Barbie(芭比娃娃)，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(伊斯兰教) 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 doll­revolution 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(固定模式)，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 pro­family backgrounds. They are widely seen as an effort to resist the American dolls that have flooded the market.

Toy seller Masoumeh 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.The writer mentioned “miniskirts and pantsuits”(in 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

2.The underlined word “anorexia” (in 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

3.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

Dior was born in Normandy in 1905, and his family’s original plans for him included a career in the diplomatic service, but by the time he was twenty-three, with his parents’ money, he opened a small art gallery in Paris. By 1931, the money had been used up. Dior’s friends in the art gallery asked him to draw and he took his first step at designing and drawing. His first job was with Lucien Lelong from whom Dior learned his craft（手艺）.

In February, 1947, Dior started the New Look in his first major Paris collection. He was backed by a famous textile producer, Boussac, who looked after the dollars, while Dior looked after the fashions. Dior knew nothing about cutting and sewing, but he was good at fashion design.

The New Look started an entirely different look to costume, with a tiny waist, a rounded shoulder and a shapely bust（胸围）, usually with a low-cut neckline and a long full skirt. To women who had lived through the war years, the femaleness of the New Look was a great success, for people were tired of the extremely plain, wartime restrictive fashions.

It is said that dresses by Dior were “constructed like buildings”, but young people were attracted to his design, and all over the western world, manufacturers plunged into（投入）the production of his new style. Dior’s revolutionary designs lighted up a whole cycle of fashion - rounded, gentle, feminine - a delight in elegance. A New kook House of Dior opened in 1948, followed by one in London. Considered as King of Couture （Women’s clothing） for years, the Dior Empire grew until it covered every country in the western world, and included furs, jewelry, perfumes, men’s wear and so on. Over 1,000 people worked at the Paris headquarters then.

His sudden death in 1957 when he was 52 years old did not stop the growth of the House of Dior. Even now, so many years after his death, his name is closely connected with fashion throughout the world, and indeed is one of the most recognized names in the world. His first great New Look, with its long skirts, was an expression of freedom in the late 1940s.

1.Which of the following designs is close to Dior’s?

2.According to the passage, in Dior’s life, he did not _________.

A. make creative fashion designs

    B. work in a diplomatic service

    C. learn craft as his first job

    D. open a New Look House

3.We can infer from the passage that ________.

    A. Dior and his supporter had different interests in business

    B. Dior’s New Look had little influence on people then

    C. Dior is only a brand of women’s fashion

    D. Dior’s fashion was not accepted at first

4.What is probably the best title for the passage?

    A. The History of the New Look

    B. The Growth of the Dior Empire

    C. An Expression of Freedom - Dior

D. The Founder of the New Look – Dior

语音知识（共4小题，每小题1分，满分4分）

从每小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中，找出所给单词的正确读音，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。

1． thunder    

A．worthy           B．clothing        C．clothes       D．north

2． missed    

A．succeeded        B．judged         C．marked         D．refused

3． office     

A．topic            B．obey           C．pollution      D．post

4． breath    

A．break            B．breathe         C．ready         D．please

5. complete  

A. several          B. silent        C. necklace        D. medium

They like using the Internet．They have lots of pocket money to spend．And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us．Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy－games, CDs and clothing－are easily sold on the Web.

But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards．Most have to use a parent’s card．They want a facility that allows them to spend money.

That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic．If successful, these products can stimulate online sales.

In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK．Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK．According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.

In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children．Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street．They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.

One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercast is through prepaid cards such as Internet Cash in the US and Smart cards in the UK．Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.

1.What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?

         A．Sellers.       B．Buyers.      C．Teenagers.         D．Parents.

2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

         A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access．

         B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards.

         C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online.

         D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop.

3.A new way to help teenagers shop online is to use ______.

         A．a new machine  B．special coins and notes

         C．prepaid cards    D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones

4.What is the passage mainly about?

         A．Online shopping traps.          B．Internet users in the US and the UK.

         C．New credit cards for parents.   D．The arrival of cyber pocket money.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中由两项为多余选项。

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When we speak of a basic human need we mean something necessary to life, something we cannot do without. Food is a basic human need. Without it we would starve to death. Whether in primitive(原始的)countries or in more advanced societies, man’s food needs are the same. 2.

But primitive people eat only the food which can be grown near their homes, whereas people in more advanced societies eat food which is often grown many thousands of miles away from their homes. Primitive people are satisfied with less kinds of food, therefore we can say people’s wants are different although their needs are the same.

3.Clothing is necessary to regulate (调节) the heat of our bodies. In different climates and in different seasons we need more or less clothes. We also dress differently for other reasons. 4.

Shelter, the third of our needs, depends on climate, the skill of the builders, one’s social position, and the material which can be used. 5.The three-bed-roomed house of the average family would not be grand enough for a very rich family, but a modern house with many of the material comforts were denied to the kings and queens in the past.

A. Food, Clothing and Shelter.

B. Human Needs

C. We always change our style of clothing for different occasions, such as work, sports, parties.

D. We all need food to live a healthy life.

E. We want to live comfortably .

F. The simple shelter of the primitive people would not do for us, and yet it satisfied their needs.

G. The same is true of the second of human needs.