Question

How can the appearance of a product be more important than what it does? The battle between form and function rose again when James Dyson, British inventor of the Dyson vacuum（真空）cleaner that has sold in millions around the world, resigned as chairman of London's Design Museum． It is widely believed that Mr．Dyson felt that the museum put too much stress on style and fashion at the expense of serious industrial design．

Mr．Dyson accused the museum of not keeping true to itself． He may be right, but these days, museums everywhere can no longer afford to be unique centers of scholarship and learning．Among competition for sponsorship, they must use exhibitions of populist culture, nice cafes and shops or, best of all, a new building by Frank Gehry to increase visitor numbers．

On the one hand, some producers can be too old-fashioned and too concerned with the importance of product engineering and the functionality of their goods．On the other hand there are those who believe that how a product looks is more important．Design is indeed a broad term, involving both function and form．Typically, in any given product area, it changes from the former to the latter． Clothing is a good example．But surely you would have to be a very shallow person to think something's appearance was more important than what it did．

Today nearly all goods at any given price-point do much the same job．So almost the only way producers can differentiate their products from those of their competitors is to create some sort of emotional connection with the consumer, which could be through the visual appeal of the product or its packaging; or the imagery（意象）created by advertising. And what of the Dyson vacuum cleaners? Mr. Dyson may believe that people buy these machines because of the graphs showing their superior suction(喝酒), but most vacuum cleaners do a good job; the main reason people pay extra for a Dyson is because it is a vacuum cleaner with a trendy brand. With its inside workings exposed, it is a bit like a Richard Rogers building with all its pipes shown in bright colors on the outside instead of being hidden inside. Functional it may be, but it is a bit of a trick, too．

1.Mr. Dyson left the Design Museum because he thought the museum ．

A. didn't increase the number of visitors

B. couldn't provide scholarships for learners

C. hadn't great appeal for serious industrial designs

D. wasn't loyal to its original purpose of learning

2.Speaking of clothing, the underlined word "latter" refers to ．

A. affording protection

B. indicating one's identity

C. making someone beautiful

D. providing warmth

3.What is the author's opinion in Paragraph 4?

A. A product with convenient packaging sells well．

B. The majority of consumers prefer to buy branded goods．

C. Emotion contributes much to the development of advertising industry．

D. Most similarly priced products are of a comparable standard．

4.The author believes that people buy the Dyson vacuum cleaner because ．

A. it has a fashionable range

B. it has very good suction

C. it sells well around the world

D. it is invented by James Dyson

5.What is the author's attitude towards the form of a product?

A. Optimistic B. Skeptical

C. Objective D. Disapproving

Answer 1

1.D

2.C

3.D

4.A

5.C

【解析】

试题分析：本文是一篇议论文。作者通过举例、对比等方式讨论了产品到底是卖功能还是卖外观这样的话题。

1.】D 细节理解题。根据文章第二段“Mr．Dyson accused the museum of not keeping true to itself. He may be right, but these days, museums everywhere can no longer afford to be unique centers of scholarship and learning”可知他离开的原因是认为博物馆丧失了本该有的学术功能。故选D。

2.】C 细节理解题。根据第四段第一、二句可知人们在产品开发领域，生产商要么关注产品本身的功能，要么关注产品外观，在服装领域，这里的“后者”明显指的是衣服的美观性。故选C。

3.】D 根据文章第四段第一句“Today nearly all goods at any given price-point do much the same job”可知作者认为同等价位的商品实质上都差不多。故选D。

4. 细节理解题。根据文章第四段“the main reason people pay extra for a Dyson is because it is a vacuum cleaner with a trendy brand”可知人们购买Dyson的主要原因还是因为它是一个时尚的品牌。故选A。

5. 观点态度题。根据文章内容，作者讨论了产品到底卖的是功能还是外观这样的话题，罗列事实为主，并未表达个人态度，比较客观。故选C。

考点：考查日常生活类短文阅读