Children's Play （托福真题）

Paragraph 1: Psychologists divide early childhood play into distinct developmental stages. Sensorimotor play (play involving both sensory and motor activity) begins very early and develops in much the same way in all cultures. Infants progress from playing with their fingers and toes to manipulating external objects such rattles and stuffed animals, to fully functional play (using objects serve the functions they normally have), which appears by the end of the first year. So a twelve-month-old infant is more inclined to turn the dial on a toy phone than merely sucking on or banging the toy. 

1. The word distinct in the passage s closest in meaning to 

• A. standard 

• B. major 

• C. separate

• D. brief 

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Paragraph 1: Psychologists divide early childhood play into distinct developmental stages. Sensorimotor play (play involving both sensory and motor activity) begins very early and develops in much the same way in all cultures. Infants progress from playing with their fingers and toes to manipulating external objects such rattles and stuffed animals, to fully functional play (using objects serve the functions they normally have), which appears by the end of the first year. So a twelve-month-old infant is more inclined to turn the dial on a toy phone than merely sucking on or banging the toy. 

2. The word merely in the passage is closest in meaning to 

• A. constantly 

• B. primarily 

• C. simply

• D. automatically 

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Paragraph 1: Psychologists divide early childhood play into distinct developmental stages. Sensorimotor play (play involving both sensory and motor activity) begins very early and develops in much the same way in all cultures. Infants progress from playing with their fingers and toes to manipulating external objects such rattles and stuffed animals, to fully functional play (using objects serve the functions they normally have), which appears by the end of the first year. So a twelve-month-old infant is more inclined to turn the dial on a toy phone than merely sucking on or banging the toy. 

3. It can be inferred from paragraph 1 that an example of fully functional sensorimotor play would be a child 

• A. banging pots and pans 

• B. sucking on a toy phone 

• C. manipulating rattles and stuffed animals 

• D. turning knobs and pushing buttons on a toy television set

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Paragraph 2: Perhaps the most significant breakthrough in play activities is the emergence of the symbolic (or pretend) play stage at eleven to thirteen months of age. The earliest episodes of pretending are simple ones in which infants pretend to engage in familiar activities such as eating, drinking, or sleeping. But by eighteen to twenty-four months of age, toddlers have progressed to a point where they will pretend to perform multiple acts in a meaningful sequence. They can also coordinate their actions with those of a play partner, making social games of imitating each other and sometimes even cooperating to achieve a goal. Parents foster this development by providing toddlers with a secure base of affection and by playing along with their child's little dramas. 

4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following is characteristic of children’s symbolic play at the time of its first appearance? 

• A. Playing games in which children copy each other’s actions 

• B. Coordinating actions with those of play partners 

• C. Pretending to be involved in such familiar activities as eating

• D. Cooperating to accomplish an aim 

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Paragraph 3: Symbolic play truly blossoms at age two. By age two, toddlers can use one object (a block) to symbolize another (a car). They clearly understand pretense: if you hand them a towel and suggest that they wipe up the imaginary tea you just spilled, they will do it. Since there is no tea in sight, children's willingness to clean it up suggests that they can construct a mental representation of someone else's pretend event and then act according to this representation. Pretend play becomes increasingly social and complex between ages two and five. More importantly, children combine their capacity for increasingly social play and their capacity for understanding pretense to cooperate with each other at planning their pretend activities: they name and assign roles that each player will enact, propose play scripts, and may even stop playing to modify the script if necessary. Indeed, play episodes are among the most complex social interactions that preschoolers have. 

5. According to paragraph 3, all of the following are characteristic of symbolic play among children between the ages two and five EXCEPT 

• A. using one object to represent a very different kind of object 

• B. refusing to stop and change a play script once play has begun

• C. understanding that others are pretending, and acting accordingly 

• D. cooperating in planning joint activities 

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Paragraph 4: But what good is play? Intellectually, play provides a context for using language to communicate and using the mind to fantasize, plan strategies, and solve problems. Children often show more advanced intellectual skills during pretend play than they do when performing other activities, suggesting that play fosters cognitive development. Indeed, preschool children who engage in a great deal of pretend play perform better on tests of cognitive development, language skills, and creativity than children who “pretend” less often. 

6. What is the role of the sentence “Indeed, preschool children who engage in a great deal of pretend play perform better on tests of cognitive development, language skills, and creativity than children who “pretend” less often” in paragraph 4? 

• A. It provides an example of children showing more advanced intellectual skills during pretend play than while performing other activities. 

• B. It helps explain why children often show more advanced intellectual skills during pretend play than while performing other activities. 

• C. It helps explain why pretend play promotes children’s cognitive development. 

• D. It provides evidence to support the idea that pretend play promotes children’s cognitive development.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Paragraph 5: Preschool pretend activities may also promote social development. To be successful at social pretend play, children must adopt different roles, coordinate their activities, and resolve disputes that may arise. Children may also learn about and prepare adult roles by playing house or playing school and thereby trying out the roles of their mothers, fathers, or nursery-school teachers. Perhaps due to the social skills they acquire (for example, an ability to cooperate) and the role-playing experiences they have, preschool children who participate in a lot of social pretend play tend to be more socially mature and more popular with peers than age mates who often play without partners. 

7. The word acquire in the passage is closest in meaning to 

• A. display 

• B. need 

• C. obtain

• D. practice 

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Paragraph 5: Preschool pretend activities may also promote social development. To be successful at social pretend play, children must adopt different roles, coordinate their activities, and resolve disputes that may arise. Children may also learn about and prepare adult roles by playing house or playing school and thereby trying out the roles of their mothers, fathers, or nursery-school teachers. Perhaps due to the social skills they acquire (for example, an ability to cooperate) and the role-playing experiences they have, preschool children who participate in a lot of social pretend play tend to be more socially mature and more popular with peers than age mates who often play without partners. 

8. Which of the following questions is answered in paragraph 5？ 

• A. In what ways can pretend play have a positive impact on children’s social development?

• B. How do most children resolve the disputes that may arise in their social pretend play? 

• C. Why do some children engage in a lot of social pretend play while others tend to play without partners? 

• D. Why do children prefer certain role-playing experiences and not others? 

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

 

Paragraph 6: Finally, play may foster healthy emotional development by allowing children to express feelings that bother them or to resolve emotional conflicts. If Jenny has been scolded at lunch for failing to eat her peas, she may gain control of the situation at play as she scolds her doll for picky eating or persuades the doll to "eat healthy” and consume the peas. Indeed, playful resolutions of such emotional conflicts may even be important contributors to children’s understanding of authority and the rationales that underlie the rules they must follow. 

9. According to paragraph 5 and 6, pretend play can give preschool children the opportunity to engage in all of the following EXCEPT 

• A. expressing feelings that make them uncomfortable 

• B. taking on the role of a parent or some other adult 

• C. settling disagreements with their peers 

• D. challenging rules established by parents or other authorities

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

 

Paragraph 6: Finally, play may foster healthy emotional development by allowing children to express feelings that bother them or to resolve emotional conflicts. If Jenny has been scolded at lunch for failing to eat her peas, she may gain control of the situation at play as she scolds her doll for picky eating or persuades the doll to "eat healthy” and consume the peas. Indeed, playful resolutions of such emotional conflicts may even be important contributors to children’s understanding of authority and the rationales that underlie the rules they must follow. 

10. The word persuades in the passage is closest in meaning to 

• A. forces 

• B. helps 

• C. tells 

• D. convinces

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4