当女人遭遇棒球
Lois: It was popular in North America as early as the mid-1800s. Although men 8)monopolized the game, women were there too, and they played 9)hardball just like the men. In 1866, the Vassar College “Resolutes,” a team of young ladies, 10)frolicked gracefully across the fields in their billowing dresses, and 30 years later women in New Brunswick challenged others to a game of ball. Even your great grandmother might have been a baseball player.
路易斯：棒球早在19世纪中期就在北美洲盛行。虽然当时男人主导了这个比赛，但女人也还是争得了一席之地，她们跟男人一样打硬式棒球。1866年，由年轻女士们组成的瓦萨大学“勇敢者队”穿着裙子，在场地上优雅地嬉戏，30年后，在美国新不伦瑞克，女人们会在球赛中挑战别人。搞不好就连你的曾祖母也是个棒球手呢。
At times a game had to be temporarily suspended because a skirt ripped when a young miss tripped chasing a fly ball. But the clothes were good for one thing; women in the 11)outfield became experts at trapping baseballs in their skirts.
很多时候，女人奔跑着追球被绊倒时，她们的裙子就扯破了，这时比赛就不得不暂停。但这些衣服还是有一个好处，就是她们在外场可以轻而易举地用自己的裙子捕到球。
The first professional women baseball players were “The Bloomer Girls” in the 1890s. They were famous because they travelled from city to city in North America on barnstorming tours. Their promoters, whose other jobs were sometimes 12)horseshoeing or saloon-keeping, 13)cashed in on the 14)novelty of women playing baseball against men. Games were also mixed. 15)Hall of Fame great 16)Rogers Hornsby once played as a “Bloomer Girl.” They were popular until the late 1920s, when their fans became more interested in men's professional baseball and 17)Babe Ruth was worshipped as an American hero.
第一支女子职业棒球队是19世纪90年代的“勇敢女孩队”。她们在北美洲的各个城市间穿行进行巡回演出，并因此闻名。她们的赞助人往往是一些钉马掌或是开美发店的人，通过女人和男人对决的棒球赛这类新鲜事赚钱。比赛也是男女选手混在一起。当时名人堂著名的罗杰斯·霍恩斯比就曾经在“勇敢女孩队”队里打球。20世纪20年代后期，她们已经不像之前那样红了，因为她们的粉丝迷上了男子职业棒球赛，并且把贝比·鲁斯当成国民英雄一般地崇拜。
