Yao Ming landed in the U.S. in the summer of 2002, 7-feet, 6-inches worth of fancy footwork, armed with a soft shooting touch. He was the top pick of that draft, selected by the Houston Rockets, whose new arena would soon be sponsored by Toyota. The Japanese carmaker had just opened a new plant in China, and the company bet that Yao fans would soon become Corolla fans.
7英尺6英寸，有着梦幻脚步和柔和投篮手感的姚明于2002年夏天来到美国。他作为当年选秀的状元秀选手，被休斯顿火箭队选中，此时火箭队的新球馆将由丰田公司赞助。这个日本汽车制造商刚刚在中国开立一个新工厂，并且坚信姚明的球迷会很快成为卡罗拉车迷。（姚明代言了卡罗拉车）
For many Americas, Yao was their initial exposure to the Chinese economic engine. He was a government project, nurtured from a young age in order to showcase the new China to the world. China fulfilled its promise; since those heady days of 2002, through the Beijing Olympics and beyond, the country has stayed on its path towards superpower status. Yao, sadly, fell short.
对于许多美国人来说，姚是他们对中国经济引擎的首次了解。他年纪轻轻，作为政府计划向世界展示新的中国。中国已经实现了自己的目标：自2002年那段令人兴奋的日子以来，经历了北京奥运会之后，这个国家继续保持着向超级大国的发展的良好状态。姚明，却很遗憾的退出了。
According an initial report from Yahoo! Sports, which was confirmed by several other news organizations, Yao is going to retire. He just couldn't conquer the injuries. A stress fracture in his left foot sidelined Yao after just five games last season. A broken foot forced him to miss all of the the 2009-2010 season. In fact, due to foot and knee injuries, Yao played in more than 55 games just once over the past six seasons.
根据雅虎体育最早的报道，以及随后确认该消息的其他新闻媒体，姚即将退役。他无法战胜伤病。左脚应力性骨折使姚上赛季只打了五场比赛。脚伤让他缺席了整个2009-2010赛季。事实上，因为脚伤和膝伤，姚在过去6个赛季中只有一个赛季打了超过55场的比赛。
