Passage Two
Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.
There are people in Italy who can’t stand soccer. Not all Canadians love hockey. A similar situation exists in America, where there are those individuals you may be one of them who yawn or even frown when somebody mentions baseball. Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens. They tell you it’s a game better suited to the 19th century, slow, quiet, and gentlemanly. These are the same people you may be one of them who love football because there’s the sport that glorifies “the hit”.
By contrast, baseball seems abstract, cool, silent, still.
On TV the game is fractured into a dozen perspectives, replays, close-ups. The geometry of the game, however, is essential to understanding it. You will contemplate the game from one point as a painter does his subject; you may, of course, project yourself into the game. It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement. The TV won’t do it for you.
Take, for example, the third baseman. You sit behind the third base dugout and you watch him watching home plate. His legs are apart, knees flexed. His arms hang loose. He does a lot of this. The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive. But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws: the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or brings the glove to a point in front of him, takes a step right or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman’s position. Suppose the pitch is a ball. “Nothing happened,” you say. “I could have had my eyes closed.”
The skeptic and the innocent must play the game. And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is. Watch the third baseman. Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of horsehide on wood. If football is a symphony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking of notes, chorus and responses.
62.The passage is mainly concerned with .
[A]the different tastes of people for sports
[B]the different characteristics of sports
[C]the attraction of football
[D]the attraction of baseball
63.Those who don’t like baseball may complain that .
[A]it is only to the taste of the old
[B]it involves fewer players than football
[C]it is not exciting enough
[D]it is pretentious and looks funny
64.The author admits that .
[A]baseball is too peaceful for the young
[B]baseball may seem boring when watched on TV
[C]football is more attracting than baseball
[D]baseball is more interesting than football
65.By stating “I could have had my eyes closed.” the author means (4th paragraph last sentence) .
[A]the third baseman would rather sleep than play the game
[B]even if the third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago, it could make no difference to the result
[C]the third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work well
[D]the consequence was so bad that he could not bear to see it
66.We can safely conclude that the author .
[A]likes football[B]hates football
[C]hates baseball[D]likes baseball
Part Ⅳ Reading Comprehension(Reading in Depth)
Passage Two
【全文翻译】
有些意大利人不喜欢足球，也并不是所有的加拿大人都喜欢曲棍球。美国也存在类似的情况：一提起垒球，有些人就打哈欠甚至皱眉头，你可能就是其中之一。对他们来说，看垒球就意味着眼巴巴地观望着身着紧身而有趣的运动装的人呆立在球场上，东瞧瞧西望望，很少有什么(激动人心的)事发生——真是无聊极了。他们认为，垒球是适合19世纪的运动，慢慢腾腾、毫无活力而又从容和缓。你可能是他们中的一员，喜欢足球，因为它是一种崇尚“热门”的运动。相反，垒球看起来显得孤孤单单、冷冷清清、沉沉静静、慢慢腾腾。
在电视上，垒球运动被切换成不同角度的画面、不断地予以重放、特写。但是，垒球运动的立体感是理解它的核心。你可以把它想象成一位画家从某点开始创作他的作品;当然，你也可以让自己投身到运动中去。正是这种投身其中的感觉使得垒球成为值得参与的运动。电视体现不出这一点。
以三垒手为例。你坐在三垒后面的休息区，看着他望着本垒。他双腿分开，膝盖弯曲，手臂耷拉下来。他反复多次这样做。对垒球持怀疑论态度者仍难以想出其他任何运动是如此的沉静，如此的被动。但是，注意投手每次投球时发生的情况：三垒手踮起了脚趾，弯曲着手臂或将手套举到面前的某个位置，向左或向右、向前或向后迈出一步，可能他还会朝球场扫上一眼，查看一垒手的位置。想象投出了一球。“什么也没有发生，”你说，“我本来可以闭上眼睛”。
怀疑垒球运动者和新手必须要亲自参与这项运动。在看台上看垒球就像听音乐一样明智。注意观察三垒手。用一只脚抹平你面前的土堆，平整好手套上的口袋，注意击球手的眼睛、球棒的速度，聆听垒球击打在球棒上的声音。如果足球是剧场里的一曲运动交响乐，那么垒球就是一曲集声调、合唱和吟唱于一体的自由自在的室内乐。
【答案解析】
62.【解析】[D]主旨题。文章第一段简述了人们对垒球所持的偏见——认为它毫无活力、从容和缓，不像橄榄球那样高潮迭起、令人激动。文章的第二、三、四、五段探讨了垒球的根本特征及欣赏角度，文章的最后一句话用一个比喻概括了垒球的魅力：“如果橄榄球是一曲交响乐的话，那么，垒球中所表现出来的运动恰似一曲优美的室内乐。”可见，本文主要探讨的是垒球的特点及其欣赏。 A不对，第一段也确实提到了不同观众对不同运动形式的偏好，但这只是用以引出对垒球的特征及欣赏的讨论。
63.【解析】[C]细节题。文章第一段指出：许多人不喜欢垒球，一提起垒球这些人就打哈欠甚至皱眉头。对他们来说，看垒球意味着眼巴巴地观望着身着运动装(outfit)的人呆立在球场上，东瞧瞧西望望，很少有什么(激动人心的)事发生——没意思透了。他们认为这样的运动更适合上个世纪的人的口味，不像橄榄球那样充满活力。 A意为：“它只适合老年人的口味。”注意：原文说的是适合上个世纪的人的口味，二者意思不一样。 D意为：“它矫揉造作、滑稽可笑。”这与说它gentlemanly(具有绅士风度，矜持，即：没有冲撞或拼抢)不一样。
64.【解析】[B]推断题。第三段指出，在电视上，垒球运动被切换成不同角度的画面，而且不断地使用重放、特写等电视制作技术，这破坏了该运动的整体运动感，使观众无法将自己投入(project)到运动中去，以体会到这种寓动于静的运动之美。电视做不到这一点(The TV won’t do it for you)，因此，电视上的垒球比赛看上去(seems)孤孤单单、冷冷清清、沉沉静静、慢慢腾腾。C、D不对，作者仅指出了不同运动有不同运动的特征，并未说哪种运动优于哪种。参阅文章最后一句。
65.【解析】[B]推断题。第四段整个都在描述垒球场上的一个场景：拿三垒的运动员假设对方全投出好球，做好了一切准备，但是对方投出的并不是好球。所以在那时候他的准备做不做都不会影响比赛结果。他说本来可以闭上眼睛，意思就是B项所写的。A、C、D都不符合作者的意图。这道题需要完整地了解第四段内容才能做好选择。
66.【解析】[D]推断题。在本文中，作者主要探讨了垒球的特征及欣赏，作者着重指出的是：只有根据垒球的特征来欣赏它，才能体会到它的魅力。在他看来，观察到垒球比赛中运动员的各种动作、垒球位之间的关系等是欣赏它的关键(第三段第二句)。只有从整体来把握它，才能看到每一个小的动作、每一个眼神乃至于“静止”的意义，也只有这样，才能全身心地投入比赛中，欣赏到它的魅力。可见，作者对垒球有很深的理解而且非常喜爱垒球。主要参考第三、四、五段。