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Barbie （巴比娃娃）, believe it or not, is 50 this year and she’s still as popular as ever. A doll is a doll , but Barbie illustrates how, over the last five decades, women have become a standard for judging what freedom really means How women are treated in different countries tells you a lot about the politics and culture of where they live.

The doll that every little girl wants enables young children to test their possibilities in role playing, giving them a glimpse of what they might be when they grow up, whether to be frivolous or serious （or both）.

But in many countries that’s not an option. In Saudi Arabia, where woman can’t drive or go out publicly unless covered, Barbie is banned. They think Barbie dolls are offensive to Islam （） and a threat to morality.

In America, she represents the swiftly changing roles of women. Barbie is fun to tease but she’s as American as miniskirts and pantsuits in her flexible identities and her “growth” from model to astronaut.

Barbie inspired a doll – revolution movement. When a Teen Talk Barbie was programmed electronically to say “Math class is tough”, she was criticized by a national women’s group and was regarded as a bad stereotype. Some of her critics also say she’s a bad influence because she’s too thin and encourages anorexia, that she has run through too many stereotypes, and that she lends too much significance to the fantasy stages of child’s play.

In some Muslim countries, substitute Barbie dolls have been developed that promote traditional values, with their modest clothing and pro – family backgrounds. They are widely seen as an effort to resist the American dolls that have flooded the market.

Toy seller Masounmen Rahimi welcomed the dolls, saying Barbie was “foreign to Muslim culture” because some of the dolls have little clothing. She said young girls who play with Barbie, could grow into women who reject Muslim values. “I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile,” Ms Rahimi said.

1．Barbie is forbidden in some Muslim countries because         .

      A．she is more deadly than a missile          B．toys are not allowed there

      C．she looks 1ike an American                 D．she sets a poor example to children

2．The writer mentioned “miniskirts and pantsuits” （paragraph 4） to imply that          .

      A．these are the only clothes a doll should wear

      B．these are very traditional American clothes for women

      C．there are a range of different life options available for women

      D．readers should wear these clothes more often

3．The underlined word “anorexia”（paragraph 5） most probably means “         ”.

    A．an illness of refusing to eat

    B．giving up math study

    C．the wearing of inappropriate clothes

    D．a decrease in people’s imagination

4．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

      A．People all over the world understand what freedom really means.

      B．How Barbie is treated seems to reflect a country’s politics and culture

      C．Women in Saudi Arabia have no options in deciding what to wear．

      D．Barbie dolls have contributed much to Muslim culture．

5．It can be inferred from the passage that          .

       A．children who like Barbie dolls won’t be so serious when they grow up

       B．Muslim Barbies are the same as American Barbies

       C．Muslim societies are generally more conservative than western societies

       D．Americans have no worry about Barbie’s influence on children

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