单选题 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.
(76) 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 rigidly 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.
(77) What is remarkable about the history of toys is not se much how they changed over the centuries but how much they have remained the same. The changes have been mostly in terms of craftsman ship, mechanics, and technology. It is the universality of toys with regard to their development in all parts of the world and their persistence to the present that is amazing. In Egypt, the Americas, China, Japan and among the Arctic(北极的) peoples, generally the same kinds of toys appeared. Variations depended on local customs and ways of life because toys imitate 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 subject to technological leaps that characterize inventions for adult use. The progress from the wheel to the oxcart to the automobile is a direct line of ascent(进步).The progress from a rattle(拨浪鼓) used by a baby in 3,000 BC to one used by an infant today, however, is not characterized by inventiveness. Each rattle is the product of the artistic tastes of the times and subject to the limitations of available materials.

单选题 The toys most boys play with are different from those that girls play with because ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[分析] 可以从第2段的第2句和第3句得出。B项说“大多数的男孩要继承父业”，C、D项内容在文章中根本就没有提及。
单选题 One aspect of "the universality of toys" lies in the fact that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[分析] A项说，“全世界各地的玩具基本特征是相同的”，是本题的答案，文章的第3段第2句说：It is the universality of toys with regard to their development in all parts of the world...就是这个意思。
单选题 The author's view on the historical development of toys is ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[分析] 本题问的是作者对玩具发展史的观点。这是一个综合性的问题。这篇文章主要是从时间和空间两个方面叙述玩具的普遍性。上题讨论的是玩具“普及世界各地”，从空间角度看它的普遍性。而本题是从时间角度讨论玩具的普遍性。见文章的第3段第1句。
单选题 Regarded as a kind of art form, toys ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[分析] 本题是个局部性的问题。文章的第4段的第1句说，玩具作为一种艺术形式，“不会发生像成人用的发明创造所体现出的那种技术飞跃”。这就点明了本题的答案是C项。
单选题 The author uses the example of a rattle to show that ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[分析] 本题要求考生推断作者用意。作者在文章此段的最后一句指出，像拨浪鼓这种玩具也是“时代艺术风格的产物”。所以D项是答案。