背景閱讀：
2月3日，休斯敦火箭隊主場被姚明的紅色球衣覆蓋。8年的NBA職業(yè)生涯，中國籃球“巨人”姚明將青春全部獻給了火箭，如今他的11號紅色球衣也高懸豐田中心球館上空正式退役。帶著職業(yè)生涯場均19分、9.2個籃板、1.6次助攻和1.9次封蓋的數(shù)據(jù)，姚明曾5次入選NBA佳陣容，8次入選全明星賽，是首個成為全明星票王的非美國本土球員。
The Houston Rockets officially retired Yao Ming's No. 11 jersey during the halftime break of their game against the Chicago Bulls at Toyota Center on Friday night with the presence of Yao Ming and his family.
During the grand ceremony which is nationally televised, the Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander called Friday night "a great moment in Rocket history, to honor a man of such magnitude" and described Yao as "a really great basketball player."
ceremony
n.典禮，儀式; 禮儀，禮節(jié); 虛禮，客氣;
例句：
Today's award ceremony took place at the British Embassy in Tokyo.
今天的頒獎典禮在英國駐東京大使館舉行。
其他:
復數(shù)：ceremonies
"Yao was a really, really great player. I wanted him to be viewed as more than that, as an ambassador to the world and especially into China, and what a great person and humanitarian he is," said Alexander, who donated 100,000 U.S. dollars to the Yao Ming Foundation.
The 36-year-old Yao Ming said, "When I first came to town, Houston was no different than any other city in the United States. But as time passed by, all the faces came into memory. Remember this, that Houston for me from now on is not just a word. Every time they mention it, your faces are in my memory, in my brain."
"I hope people see the jersey there and remember the story, not only about myself, but also my teammates, my opponents. We created the story together, just like the other jerseys created the story for us," Yao said.
opponents
n.反對者; 對手，敵手( opponent的名詞復數(shù) );
例句：
He defeated his opponents in this election.
他在這次選舉中擊敗了對手。
其他:
原型： opponent
"Looking back, I didn't expect it to be where I am today. I simply wanted to play basketball," he added.
Fans gave Yao several waves of applaud and a lot of fans shouted to Yao "we love you".
Yao was selected as the first overall pick by the Rockets in 2002 draft and spent nine years - his entire career - with the franchise.
franchise
n. 特許權; 選舉權; 參政權; 經(jīng)銷權;
vt. 賦予特權; 賦予公民權;
例句：
Talk to other franchise holders and ask them what they think of the parent company.
和其他特許經(jīng)營者談一談，問問他們對母公司是什么看法。
其他:
第三人稱單數(shù)：franchises 復數(shù)：franchises 現(xiàn)在分詞：franchising過去式：franchised 過去分詞：franchised
Yao averaged 19.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while shooting 52 percent from the floor across 486 career games.
He was selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game eight times, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team twice. He also became the only player outside of the United States to lead the NBA in All-Star voting.
Persistent injuries forced Yao Ming to hang up his No. 11 jersey in 2011. Last September, the eight-time All-Star entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Yao has become the sixth Rocket player to have his number retired, joining Clyde Drexler (22), Calvin Murphy (23), Moses Malone (24), Hakeem Olajuwon (34), and Rudy Tomjanovich(45).