【推荐1】Baseball developed gradually from a number of different ball-and-stick games originating in England. As early as the American Revolution, it was noted that troops played “base ball” in their free time. In 1845 Alexander Cartwright formalized the New York Knickerbocker’ version of the game.

The “New York Game” spread rapidly, replacing earlier localized forms. From its beginnings, baseball was seen as a way of satisfying the recreational needs of an increasingly urban-industrial society. At its beginning it was played by and for wealthy gentlemen. A club might consist of 40 members. The president would appoint two captains who would choose teams from among the members. Games were played on Monday and Thursday afternoons, with the losers often providing an expensive evening’s entertainment for the winners.

During the 1850-1870 period the game was changing, however, with increasing commercialism, under-the-table payments to outstanding players, and gambling(赌博) on the outcome of games. Beginning with the first openly all-salaried team (Cincinnati’s Red Stocking Club) in 1869, the 1870-1890 period saw the complete professionalization of baseball, including formation of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players in 1871. The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in 1876, run by business-minded investors in joint-stock company(股份公司) clubs. The 1880s has been called Major League Baseball’s “Golden Age”. Profits rocketed, players’ salaries rose somewhat, a season of 84 games became one of 132, a weekly periodical “The sporting News” came into being, wooden stadiums replaced open fields, and the standard refreshment became hot dogs, soda pop and peanuts. In 1900 the Western League based in the growing cities of the Midwest declared itself the American League.

【推荐3】In 1547, the king of Spain sent a coded (编码的) letter to his ambassador in France. Now, after nearly 500 years, researchers have finally cracked(破解) the code and can read the letter. It turns out that the king was worried someone might be trying to kill him.

Charles V was the king of Spain from 1516 to 1556. But his power went far beyond Spain. As the “Holy Roman Emperor”, Charles V controlled lands across Europe. In spite of his great power, he had to manage many threats.

Three years before the letter was written, Charles V had made a peace deal with King Francis I of France. But there was still a lot of information he didn’t want to share with the king of France.

At the time, the only way to communicate across long distances was to send letters. But letters weren’t secure. So Charles V used a complicated code to send information that needed to be kept secret.

Cecile Pierrot is a cryptographer- -an expert in codes. She and a team of other cryptographers set out to figure out what the letter said. The code was harder to crack than Ms. Pierrot had expected. But as the researchers studied the three-page letter, they began to notice some patterns.

Some symbols stood for just one letter. Others stood for several letters combined. And a few of the symbols stood for whole words. To make things more difficult, some symbols meant nothing at all and were only included to make the code harder to crack.

After three years of efforts, the experts finally cracked the code. The team says the decoded letter tells them a lot about tensions in Europe at the time. The discovery opens a door to even more history. There are hundreds of similar letters all over Europe. Now that the code is broken, historians will have a much easier time learning what Charles V was thinking about during his time as a leader.