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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Manute Bol played ten years in the National Basketball Association. But he will be remembered as much for his shot-blocking in the NBA as for his charity work in Sudan. He died June nineteenth from kidney1 failure and a rare and painful skin disorder2.
He became sick while working in his homeland. He was forty-seven years old. A funeral took place last week at Washington's National Cathedral.
Manute Bol was born in southern Sudan. He stood two hundred thirty-one centimeters -- tall even for a Dinka, some of Africa's tallest people.
His father, a tribal3 chief, did not think basketball was "good work for a Dinka." But the teenager chose it over herding4 his family's cattle.
He did not have much luck, though, the first time he went up to dunk the ball. As he once told the Washington Post: "When I came down I hurt my teeth in the net."
In the NBA, Manute Bol averaged less than three points a game on offense5. But on defense6, he became one of the most feared shot-blockers in the league. Former player Rory Sparrow says he was not afraid of anyone -- not even Michael Jordan.
Manute Bol speaks in March 2006 at a rally7 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the Sudan Freedom Walk, a march from New York to Washington
RORY SPARROW: "He just laughed and said, 'What Michael Jordan? Why should I be afraid of Michael Jordan? I kill lion. He come in, I block his shot.' And sure enough, he blocked his shot. Michael made a couple of dunks. But hey, Manute stood his ground."
He finished his career as the fourteenth best shot-blocker in NBA history. He enjoyed his fame. But he never forgot his people. Years of civil war left southern Sudan in ruins. He estimated that he lost two hundred fifty members of his extended family.
He helped raise money for refugees8. Reports say he donated nearly all of the estimated six million dollars he made playing basketball.
Before his death, he was working with the Sudan Sunrise group to help bring the country together. His goal was to build forty-one schools.
He took his Christian9 faith seriously. "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart, so I would look back," he said in Sports Illustrated10 magazine in two thousand four.
That year, Manute Bol broke his neck in a car accident. He was thrown from a taxi. After recovering, he moved to the state of Kansas, and met United States Senator11 Sam Brownback.
SAM BROWNBACK: "I can’t think of a person that I know of in the world that used their celebrity12 status for a greater good than what Manute Bol did. He used it for his people, he gave his life for his people."
And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Michael DeFabo. I'm Bob Doughty
1 kidney | |
n.肾,腰子,类型 | |
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2 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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3 tribal | |
adj.部族的,种族的 | |
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4 herding | |
中畜群 | |
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5 offense | |
n.犯规,违法行为;冒犯,得罪 | |
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6 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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7 rally | |
n.集会,公路汽车赛;v.集合,恢复,振作 | |
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8 refugees | |
n.避难者,难民( refugee的名词复数 ) | |
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9 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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10 illustrated | |
adj. 有插图的,列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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11 senator | |
n.参议员,评议员 | |
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12 celebrity | |
n.名人,名流;著名,名声,名望 | |
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