Since becoming an NBA superstar, Yao Ming has focused much of his off-the-court efforts on charitable causes, which have included founding his own organization, the Yao Ming Foundation, to help children in the United States and China.
自从成为NBA的超级明星之后,姚明就一直将赛场外的很多 活动放在了慈善事业上，其中包括建立了自己的组织——姚明基金 会——以帮助美国和中国的孩子们。
So Yao’s recent surprise deal to purchase the Shanghai Sharks, the now-troubled hometown team on which he launched his professional career, raises the question: Is he doing it to stay in the game, or taking up another charitable cause?
因此姚明不久前出人意料地收购上海大鲨鱼男篮带来了一个 问题:他这样做是为了投资，还是开始另一次慈善活动？目前陷入 困境的大鲨鱼队是他职业生涯的起点。
The Sharks have seen a major decline in fortunes since Yao left for the NBA in 2002. Founded in 1996，the Shanghai Sharks won the CBA championship in the 2001-2002 season, when Yao played a key role on the team. But since he left, the team has fallen in the rankings, finishing next to bottom last season. It has also struggled to survive financially. In January, the state-owned Xiyang Group, a fertilizer maker that was the Sharks’ major sponsor, reportedly pulled back from its five-year sponsorship plan (report in Chinese).
自姚明2002年离开大鲨鱼队，加盟NBA以来，大鲨鱼队的情况 就每况愈下。成立于1996年的大鲨鱼队曾在2001至2002赛季贏得过 中国职业篮球联赛冠军，当时姚明在队中发挥了核心作用。但自他 离开后，球队的排名不断下滑，上赛季几乎垫底。球队也出现了财务 危机。今年1月份，球队的主要赞助商中国国有化肥生产商西洋集团 (Xiyang Group)宣布退出原定5年的赞助计划。
This week, Team Yao, the group that manages the basketball superstar’s career, signed a framework agreement with all three of Shanghai Sharks’ current shareholders to buy their stakes, according to web portal 163.com (in Chinese here). Yao’s purchase was announced through his cousin and agent, Eric Zhang. The Houston Rockets center has been sidelined by yet another foot injury, which could potentially threaten his career as a basketball player.
据门户网站163.com报导，负责管理姚明职业生涯的姚之队 (Team Yao)本周同大鲨鱼队的3家股东签署了购买其股份的框架 协议。这个消息是由姚明的堂兄兼经纪人章明基(Eric Zhang)宣布 的。作为休斯顿火箭队的中锋,姚明因脚部再次受伤而无法上场比 赛，这也有可能威胁到他的职业生涯。
Zhang Zhengming, club manager of Shanghai Sharks, told Xinhua that the signing of the agreement “carries a lot of mean-ing”，since it also marks the start of a systemic reform for the CBA team. The club is currently co-owned by Shanghai Media Group, Shanghai Technical Sports Institute (which is under the control of the city’s sports bureau) and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport. After the purchase, Yao will become the sole shareholder of the Shanghai Sharks.
上海大鲨鱼队俱乐部总经理张争鸣向新华社表示，协议的签 署很有意义，这标志着大鲨鱼队系统改革的开始。该俱乐部目前 由上海文广传媒集团(Shanghai Media Group)、上海市体育局下属的上海体育职业学院(Shanghai Technical Sports Institute)及上海宏桥集团(Shanghai s Hongqiao Airport)共同拥有。收购后，姚明将成为上海大鲨鱼队的唯一股东。
The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), the premier professional basketball league in China, has long been criticized for its poor management and bureaucracy, and critics contend that state ownership has been a major problem that holds back the league’s development.
中国篮球协会(Chinese Basketball Association)长期以来一直因管理不善和官僚主义而受到 指责,批评人士称’国有体制是阻碍协会发展的主要问题。
Though he looks superhuman, it’s uncertain whether Yao，s involvement with the Sharks will have a lasting impact on China’s professional basketball scene, or even be profitable for Team Yao. The media reports didn’t specify exactly how much Yao is spending to save the Sharks, but the team’ s coach was quoted in domestic media last week as saying that Yao has been in talks with the local sports bureau to pay about 20 million yuan ($ 2.9 million). Operating the team is likely to cost at least another 20 million yuan per year.
尽管姚明似乎无所不能,但姚明收购大鲨鱼队能否给中国的职业篮球比赛带来持久的影响， 甚至让姚之队盈利都还难下定论。媒体的报导并未透露姚明收购大鲨鱼队的金额,但上周国内媒 体援引球队教练的话报道说，姚明一直同当地体育局商谈支付约2000万元(290万美元)收购费。球 队每年的运营费用至少还要2000万元。
Yao's motive doesn’t appear to be entirely driven by profit. As the new boss of his old team, Yao hopes to repay his hometown and the team where he got his start, he said in a phone interview with Chinese television. The 29-year-old has led Forbes’ lists of Chinese celebrities in both income and popularity for the past six years. Last year, he earned an estimated $ 51 million.
姚明的动机似乎并不全是为了营利。他在接受一家中文电视台的电话采访时说,作为母队的 新老板，他希望能够回报家乡,回报开始其职业生涯的母队。29岁的姚明过去6年里在收人和知名 度方面一直名列福布斯中国名人榜的首位。去年，他的收人约为5100万美元。
Not everyone is pleased by the idea of the Sharks as a charity case. A commentary in the Oriental Sports Daily、titled “Shanghai Basketball Doesn’t Need a phi-词汇宝典lanthropist” (in Chinese) points out that what the sport needs is a complete overhaul, long-term prospects for survival and investors, not benefactors.
并不是所有人都对其收购大鲨鱼队视为慈善案例表示赞同。《东方体育日报》发表了一篇 名为“上海篮球不需要慈善家”的评论，文中指出，上海男篮要改头换面、长久地生存下去,需要 的是投资者，而不是一个慈善家。