3、Art museums are places where people can learn about
various cultures（文化）. The increasingly popular “ design museums ” that are opening today ,
however , perform quite a different role . Unlike most art museums , the design
museum shows objects that are easily found by the general public . These
museums sometimes even place things like fridges and washing machines in the
center of the hall .
People have argued that
design museums are often made use of as advertisements for new
industrial technology . But their
role is not simply a matter of sales-it is the honoring of excellently invented
products . The difference between the window of a department store and the
showcase in a design museum is that the first tries to sell you something ,
while the second tells you the success of a sale .
One advantage of design
museums is that they are places where people feel familiar with the
exhibits. Unlike the average art
museum visitors, design museum visitors seldom feel frightened or puzzled（困惑）. This is partly because design
museums clearly show how and why mass-
produced products work and look as
they do , and how design has improved the quality of our lives . Art museum
exhibits , on the other hand , would most probably fill visitors with a feeling
that there is something beyond their understanding .
In recent years , several
new design museums have opened their doors . Each of these
museums has tried to satisfy the
public’s growing
interest in the field with new ideas. London’s Design
Museum , for example , shows a collection of mass-produced objects from Zippo
lighters to electric typewriters to a group of Italian fish-tins . The choices
open to design museums seem far less strict than those to art museums , and
visitors may also sense the humorous（幽默的）part of our
society while walking around such exhibits as interesting and unusually
attractive toys collected in our everyday life .
1. Showcases in design museums are
different from store windows because they .
A. show more technologically
advanced products
B. help increase the sales of products
C. show why the products have sold
well
D. attract more people than store
windows do
2. The author believes that most
design museum visitors .
A. do not admire mass-produced
products
B. are puzzled with technological
exhibits
C. dislike exhibits in art museums
D. know the exhibits very well
3 The choices open to design
museums .
A. are not as strict as those to
art museums
B. are not aimed to interest the
public
C. may fail to bring some pleasure
to visitors
D. often contain precious exhibits
4. The best title for this passage
is .
A. The forms of design museums
B. The exhibits of design museums
C. The nature of design museums
D. The choices open to design
museums
