Question

    Celebrity (名人) has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture. Fans used to be crazy about a specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption (消费) on the interest of celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces. As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own.

Celebrity clothing lines aren’t a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses. Today they’re started by first-class stars whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands. The most successful start-ups have been those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.

However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty returning to tried-and-true labels.

Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment. The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity’s shelf life, and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears. Still, the ego’s (自我的) potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short time, but fashion—like celebrity—has always been temporary.

1.Fashion magazines today ______.

A.totally refuse to put models on the cover

B.rarely place models on the cover

C.need not worry about celebrities’ market potential

D.judge the market potential of every celebrity correctly

2.A change in the consumer market can be found today that ______.

A.price rather than brand name is more concerned

B.producers prefer models to celebrities for advertisements

C.producers prefer TV actresses to film stars for advertisements

D.quality rather than the outside of products is more concerned

3.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 indicates that any wrong step will possibly ______.

A.shorten the artistic career of a celebrity in show business

B.damage the image of a celebrity in the eyes of the general public

C.cut short the time of a celebrity’s popularity

D.influence the price of a celebrity’s products

4.The passage is mainly about ______.

A.celebrity and personal style B.celebrity and market potential

C.celebrity and fashion design D.celebrity and clothing industry

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了，名人已经成为流行文化的重要代表之一，具有很大的市场潜力，但现在面临更严峻的现实困境：享受有名成功的同时，名人的每一次失误都会减少他们的知名度和产品销量。

1.细节理解题。由第一段的句子“Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces.”可知，因为模特的销量远不及名人脸，时尚杂志几乎已经放弃了把模特放在封面上的做法。 所以现在的时尚杂志很少把模特放在封面上。故选B项。

2.推理判断题。由第三段句子“However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing.”可知，当名人高估他自己的消费者吸引力时，不管产品的原产地有多有名，如果它不能以自身的品质打动消费者，它就开始像一种自我推销的营销活动。所以推断出质量比产品的外在更重要，D项切题；A项无中生有，文章未提及，排除A项；由第一段的“Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces.”可知，排除B项；由第二段的前两句可知，消费市场喜欢用first-class stars（一流明星），排除选C项。故选D项。

3.推理判断题。划线句子意为“每一个失误都有可能缩短名人的保质期”。由第四段划线句子前一句“The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well.”和后一句“and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears.”可知，流行文化圈可能比以往任何时候都要大，但它的人员流动率也加快了，同一份曾经给他带来名声的报纸或杂志，当机会出现时，会毫无问题地把他撕成碎片，说明名人每走错一步就会缩短名人受欢迎的时间。故选C项。

4.主旨大意题。由第一段最后一句“As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own.”因此，名人们意识到了他们难以置信的巨大市场潜力，从为别人的产品做广告到开发自己的产品。第二段最后一句“As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.”随着明星在市场上的经验越来越丰富，他们的产品销售规模迅速扩大，几乎涵盖了日常生活中的所有产品。可知，本文讲的是名人及市场潜力。故选B项。