单选题 Changes have come into museums. They are not places that one "should" go any longer but a place to get pleasure.
If you go to a science museum in Canada, when harmless electricity passes through your body you can feel your hair stand on end. At the Children's Museum in New York, you can strike an African drum. In some other museums in the USA, "Do Not Touch" signs do not exist.
It is realized by more and more museum directors that when becoming a part of what they are seeing, people get the best learning effect. Many science museums encourage visitors to touch, listen, operate as well as experiment in order that they can discover scientific rules by themselves.
The intention of the change is not only to provide pleasure, but make people feel easy in the scientific world. Suppose you don't understand science, you will fear it; and when you fear science, you may not make the best use of it.
The rise in wealth and spare time is one of the reasons for all these changes. Another reason is the increasing number of young people in the whole population. Among them are mainly college students or college graduates, with a new and totally different way of seeing the world. They want art which they can take part in. It's also true in science and history.
Ancient museums have been changing and the government is encouraging to build new, modern museums. There are more than 6,000 museums in the United States and Canada, which are almost twice as it was 25 years ago.

单选题 The directors of the museums are aware of the fact that ______.
A. scientific rules are very important
B. people learn best when they touch something
C. museums are the most popular places
D. people become interested if they take part
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题。文章第三段首句揭示了博物馆馆长意识到的问题,即当人们亲身参与所见所闻才能学得最好。
单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
A. Scientific phenomena should be discovered by people through experiment.
B. People are allowed to touch something in some museums.
C. The intention of these changes is only providing fun.
D. The rising in wealth contributes to changes in museums.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为是非题。第四段中提到,博物馆的这些改变并不仅仅为了给人们提供乐趣,同时帮助人们徜徉在科学的殿堂。
单选题 Why have young people caused the changes in museums?
A. Because they are very wealthy.
B. Because they often go to museums to study.
C. Because they have more spare time.
D. Because they are better educated.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为推断题。第五段提到,正是因为有越来越多受过良好教育的年轻大学生才会使博物馆得以改变。
单选题 There were only about ______ museums in all the United States and Canada 25 years ago.
A. 2,500 B. 5,000 C. 3,000 D. 6,000
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为推断题。根据文章第六段,美国和加拿大有6000余座博物馆,是25年前的两倍,故25年前其数量为3000座。
单选题 The main idea of this text is to ______.
A. explain the difference between the old and modern museums
B. introduce changes in modern museums
C. encourage people to go to America
D. show people advantages to go museums
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为主旨题。纵观全文,作者旨在介绍博物馆的改变。