Ruth Handler invented something in 1959 which became so quintessentially American as to be included in the official " America’s Time Capsule" buried at the celebration of the Bicentennial in 1976: the Barbie doll. In the early 1950s, Handler saw that her young daughter, Barbara, and her girlfriends enjoyed playing with adult female dolls as much or more than with baby dolls. Handler sensed that it was just as important for girls to imagine what they themselves might grow up to become as it was for them to focus on what caring for children might be like. Inspired by her daughter’s fascination with adult paper dolls, Ruth Handier suggested making a three-dimensional doll through which little girls could act out their dreams. In 1959, Mattel introduced the Barbie doll (named after the Handlers’ daughter), a pint-sized model of the "girl next door. " Soon enough Barbie sprouted a coterie of friends and family. Ken (named for the Handlers’ son) , Barbie’s boyfriend, appeared in 1961. Meanwhile, the longtime Southern California resident defied prevailing trends in the toy industry of the late 1950s when she proposed an alternative to the flat-chest baby dolls then marketed to girls. "I believed it was important to a little girl’s self-esteem," Handler has said, "to play with a doll that has breasts. " Barbie, a teenage doll with a tiny waist, slender hips and impressive bust, became not only a best-selling toy with more than 1 billion sold in 150 countries, but a cultural icon analyzed by scholars, attacked by feminists and showcased in the Smithsonian Institution. "My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be," Handler wrote in her 1994 autobiography. "Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices. " Ruth Handier undeniably invented an American icon that functions as both a steady cynosure for girls’ dreams and an ever-changing reflection of American society. By 1966, Handler was 50 and Mattel ruled the highly competitive toy world: It controlled 12% of the $2-billion toy market in the United States. By 1970, however, her world began to unravel. Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. New corporate managers began to diversify Mattel away from toys, and their machinations ultimately resulted in the Handlers’ ouster from the company they had founded. Although best known for her pivotal role as Barbie’s inventor, Handler devoted her later years to a second, trailblazing career: manufacturing and marketing artificial breasts for women who had undergone mastectomies. Herself a breast cancer survivor, she personally sold and fitted the prosthesis and crisscrossed the country as a spokeswoman for early detection of the disease in the 1970s, when it was still a taboo subject. The Nearly Me prosthetic breast was made of liquid silicone enclosed in polyurethane and had a rigid foam backing. Her goal was to make an artificial breast so real that "a woman could wear a regular brassiere (=bra) and blouse, stick her chest out and be proud." she said of" the prosthetics business. "It sure rebuilt my self-esteem, and I think I rebuilt the self-esteem of others." By 1980, sales of the Nearly Me artificial breast had surpassed $1 million. In 1991, Handler sold the company to a division of Kimberly-Clark. She died on April 27th, 2002. The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the Stop Cancer Organization. Ken’s girlfriend is named after ______.
