阅读理解
When it comes to Barbie's body, it will no longer be one size fits all. On Thursday, Mattel unveiled curvy, petite and tall versions of its iconic fashion doll whose unrealistically thin shape has attracted criticism for decades. The three body types will also be sold in an assortment of skin tones, eye colors and hairstyles.
The move is about more than just making Barbie look different. While Barbie was once Mattel's powerhouse brand, sales have plummeted in recent years as the doll has struggled to remain relevant to little girls who do not look like her and who play with toys other than dolls. "This is about drawing a wider demographic that had turned away from Barbie back to Barbie," said Jim Silver, the editor of a toy review website.
But some industry experts and academics have long doubted that cosmetic changes—whether racial or body shapes—can revive the popularity of the 57-year-old Barbie, whose sales have been declining by double-digits in recent years. Executives have been optimistic, pointing to signs that Barbie's in-store sales began picking up last year.
The slumping sales may also be partly attributed to the shift away from traditional toys toward electronics and games in recent years, as many parents and children have clamored for less gender-specific toys. Even Lego, the world's top toymaker, has had to alter its strategy and some of its building block lines to accommodate the growth in the market for learning toys that appeal to boys and girls. Faced with weakening sales in its core brands like Barbie, and criticism that it was too slow to pick up on trends, Mattel has undertaken a number of efforts to improve innovation.
Barbie's new shapes also coincide with a progressive cultural shift already underway in stores and the toy aisles. Parents and many health experts have complained that too many dolls, models and even clothing companies conform to an extremely thin, even anorexic, body type and have pressured corporations to offer a broader variety of images and apparel sizes to give girls and boys more confidence in their own body shapes.
And some parents, concerned about negative gender stereotypes (a racecar for a son, a princess doll for a daughter), have pushed retailers into more gender-neutral territory. The Disney Store, for example, decided to label all of its children's Halloween costumes as "for kids," as opposed to for boys or girls. Amazon, which by some measures accounts for more than half of all online sales, has banished gender distinctions for its toys.
The move is about more than just making Barbie look different. While Barbie was once Mattel's powerhouse brand, sales have plummeted in recent years as the doll has struggled to remain relevant to little girls who do not look like her and who play with toys other than dolls. "This is about drawing a wider demographic that had turned away from Barbie back to Barbie," said Jim Silver, the editor of a toy review website.
But some industry experts and academics have long doubted that cosmetic changes—whether racial or body shapes—can revive the popularity of the 57-year-old Barbie, whose sales have been declining by double-digits in recent years. Executives have been optimistic, pointing to signs that Barbie's in-store sales began picking up last year.
The slumping sales may also be partly attributed to the shift away from traditional toys toward electronics and games in recent years, as many parents and children have clamored for less gender-specific toys. Even Lego, the world's top toymaker, has had to alter its strategy and some of its building block lines to accommodate the growth in the market for learning toys that appeal to boys and girls. Faced with weakening sales in its core brands like Barbie, and criticism that it was too slow to pick up on trends, Mattel has undertaken a number of efforts to improve innovation.
Barbie's new shapes also coincide with a progressive cultural shift already underway in stores and the toy aisles. Parents and many health experts have complained that too many dolls, models and even clothing companies conform to an extremely thin, even anorexic, body type and have pressured corporations to offer a broader variety of images and apparel sizes to give girls and boys more confidence in their own body shapes.
And some parents, concerned about negative gender stereotypes (a racecar for a son, a princess doll for a daughter), have pushed retailers into more gender-neutral territory. The Disney Store, for example, decided to label all of its children's Halloween costumes as "for kids," as opposed to for boys or girls. Amazon, which by some measures accounts for more than half of all online sales, has banished gender distinctions for its toys.
单选题
1.According to Jim Silver, Barbie adds curvy, petite and tall to body shapes in order to____.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第二段。该段最后一句“This is about drawing a wider demographic that had turned away from Barbie back to Barbie”是吉姆-西尔弗的观点，意思是“这是为了让那些对芭比失去兴趣的更广泛的人群重新爱上芭比”，故C项为正确答案。
单选题
2.What do some industry experts and academics think of Barbie's change?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第三段。该段第一句较长，句子主干是But some industry experts and academics have long doubted that…，表示态度的关键词是doubted“怀疑”。怀疑的具体内容是that引导的宾语从句，即“妆容的改变——不管是种族还是体形——并不能让57岁的芭比重受欢迎”，故B项符合文意。
单选题
3.Which of the following can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】推断题。根据题干关键词定位到第四段。该段首句指出The slumping sales may also be partly attributed to the shift away from traditional toys toward electronics and games in recent years，as many parents and children have clamored for less gender-specific toys．由此可推断出，电子玩具和电子游戏是没有鲜明性别特色的，故A项为正确答案。
单选题
4.According to the passage, parents and many health experts____.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第五段。该段第二句句末的不定式短语to give girls and boys more confidence in their own body shapes(让女孩和男孩们对自己的体形更有信心)故D项为正确答案。
单选题
5.The introduction of Disney and Amazon helps to illustrate that____.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第六段。由该段中的for example可将答案定位在第一句And some parents，concemed about negative gender stereotypes have pushed retailers into more gender-neutral territory(有些父母担心性别固有思维会给孩子带来负面影响，这促使零售商们购进更中性的玩具)，所以迪士尼和亚马逊就属于这样的商家，故D项正确。