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IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful enterprisers. Born in Sweden in 1926, Kamprad was a natural businessman. As a child, he enjoyed selling things and made small profits from selling matches, seeds, and pencils in his community. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades. Naturally he used it to start up a business—IKEA.
IKEA’s name comes from Kamprad’s initials (I.K.) and the place where he grew up (‘E’ and ‘A’). Today IKEA is known for its modern, minimalist furniture, but it was not a furniture company in the beginning. Rather, IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods.
Kamprad’s goods included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices, including watches, pens and stockings.
IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order catalogue in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.
In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden. IKEA is known today for its large stores with furniture in attractive settings, but in the early1950s, people ordered from catalogues. Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming: people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it. This led to increased sales and the company continued to develop. By 1955, IKEA was designing all its own furniture.
In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling(拆卸) a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales went up. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having connotations(内涵) of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．
Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.
1.The author states in Paragraph 6 that flat packaging___________.
A. needs large space to assembly furniture
B. is a business concept inspired by Kamprad
C. helps reduce transportation costs
D. makes the company self-sufficient
2.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Ingvar Kamprad is the richest man in the world.
B. IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer.
C. The advantage of IKEA’s furniture is dissembling.
D. Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and led it to great success.
3.What is the author’s attitude towards IKEA’s future according to the last paragraph?
A. Indifferent B. Optimistic
C. Doubtful D. Pessimistic
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Recently the barbican museum in London held an exhibition called the rain room. During the time this exhibition was open, my twitter stream was filled with photos of people standing in the rain room, accompanied by the caption “rain room@ the barbican!” and a location attachment to prove that they were indeed in the rain room.
This got me thinking. What were people actually saying by Tweeting about their visit? I think all they were doing was fulfilling the obligation that we have to share. Not sharing in the sense of treasuring a moment with people close to us, but sharing in the sense of “tell the world that I am doing a thing”.
It’s not sharing; it’s showing off. When we log in to Facebook or Twitter we see an infinitely updating stream of people enjoying themselves. It’s not real life, because people only post about the good things whereas all the dull or deep stuff doesn’t get mentioned. But despite this obvious fact, it subconsciously makes us feel like everyone is having a better time than us.
This is the curse of our age. We walk around with the tools to capture extensive data about our surroundings and transmit them in real-time to every friend we’ve made. We end up with a reduced understanding of reality because we’re more concerned about choosing a good Instagram filter(过滤器) for our meal than how it tastes.
I don’t think that it’s inherently wrong to want to keep the world updated about that you’re doing. But when you go through life robotically posting about everything you do, you’re not a human being. You’re just a prism that takes bits of light and sound and channels them into the cloud.
The key thing to remember is that you are not enriching your experiences by sharing them online; you are detracting from them because all your efforts are focused on making the look attractive to other people. Once you stop seeing things through the eyes of the people following you on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, you can make your experiences significant, because you were there and you saw the sights and smelled the smells and heard the sounds, not snapped a photo of it through a half-inch camera lens.
1.What do we learn from the first two paragraphs?
A. Rain Room exhibition received a large audience in London.
B. Most of people feel obligated to share their experience with friends.
C. Many people want to inform others of their experience by Tweeting.
D. All people having gone to the Rain Room took pictures.
2.It seems to the author that ___________.
A. Facebook or Twitter is a good place where we share personal experience
B. people seldom show depressing stuff on the social networking websites
C. most of people tend to show off that they are having a better time than others
D. sharing experience on the social networking websites is not real life
3.By talking of “a good Instagram filter for our meal” (Line 3-4, Para.4), the author wants to show _____________.
A. we are surrounded by various tools to capture our daily data
B. we are more concerned about how our life seems to be to others
C. we transmit our experience immediately to everybody we know
D. we gain more extensive perception of reality with digital tools
4.What suggestion does the author give in the last paragraph?
A. Enrich your experiences by sharing them online.
B. Make efforts to make your life attractive to others.
C. Stop showing your personal experience.
D. Record the details of what you see, smell and hear.
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It’s midnight already, but the lights in Shi Guang’s dormitory are still on. He and three other students are sitting back to back. They’re all wearing earphones and staring at a computer screen, talking to each other only in words like “charge” or “retreat”. Chen Jiasheng, 22, a senior majoring in electrical engineering and automation at Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, is a gaming team leader. “ Online gaming is not just about gaming, it’s a community in which we communicate with each other using our avatars(化身),” said Chen. For university students like Chen, online gaming has become more than a fashion – it’s part of life and a way of socializing.
A 2012 research report on online gamers in China released by 17173.com, the country’s leading game information portal, supports this concept. According to the report, university students aged between 19 and 25 make up 58 percent of online gamers, and the proportion is rising every year. “Many of my friends spend more time hanging out in online gaming worlds than in reality,” said Wang Jiaming, 21, a junior law major at China University of Political Sciences and Law. “Personally I feel more powerful in virtual worlds than in real life. I’m more confident.”
