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No doll outshines Barbie’s celebrity. If all the Barbies and her family members-Skipper, Francie and the rest-sold since 1959 were placed head to toe, they would circle the Earth more than seven times. And sales are sure to boom in 2009, when the fashion doll celebrates her 50th birthday on March 9th.Barbie will star at an array of global events honouring her milestone, possibly including a glitzy affair at New York’s Fashion Week in February (most of the world’s top fashion designers, from Givenchy to Alexander McQueen, have designed haute couture for her). On her birthday, Mattel, the company that makes her, will launch a souvenir doll honouring the original Barbie in her black-and-white striped swimsuit and perfect ponytail. It will be available for purchase only that one day. Another Golden Anniversary doll targets collectors. Barbie fans have planned hundreds of events, including the National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention in Washington, DC, which is already sold out.When Ruth Handler created Barbie in 1959, a post-war culture and economy thrived but girls still played with baby dolls. These toys limited the imagination; so Handler introduced Barbie the Teen-Age Fashion Model, named after her daughter, Barbara. Jackie Kennedy soon sashayed onto the world stage and Barbie already had a wardrobe fit for a first lady. Barbie bestowed on girls the opportunity to dream beyond suburbia, even if Ken at times tagged along.Barbie entranced Europe in 1961 and now sells in 150 countries. Every second three Barbies are sold around the world. Her careers are myriad-model, astronaut, Olympic swimmer, palaeontologist and rock star, along with 100 others, including president. Like any political candidate, controversy hit Barbie in 1992 when Teen Talk Barbie said "Math class is tough" and girls’ education became a national issue. She has been banned (in Saudi Arabia), tortured (by pre-teen girls, according to researchers at the University of Bath’s School of Management) and fattened (in 1997).Feminists continue to bash Barbie, claiming that her beauty and curves treat women as objects. But others see her as a pioneer trendsetter, crashing the glass ceiling long before Hillary Clinton cracked it.High-tech entertainment now attracts girls and Barbie also faces fierce competition from various copycats including the edgier, but less glare, Bratz dolls. The Bratz suffered a setback in 2008.Mattel sued MGA Entertainment, Bratz’s producer, for copyright infringement. A judge awarded Mattel $100 million in damages.Mattel has smartly ensured that Barbie products reflect current trends. Through two Barbie websites, girls can design clothes, network and play games. The pink Barbie brand is licensed for products from DVDs and MP3 players to bicycles and even 24-carat gold and crystal jewellery. Barbie collectors fuel an entire global industry on eBay and at conventions. To entice collectors, Mattel regularly releases pricey limited-edition dolls based on characters in films and popular culture.Industry analysts believe Barbie will remain a bestselling and lasting icon regardless of competition. "Barbie’s been out in the world and had fun, and she’s ready for her second career," says Rachel Weingarten, a pop culture expert. "I don’t see her adopting five children from five different countries, but I could see Barbie with a conscience, activist Barbie. " At 50 Barbie will also be a marvel of plastic surgery and eternal youth. And she still knows how to party. What does "Her careers are myriad" refer to()

A. Barbie is designed by people with various careers
Barbie can be used in many different careers
C. Barbie is welcomed by people of all professions
D. Barbie exhibits images of people in various professions

