American sports arequite distinct from those played elsewhere in the world.The top four spectatorteam sports are American football,baseball,basketball,and ice

hockey.Baseball isthe oldest among these sports.The professional game dates from 1869 and has noclose rivals in popularity until the 1960s;though baseball is no longer the

most popularsport,it is still referred to as the nationa! pastime.Little boys play baseballin parks and empty lots,in streets and in alleys;and picnics all through thehot summer

months include atleast a few innings（回合）ofbaseball with boys and girls, young and old,taking turns at bat. Probably noAmerican was very surprised to read in the

newspapers that whena United Statesatomic submarine surfaced at the North Pole,the crewmen played a game ofbaseball.

Also unlike theprofessional levels of the other popular spectator sports in the U.S.,MajorLeague Baseball teams play almost every day from April to October. American

football(knownsimply as"football"in the U.S.)now attracts more televisionviewers than baseball;however, National Football League teams play only 16regular -season

games each year,sobaseball is the great leader in ticket sales.The really important professionalplayers are members of the 24 teams in America's two major baseball

leagues.Each summerthey are America'snational heroes.At the end of the season,when the two top teams play againsteach other to find the winner of the"World

Series",excitementand tension rise in cities all over the country.Fans make long trips to watchthe games and to shout from their seats in the bleachers（廉价座位）.Millions

of others tune in onradio and television,sometimes making it a topic of conversation.And long afterit is all over,baseball fans talk over the scores and the players,inning by

inning,and thebatting averages of the players this year compared to other years.(Battingaverages show the percentage of times a player hits the ball effectively)

The President of theUnited States is invited tostart the season each year by tossing the ball into the first game in Washington

D.C．一and he rarely fails to come.American footballis the second leader in ticket sales after baseball.

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentioned