VOA标准英语2008年-The Crack of the Bat's Not as Sweet a Sound for

The game of baseball was the undisputed national pastime for more than a century, until American football overtook it as the nation's most popular and profitable sport.
　

These are four baseball fields surrounding a rural school. School fields used to be prime sandlot locations for impromptu2 games, but now many stay empty all summer long

Top-level pro¹ baseball teams still draw big crowds and make millions of dollars a year. And plenty of other professional, collegiate, and amateur teams still play the game.
　

John Young, who conceived of Major League Baseball's RBI program that is now working in 200 inner cities, poses with a graduate: Coco Crisp of the Boston Red Sox

Yet many of the vacant spaces that Americans call sandlots, where kids by the millions once brought their own wooden bats, leather gloves, and cowhide-covered balls — and picked teams among themselves — are eerily³ empty. And this worries those who look to the future of the sport. They remember when boys of all abilities who played sandlot ball — and most were boys — remained fans and paying customers for life.

Today's baseball is highly organized, focused on winning rather than having fun, and — some say — over-coached. Only highly skilled players get much chance to play. Ordinary kids have other playtime options, including sedentary video games. And as housing developments have filled in the open spaces, there are fewer sandlots.
　

There used to be millions of kids like this who just grabbed their mitts4 and met others for pick-up games of sandlot baseball. Now the game is highly organized

Major-league baseball is funding outreach programs to re-introduce the game to kids in the inner cities, where basketball — which is cheaper and faster — is now the overwhelming game of choice. Baseball's heavy recruiting in Latin America and Asia has increased its international appeal but done nothing to bring small-town and rural American kids back to the sandlots.

One day, say the worriers, baseball's decreasing grassroots appeal could hit the game where it hurts — in the columns marked attendance and profits.

　

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

3 eerily   

adv.引起神秘感或害怕地

参考例句：

• It was nearly mid-night and eerily dark all around her. 夜深了，到处是一片黑黝黝的怪影。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The vast volcanic slope was eerily reminiscent of a lunar landscape. 开阔的火山坡让人心生怪异地联想起月球的地貌。 来自辞典例句

4 mitts   

n.露指手套，棒球手套，拳击手套( mitt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I'd love to get my mitts on one of those. 我很想得到一个那样的东西。
• Those are my cigarettes; get your mitts off them. 那是我的香烟，别动它。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》