Text 2

Pretty in pink: adult women do not remember being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls' lives. It is not that pink is intrinsically bad, but it is such a tiny slice of the rainbow and, though it may celebrate girlhood in one way, it also repeatedly and firmly fuses girls' identity to appearance. Then it presents that connection, even among two­-year-­olds, between girls as not only innocent but as evidence of innocence. Looking around, I despaired at the singular lack of imagination about girls' lives and interests.

Girls' attraction to pink may seem unavoidable, somehow encoded in their DNA, but according to Jo Paoletti, an associate professor of American Studies, it is not. Children were not colour­-coded at all until the early 20th century: in the era before domestic washing machines all babies wore white as a practical matter, since the only way of getting clothes clean was to boil them. What's more, both boys and girls wore what were thought of as gender-­neutral dresses. When nursery colours were introduced, pink was actually considered the more masculine colour, a pastel version of red, which was associated with strength. Blue, with its intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancy and faithfulness, symbolized femininity. It was not until the mid-­1980s，when amplifying age and sex differences became a dominant children's marketing strategy, that pink fully came into its own, when it began to seem inherently attractive to girls, part of what defined them as female, at least for the first few critical years.

I had not realized how profoundly marketing trends dictated our perception of what is natural to kids, including our core beliefs about their psychological development. Take the toddler. I assumed that phase was something experts developed after years of research into children's behavior: wrong. Turns out, according to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularized as a marketing trick by clothing manufacturers in the 1930s.

Trade publications counselled department stores that, in order to increase sales, they should create a “third stepping stone” between infant wear and older kids' clothes. It was only after “toddler” became a common shoppers' term that it evolved into a broadly accepted developmental stage. Splitting kids, or adults, into ever­tinier categories has proved a sure-­fire way to boost profits. And one of the easiest ways to segment a market is to magnify gender differences—or invent them where they did not previously exist.

26. By saying “it is…the rainbow” (Line 2, Para.1), the author means pink________.

[A] should not be the sole representation of girlhood            

[B] should not be associated with girls' innocence

[C] cannot explain girls' lack of imagination                        

[D] cannot influence girls' lives and interests

27. According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true of colours?

[A] Colors are encoded in girls' DNA.                                 

[B] Blue used to be regarded as the colour for girls.

[C] Pink used to be a neutral colour in symbolizing genders. 

[D] White is preferred by babies.

28. The author suggests that our perception of children's psychological development was much influenced by________.

[A] the marketing of products for children                          

[B] the observation of children's nature

[C] researches into children's behavior                                 

[D] studies of childhood consumption

29. We may learn from Paragraph 4 that department stores were advised to________.

[A] focus on infant wear and older kids' clothes                   

[B] attach equal importance to different genders

[C] classify consumers into smaller groups                          

[D] create some common shoppers' terms

30. It can be concluded that girls' attraction to pink seems to be________.

[A] clearly explained by their inborn tendency                     

[B] fully understood by clothing manufacturers

[C] mainly imposed by profit­-driven businessmen                

[D] well interpreted by psychological experts 
 

26.【答案】C

【解析】

reneging 的原形是renege，本议是"食言""否认"之意，为反向意义词。而四个选项中A 中的condemning 意为"谴责""处刑"B中的reaffirming 意为"重申""再肯定，再断言"，C中的dishonoring的意为"拒付，不兑付"，在意思和方向上都符合，D中securing 意为"保证，使保险"的含义。本文主要在说Entergy这个公司不兑现自己的诺言，所以应选C项。

27.【答案】D

【解析】

本题答案定位在文中第三段每二句话，As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale , the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. "as a condition of"可以理解为"为了"，D 项中的"purchase "一词就是对文中"sale"的替换。

28.【答案】A

【解析】

题干："根据第四段Entergy公司似乎在它的••••上存在着问题"，题目中已清晰把答案范围确定在第四段，通过阅读第四段我们可以看到Entergy公司出现了一系列的事故"a string of accidents",而后面的这句"raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee's safety and Entergy's management"就是本题的答案所在了。其中 "managerial" "management"仍是同一单词的变形。

29.【答案】D

【解析】

首先从题干知道考查的是作者的观点。 "佛蒙特州事件"和will test在文章中的定位是在第5段第5句话，"Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend"意思是"佛蒙特州事件将会检验是这些权利延伸多远的先例"。这句话是legal scholars的观点。重点是理解certainly和but后面的意思。虽然作者承认担忧如果每个周各行其是的后果是合理的，但是But后面是个虚拟语气，与事实相反。所以作者的真正态度是支持legal scholars的观点，即佛蒙特州事件是对州法规的权限的考验。How far those power extended与D选项的the limits of states' power与选项D"各州在核问题上的权限"是相匹配的，因此正确答案为D。其他选项与"佛蒙特州事件"带来的检验，文中并未直接提及。

30.【答案】A

【解析】

最后一段主要讲的是"Entergy公司的名誉已严重受创。该公司向联邦申请：许可Pilgrim核电站获得另外20年的开放权。但是作者认为，核管理委员会在审核该公司的申请的时候，务必要考虑下该公司的信誉问题。"A选项"Entergy公司在其它地方的生意将会受到影响"由最后一段的第一句话"Entergy公司的名誉已严重受创"就可以推断出来;B"核管理委员会的权威将会被藐视"最后一段没给出任何要藐视核管理委员会的暗含信息，因此B选项错误;C "Entergy公司将会撤回关于Pilgrim核电站的申请"，最后一段同样没给出类似的暗含信息;D "Vermont的名声将会受到破坏" 同样，从最后一段，根本无法推断出。因此，最佳答案是A。