阅读理解　　Text2 　　Pretty in pink: adult women do not rememer being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls’ lives. Tt 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, symbolised 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 realised how profoundly marketing trends dictated our perception of what is natural to kins, 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 behaviour: wrong. Turns out, acdording to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularised as a marketing trick by clothing manufacrurers 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. Tt was only after “toddler”became a common shoppers’ term that it evolved into a broadly accepted developmental stage. Splitting kids, or adults,into ever-tinier 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.

单选题 By saying "it is...the rainbow"(Line 3, Para.1),the author means pink______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】细节题。先排除B，它与文中提到“it (pink) presents that connection，even among two-year-olds，between girls as not only innocent but as evidence of innocence．”(粉色代表女孩的无暇)，选项B(粉色和女孩的无暇无关)与上述原文内容相反，故排除。关于选项C和D项，注意原文的逻辑主语“I despaired at the singular lack of imagination about girls' lives and interests．”(对女孩的生活和兴趣缺少想象力实在令我绝望)，选项C和D和原文不符，故排除。应选A项，符合“a section of rainbow”表示的意思，即多彩的。

单选题 According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true of colours？

单选题 The author suggests that our perception of children's psychological development was much influenced by_____.

单选题 We may learn from Paragraph 4 that department stores were advised to_____.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】引申题。题目问“department stores”建议得做些啥?定位最后一段中“Trade publications counseled(advise建议)department stores that，in order to increase sales， they should create a‘third stepping stone’between infant wear and older kids’ clothes... Splitting kids，or adults，into ever-tinier categories has proved a sure-fire way to boost profits．”这题得结合前后两句才能得出答案，即顾客群体的细分才能获得更多利润。