According to Zhang Quan, 20, a student in the second year economics major at Renmin University of China, one of the distinguishing features of online games compared with offline games is the gaming experience. Offline games test a gamer’s skill at using a keyboard to beat rivals. “Online games are technically more accessible as you don’t have to master these skills,” said Zhang.
But most online games are based on avatars controlled by another human – they are unavoidably more tricky and unpredictable by a computer. “On the surface we are playing games, but actually it’s real people we are dealing with,” added Zhang. “The only difference is that in these games we communicate with each other in different settings, like wars, magic battles and fantasy worlds.”
By engaging in this interactive gaming experience, gamers become team players and promote their social skills. Chen has even made friends by playing in a team with strangers online. “We coordinated our movements and cooperated with each other to win a battle in the cyberspace. The game was virtual but the brotherhood was real. Most of us are good friends in real life,” said Chen.
1.According to the passage, which statement of the following is true?
A. Online gaming is the only world where the young communicate with each other by using their avatars.
B. Online gaming is important to those aged between 19 and 25.
C. Online gaming has a bad effect on health as university students usually stay up playing.
D. An increasing number of university students play online games.
2.The passage is mostly about ______.
A. some interviews to young people about online gaming.
B. positive effects from online gaming on university students.
C. learning how to co-work with their mates for online gamers
D. the differences between online games and offline ones.
3.The underlined word can be best replaced by ______.
A. competitors B. strangers C. teammates D. partners.
4.Which can be the best title of this passage?
A. Online gaming B. Beyond a virtual reality
C. Virtual cooperation D. Real interaction
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When Zhang Ning , whose pen name was Misha, started drawing manga（漫画） in junior high school, it was a time when Japanese cartoonists occupied most of the Chinese market. She was warned about the poor wage cartoonists earn and the risk of pursuing a career in an industry where China is not yet competitive.
But with the growth of domestic animation and manga industry in recent years, Zhang managed to draw her way up to become one of the country’s top cartoonists. In 2011, the 29-year-old won the Golden Dragon award, one of the most influential awards in China’s manga industry.
Looking back, the graduate of Zhejiang University of Technology said: “It was a dream come true.” Zhang’s success boomed along with the industry. In 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s animation and manga industry was worth 47 billion yuan. It has seen annual growth rates of more than 20 percent in recent years.
These big numbers seem a far stretch from Zhang’s in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. But she thinks the very reason why cartoonists can enjoy a decent life is the country’s decision to well develop the industry. “The country is not giving us money directly, but it’s creating a market in which we can succeed,”said Zhang.
Apart from government investment, Zhang is also benefiting from technology advances. The Internet has provided a wider platform for cartoonists to publish their work. The electric edition of Zhang’s work ranked the 6th among free book apps on the Apple Store. “I think the Internet has encouraged new cartoonists and given them more chances. Before we could only contribute to magazines and it was difficult to convince the editors to publish our work”, said Zhang. “But when you release your work online, you receive encouragement and support from many netizens. It increases your confidence. ”said Zhang.
New technology has also attracted more people to read comics. “China has entered 3G era. It’s very convenient for people to read on their smart phones when traveling around. It opens comics to a bigger readership,” said Zhang. Only last week, Zhang published her new manga based on the ancient classic Tangzi(汤子) which set during the warring states period. According to Zhang, the inspiration came from wall painting in Dunhuang, Gansu province. She hopes her works will encouraged more people especially the young, to explore the cultural treasures of ancient China. “Chinese youths now need a spirit to help them to realize their dreams,” said Zhang. “Like Kua Fu(夸父) chasing the sun --- people can accomplish great things by choosing to something seemingly beyond their ability. I think that’s my “Chinese dream” and I want to share it with the public through my cartoons.”
1.When Zhang Ning started drawing manga,________.
A. she nearly finished her study in junior high school.
B. Japanese cartoonists took up the majority of Chinese market.
C. Chinese cartoonists could earn so much money.
D. She was encouraged by her teachers.
2.Which statement can be inferred from the passage?
A. Before the widespread use of the Internet, cartoonists merely send the works to magazines.
B. The Internet has been a wonderful platform only for Chinese cartoonists’ works.
C. China’s animation and manga industry will have a promising future.
D. New cartoonists have received support from the people from across China.
3.This passage is mainly about _____________.
A. that Chinese cartoonists are the greatest in the world.
B. that China’s dream of being the top animation and manga nation.
C. that technology alone helps cartoonists to achieve success.
D. that a Chinese cartoonist has chased her dream and lived it.
4.All of the following except _____ have contributed to Zhang Ning’s success.
A. her new manga Tangzi B. technology advances
C. widespread use of Internet D. government support.
