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
We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic defects (缺陷) that can never be changed. “I’m impatient.” “I’m always behind.” “I always put things ______!” You’ve surely heard them. Maybe you’ve used them to describe ______.
These comments may come from stories about us that have been _____ for years—often from ______ childhood. These stories may have no ______ in fact. But they can set low expectations for us. As a child, my mother said to me, “Marshall, you have no mechanical (操作机械的) skills, and you will never have any mechanical skills for the rest of your life.” How did these expectations ______ my development? I was never ______ to work on cars or be around ______. When I was 18, I took the US Army’s Mechanical Aptitude Test. My scores were in the bottom for the entire nation!
Six years later, ______, I was at California University, working on my doctor’s degree. One of my professors,Dr. Bob Tannbaum, asked me to write down things I did well and things I couldn’t do. On the positive side, I ______ down, “research, writing, analysis, and speaking.” On the ______ side, I wrote, “I have no Mechanical skills.”
Bob asked me how I knew I had no mechanical skills. I explained my life ______ and told him about my ______ performance on the Army test. Bob then asked, “______ is it that you can solve complex mathematical problems, but you can’t solve ______ mechanical problems?”
Suddenly I realized that I didn’t ______ from some sort of genetic defect. I was just living out expectations that I had chosen to ______. At that point, it wasn’t just my family and friends who had been ______ my belief that I was mechanically hopeless. And it wasn’t just the Army test, either. I was the one who kept telling myself, “You can’t do this!” I realized that as long as I kept saying that, it was going to remain true. ______ , if we don’t treat ourselves as if we have incurable genetic defects, we can do well in almost ______ we choose.
1.A. off B. away C. up D. down
2.A. them B. myself C. others D. yourself
3.A. said B. spoken C. repeated D. spread
4.A. as far back as B. as long as C. as well as D. as much as
5.A. plot B. basis C. cause D. meaning
6.A. lead B. improve C. inspire D. affect
7.A. agreed B. forbidden C. hoped D. encouraged
8.A. means B. equipments C. tools D. hammers
9.A. however B. therefore C. somehow D. instead
10.A. calmed B. took C. laid D. got
11.A. passive B. negative C. active D. subjective
12.A. roads B. trips C. experiences D. paths
13.A. unexpected B. excellent C. poor D. average
14.A. Why B. What C. How D. When
15.A. hard B. advanced C. usual D. simple
16.A. arise B. suffer C. separate D. come
17.A. receive B. suspect C. adapt D. believe
18.A. strengthening B. weakening C. disliking D. accepting
19.A. As a result B. On the contrary C. In addition D. At the same time
20.A. nothing B. something C. anything D. little
— Tom, what a pity! I almost succeeded yesterday.
—_______. I told you to be careful before.
A. One tree does not make a forest
B. Where there’s life, there’s hope
C. One false step will make a great difference
D. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
On our journey to Australia last summer, our luggage was ________ at the customs. We were not allowed to carry food such as meat and vegetables.
A. looked through B. put through C. gone through D. got through
A good friend should be kind and helpful. _________ is my mother.
A. A such friend B. One such friend
C. Any such friend D. Such one friend
It is generally _____________that the great power of America would have been impossible without its freedom and democracy
A. remarked B. responded C. swore D. admitted
