III. Fill in each numbered blank with ONE suitable word. Write your answer in the numbered
box. (1,0 point)
Mickey Mantle was one of (16) ___ greatest baseball players of all times. He played for the
New York Yankees in their years of glory. From the time Mantle began to (17) ___ professionally in
1951 to his last year in 1968, baseball was the most popular (18) ___ in the United States. For many
people, Mantle symbolized the hope, prosperity, and confidence of America at that time.
Mantle was a fast and powerful (19) ___ who could bat both (20) ___ and left-handed. He won
game after game, one World Series championship (21) ___ another, for his team. He was a wonderful
athlete, but this alone cannot explain America’s fascination with him.
Perhaps it was because he was a handsome, red-haired country boy, the son of a poor miner
from Oklahoma. His career, from the lead mines of the West (22) ___ the heights of success and fame,
was a fairy-tale version of the American dream. Or perhaps it was because America always loves a
“natural”: a person who wins without seeming to try, (23) ___ talent appears to come from an inner
grace. That was Mickey Mantle.
But like many celebrities, Mickey Mantle had a private life (24) ___ of problems. He played
without complaint despite constant pain from injuries. He lived to (25) ___ his father’s dreams and drank
to forget his father’s early death. Mickey Mantle died of cancer at the age of 63.