【文章內容簡介】 from other countries， including Mexico， Australia， China， France， and England. They left their families and jobs， and made the difficult trip to California. They all shared a dream. They all wanted to make a fortune in gold. 　　 Towns and camps grew quickly wherever gold was found. These towns were rough places. There was almost always a saloon， where the men drank whiskey and gambled at cards. In mining towns， men stole and sometimes killed for gold. 　　 Did the miners make their fortune？ Some did， especially those who came early were lucky. In 1848， miners usually made about twenty dollars a day. In 1852 miners made about six dollars a day. Many other people came to California to make money from the miners. Prices were very high. A loaf of bread， which cost five cents in New York， cost almost a dollar in San Francisco. 　　 In 1848 San Francisco had been a village. Six years later it was a city with a population of 50，000. In 1850 California had enough people to bee a state. 　　 （ ）51. In 1849 thousands of men came to California because _______. 　　 A. they were fortyminers B. they wanted to find gold 　　 C. they had families D. California was a beautiful place 　　 （ ）52. Towns and camps _________. 　　 A. grew quickly B. grew where there was a saloon 　　 C. grew where there was no gold D. grew fast wherever there was gold 　　 （ ）53. Some of the miners who were lucky _________. 　　 A. made twenty dollars B. made their fortune 　　 C. made bread D. became poor 　　 （ ）54. The towns of the old West were rough places ________. 　　 A. where people fought a lot B. where there are mountains 　　 C. where there is no water D. with irregular land 　　 B 　　 Baseball is America‘s most popular sport. In a baseball game there are two teams of nine players. Players must hit ball with a bat and then run around four bases. A player who goes around all the bases scores a run for his team. The team that finishes with more runs wins the game. 　　 Where did baseball e from？ No one knows for sure. Many people believe that the idea came from a game played by children in England. Other people believe that a man named Abner Doubleday invented the game in Cooperstown， New York， in 1839. But the first real rules of baseball were written in 1845 by Alexander Cartwright. Two teams from New York played a game following Cartwright‘s rules. The rules worked well. Soon there were many teams. 　　 These early teams were not professional. They played only for fun， not money. But baseball was very popular from the start. Businessmen saw that they could make money with professional baseball teams. 　　 The first professional team was started in 1869. This team was the Red Stockings of Cincinati. Within a few years there were professional teams in other cities. In 1876， these teams came together in a league， or group， called the National League. The teams in the National League played one another. 　　 In 1901， a new league， called the American League， was formed. To create some excitement， in 1903， the two leagues decided to have their firstplace teams play each