A. Mattel
B. Barbie
C. Ken
D. Barbara
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Bernal Well, there are a lot of different views on this, but I think it is probably wrong to imagine that there was some golden age in the past when everything was perfect. It all depends, of course, on what you measure and how you measure it. Some people might be surprised that there has not been an obvious and dramatic increase in the standard of education, given the vast amounts of money spent in this area by successive governments in recent years. Unfortunately, most improvements in education are intangible. Carlos Many people talk about how to improve education and a lot suggest raising the salaries of teachers and professors. Of course, this is very important to education. However, increasing the salary of teachers is just one way to improve education. It will not work without the cooperation of the other determinants, such as student’s interest in gaining knowledge and in reading. Even if the teachers are devoted, it won’t make any difference if the students are not willing to learn. Stevens Well, if you asked me, it’s all these modern methods that is the problem. In the old days you sat in rows at desks and you did as you were told. You knew what you had to do and you follow the way as the teachers instructed and you kept quiet. Nowadays, my god, the noise in most schools is deafening especially in primary schools. As far as I am concerned the children wander around—do whatever they would like to. The teacher just sits there or wanders around with them, talking to them. Informal teaching they call it. Discovery methods sounds more like a recipe for discovering disaster to me. Ingersoll The criticism that what students learn today is not adapted to present-day society is utterly wrong because education can never be seen only in terms of how useful the subjects are when students leave school. We ought to evaluate education in terms of how much the students enjoy those subjects and how much they mean to those students. Instead of being trained to be utilitarian, students should be encouraged to do things for their own sake, and study what they are interested in. Jessica I think it’s a great shame people don’t learn anything today. I mean, good heavens, when you think of all the millions of pounds the Government have spent on education—new schools, more teachers, new equipment. And yet still you find people who can’t read properly, can’t even write their names and don’t know what two and two is without a calculator. I think it’s downright disgraceful. Think of the time when we were young, we went to school to learn and did as the teachers told and respected our teachers. Nowadays we get long-haired kids who aren’t interested in anything. No wonder they don’t learn anything. Now match each of the persons to the appropriate statement. Note: there are two extra statements. Statements A. The modern methods of teaching should be responsible for the deafening noise in primary schools. B. It’s shameful of some people not to learn anything with provided conditions. C. We should evaluate education from the students’ aspect, how much they enjoy is what counts most. D. Raising salary of teachers and professors is the only way to improve education. E. Students’ own willingness to learn really matters in terms of education. F. There is no improvement in education. G. Most of the improvements in the standard of education are intangible.
A. Stevens
Part A You will hear 10 short dialogues. For each dialogue, there is one question and four possible answers. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D, and mark it in your test booklet. You will have 15 seconds to answer the question and you will hear each dialogue ONLY ONCE. Now look at question 1. Where does this conversation probably take place
A. In a bookstore.
B. In a reading room.
C. In a furniture store.
D. In the man’s study.
Part A You will hear 10 short dialogues. For each dialogue, there is one question and four possible answers. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D, and mark it in your test booklet. You will have 15 seconds to answer the question and you will hear each dialogue ONLY ONCE. Now look at question 1. At what time does the train to Leeds leave
A. 3:00.
B. 3:15.
C. 5:00.
D. 6:10.
Text 1 Everyone chases success, but not all of US want to be famous. South African writer John Maxwell Coetzee is well-known for keeping himself to himself. When the 63-year-old was named the 2003 Nobel Prize winner for literature earlier this month, reporters were warned that they would find him "particularly difficult to catch". Coetzee lives in Australia but spends part of the year teaching at the University of Chicago. He seemed shocked by the news that he won the US$1.3 million prize. "I wasn’t even aware they were due to make the announcement," he said. His love of privacy led to doubts as to whether Coetzee will attend the prize-giving in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10. But despite being described as difficult to track down the critics agree that his writing is easy to get to know. Born in Cape Town South Africa to all English-speaking family, Coetzee made his breakthrough in 1980 with the novel Waiting for the Barbarians. He took his place among the world’s leading writers with two Booker prize victories, Britain’s highest honor for novels. He first won in 1983 for the Life and Times of Michael K, and his second title came in 1999 for Disgrace. A major theme in his work is South Africa’s former apartheid (种族隔离) system, which divided whites from blacks. Dealing with the problems of violence, crime and racial division that still exist in the country, his books have enabled ordinary people to understand apartheid from within. "I have always been more interested in the past than the future." he said in a rare interview. "The past casts its shadow over the present. I hope I have made one or two people think twice about whether they want to forget the past completely." In fact this purity in his writing seems to be mirrored in his personal life. Coetzee is avegetarian, a cyclist rather than a motorist and doesn’t drink alcohol. But what he has contributed to literature, culture and the people of South Africa is far greater than the things he has given up. "In looking at weakness and failure in life," the Nobel Prize judging panel said, "Coetzee’s work expresses the divine spark in man." When the news came that he won the 2003 Nobel Prize for literature, Coetzee was______.
A. excited
B. surprised
C. frightened
D. satisfied