Museums have changed. They are no longer places that one “should” go but now they are places to enjoy.
At a science museum in Canada, you can feel your hair stand on end as harmless electricity passes through your body. At the Children’s Museum in New York, you can play an African drum. There are no “Do Not Touch” signs in some other museums in the USA.
More and more museum directors have realized that people learn best when they can become part of what they are seeing. In many science museums, the visitors are encouraged to touch, listen, operate and experiment so as to discover scientific rules for themselves.
The purpose is not only to provide fun, but also help people feel at home in the world of science. If people don’t understand science, they will be afraid of it; and if they are afraid of science, they will not make the best use of it.
One cause of all these changes is the increase in wealth and spare time. Another cause is the growing number of young people in the population. Many of them are college students or college graduates. They see things in a new and different way. They want art that they can take part in. The same is true of science and history.
The old museums have been changing and the government is encouraging the building of new, modern museums. In the United States and Canada, there are more than 6,000 museums,almost twice as many as there were 25 years ago.
65. The directors of the museums have realized _____.
A. the importance of scientific rules
B. people learn best when they look at something
C. visitors prefer to learn from museums
D. the museum needs changes
66. The growing population of young people caused the changes in museums because _____.
A. many of them hope to take part
B. many of them have a new way of thinking
C. many of them are better educated
D. All of the above.
67. How many museums or so were there in the United States and Canada 25 years ago?
A. 3,500. B. 2,000. C. 3,000. D. 6,000.
68. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. People learn best in modern museums only in the US.
B. People are encouraged to take part in what they are seeing in modern museums.
C. People are enjoying themselves fully in modern museums.
D. People will understand science better by trying to discover the scientific rules themselves.
