Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological（生物学的） basis to their preferences（偏爱）.

Psychologists Dr. Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 infants(婴儿) aged nine months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were stereotypically boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy.  The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.

Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.

Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization(社会化). Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colours such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.”

1.Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because__________.    

A．baby boys are much more active

B．baby girls like bright colours more

C．there is a natural difference between them

D．their parents treat them differently

2.What can we infer from Paragraph 3?

A．Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all.

B．Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls.

C．Parents should teach their babies to share each other’s toys.

D．The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is.

3.What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?

A．Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings.

B．Adults purposely（故意地） influence their babies preference.

C．Baby boys preferring to moving toys will be good at hunting.

D．Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warm-hearted.

4.We may read this article in a_________ section of a newspaper.

A．health            B．science           C．education         D．entertainment

 

Teddy Bears have been a very popular children’s toy for many years. Most adults can remember their first stuffed（填充玩具）bear, and over the decades these toys have become nearly a symbol of their childhood. However, children are not the only ones with whom these toys have become popular, as many adults make it a habit to collect these toys as well.

The Teddy Bear first became popular during the early 20th century and was associated with then President Theodore Roosevelt. The story can date back to a hunting trip that President Roosevelt had taken where he was invited to be the one to shoot a black bear that had been tied to a tree. Being a crazy outdoors lover and hunter, Roosevelt refused to kill the animal because he believed that shooting the helpless bear was unsportsmanlike and wrong. This story quickly spread through newspapers across the country, and in the end inspired the introduction of a stuffed toy called “Teddy’s bear”.

These toys became popular soon after first introduced, and within ten years, they were being produced by dozens of companies around the world. Within a generation, these stuffed bears were “the” toy to have, and have always been within children’s toy boxes ever since.

They are most often mass-produced in factories in order to keep up with the high demand.  However, there are still companies that take great pride in their handmade designs; and while handmade teddy bears are often preferred, they are also generally more expensive than their mass-produced ones.

Today, these bears and other similar toys generate well over a billion dollars a year in profits for the companies that make them. Walk through just about any toy store in America and you will find dozens of different teddy bears lining the shelves.

1.According to the passage, we can know President Roosevelt ______.

A. didn’t like hunting                    

B. enjoy being special

C. was not brave enough               

D. was fair and respectable

2.Compared with mass-produced teddy bears, the handmade ones ______.

A. don’t sell well                        

B. are of high quality

C. are more expensive                 

D. are preferred by adults

3.From the last paragraph, the writer intends to show ______.

A. teddy bears are very popular       

B. toys are loved by many companies

C. producing toys can earn more money      

D. teddy bears are also enjoyed by adults

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A. History of the Teddy Bear.         

B. A popular toy — Teddy Bear.

C. Who made the first toy bear?            

D. Profits Teddy Bear have made.

 

Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for the toy cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological（生物学的） basis(基础) to their preferences（偏爱）.
Psychologists(心理学家) Dr. Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 infants(婴儿) aged nine months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were stereotypically boys' toys - a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy.  The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (nine to 14 months), girls spent significantly(明显的) longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two-and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly(简单地) touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely(几乎不) touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.
Dr Brenda Todd said: “Children of this age are already exposed (暴露)to much socialization(社会化). Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colours such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.”
【小题1】Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because__________.    

A．baby boys are much more active

B．baby girls like bright colours more

C．their parents treat them differently

D．there is a natural difference between them

【小题2】Both baby boys and baby girls like to play with__________  according to the study.

A．a ball

B．a teddy

C．a car

D．a doll

【小题3】What can we infer from Paragraph 3?

A．Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all.

B．Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls.

C．The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is.

D．Parents should teach their babies to share each other’s toys.

【小题4】What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?

A．Adults purposely（故意地） influence their babies preference.

B．Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings.

C．Baby boys preferring to moving toys will be good at hunting.

D．Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warm-hearted.

【小题5】We may read this article in a_________ section of a newspaper.

A．science

B．health

C．education

D．entertainment

Throughout the world, boys and girls prefer to play with different types of toys. Boys typically like to play with cars and trucks, while girls typically choose to play with dolls. Why is this? A traditional sociological explanation is that boys and girls are socialized and encouraged to play with different types of toys by their parents, peers, and the “society”. Growing scientific evidence suggests, however, that boys’ and girls’ toy preferences may have a biological origin.

In 2002, Gerianne M. Alexander of Texas A&M University and Melissa Hines of City University in London surprised the scientific world by showing that monkeys showed the same sextypical toy preferences as humans. In the study, Alexander and Hines gave two masculine toys (a ball and a police car), two feminine toys (a soft doll and a cooking pot), and two neutral toys (a picture book and a stuffed dog) to 44 male and 44 female monkeys. They then assessed the monkeys’ preference for each toy by measuring how much time they spent with each. Their data showed that male monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the masculine toys, and the female monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the feminine toys. The two sexes did not differ in their preference for the neutral toys.

If children’ s toy preferences were largely formed by gender socialization, as traditional sociologists’ claim, in which their parents give “gender appropriate” toys to boys and girls, how can these male and female monkeys have the same preferences as boys and girls？They were never socialized by humans, and they had never seen these toys before in their lives.

61．Traditional sociologists believe boys’ and girls’ toy preferences ________.

A. are passed down from their parents               B. are largely formed in later life

C. have nothing to do with gender socialization        D. have a biological origin

62．The study by Alexander and Hines shows that monkeys________.

A. also have a sex typical toy preference       B. also play toys as humans do 

C. have no toy preferences                  D. like to play different toys at different time

63．Alexander and Hines carried out the study to ________.

A. find more evidence for traditional sociology

B. test the intelligence of monkeys

C. test whether monkeys like to play toys

D. find out why boys and girls prefer different toys

64．According to the study, if given a stuffed dog, ________.

A. only the male monkeys showed interest

B. the female monkeys showed more interest

C. the male and female monkeys showed the same interest

D. neither the male nor the female monkeys showed any interest

65．Masculine toys are mainly intended for________.

A. boys                       B. adult           C. monkeys　           D. girls