2007年VOA标准英语-Sons of Former Sports Stars Shine in Final Four

By Parke Brewer¹
Atlanta, Georgia
02 April 2007

Two sons of past sports stars have made headlines for themselves in U.S. men's college basketball this season. Now they are set to face one another in the Division One national championship game Monday night in Atlanta, Georgia. VOA Sports Editor Parke Brewer is there and has the story.

Defending champion Florida and Ohio State University will meet for this season's title after victories here in the Final Four Saturday night.

Key players in each starting line-up have fathers who made names for themselves internationally in different sports.

Florida's Joakim Noah is the son of former French tennis star Yannick Noah. Ohio State's Mike Conley, Jr. is the son of Mike Conley, who was the triple jump gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Mike Conley Jr. is a freshman² guard while Joakim Noah is a 2.10-meter junior and plays forward and center. Noah was part of Florida's national championship team last season and many thought he would opt³ for a lucrative⁴ professional contract instead of returning to college. But he and two other star teammates decided⁵ to return to school to try to repeat.

Noah says that has put a lot of pressure on them.

"People would always talk to us about expectations and that was probably the word I heard the most after we won the national championship, and we decided to come back," said Joakim Noah. "I mean it's one thing to talk about expectations, but I think we really experienced it. And I feel like this year, that's why it's almost more satisfying because I feel like we had to go through so much more just being under the microscope."

Noah, an American citizen who grew up in New York, said he learned how to deal with it from his French father Yannick, who experienced the same things after winning the 1983 French Open tennis championship. He said his father also taught him his work ethic⁶.

"I feel like my father worked really, really hard at what he did," he said. "I was able to live and see that growing up as a kid, so it kind of came normal to me to just work hard and be one of the hardest workers."

Joakim said he was a terrible tennis player so he opted⁷ for basketball.

Mike Conley Jr.

Ohio State's Mike Conley Jr. also opted for basketball, which is hugely popular in the adjoining state of Indiana where he grew up.

He says his Olympic champion father had no objections.

"My dad never put much pressure on me to run track and he always was very open and let me do what I wanted to do," said Mike Conley Jr. "And I felt like I've never ever really had a lot of pressure to play any other sport. And, you know, I thank him for that because it could have been different. And I'm just blessed and fortunate to be in the situation that I'm in now."

Mike Conley Jr. will try to help Ohio State win the prestigious⁸ national college basketball championship for the first time since 1962, while Joakim Noah aims to help Florida become only the second school in the last 33 years to repeat as champion.

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

3 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

4 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

7 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

8 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。