B organisation and individuals
01 an organisation NBA
I`m going to talk about the NBA, which stands for the National Basketball Association. It`s probably the most renowned sports organisation in the entire world.
As far as I know, currently the NBA is made up of 30 teams from America and Canada. The organisation was founded in New York like 60 years ago. At first, things were kind of tough, but these days, it`s one of the most influential sports organisations in the world.
There are tons of basketball buffs in China and that`s why NBA has such a huge following here. Some NBA games are even played in China and the tickets always sell out like 20 minutes.
I don`t know ehay but sometimes in China, live broadcasts of the regular season or playoffs stop being aired all of a sudden. And that really bothers me. Well, it`s good we still have the Internet.
My favourite basketball plays are Jeremy Lin and Kobe Bryant. They are really cool. I admire them not just for their successes, but also for their spirit, you know, their sportsmanship. They have been named the MVP many times, which made them real legends in my eyes.
The NBA is a legend, too. No doubt about it, because it`s so successful in terms of making money. And more importantly, it`s entertaining. I hope more NBA players will come over to China and show us their amazing basketball skills.
02 fitness club
I`m going to talk about the fitness club I belong to.
Last summer, I felt really out of shape. A friend of mine told me some exercise would get me back in shape. So I went to this fitness club. It was open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and it offered a variety of memberships. They also had a three-day guest pass for first-timers. I`d never been to a gym before so they recommended their "8-week beginner`s plan".
It turned out that the club was pretty cool. It had lots of good machines like the treadmills. exercise bikes and steppers. All the equipment was brand-new. It also offered Pilates and yoga classes. And with the membership I could use the swimming pool for free.
When I first started working out there, my body hurt all over. But then I got used to the exercise, and now I`m feeling pretty good. Sometimes I ask the trainers for some advice. They are real experts and always give me sound advice.
My one-year membership cost me 1.500 renmibi - kind of expensive, right? because I`m getting my money`s worth.
03 a famous person: Faye Wong
I would say Faye Wong is still my idol, despite the complaints about her performance at the New Year`s Eve gala.
Faye was born and raised in Beijing. Her father took her to Hong Kong when she was 18. At first, she went to modeling classes because she was tall and slim. But she soon lost interest in modeling. Faye enjoyed humming tunes because she felt it was relaxing.
A songwriter noticed that and was really impressed by her voice. So he encouraged her to sign a recording contract. Faye released her first album at the age of 19. Then a very important album was produced. Several songs in this, album became gib hits amd won awards for her. So far, practically all her albums have been really well-liked.
Unlike other singers in Hong Kong, Faye ignores the press. And that gives her some bad-firl appeal, which I find really attractive.Faye is not only a talented singer but alos a great actress. A couple of years ago, she even won a best-actress award.
Although some people felt disappointed with her performance at last year`s New Year`s Eve gala, I still adore her "rebel" image. She never treats the press well but the press has to respect her for her incredible talent..
04 singer: Jay Chou
I guess you heard a lot about Jay Chou too because he`s so incredibly famous in China.
He grew up in a single-parent family. When he was littel, Jay didn`t get good grades at school. His mother was really concerned about him, but he just looked on the bright side. When he felt down or lonely, he looked for nice musci to cheer him up.
He was kind of average-looking so no one really expected him to make it as a singer. he wrote songs for many popular singers like Karen Mok and Vivian Hsu.
Jay released his first album "Jay" fifteen years ago. His soft voice was so unique and this album turned out to be an instant hit.
His music is always original. That`s why many young Chinese simply adore hime. His latest album "Opus 12" is, again, a smash hit.
Jay`s music blends many elements, like R&B, hip-top, and folk music. Recently, it seemed like he was really into giving his songs some traditional chinese appeal, like he did in "The Porcelain".
Young people are just crzay about him and tickets to his concerts always sell out in just a couple of hours..
05 instrumentalist: Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is one of the most renowned cellists in the world. His father gave him lessons on the cello when he was just four. When Yo-Yo Ma was nine he had the opportunity to study at the famous Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Now he`s considered to be one of the greatest cellist in the world. He tours the world playing his cello. When he performs solo, he likes to play classical musci. But he has recorded country music, traditional Chinese musci and African music as well and actually, he`s always looking for new ways to express himself.
He also likes to perform on stage with other artists. Wherever he performs, people are moved by his music. Sometimes the effect is so powerful that many audience members are moved to tears. And he always receives thunderous applause and cheers at the end of his shows.
He`s a really talented guy...
06 artist: Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh is now considered to be one of the greatest painters because og his profound influence on modern art. His most famous masterpieces were the Sunflowers and the Starry Night.
Van Gogh was born and grew up in the Netheralnds. He was a compassionate person and had great sympathy for the poor people there. He even gave away most of his own thing to the poor, but then got fired by his boss and had to rely on his brother for money.
van Gough painted farmers and workers. He was incredibly talented and creative., instead of trying to copy what he had before his eyes, he just used colours freely in order to better express his emotions.
Later he moved to Paris, where he sold none of his works. Van Gogh was poor and had serious illnesses. In the end, he suffered so much from his illnesses that he took his own life with a gun.
As a painter, he sold only one painting during his lifetime and was little known to the art world at the time of his death. But his fame grew fat after his death. I admire him not just because of his talent. Actually he`s much more than a great painter. He`s one of the greatest cultural heroes of modern times..
07 historicia people
Sun Wu was one of the greatest military theorists in ancient China. I don`t know about you, but I have read the Art of War many, many times. His theories have profound influence on today`s military and business leader`s decision-making.
He lived in an age of war about 3,000 years ago. Sun Wu worte loads of books about military theories. When the ruler of the state WU asked Sun WU to show his theories by training ladies of his court, those beauties kept laughing at Sun Wu as he gave them orders. Sun Wu had two of them executed immediately, then none of the others dared to laugh again. Finally they were trained well enough to go into battle.
Sun Wu was appointed as a general bacause of this. From then on Sun WU lead his armies with great success. His military theories covered a lot of ground, incuding the factors that decided who would be the winner, how to defeat the enemy without even fighting a battle, making the best use of the situations and guiding the struggle to victory.
His theories were created thousands of years ago but they are still very useful today. Amazing, huh?
08 entrepreneur: Bill Gates
Let me talk about one of the richest guys in the world, Bill Gates. Actually, I guess you know more about him than I do. But... anyway, let me give it a try.
When Bill way littel, sometimes when his mother asked him what he was doing simply replied he was thinking. An unusual answer for a little kid, huh?
At age 13, Bill Gates started programming computers. Later he went to Harvard Law School, only to drop out his junior year. He started a computer software company called Microsoft. He hoped there could be personal computers in every home and every wordplace.
His dream was to create software technology that would be inexpensive and easy enough for everyone to use. Bill gates also wrote a famous book called The ORad Ahead, which clearly expalined the value of computer technology in modern life and made predictions about the future of computers.
Microsoft has become the leading business in the world, which had made Bill and his wife the richest couple in the world. But they did much more than just becoming rich. They established a fundation to help people suffering from poor health..
