1999年6月英语四级 - 阅读理解D

There seems never to have been a civilization without toys, but when and how they developed is unknown. They probably came about just to give children something to do.
似乎从来没有一个文明没有玩具，但它们何时以及如何发展还不得而知。它们的出现可能只是为了让孩子们有事做。

In the ancient world, as is today, most boys played with some kinds of toys and most girls with another. In societies where social roles are rigidly determined, boys pattern their play after the activities of their fathers and girls after the tasks of their mothers. This is true because boys and girls are being prepared, even in play, to step into the roles and responsibilities of the adult world.
在古代和今天一样，大多数男孩玩一些玩具，大多数女孩玩另外一些。在社会角色被严格确定的社会中，男孩游戏中扮演父亲的角色，女孩扮演母亲的角色。这是真的，因为男孩和女孩正在为进入成人世界的角色和责任做好准备，即使是在游戏中。

What is remarkable about the history of toys is not so much how they changed over the centuries but how much they have remained are same. The changes have been mostly in terms of craftsmanship, mechanics, and technology. It is the universality of toys with regard to their development in all parts of the world and their persistence to the present that is amazing. In Egypt, the Americas, China, Japan and among the Arctic peoples, generally the same kinds of toys appeared. Variations depended on local customs and ways of life because toys imitate their surroundings. Nearly every civilization had dolls, little weapons, toy soldiers, tiny animals and vehicles.
玩具在历史上值得注意的不是它们在几个世纪里发生的变化，而是它们在多大程度上是相同的。这些变化主要体现在工艺、机械和技术方面。令人惊讶的是，玩具在世界各地的发展及其对现在的坚持具有普遍性。埃及、美洲、中国、日本和北极地区的人们一般都会出现同样种类的玩具，不同之处取决于当地的风俗习惯和生活方式，因为玩具模仿周围的环境。几乎每个文明都有玩偶、小武器、玩具士兵、小动物和交通工具。

Because toys can be generally regarded as a kind of art form, they have not been subject to technological leaps that characterize inventions for adult use. The progress from the wheel to the oxcart to the automobile is a direct line of ascent. The progress from a rattle used by a baby in 3000 BC to one used by an infant today, however, is not characterized by inventiveness. Each rattle is the product of the artistic tastes of the times and subject to the limitations of available materials.
因为玩具通常可以被视为一种艺术形式，所以它们并没有受到成人发明的技术飞跃。从车轮到牛车再到汽车，这是一条上升的直线。然而，公元前3000年婴儿使用的拨浪鼓和今天婴儿使用的拨浪鼓相比，并没有创造性的进步。每一个拨浪鼓都是时代艺术品味的产物，并受到现有材料的限制。