Passage One
American Sports represent fabric of American culture. Sports act as a unifying factor between people of all ages. Of all the sports that America has to offer, baseball is considered the pastime of this country. Americans did not always regard baseball and other sports in such benign manner. Rather, sports during the early colonial times were seen as pagan and devilish things to do. Many elite and wealthy gentry who embodied the Victorian ideals regarded any type of games or sports as ill vices. It was the common people who directly related sports to their religion. On days of religious celebration, early Americans joined together to play games. These folk games were unstructured and unruly; however, the unity that these games brought, created a need for professional sporting games. Folk games provided the foundation of sports. They created a sense of companionship and unison among individuals. These unorganized folk games created the threshold for organized sports and led to the transformation of the players'roles and the role of the audience. Amateurs became professional athletes, and the game an organized business. The game of baseball evolved from the English game of cricket and rounders. It was not until the time of the Civil War that baseball began to be played frequently.
However with the transformation of the nation, society and technology, folk games too began to evolve into spectator sports. After the Civil War, baseball became a popular sport and no longer an archaic folk game. Structure and organization were introduced gradually into the game and increased public participation. The sport at first excluded the public, but as economic interests infiltrated the game, the need for audiences and spectators arose. The audience of baseball was instrumental in the transformat of baseball. The battling leagues and team rivalries created a sector for the American public to participate in baseball. The process of the transformation of American folk games into spectator games was due to capitalism, evolution of American society, urban settings, level of player performance, technological advances and the addition of structure and organization to the games; thus, transforming the sport of baseball into a monopolized and professional business.
Organized Baseball and the Commission have propagated the myth that General Abner Doublday invented the game of baseball. This was an attempt to make baseball an American game. The Commission wanted to distinguish baseball as a truly American game that originated in Cooperstown, New York.
What role do sports play in America?
A、Sports serve as a link between people of different times.
B、Sports bring American people, young or old, together.
C、Sports are no more than pastimes in American culture.
D、Sports help Americans to behave in good manners.
【正确答案】：B
【题目解析】：根据文章第一段Sports act as a unifying factor between people of all ages可以得出答案。
