阅读理解
Dulas is a computergenerated(计算机生成的) character created by Julia Borbolla, a Mexican
child psychologist.It is one of several "emotional agents" Borbolla has invented that are being
recognized in Mexico City as capable of gaining access to the inner lives of children.
Dulas, like all of these characters, has big eyes and radio antennas(天线). The characters
collectively go by the name Antenas because they all have antennas and come from a planet called
Antenopolis. Dulas knows nothing about life on earth, not even what a mother or father is. Wearing
rabbit slippers in hospital, he doesn't like to talk with adults－so children can trust his companionship.
Over the past five years, Borbolla's characters have been used to assist 2,000 children from 3 to
14 years old, and have been employed in three Mexico City hospitals and a center for disabilities in
another city, Morelia.
Researchers have been using puppets(木偶) to help children express and process their feelings for
decades. But Borbolla, who has been working with children for 30 years, has taken this kind of work
a step further.
The children meet the characters in a room, without adults present; doctors monitor with cameras.
They have to handle the information carefully. One principle of the work is that a doctor must not make
it known that he knows something that was said to an Antenas character privately. This preserves the
trust of the child's relationship with the character.
Borbolla originally got the idea to use a drawing of a cartoon character to communicate with
children when she was working as a school psychologist in the 1980s. Years later, in private practice,
she worked with a puppet maker to develop a software version.She spent six years improving the tool.
"The psychologists I spoke with said the tool creates an environment of trust and understanding that
enables them to understand children's issues more quickly than they imagined possible," said Borbolla.
To date, Antenas hasn't been carefully studied, and Borbolla is working with researchers to examine
its effect. "I see how powerful it is," she told me. "It can be used to get into the souls of children."
1. According to the passage, Dulas ______.
A. knows a lot about life on earth
B. was developed by a Mexican child
C. likes chatting with doctors and patients
D. is a cartoon character created by a psychologist
2. We learn from the passage that Borbolla ______.
A. hopes to study Antenas further
B. developed Antenas all on her own
C. spent sixteen years improving Antenas
D. started to create Antenas in the 1990s
3. When children meet the characters, ______.
A. their parents should be present
B. their doctors have to stay with them
C. the characters will handle the information
D. doctors' involvement should be kept secret from them
4. The psychologists mentioned in Paragraph 7 think that ______.
A. Antenas is impractical
B. it is expensive to use Antenas
C. Antenas is helpful to children
D. it is difficult to control Antenas
