China's Tibet autonomous region will launch a professional basketball team, and build a home court for the team in the regional capital Lhasa. With an altitude of 3,700 meters above sea level, it will be the highest basketball home court in the world.

The basketball team aims to play at the men's National Basketball League this year. Local sports officials say it will be a breakthrough in the development of sports in Tibet.

People suspected that the home court on the Tibet plateau will provide the Tibetan team a significant home court advantage, as the players are more accustomed to the thinner air on the Tibetan Plateau than their visiting opponents.

But local sports officials say the altitude will surely influence the competition, but only slightly. Two professional teams had friendly games in Tibet last year and both did fairly well.

The Tibetan basketball team will be recruited from all over the country, and many of them will need time to adapt to the environment in Tibet.

Tibet is also planning to launch a football team in the near future.

autonomous region n. 自治区 中国目前有五个自治区，分别是：Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 内蒙古自治区；Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region新疆维吾尔自治区；Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 广西壮族自治区；Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region 宁夏回族自治区；Tibet Autonomous Region 西藏自治区

home court n. 主场

Lhasa n. 拉萨 中国为数不多的不按拼音拼写的地名之一，其他的典型包括Tibet（西藏）、Urumqi（乌鲁木齐）、Harbin（哈尔滨）、Hohhot（呼和浩特）等等。

Men’s National Basketball League n. 全国男子篮球联赛 全称为中国男子篮球甲级联赛，简称NBL（原名中国男子篮球联赛，简称CBL，2006年正式改为现在的名字）。NBL是继CBA（中国男子篮球职业联赛，China Basketball Association）之后的第二级篮球联赛，是由中国男篮甲B联赛与乙级联赛合并而成的。

plateau n. 高原

home court advantage n. 主场优势，由home court延伸出来的相关概念

accustomed adj. 习惯的，适应的 一般都跟to固定搭配使用
例句：
When you study abroad, things are usually difficult at first. But as time goes by, you will gradually be accustomed to the local cultures and customs. （当你出国留学的时候，一开始总会比较难捱。但随时时间慢慢过去，你会逐渐习惯当地的文化和习俗。）

altitude n. 高度，尤指海拔高度

adapt to v. 习惯于，适应于 跟be accustomed to的用法基本一致，细微区别在于adapt to更主动一些，强调自己做出变化去适应环境；而be accustomed to可能只是时间长了，自然而然就适应了。
例句：
I know you don’t care much for anything related to cell phones, but you have to get with the times and adapt to the current environment. You don’t want to be a social pariah, do you? （我知道你不待见任何跟手机有关的东西，但你真的需要跟上时代，做出一些改变去适应现在的环境。你可不想做个被社会遗弃的人，对吧？）