Students at Nagqu No 2 Senior High School play basketball. XINHUA
Wearing wristbands with the names of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant written on them, 17-year-old Tibetan girl Cigla plays her favorite sport – basketball – at Nagqu No 2 Senior High School in Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region.
17岁的西藏女孩次拉，戴着绣有詹姆斯和科比名字的腕套，在拉萨那曲第二高级中学打篮球，这是她最喜欢的运动。
Cigla comes from a poor herder’s family in northern Tibet’s Nagqu city. She now sets her mind on entering a sports college to study basketball.
次拉来自西藏北部那曲市的一个牧民家庭，如今她决心进入体育大学学习篮球。
For her, studying in Lhasa, the region’s most developed city, has made it much easier for her to realize her basketball dream.
对次拉来说，在拉萨这个西藏地区最发达的城市学习，能更加容易实现她的篮球梦。
With an average altitude of over 4,500 meters, Nagqu is among the most uninhabitable places in Tibet, known as the “roof of the world”. Low-oxygen environments and extreme weather have long compromised the health of Nagqu students, hampering the development of primary education in the area.
平均海拔4500米以上的那曲市，是西藏最不适宜居住地区之一，被称为“世界的屋顶”。高寒缺氧和极端的天气长期损害着那曲学生的健康，阻碍了该地区初等教育的发展。
“The students had barely played any sports due to limited sports facilities and frequent bad weather in Nagqu,” said Bachug, the school’s physical education (PE) teacher.
“有限的体育设施以及那曲频繁的恶劣天气使得学生们几乎不参加任何体育运动，”学校的体育老师巴珠说道。
However, in a bid to ensure equal access to quality education, the Tibet regional government has established several schools in Lhasa to recruit Nagqu students, according to China.org. Like Cigla, many Nagqu students are from poor farming and herding families.
然而，据中国政府网消息，为了确保大家能公平地接受高质量教育，西藏政府在拉萨建了几所学校招收像次拉这样的学生，许多那曲的学生均来自贫困的农业或放牧家庭。
The school campuses in Lhasa have seven concrete basketball courts, a standard soccer field and a sports stadium. That gives students opportunities to train their bodies and find the sport that appeals to them.
拉萨学校的校园里有7个混凝土制的篮球场，一个标准足球场和一个体育场，这使得学生们能够有机会锻炼身体和找到自己喜欢的运动。
Basketball is one of the most popular sports among the girls at the school. According to Bachug, more than a quarter of the approximately 1,600 female students regularly practice the sport during PE classes or as extracurricular activities. In addition, basketball competitions between classes are regularly held to draw more girls to the sport.
篮球在学校女生当中是最受欢迎的运动之一。据巴珠介绍，学校中四分之一以上的女孩子们，大约1600人，都在体育课和课外活动中打篮球。除此之外，班级间定期举办的篮球比赛也吸引了不少女生加入到这项运动中。
Dawa Droma, a senior at the school, said her passion for the sport started from her first basketball game in her freshman year.
高中女孩达瓦卓玛对于篮球的热爱就始于高一的一场篮球比赛。
“I had never touched a basketball before that game but joined the class team anyway. When I scored and heard my classmates cheer for me, I couldn’t feel more proud. That’s how I fell in love with basketball and never looked back,” she recalled.
“以前我从来没有碰过篮球，但还是加入了班级篮球队。学校组织篮球比赛，我得分后听到同学在场下欢呼，我感到十分自豪，就是这样我爱上了篮球，一往直前，”她回忆道。
Reflecting on the influence of basketball on her life, Dawa Droma said the sport has helped her get fit and build up confidence over the years.
回想到篮球对她人生的影响，达瓦卓玛说这项运动让她这些年不仅锻炼了身体，还增强了自信。
“Meeting players from different schools has certainly made me a more outgoing person,” she said.
“与来自不同学校的球员见面也让我成了一个更加外向的人，”她说道。
With a great passion for the sport, Dawa Droma hopes to carry on her connection with basketball in the future.
出于对篮球的热爱，达瓦卓玛希望未来能够继续保持自己与篮球的联结。
