One winter day in 1891, a class of training school in Massachusetts, U. S. A, went into the gym for their daily exercises. (1)_____________________. But their teacher, Janes Nasmith had other ideas. He had been working for a long time on the new game that would have the excitement of American football. Nasmith showed the men a basket he had hung at the each end of the gym, and explained that they were going to use a round European football, at first everybody tried to throw the ball into the basket no matter where he was standing. “Pass! Pass!” Nasmith kept shouting, blowing his whistle to stop the excited players. (2)_____________________. The problem with the new game, which was soon called “basketball”, was getting the ball out of the basket. They used ordinary food baskets with bottoms, and the ball, of course, stayed inside. At first, someone had to climb up every time a basket was scored. (3)_____________________. There have been many changes in the rules since then, and basketball has become one of the world’s most popular sports.
