■ Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished sentences. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
American sports are quite distinct from those played elsewhere in the world. The top four spectator team sports are American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. Baseball is the oldest among these sports. The professional game dates from 1869 and has no close rivals in popularity until the 1960s; though baseball is no longer the most popular sport, it is still referred to as the national pastime. Little boys play baseball in parks and empty lots, in streets and in alleys; and picnics all through the hot summer months include at least a few innings (回合) of baseball with boys and girls, young and old, taking turns at bat. Probably no American was very surprised to read in the newspapers that when a United States atomic submarine surfaced at the North Pole, the crewmen played a game of baseball.
Also unlike the professional levels of the other popular spectator sports in the U.S., Major League Baseball teams play almost every day from April to October. American football (known simply as “football” in the U.S.) now attracts more television viewers than baseball; however, National Football League teams play only 16 regular-season games each year, so baseball is the great leader in ticket sales. The really important professional players are members of the 24 teams in America’s two major baseball leagues. Each summer they are America’s national heroes. At the end of the season, when the two top teams play against each other to find the winner of the “World Series”, excitement and tension rise in cities all over the country. Fans make long trips to watch the games and to shout from their seats in the bleachers (廉价座位). Millions of others tune in on radio and television, sometimes making it a topic of conversation. And long after it is all over, baseball fans talk over the scores and the players, inning by inning, and the batting averages of the players this year compared to other years. (Batting averages show the percentage of times a player hits the ball effectively.)
The President of the United States is invited to start the season each year by tossing the ball into the first game in Washington D.C. — and he rarely fails to come.
21. What do we know about American baseball from the first paragraph?
A) Baseball is America’s most popular sport of all time.
B) Baseball is America’s national pastime of all time.
C) Baseball was not the most popular sport until the 1960s.
D) Basketball is more popular than baseball now.
22. Why was no American surprised when he / she read the crewmen of an atomic submarine played a baseball game at the North Pole?
A) Because the crewmen like to play baseball at the North Pole.
B) Because the North Pole is a good place to play baseball.
C) Because Americans don’t care about the crewmen’s lives.
D) Because baseball is the national pastime, and many people enjoy it.
23. From the second paragraph, we learn that _______.
A) baseball attracts more television viewers than American football
B) many people buy tickets to watch baseball games each year
C) baseball teams play almost every day in April and October every year
D) baseball players are America’s national heroes
24. When the final game is played between the two top teams, ___________.
A) everyone stays at home to tune in on radio and television
B) rich people make long trips to watch the game
C) people seldom change their ideas about the game through conversation
D) many people in the country feel excited and nervous
25. A possible reason why the President of the United States is invited to start the season in Washington D.C. each year is that _______.
A) the President likes baseball
B) people like the President
C) the President can show that baseball is a true American sport
D) the President was once one of the players of the Washington D.C. baseball team |
