英语学习,英语考试,大学英语,美国,英语Chapter8Sportsandentertainment.pptVIP

Chapter 8 Sports and Entertainment Sports Sports play an important role in American society. They enjoy great popularity but more important they are vehicles for transmitting such values as justice, fair play, and teamwork. Sports have contributed to racial and social integration and over history have been a “social glue” bonding the country together. The United States offers limitless opportunities to engage in sports—either as a participant or as a spectator. The typical American sports of baseball, basketball, and football, however, arose from games that were brought to America by the first settlers that arrived from Europe in the 17th century. These games were re-fashioned and elaborated in the course of the 19th century and are now the most popular sports in the U.S. Baseball The sport that brings more nostalgia among Americans than any other is baseball. So many people play the game as children that it has become known as “the national pastime.” The exact origins of baseball are unknown, but most historians agree that it is based on the English game of rounders. The first professional baseball league was established in 1871. By the start of the 20th century, most large cities in the eastern United States had a professional baseball team but baseball truly came of age in the 1920s, as Babe Ruth (1895-1948) playing for the New York Yankees became a national hero. Starting in the 1950s, baseball expand