BASEBALL. It’s just a word, but for millions of Americans it brings much more than a word.
Hot dogs. Cold beers. Sunny afternoons. Baseball is the game of fathers and sons. Fathers and sons catch with each other on lawns (草坪) in the US. A father’s favorite team becomes his son’s. Grandfathers talk to their grandsons about games played long ago.
Many American kids collect baseball cards. The cards have pictures of their favorite players on them. In school, friends trade (交换) baseball cards just like they trade their lunches.
Players are known as “the boys of summer” because people often play the sport mostly in warm months. You don’t need to be of a certain size or shape to play baseball. You don’t have to be tall like a basketball player or strong like an American footballer. You just need to want to have fun.
Baseball is not as fast-paced (快节奏的) a game as basketball. But when you go to see a game, there’s time to relax, talk and get to know other people.
Baseball may not be the most popular sport in the US, but it is the most traditional. It’s not just a game any more, but an important part of American culture, like apple pie and grandma’s house.
【小题1】Many American kids like to collect _______________.

BASEBALL. It’s just a word, but for millions of Americans it brings much more than a word.
Hot dogs. Cold beers. Sunny afternoons. Baseball is the game of fathers and sons. Fathers and sons catch with each other on lawns (草坪) in the US. A father’s favorite team becomes his son’s. Grandfathers talk to their grandsons about games played long ago.
Many American kids collect baseball cards. The cards have pictures of their favorite players on them. In school, friends trade (交换) baseball cards just like they trade their lunches.
Players are known as “the boys of summer” because people often play the sport mostly in warm months. You don’t need to be of a certain size or shape to play baseball. You don’t have to be tall like a basketball player or strong like an American footballer. You just need to want to have fun.
Baseball is not as fast-paced (快节奏的) a game as basketball. But when you go to see a game, there’s time to relax, talk and get to know other people.
Baseball may not be the most popular sport in the US, but it is the most traditional. It’s not just a game any more, but an important part of American culture, like apple pie and grandma’s house.
【小题1】Many American kids like to collect _______________.

A small ,white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree and it has been there for the past ten years or so.
It all began because my husband Justin hated Christmas—oh, not the true meaning of Christmas.Overspending was one thing, but compared to the difficult experience of choosing gifts—running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and a pair of gloves for Grandma…,spending money is nothing. I felt too tired to think of any special gifts.
Knowing Justin felt the same way, I decided one year not to buy the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so on. I reached for something special just for Justin. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling （摔跤）at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a match against a team sponsored (赞助) by an inner-city church.These youngsters, dressed in such worn-out shoes that shoe strings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, while our boys were in their blue and gold uniforms and new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was shocked to see that the other team were wrestling without wearing helmets (头盔) to protect their ears. Well, our boys ended up defeating them. We took every weight class.
Justin, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot potential (潜力) , but losing like this could take the heart out of them.” Justin loved kids—all kids, and he knew them, having coached little league football and baseball. That’s when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought different kinds of wrestling helmets and shoes. I sent them to inner-city church without leaving my name.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Justin what I had done and that was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and since then the envelope has become the highlight of our Christmas.
【小题1】 Justin hated Christmas because _____.