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FIBA, basketball's international organizing body, is making an ambitious move that has been nearly a decade in the making as it aims for its signature event to one day rival soccer's biggest prize.
国际篮联正在进行一项雄心勃勃的举措，这项举措已经酝酿了将近十年的时间。那就是希望自己的标志性赛事有朝一日能与足球的最高奖项相媲美。
It starts with the name. What was known for decades as the FIBA World Championships is now known as the FIBA World Cup. To kick it off, the first basketball World Cup is being held this August and September in China, which boasts the most basketball fans on the planet.
这项举措从改变赛事名称入手。数十年来，这项赛事都被叫作国际篮联世界锦标赛，如今更名为国际篮联世界杯。第一届篮球世界杯将于今年的8月和9月在中国举办，这是一片拥有世界上最多篮球球迷的热土。
Last Saturday morning FIBA held the draw for the tournament at a splashy ceremony in Shenzhen, which featured the two most popular figures among Chinese fans: Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming.
上周六上午，国际篮联在深圳举办了盛大的赛事抽签仪式。最受中国球迷欢迎的两位人物，科比·布莱恩特和姚明，也参加了抽签仪式。
If you'd forgotten about the existence of World Championships/World Cup, it might be because it hasn't taken place in five years. It was pushed back from its normal rotation in 2018 to this summer. This was primarily so it wouldn't be conducted in the same year as the FIFA World Cup, which it trailed every four summers dating to the 1960s.
如果你忘记了世锦赛/世界杯的存在，或许是因为它已经有5年没有举办了。按照正常的轮回，这项赛事本该在2018年就举办，但是被推迟至这个夏天，主要是为了避免FIBA世界杯和FIFA世界杯在同一年举办。从上世纪60年代以来，FIFA世界杯每隔四个夏天举办一次。
In all honesty, FIBA has a long way to go here in trying to square this event with soccer's festival every four years. Now FIBA has a new laborious and even mildly controversial qualification system that, like it's bigger soccer brother, takes place throughout the calendar over the course of two years. To be more like the soccer event, it has expanded size of its field to create a larger and more diverse group of competitors, going from 24 countries to 32.
说实话，国际篮联要做到把这项赛事同每四年举办一次的足球世界杯相一致，可谓任重而道远。就像足球世界杯一样，现在的国际篮联有着一个耗时费力，甚至带有略微争议的全新资格体系，这个资格体系贯穿着两年的赛程。为了更加接近足球赛事，国际篮联还扩大了赛事规模，将参与赛事的国家从24个扩充至32个。
Over an 18-month span, 80 countries played 12 games in their regions to qualify. This was a change from the previous system where teams played in continental tournaments over the summer and top finishers advanced. Most of these qualifying games were played during the winter months and traditional basketball season, which often meant countries' best players couldn't participate. Certainly no NBA players did.
在18个月的时间里，80个国家在各自的地区打12场比赛以获取参赛资格。这是一个转变，若按照先前的系统，球队得在夏天参与大陆锦标赛，最终的胜出者才能获取参赛资格。这些资格赛大多在冬季或传统的篮球赛季期间进行，这就意味着许多国家最好的球员无法参赛，更别说NBA球员了！
This happens in soccer, the World Cup qualifiers take place during the league seasons over the course of two years. But the FIFA World Cup is so important and so traditional, that leagues around the world pause their schedules to allow the best players to return to play for their home countries.
这也同样发生在足球上，世界杯预选赛在联赛赛季期间举办，耗时长达两年。但是，FIFA世界杯是一项传统的重要赛事，因此世界各地的联赛会暂停赛程，让最好的球员们能够回去为国征战。
That didn't happen in the NBA or any of the top European leagues. USA Basketball had to scramble to field quality teams made up of G League players and free agents. Coach Jeff Van Gundy led the U.S. team to qualification with a 10-2 record playing all over North and South America and used 54 different players in the 12 games.
但在NBA和任何欧洲顶级联赛中，情况并非如此。因此，美国国家篮球队不得不招揽发展联盟球员和自由球员，以组建高质量的球队。杰夫·范甘迪主教练带领美国队在北美洲和南美洲征战，以10胜2负的战绩斩获了世界杯参赛资格。在这期间的12场比赛中，他一共使用了54名不同的球员。
The World Cup will be so highly thought of that the NBA will halt its schedule and the great American players of the day will fly off to Uruguay or Brazil for intense midseason qualification games. The same thing, in grand theory, would happen across Europe, Asia and Australia.
世界杯如此备受瞩目，以至于NBA暂停其赛程，让杰出的美国球员们飞往乌拉圭或巴西参与激烈的赛季中期资格赛。从大体上讲，同样的事情也会发生欧洲、亚洲和澳洲的联赛。
This is a regular occurrence in soccer, where Lionel Messi would make a game-winner for FC Barcelona one week and the next week score for Argentina to get it into the World Cup.
这在足球界可是司空见惯的事。或许里奥·梅西在本周刚为巴塞罗那打入一记制胜球，在下周就为阿根廷打入一粒进球，帮助球队挺进世界杯。
Right now, that image in the world basketball is just a dream. But FIBA is doing the dreaming and putting the mechanics in place to make it possible one day.
现在，这对于世界篮球来说还只是一个愿景。但是，国际篮联正一边规划愿景，一边打造切实可行的机制，使之有朝一日成为可能。
For Americans,with a new coach in Gregg Popovich, the closeness to the Tokyo Olympics next summer and so many of the top stars dedicated to growing their personal fanbases in China, the expectation is a full slate of top American players will take part this summer in China.
对于美国人来说，随着格雷格·波波维奇成为美国队的新主教练，明年夏天东京奥运会的临近，以及多位顶级球星致力于扩大他们在中国的粉丝基础，因此，他们的期望是，今年夏天派众多美国顶级球星来中国参赛。
It has been five years since this event has been staged and more international talent has proven itself at the highest levels, which shows up across the NBA. China, after going 0-5 in the Rio Olympics in 2016 and then failing to medal in the FIBA Asian Cup in 2017, is under heavy pressure to deliver an improved performance on home soil and will have massive fan support.
这项赛事已经有五年没有举办了。越来越多的国际球员已经在高水平的竞赛中证明了自己，这在NBA中显而易见。中国在2016年的里约奥运会取得0胜5负的惨淡战绩，随后又在2017年的亚洲杯错失金牌，在这一系列失利之后，中国男篮肩负着巨大的压力，力争在本土取得佳绩，并将获得广大球迷的支持。
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