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Strange things have been happening to England. Still (1) from the dissolution of the empire in the years (2) World War Ⅱ, now the English find they are not even British. As the cherished "United Kingdom" breaks into its (3) parts, Scots are clearly (4) and the Welsh, Welsh. But who exactly are the English What’s left of them, with everything but the (5) half of their island taken awayGoing back in time to (6) roots doesn’t help. First came the Celts, then the Romans, then Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes. Invasion after invasion, until the Norman Conquest. English national identity only seemed to find its (7) later, on the shifting sands of expansionism, from Elizabethan times onwards. The empire seemed to seal it. But now there’s just England, (8) of a green island in the northern seas, lashed by rain, scarred by two (9) of vicious industrialization fallen (10) dereliction, ruined, as D.H. Lawrence thought, by "the tragedy of ugliness," its abominable architecture.Of all English institutions, the one to (11) on would surely be the pub. Shelter to Chaucer’s pilgrims, home to Falstaff and Hal, throne of felicity to Dr. Johnson, the pub- that smoky, yeasty den of jollity-is the womb of (12) , if anywhere is. Yet in the midst of this national (13) crisis, the pub, the mainstay of English life, a staff driven (14) into the sump of history, (15) as the Saxons, is suddenly dying and evolving at (16) rates. Closing at something like a rate of more than three a day, pubs have become (17) enough that for the first time since the Domesday Book, more than half the villages in England no longer have one. It’s a rare pub that still (18) , or even limps on, by being what it was (19) to be: a drinking establishment. The old (20) of a pub as a place for a "session," a lengthy, restful, increasingly tipsy evening of swigging, is all but defunct. 9()

A. years
B. decades
C. centuries
D. periods

After World War Ⅱ the glorification of an ever-larger GNP formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligation for all Japanese governments, businesses and trade unions. Anyone who mentioned the undesirable by-products of rapid economic growth was treated as a heretic. Consequently, everything possible was done to make conditions easy for the manufacturers. Few dared question the wisdom of discharging untreated waste into the nearest water body or untreated smoke into the atmosphere. This silence was maintained by union leaders as well as by most of the country’s radicals; except for a few isolated voices, no one protested. An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would have necessitated expenditures on treatment equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs. Obviously, this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods, and ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP.The pursuit of nothing but economic growth is illustrated by the response of the Japanese government to the American educational mission that visited Japan in 1947. After surveying Japan’s educational program, the Americans suggested that the Japanese fill in their curriculum gap by creating departments in chemical and sanitary engineering. Immediately, chemical engineering departments were established in all the country’s universities and technical institutions. In contrast, the recommendation to form sanitary engineering departments was more or less ignored, because they could bring no profit. By 1960, only two second-rate universities, Kyoto and Hokkaido, were interested enough to open such departments.The reluctance to divert funds from production to conservation is explanation enough for a certain degree of pollution, but the situation was made worse by the type of technology the Japanese chose to adopt for their industrial expansion. For the most part, they simply copied American industrial methods. This meant that methods originally designed for use in a country that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific with lots of air and water to use as sewage receptacles were adopted for an area a fraction of the size. Moreover, the Japanese diet was much more dependent on water as a source of fish and as an input in the irrigation of rice; consequently discharged wastes built up much more rapidly in the food chain. It can be learned from the text that soon after the Second World War()

A. hardly anyone suspected that it was unwise to contaminate the water and air
B. people unanimously found it acceptable to damp industrial wastes into the sea
C. the government tried to deal with the pollution problem but in vain
D. nobody attached great significance to the remedy for public hazards

