职称英语考试

　　The Barbie Dolls

　　In the mid 1940s, the young ambitions duo Ruth and Ellison Handler, owned a company that made wooden pictures frames. It was in 1945 that Ruth and Elliot Handler joined with their close friend Harold Mattson to form a company that would be known for the most famous and successful doll ever created. This company would be named Mattel, MATT for Mattson and EL for Elliot!

　　In the mid 1950s, while visiting Switzerland, Ruth Handler purchased a German Lilly doll. Lilly was a shapely, pretty fashion doll first made in 1955. She was originally fashioned after a famous cartoon character in the West German Newsletter, Build.

　　Lilly is the doll that would inspire Ruth Handler to design the Barbie doll. With the help of her technicians and engineers at Mattel, Barbie was born. Ruth then hired Charlotte Johnson, a fashion designer, to create Barbies wardrobe. It was in 1958 that the patent for Barbie was obtained. This would be a fashion doll unlike any of her time. She would be long limbed, shapely, beautiful, and only 11.5 inches tall. Ruth and Elliot would name their new fashion doll after their own daughter, Barbie.

　　In 1959, the Barbie doll would make her way to the New York Toy Show and receive a cool reception from the toy buyers.

　　Barbie has undergone a lot of changes over the years and has managed to keep up with current trends in hairstyles, makeup and clothing. She is a reflection of the history of fashion since her introduction to the toy market.

　　Barbie has a universal appeal and collectors both young and old enjoy time spent and memories made with their dolls.

　　1. When Ruth and Elliot Handler was young, they had a strong desire

　　A. to go to school.

　　B. to take photos.

　　C. to make frames.

　　D. to be highly successful.

　　2. Who owned Mattel?

　　A. Mattson.

　　B. Elliot.

　　C. Harold Mattson and Elliot Handler.

　　D. Harold Mattson, Ruth and Elliot Handler.

　　3. It can be inferred from the second paragraph that Lilly was fashioned after

　　A. Build.

　　B. a German doll.

　　C. a pretty girl.

　　D. a shapely woman.

　　4. Where did Ruth Handlers inspiration for the design of the Barbie doll come from?

　　A. Barbie.

　　B. Lilly.

　　C. Charlotte Johnson.

　　D. A fashion designer.

　　5. Which of the following statements is NOT true of the Barbie doll?

　　A. She does not attract young men.

　　B. She has undergone many changes over the years.

　　C. She is 11. 5 inches tall.

　　D. She has managed to keep up with fashion.

　　The Cherokee Nation

　　Long before the white man came to the America, the land belonged to the American Indian nations. The nation of the Cherokees lived in what is now the southeastern part of the United States.

　　After the white man came, the Cherokees copied many of their ways. One Cherokee named Sequoyah saw how important reading and writing was to the white man. He decided to invent a way to write down the spoken Cherokee language. He began by making word pictures. For each word he drew a picture. But that proved impossiblethere were just too many words. Then he took the 85 sounds that made up the language. Using his own imagination and an English spelling book, Sequoyah invented a sign for each sound. His alphabet proved amazingly easy to learn. Before long, many Cherokees knew how to read and write in their own language. By 1828, they were even printing their own newspaper.

　　In 1830, the U. S. Congress passed a law. It allowed the government to remove Indians from their lands. The Cherokees refused to go. They had lived on their lands for centuries. It belonged to them. Why should they go to a strange land far beyond the Mississippi River?

　　The army was sent to drive the Cherokees out. Soldiers surrounded their villages and marched them at gunpoint into the western territory. The sick, the old and the small children went in carts, along with their belongings. The rest of the people marched on foot or rode on horseback. It was November, yet many of them still wore their summer clothes. Cold and hungry, the Cherokees were quickly exhausted by the hardships of the journey. Many dropped dead and were buried by the roadside. When the last group arrived in their new home in March 1839, more than 4,000 had died. It was indeed a march of death.

　　1. The Cherokee Nation used to live

　　A. on the American continent.

　　B. in the southeastern part of the US.

　　C. beyond the Mississippi River.

　　D. in the western territory.

　　2. One of the ways that Sequoyah copied from the white man is the way of

　　A. writing down the spoken language.

　　B. making word pictures.

　　C. teaching his people reading.

　　D. printing their own newspaper.

　　3. A law was passed in 1830 to

　　A. allow the Cherokees to stay where they were.

　　B. send the army to help the Cherokees.

　　C. force the Cherokees to move westward.

　　D. forbid the Cherokees to read their newspaper.

　　4. When the Cherokees began to leave their lands.

　　A. they went in carts.

　　B. they went on horseback.

　　C. they marched on foot.

　　D. all of the above.

　　5. Many Cherokees died on their way to their new home mainly because

　　A. they were not willing to go there.

　　B. the government did not provide transportation.

　　C. they did not have enough food and clothes.