Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological basis to their preferences.
Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 babies aged 9 months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were typically boys’ toys ---- a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys；and could pick whichever toy they liked their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (9 to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.
Dr Brenda Todd said, “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer: moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.”
小题1:Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because ________.
A．baby boys are much more active
B．baby girls like bright colours more
C．their parents treat them differently
D．there is a natural difference between them小题2:Both baby boys and baby girls like to play with ________ according to the study.
A．a ball
B．a teddy
C．a car
D．a doll小题3:What can we infer from Paragraph 3?
A．Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all.
B．Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls.
C．The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is.
D．Parents should teach their babies to share each other’s toys.小题4:What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?
A．Adults purposely influence their babies’ preference.
B．Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings.
C．Baby boys preferring to moving toys will be good at hunting.
D．Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warm-hearted.
