“Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the assumption that image is everything, but when it comes down to it, an appealing image is not enough. If there is no substance（事实）behind the image, the product, service or person will fail eventually.

First of all, one should consider how important image is in the selling of products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. Public concept of that product or service is certainly managed by the images created by the advertising agencies．But if the product or service does not live up to the image that was created, the customer will be very dissatisfied and possibly ask for their money back. For example, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm had spent decades building up an image of trustworthiness. But the recent scandal (丑闻) showed that behind that image, it cheated in business practices. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions and it will probably not survive as a business unit. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to the downfall of the world famous accounting firm.

Similarly, personal advisers can build up a public image for politicians and movie stars. Putting out positive news releases, making sure that only the best photographs are published, and ensuring that the person is seen in all the right places can build up a very positive image in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both politicians and movie stars that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind the image, failure is close.

“Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the assumption that image is everything, but when it comes down to it, an appealing image is not enough. If there is no substance(事实) behind the image, the product, service or person will fail eventually.

First of all, one should consider how important image is in the selling of products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. Public concept of that product or service is certainly managed by the images created by the advertising agencies. But if the product or service does not live up to the image that was created, the customer will be very dissatisfied and possibly ask for their money back. For example, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm had spent decades building up an image of trustworthiness. But the recent scandal (丑闻) showed that behind that image, it cheated in business practices. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions and it will probably not survive as a business unit. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to the downfall of the world famous accounting firm.

Similarly, personal advisers can build up a public image for politicians and movie stars. Putting out positive news releases, making sure that only the best photographs are published, and ensuring that the person is seen in all the right places can build up a very positive image in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both politicians and movie stars that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind the image, failure is close.

To summarize, it is clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation. What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself —— the person or product must deliver on that image or there is little chance for long-term success.

1.The downfall of the Arthour Andersen accounting firm is due to ________.

A. its dishonesty in business                          B. its previous images

C. its bad management                                   D. its poor service

2.Why did some famous people fall from grace?

A. Their images were not well built up     B. They failed to live up to their images.

C.They felt much pressure from the public  D. They paid little attention to fame and fortune.

3.The structure of the passage is ________.

A: Argument                       P: Point                       C: Conclusion

4.The author tries to argue that _________.

A. image creates everything                   B. image is the key to success

C. truth is unlikely ever to be equalled    D. truth and image are equally important

“Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the precondition that image is everything, but when it comes down to it, an appealing image is not enough. If there is no substance(物质) behind the image, the product, service or person will fail at length.

First of all, one should consider how important image is in the selling of products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. Public concept of that product or service is certainly managed by the images created by the advertising agencies. But if the product or service does not live up to the image that was created, the customer will be very dissatisfied and possibly ask for their money back. For example, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm had spent decades building up an image of trustworthiness. But the recent scandal (丑闻) showed that behind that image, it had dishonest business practices. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions and it will probably not survive as a business unit. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to the downfall of the world famous accounting firm.

Similarly, personal consultants can build up a public image for politicians and movie stars. Putting out positive news releases, making sure that only the best photographs are published, and ensuring that the person is seen in all the right places can build up a very positive image in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both politicians and movie stars that fell from grace(体面) like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind the image, failure is close.

To summarize, it is clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation. What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself —— the person or product must deliver on that image or there is little chance for long-term success.

1.The downfall of the Arthour Andersen accounting firm is due to ________.

    A. its dishonesty in business           B. its previous images

C. its bad management               D. its poor service

2.Why did some famous people fall from grace?

    A. Their images were not well built up

B. They failed to live up to their images.

C. They felt much pressure from the public

D. They paid little attention to fame and fortune.

3.The structure of the passage is ________.

A: Argument         B: Point            C: Conclusion

4.The author tries to argue that _________.

    A. image creates everything        

B. image is the key to success

C. truth is unlikely ever to be equalled

D. truth and image are equally important

阅读理解

　　——Picture this: You are driving down the highway, trading stocks, getting news and sports scores, emailing the office and listening to U2, while the kids play “Tomb Raider” on back-seat video screens.

　　Welcome to telemetric——the brave new world of technical wonder in automobiles.

　　Advances in computers, wireless and satellite communications and entertainment are making 20th century breakthroughs such as high compression engines and microprocessors seem antique (古老).

　　The car is being transformed into a computerized disco on wheels.

　　For the 21st century driver, voice-activated gadgets will do everything from finding a petrol station to dialing for help if your air bags deploy.

　　On-board computers will make the car a mobile extension of the office, connected to the Internet and email. It also will be a moving entertainment center with 100 channels of crystal-clear radio and videos on demand.

　　Telemetric leapt into the future this month when General Motors' OnStar service joined with Fidelity Investments to provide drivers with financial (金融) information and allow them to trade stocks and mutual funds (投资公司) from their cars.

　　Telemetric in seen as a rich source of possible income by several automakers. UBS Warburg analyst Saul Rubin estimates (估计) the market for telemetric hardware and services will grow from US ＄4.2 billion this year to US ＄47.2 billion 2010.

　　GM has settled its OnStar service in a million vehicles and has made deals to offer it in cars built by Toyota and Honda. Ford has set up a joint venture (联合股份公司) with Qualcomm called Wingcast to sell telemetric in Ford vehicles.

　　But the Chrysler unit of Daimler Chrysler, which once offered a talking car, says it has no plans to rush in. Chrysler officials says they will wait until technology advances further and a set of industry standards for telemetric is set up.

　　Price is another factor. GM offers two OnStar packages, one for US ＄200 a year and one for US ＄400. The company offers it free for the first 12 months.

1．“Telematics” is a ________.

[　　]

A．name for a new type of car

B．company name which produces hardware for cars

C．name for a set of industry standards

D．High-tech product used for cars

2．“Tomb Raider” is most likely to be ________.

[　　]

A．a film popular with children

B．a textbook for children

C．radio propram for children

D．video game provided to children

3．Which vehicle in the following is/will not be equipped with telemetric?

[　　]

“Image is everything．” An entire industry has been built upon the assumption that image is everything, but when it comes down to it, an appealing image is not enough．If there is no substance（事实） behind the image, the product, service or person will fail eventually．

First of all, one should consider how important image is in the selling of products and services．Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection．Public concept of that product or service is certainly managed by the images created by the advertising agencies．But if the product or service does not live up to the image that was created, the customer will be very dissatisfied and possibly ask for their money back．For example, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm had spent decades building up an image of trustworthiness．But the recent scandal(丑闻) showed that behind that image, it cheated in business practices．Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions and it will probably not survive as a business unit．Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to the downfall of the world famous accounting firm．

Similarly, personal advisers can build up a public image for politicians and movie stars．Putting out positive news releases, making sure that only the best photographs are published, and ensuring that the person is seen in all the right places can build up a very positive image in the view of the general commons．But once again, history is filled with examples of both politicians and movie stars that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune．With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind the image, failure is close．

To summarize, it is clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person．But image is only half of the equation．What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself —— the person or product must deliver on that image or there is little chance for long-term success．

1.The downfall of the Arthour Andersen accounting firm is due to ________．

A. its dishonesty in business  B. its previous images

C. its bad management      D. its poor service

2.Why did some famous people fall from grace?

A. Their images were not well built up

B. They failed to live up to their images．

C. They felt much pressure from the public

D. They paid little attention to fame and fortune

3.The structure of the passage is ________．

A: Argument     P: Point     C: Conclusion

4.The author tries to argue that _________．

A. image creates everything

B. image is the key to success

C. truth is unlikely ever to be equaled

D. truth and image are equally important