译林版《英语》九年级上册Unit 4 Growing Up阅读板块
The Shortest Player in the NBA
Spud Webb was born in Texas, the USA, in 1963. He was very small — much smaller than the other kids at school. However, he had a big dream — he wanted to play in the NBA.
While attending junior high, Spud tried out for the school team, but he was refused to play at first because he was too small. He did not lose heart. When he finally got the chance, he scored 20 points in his first game. From then on, he was the star of the team.
In senior high, Spud often had to sit in the stands because of his height. He practised even harder and got the coach to change his mind. Spud went on to become leader of the team. In his last year of senior high, he was named Player of the Year in Texas.
However, no university would invite him to play basketball simply because he was only 170 cm tall. He decided to play at a junior college. There he led his team to the national championship. This brought him to the attention of North Carolina State University. As a result, he succeeded in getting a scholarship.
Although he was a great player at university, the NBA was not interested in him because all its players were more than 20 cm taller than he was. After he graduated, he was forced to play in another basketball league. He remained there for about a year before the NBA took notice of him. In 1985, he joined the Atlanta Hawks and became the shortest player in the NBA at that time. He had many great achievements, but his proudest moment came in 1986 — he won the Slam Dunk Contest.
Through hard work, Spud Webb proved that size and body type do not matter — you can do almost anything if you never give up.