① Pretty in pink: adult women do not remember being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls’ lives. It 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.
② 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.
③ I had not realised how profoundly marketing trends dictated our perception of what is natural to kids, 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, according to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularised as a marketing trick by clothing manufacturers in the 1930s.
④ 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. It 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.
1.1.By saying “it is...the rainbow” (Para. 1), the author means pink ________.
A cannot explain girls’ lack of imagination
B should not be associated with girls’ innocence
C should not be the sole representation of girlhood
D cannot influence girls’ lives and interests
解析：选C。
C词意指代题。根据题干定位至首段②句，句意推断题应从其上下文寻找答题线索，考生应该从but前内容“倒不是说粉色本身有什么不好”和and后内容“粉色在某种程度上能够烘托女孩特质”着手，结合句意“粉色仅仅是彩虹颜色中的一小部分”可推知，粉色并不能烘托出女孩的所有特质，它与女孩之间的联系被强化了，女孩特质应该有除粉色之外的其他代表，她们真正的生活是多姿多彩的，[C]最贴近文意。
2.2.According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true of colours?
A Colours are encoded in girls’ DNA.
B Blue used to be regarded as the colour for girls.
C White is preferred by babies.
D Pink used to be a neutral colour in symbolising genders.
解析：选B。
B细节理解题。第二段⑤句明确指出，蓝色由于与圣母玛利亚联系在一起，带有坚定忠诚的意义，被用来代表女性。[B]符合文意。
3.3.The author suggests that our perception of children’s psychological development was much influenced by ________.
A the observation of children’s nature
B the marketing of products for children
C researches into children’s behaviour
D studies of childhood consumption
解析：选B。
B推理判断题。根据题干our perception of children’s psychological development定位至第三段①句。该句明确指出，市场营销的趋势很大程度上决定了人们对儿童心理发展的认知，随后以学步儿童阶段例证，人们广泛接受这一阶段仅由于受20世纪30年代服装制造商的市场营销策略的影响。因此，[B]正确。
4.4.We may learn from Paragraph 4 that department stores were advised to ________.
A classify consumers into smaller groups
B attach equal importance to different genders
C focus on infant wear and older kids’ clothes
D create some common shoppers’ terms
解析：选A。
A细节理解题。根据题干关键词department stores were advised to可直接定位至第四段，段中①句指出百货商店被建议在婴儿服装和大龄儿童服装之间创造一个“第三跳板”，紧跟着③句明确指出，把孩子或大人再细分为更小的类别是增加利润的一个万无一失的办法，选项[A]与文意相符，故正确。
5.5.It can be concluded that girls’ attraction to pink seems to be ________.
A fully understood by clothing manufacturers
B clearly explained by their inborn tendency
C mainly imposed by profit-driven businessmen
D well interpreted by psychological experts
解析：选C。
C推理判断题。文章开篇描述了粉色主宰了现代女孩生活的现状，随后究其原因，指出不是基因决定了女孩对粉色的痴迷，而是由于商人为了追求利润增长而采取的营销策略所导致的。文章从第二段起就开始出现诸如 marketing strategy、marketing trends、market trick、segment a market等关键词，都一致强调了市场营销策略的影响力。选项[C]符合全文主旨要义。
