------------------------------

　　練習題：

　　Ⅰ. Fill in e ach bla nk with p rop er choice ( s ) :

　　1. Before Michael Jordan are famous basketball players.

　　A. Kareem Abdul Jabbar B. Doctor J

　　C. Jerry West D. Yao Ming

　　2. Lillian tried to that no one in this world could live forever.

　　A. put him on awareness B. awareness

　　C. awared D. make aware

　　3. Physically, he is strong; , he is weak.

　　A. bodily B. mentally C. secretly D. quickly

　　Ⅱ. Question :

　　Who is the coach when Jordan wanted to retire the first time?

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　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. A. B. C 2. A 3 . B

　　Ⅱ. Phil Jackson.

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　　參考譯文：

　　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。