I had this exchange with my 6-year-old last week．
Him: Mom, we have to start buying Danimals．
Me: Why?
Him: So, I can bring it to |school for lunch．It's yogurt ．
Me: Why do you want it so badly?
Him: Because Danimals i|s giving away five fantastic Caribbean vacations．
I had to explain that there was little chance that he would win a vacation．It's a strategy used to encourage kids to beg for artificially-colored （人工着色的） yogurt that costs a lot．
Marketing follows my kids —and yours—wherever they go ．It comes via TV commercials． Store displays and websites are also constantly selling at our kids ．But the most powerful means in kids" lives is the presence of licensed characters on every product imaginable．
Children can begin their day in character clothing．There's even character -themed wall paint available．A breakfast in a character bowl can be followed by a character toothbrush and character toothpaste（牙膏）, character soap and shampoo, and a character wash cloth and towel ．Then, they can put on character clothing and character shoes．Check that, character clock on the wall: Is it time for characier-shaped fruit snacks yet?
Surround kids with enough of the characters and they'll come to believe they need them．Most of us, of course, don't buy all those items．But say no to four products out of five and your home can still get filled with these tiny items encouraging brand loyalty （品牌忠诚）
At this time of year, parents buy licensed school supplies．With so much marketing around us, it can be to
ugh to stop the tide．
"One thing that helps parents'is that they can talk to other parents about, this kind of thing," Linn suggested ．"If you decide you want to buck this, it helps to find other people who will do the same thing ．That way, if your child says．"Everyone's doing it," you can really have a sense of whether everyone is．" |
小题1:From the dialogue between the author and the son, we can infer that ____-
A．the son likes drinking yogurt a lot．
B．buying Danimals may win a free tour
C．the son's school encourages kids to eat yogurt
D．Danimals in the most popular yogurt among kids．小题2:We can learn from th^ passage that '
A．character bowls increase kids' appetite．
B．character-themed wall paint is expensive
C．household goods are becoming the target of advertisers．
D．Linn considered character-themed products a foolish marketing strategy．小题3:The underlined word "buck" in the last paragraph probably means _____．
A．support
B．resist
C．advertise
D．learn小题4:What does the passage mainly tell us ? ．
A．Marketing is affecting kids all the time．
B．Most kids now don't have a happy childhood,
C．Kids like buying licensed school supplies a lot.
D．Licensed character produce are doing great harm to kids.