No doll outshines Barbie’s celebrity. If all the Barbies and her family members-Skipper, Francie and the rest-sold since 1959 were placed head to toe, they would circle the Earth more than seven times. And sales are sure to boom in 2009, when the fashion doll celebrates her 50th birthday on March 9th.Barbie will star at an array of global events honouring her milestone, possibly including a glitzy affair at New York’s Fashion Week in February (most of the world’s top fashion designers, from Givenchy to Alexander McQueen, have designed haute couture for her). On her birthday, Mattel, the company that makes her, will launch a souvenir doll honouring the original Barbie in her black-and-white striped swimsuit and perfect ponytail. It will be available for purchase only that one day. Another Golden Anniversary doll targets collectors. Barbie fans have planned hundreds of events, including the National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention in Washington, DC, which is already sold out.When Ruth Handler created Barbie in 1959, a post-war culture and economy thrived but girls still played with baby dolls. These toys limited the imagination; so Handler introduced Barbie the Teen-Age Fashion Model, named after her daughter, Barbara. Jackie Kennedy soon sashayed onto the world stage and Barbie already had a wardrobe fit for a first lady. Barbie bestowed on girls the opportunity to dream beyond suburbia, even if Ken at times tagged along.Barbie entranced Europe in 1961 and now sells in 150 countries. Every second three Barbies are sold around the world. Her careers are myriad-model, astronaut, Olympic swimmer, palaeontologist and rock star, along with 100 others, including president. Like any political candidate, controversy hit Barbie in 1992 when Teen Talk Barbie said "Math class is tough" and girls’ education became a national issue. She has been banned (in Saudi Arabia), tortured (by pre-teen girls, according to researchers at the University of Bath’s School of Management) and fattened (in 1997).Feminists continue to bash Barbie, claiming that her beauty and curves treat women as objects. But others see her as a pioneer trendsetter, crashing the glass ceiling long before Hillary Clinton cracked it.High-tech entertainment now attracts girls and Barbie also faces fierce competition from various copycats including the edgier, but less glare, Bratz dolls. The Bratz suffered a setback in 2008.Mattel sued MGA Entertainment, Bratz’s producer, for copyright infringement. A judge awarded Mattel $100 million in damages.Mattel has smartly ensured that Barbie products reflect current trends. Through two Barbie websites, girls can design clothes, network and play games. The pink Barbie brand is licensed for products from DVDs and MP3 players to bicycles and even 24-carat gold and crystal jewellery. Barbie collectors fuel an entire global industry on eBay and at conventions. To entice collectors, Mattel regularly releases pricey limited-edition dolls based on characters in films and popular culture.Industry analysts believe Barbie will remain a bestselling and lasting icon regardless of competition. "Barbie’s been out in the world and had fun, and she’s ready for her second career," says Rachel Weingarten, a pop culture expert. "I don’t see her adopting five children from five different countries, but I could see Barbie with a conscience, activist Barbie. " At 50 Barbie will also be a marvel of plastic surgery and eternal youth. And she still knows how to party. What can you tell from But others see her as a pioneer trendsetter, crashing the glass ceiling long before Hillary Clinton cracked it" ()

A. Barbie dolls are all contained in glass containers
Barbie as an icon shows the trend of breaking the gender prejudice
C. Barbie dolls factories have glass ceiling
D. Hillary Clinton used Barbie doll for her presidency campaign

Strange things have been happening to England. Still (1) from the dissolution of the empire in the years (2) World War Ⅱ, now the English find they are not even British. As the cherished "United Kingdom" breaks into its (3) parts, Scots are clearly (4) and the Welsh, Welsh. But who exactly are the English What’s left of them, with everything but the (5) half of their island taken awayGoing back in time to (6) roots doesn’t help. First came the Celts, then the Romans, then Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes. Invasion after invasion, until the Norman Conquest. English national identity only seemed to find its (7) later, on the shifting sands of expansionism, from Elizabethan times onwards. The empire seemed to seal it. But now there’s just England, (8) of a green island in the northern seas, lashed by rain, scarred by two (9) of vicious industrialization fallen (10) dereliction, ruined, as D.H. Lawrence thought, by "the tragedy of ugliness," its abominable architecture.Of all English institutions, the one to (11) on would surely be the pub. Shelter to Chaucer’s pilgrims, home to Falstaff and Hal, throne of felicity to Dr. Johnson, the pub- that smoky, yeasty den of jollity-is the womb of (12) , if anywhere is. Yet in the midst of this national (13) crisis, the pub, the mainstay of English life, a staff driven (14) into the sump of history, (15) as the Saxons, is suddenly dying and evolving at (16) rates. Closing at something like a rate of more than three a day, pubs have become (17) enough that for the first time since the Domesday Book, more than half the villages in England no longer have one. It’s a rare pub that still (18) , or even limps on, by being what it was (19) to be: a drinking establishment. The old (20) of a pub as a place for a "session," a lengthy, restful, increasingly tipsy evening of swigging, is all but defunct. 13()

A. identity
B. financial
C. economic
D. political

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