文章大意：本文是一篇说明文。文章主要讲述了游乐场的起源、发展、变化以及安全创新等方面内容，同时强调了游乐场在孩子成长中的重要性，以及设计师在游乐场设计中所需要考虑的安全和创意因素。
2 . You probably love—or once loved—a playground But if you had been born more than 150 years ago, the playground wouldn’t have existed. Children back then could only play in the streets. That started to change in the late nineteenth century. Cities were starting to get super-crowded, and they could be dangerous. Kids could get sick inside dark, dirty apartments. Outside, they had to dodge horses.
Marie Warsh, a landscape historian, says that crowded cites were a real crisis. “People said, let’s create spaces where kids can be safe and grow strong and healthy.” Those spaces were the first playgrounds. They started in Europe. American cities soon built their own. A sandbox was the main feature at most of these playground s. Playing in the sand, kids could exercise and learn social skills.
Cities added slides and merry-go-rounds to playgrounds in the 1900s. But were kids left alone to have fun on their own? No way! Adults watched over the spaces. They managed kids’ fun. In this way, people believed, grownups were training kids to be good citizens and good future workers. After 1945, a lot changed in the United States. “Suddenly,” says Warsh, “people had leisure time. And we got this idea that playing can be a source of pleasure.” Often, parents left kids alone to swing and seesaw and spin without anyone telling them how. But another big shift happened in the 1960s.Many families left cities. They moved to the suburbs. Warsh says, “City officials tried to find ways to get families is to stay. They thought, let’s give kids creative play spaces.” Then, playground designers added art to spark imaginations.
There was only one problem. People started to notice that accidents happened on playgrounds. Lots of kids fell as they played. Keeping kids safe became a key design goal Therefore, soft mats covered hard ground. Plastic equipment with rounded comers replaced metal and concrete jungle gyms.
Little by little, playground designers got more creative. They value spaces where kids can play in lots of ways. “We want to give kids more control over their environment and the ability to make decisions.” says Warsh.
1. What does the underlined word “dodge” in Paragraph 1mean?
| A．Ride. | B．Feed. | C．Catch. | D．Avoid. |
2. What happened to the playgrounds in the 1960s?
| A．artistic elements could be found in the playgrounds. |
| B．More and more playgrounds were built in the suburbs. |
| C．The number of equipment in the playgrounds decreased. |
| D．Kids had the freedom to play independently on playgrounds. |
3. What led to the decline of metal and concrete structures?
| A．Lack of materials. | B．Safety concern. |
| C．Artistic preference. | D．Environmental protection. |
4. What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．The evolution of playground equipment over time. |
| B．The historical development of playgrounds in cities. |
| C．The outdoor activities which are suitable for children. |
| D．The importance of outdoor play for kids’ development. |
