Question 17 - Reading: Level M Practice Test for the TABE Test

A dollhouse, or doll house, is a toy home made in miniature. It is divided into multiple rooms. These rooms can be decorated with small copies of furniture and things that could be found in a house. Dollhouses can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Children like using their imagination to play with them. Adults like to make and collect them. Dollhouses, originally referred to as “baby houses,” were developed in Europe more than 400 years ago. They were built to display and show off miniature-sized possessions of the very wealthy. Smaller dollhouses, designed to look like real houses on the outside, appeared in Europe in the 1700s. Dollhouses were handmade from metal or wood and were painted and decorated realistically. After the Industrial Revolution, dollhouses began to be mass produced. This allowed them to become cheaper and more widely available to the average consumer.