题目内容
There seems never to have been a civilization without toys, but when and how they developed is unknown. They probably came about just to give children something to do.
In the ancient world, as is today, most boys played with some kinds of toys and most girls with another. In societies where social roles are strictly determined, boys pattern their play after the activities of their fathers and girls after the tasks of their mothers.This is true because boys and girls are being prepared, even in play, to step into the roles and responsibilities of the adult world.
What is remarkable about the history of toys is not so much how they changed over the centuries but how much they have remained the same. The changes have been mostly in terms of skill, mechanics, and technology. It is the universality of toys with regard to their development in all parts of the world and their insistence to the present that is amazing. In Egypt, the US, China,Japan and among the Arctic peoples, generally the same kinds of toys appeared. Variations depended on local customs and ways of life because toys reflect their surroundings.Nearly every civilization had dolls, little weapons, toy soldiers, tiny animals and vehicles.
Because toys can be generally regarded as a kind of art form, they have not been affected by technological quick development that characterize inventions for adult use. The progress from the wheel to the ox-cart to the automobile is a direct line of ahievement. The progress from a rattle(拨浪鼓) used by a baby in 3000 BC to one used by a baby today, however, is not characterized by inventiveness. Each rattle is the product of the artistic tastes of times and subject to the limtations of available materials.
1.. The reason why the toys most boys play with are different from those that girls play with is that_________.
A.their social roles are strictly determined |
B.most boys would like to follow their fathers’ professions |
C.boys like to play with their fathers while girls with their mothers |
D.they like challenging activities |
2.. Which of the following is the author’s view on the historical development of toys?
A.The making skills in toys has remained essentially unchanged. |
B.Toys have remained basically the same all through the centuries. |
C.The toy industry has witnessed great improvement in technology in recent years. |
D.Toys are playing an increasingly important role in shaping a child’s character. |
3.. Regarded as a kind of art form, toys________.
A.follow a direct line of achievement |
B.also appeal greatly to adults |
C.are not characterized by technological progress |
D.reflect the pace of social progress |
4.. The author uses the example of a rattle to show that________.
A.in toy-making there is a continuity in the use of materials |
B.even the simplest toys can reflect the progress of technology |
C.it often takes a long time to introduce new technology into toy-making |
D.even a simple toy can mirror the artistic tastes of the time |
1..A
2..B
3..C
4..D
【解析】 略
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The small coastal town of Broome, in northwest Australia, is a remote village in the vast countryside.
There are no traffic jams and hardly any roads. There is only the massive Australian wild land, where some houses are 500 miles apart and some driveways are 50 miles long.
There seem to be only two main sources of entertainment out here: the sunset at the beach and Sun Pictures.
Sun Pictures is a very different movie theater:The seats are park benches and deck chairs, but you’re also welcome to sit on the grass.
It is the world’s oldest outdoor movie garden. Sun Pictures was built in 1916 on the other side of the globe from Hollywood. All the big films were shipped here and the lonely country was amazed.
Broome resident Pearl Hamaguchi has never traveled far from home. But in the Sun Pictures chairs, under the deep blue night sky, she has been almost everywhere.
“And we came back excited about Gregory Peck,” she recalled.
This is one of the few places left in the world where you can see two sets of stars at the same time-----one set in the sky, the other in the film.
Each night, dozens of people from around the world line up at the old wooden stand, with no computer in sight, and buy their tickets to the latest films.
Sun Pictures is also a museum, exhibiting projectors(放映机) that date back to the silent films, a portrait gallery of the famous people who never knew about this place---- even though they came here all the time.
Every once in a while, I’m told, you might find a non-ticket holder in your seat. That’s why it’s always a good idea to shake out your chair to make sure there are no spiders or scorpions.
“We’ve only had a couple of scorpion incidents but no one’s been stung yet,” said Aaron Mestemaker, a tourist visiting from Michigan.
Sun Pictures is a holy hall of movie history and a reminder that air conditioning and carpet are no match for grass and fresh air---even when the lizards steal the scene.
【小题1】. The first two paragraphs want to show that__________.
A.living in Broome is inconvenient |
B.the life in Broome is boring |
C.few people like to live in Broome |
D.Broome is simple but vast |
A.it is the most historical outdoor theater in the world |
B.the audience can either sit on chairs or on the grass |
C.it was built by some constructor from Hollywood |
D.all the films were imported here from Hollywood |
A.a place | B.a film | C.a movie star | D.a country fellow |
A.its peacefulness | B.its beautiful sunset |
C.the Sun Pictures | D.the gallery of movie stars |
I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence (吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased (已故的) woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow , she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course — keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation — would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.
1.The author had to hold the two women’s funerals probably because .
A.he wanted to comfort the two families |
B.he was an official from the community |
C.he had great pity for the deceased |
D.he was priest of the local church |
2.People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because .
A.they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow |
B.they believe that they were responsible |
C.they had neglected the natural course of events |
D.they didn’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction |
3.According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that .
A.everything in the world is predetermined |
B.the world can be interpreted in different ways |
C.there’s an explanation for everything in the world |
D.we have to be sensible in order to understand the world |
4.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A.Life and death is an unsolved mystery. |
B.Every story should have a happy ending. |
C.Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault. |
D.In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away . |