A famous philosopher(哲学家) once wrote, "Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball."

　　Many people believe that Abner Doubleday__1__baseball. They say that in 1839, in Cooperstown, NY, Doubleday organized(组织) the first game of baseball ever__2__. Cooperstown is now the__3__of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

　　Others believe that baseball__4__from an English game called rounders. As early as the 1600s, people were playing rounders. People playing rounders first hit a ball with a bat and then ran__5__bases. It looked like baseball,__6__there were some differences. The main difference was the way__7__fielders(外野手)got runners out. In rounders, the fielder threw the ball at the runner. If the ball__8__the runner while he was running around the bases, the__9__was out.

　　Gradually(逐渐地)，Americans changed rounders to make it baseball. The big __10__came when the fielder stopped __11__the ball at the runner. Instead, the fielder tagged(追上) the runner, just as fielders__12__today.

　　In 1845, a sportsman called Alexander Cartwright wrote a set of baseball rules__13__the clubs. Many of these rules are still used.

　　With the__14__of the modern equipment(设备), baseball has become more and more__15__.

　　1. A. made B. found C. discovered D. invented

　　2. A. seen B. shown C. played D. noticed

　　3. A. home B. stadium C. playground D. middle

　　4. A. developed B. moved C. improved D. advanced

　　5. A. through B. across C. improved D. around

　　6. A. and B. or C. because D. but

　　7. A. that B. what C. where D. when

　　8. A. killed B. hit C. hurt D. shot

　　9. A. rounder B. fielder C. runner D. ball

　　10. A. chance B. change C. idea D. thought

　　11. A. catching B. keeping C. throwing D. passing

　　12. A. watch B. do C. hit D. throw

　　13. A. onB. for C. in D. about

　　14. A. help B. way C. develop D. leading

　　15. A. strange B. difficult C. easy D. popular

　　答案及简析：

　　本文讲述的是在美国很受欢迎的棒球运动的起源。一种观点认为美国人Abner发明了棒球，另一种观点认为棒球源于英国的rounders运动，美国人后来逐步将其发展为棒球，并且由Alexander制定了棒球规则。

　　1. D。baseball应该是由人创造(invented)出来的。

　　2. C。game与played搭配。

　　3. A。home 这里指所在地。

　　4. A。指从某种形式转变成另一种形式用developed；improved则指自身的改善。

　　5. D。around在此处指"围着(垒跑)"。且从下文while he was running around the bases可和本题答案应为D。

　　6. D。用but 表示转折，表示rounders只是像baseball，但仍有区别。

　　7. A。此处the way表示游戏方式，后面的fielders got runners out是定语，说明way的内容，应用that。

　　8. B。hit意为"击中"。

　　9. C。游戏里fielder向runner投掷ball，runner被击中了，就得退出。

　　10. B。上句谈到changed，下句谈具体的change。

　　11. C。throwing指投球，其他词与句意联系不上。

　　12. B。后半句意为"正像今天的外野手做的那样"。

　　13. B。for意为"为了"，正合题意。

　　14. A。with the help of...意为"在……的帮助下"。

　　15.D。从全文来看，baseball在美国是"受欢迎的、流行的"。

　　(文/严建英；　英语辅导报初三版03--04学年度第45期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)