阅读理解
Craft (手工艺)is becoming a heritage industry — but a
record of disappearing skills might just come in handy in the future.
Mr. Lobb (of John Lobb the bootmaker)
mentioned that custom clothing and shoe-making were once the norm for everyone.
How come,then,today a pair of normal Lobbs would set you back over
£2,000? The price has obviously gone up because of lack of
competition and higher wages,but would custom clothing
once again be affordable to all if the demand was there? Do we just wave
goodbye to these skills,or should we fight to maintain
them?
The disposable (一次性的)culture we “enjoy” today has existed in
our life for almost two generations now. We like our products to be made by
either a robot or invisible,cheap hands so that we can accumulate them cheaply and frequently.
The concept of “craft” is something that's now largely considered to be strange,and seems to be limited to museums and dusty, independent shops.
Hobby crafts such as knitting do undergo revivals (复兴)from
time to time,but
I think that's because they are seen as short-lived fashionable leisure
pursuits rather than a craft worthy of revivals on a commercially feasible (可行的)scale.
To drive a revival in any of these crafts, you would probably need to apply the same marketing techniques that are used to sell any other items today. The consumer must believe that they just have to have it. If they don't have it now, it will either go up in price or go out of fashion — both reasons enough in themselves for a shopper to act.
But does it finally matter if these skills
will no longer serve any practicable use in the decades to come? I don't know
the answer to that,but I have long thought it would be a good idea if we “banked” these
skills somehow,just as we are not attempting to do with
seeds. You just never know whether we'll need them in the future. Maybe it's
time to establish a worldwide network of volunteers to record,through the written words and videos,as many
of these dying skills as possible. Actually, a rough look on YouTube fills me
with hope that an army of willing volunteers is probably out there already and
just needs someone or something to gather them together.
(1)
According to the text,the custom clothing is dying in that______.
A . it serves no useful purpose
B . it doesn't meet people's demand any more
C . it is too costly for most people to afford
D . it has long been lack of competition all along
(2)
What does the author really want to express about the occasional revival of hobby crafts?
A . It is a sign of disposable culture.
B . It indicates the direction of fashion.
C . It can't help revive the traditional crafts.
D . It creates no commercial value in the long run.
(3)
Which of the following measures may take effect in reviving crafts?
A . Making them as affordable as possible for the foreigners.
B . Adopting modem marketing strategies used to sell other items.
C . Establishing a network of volunteers to sell them worldwide.
D . Drawing people's attention to the videos of these crafts.
(4)
From the last paragraph,we know the author______.
A . shows great interest in craft
B . doesn't want craft to disappear
C . feels sad about the disappearance of craft
D . tries to explain the reason for craft's disappearance
答案: C
C
B
B