Americans consider baseball as an American sport. They often refer to something being “as American as baseball and apple pie”. But is baseball really an American sport? And what are origins of baseball anyway?

The American game of baseball more than likely came from several European ball games. Russia had an early form of baseball and so did Germany and Romania. People in England played a game called “stool ball”. In this game, the pitcher(投手)tried to hit a stool(凳子)or chair with a ball and the batter(击球手)used a stick to keep the ball away. But American baseball was most likely based on another English game, which is called “rounders”. Players use a soft ball rater than a hard ball while playing rounders.

So when was the first real game of “baseball” played? It seems that it took place in the 1840s. The father of baseball was Alexander Cartwright, who organized a baseball club in New York. Cartwright developed 20 rules that distinguished baseball from previous ball games.

In 1858, the first organized baseball league—the National Association of Baseball players—was formed. This league began charging fans to watch the games. However, the players were all amateurs and did not get paid . In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings began to pay their players. Since they could hire the best players, Cincinnati won 57 games and lost none in their first season. As a result, other teams decided to hire players too. By 1871, the National Association was the first professional baseball league.

Today baseball is liked very much in America. Top professional baseball players earn millions of dollars each year. There are two professional leagues—the National League and the American League. The best teams from these two leagues compete for the baseball championship every year.

1.81.What do Americans think of baseball? (No more than 3 words)2’

2.82. Why was Alexander Cartwright called “the father of baseball ”?(No more than 16 words).3’

3.83. Where did the American baseball most probably come from?(No more than 5 words).2’

4.84.What does the passage mainly talk about?(No more than 5 words).3’

---Where did you find the wallet?

---It was at the stadium ____ I played football.

A．that                    B．where                 C．which                 D．there

---Where did you see the movie Life of Pi directed by Ang Lee?

---- It was in the cinema ________ I regularly go .

 A. which       B. that      C. where         D. what

 — Where did you get to know her?

— It was on the farm _______ we worked.

A. that                                   B. there                                C. where                               D. which

“Last week,” Dr. P said “I was invited to a doctors’ meeting at the R. Hospital. In one of the rooms a patient, an old man, got up from his bed and moved slowly towards me. I could see that he hadn’t long to live, but he came up to me and placed his right foot close to mine on the floor.”
“Frank!” I cried with surprise. He couldn’t answer as I knew, but he tried to smile, all the time keeping his foot close to mine.
My thoughts raced back more than thirty years—to the dark days of 1941, when I was a student in London. The scene was an air-raid shelter (防空洞), in which I and about a hundred other people slept every night. Among them were Mrs. West and her son Frank, who lived nearby. Sharing wartime problems, we got to know each other very well. Frank interested me because he was not normal (正常的). He had never been normal, ever since he was born. His mother told me he was 37 then, but he had less of a mind than a baby has. Mrs. West, then about 75, was a strong, able woman, as she had to be of course, because Frank depended on her completely. He needed all the attention of a baby.
One night a policeman came into our shelter and told Mrs. West that her house had been all destroyed. That wasn’t quite true, because the West went on living there for quite some time. But they certainly lost nearly everything they owned.
When that kind of thing happened, the rest of us helped the unlucky ones. So before we separated (分别) that morning, I stood beside Frank and measured my right foot against his.
They were about the same size. That night, then, I took a spare pair of shoes to the shelter for Frank. As soon as he saw me, he came running—and placed his right foot against mine. After that, he always greeted (问候) me in the same way.
【小题1】How did Dr P know that the patient was Frank?