单选题   For anyone who is set on a career in fashion it is not enough to have succeeded in college. The real test is whether they can survive and become established during their early 20s, making a name for themselves in the real world where business skills can count for as much as flair (天赋) and creativity...
    Fashion is a hard business. There is a continuous amount of stress because work is at a constant breakneck speed to prepare for the next season's collections. It is extremely competitive and there is the constant need to cultivate good coverage in newspapers and magazines. It also requires continual freshness because the appetite for new ideas is insatiable (不知不足的). 'We try to warn people before they come to us about how tough it is', says Lydia Kemeny, the Head of Fashion at St. Martin's School of Art in London, 'and we point out that drive and determination are essential.'
    This may seem far removed from the popular image of trendy and dilettante (业余艺术爱好的) young people spending their time designing pretty dresses. That may well be what they do in their first year of study but a good college won't be slow in introducing students to commercial realities. 'We don't stamp on the blossoming flower of creativity but in the second year we start introducing the constraints of price, manufacturability, marketing and so on.'
    Almost all fashion design is done to a brief. It is not a form of self-expression as such, although there is certainly room for imagination and innovation. Most young designers are going to end up as employees of a manufacturer or fashion house and they still need to be able to work within the characteristic style of their employer. Even those students who are most avant-garde (先锋派) in their own taste of clothes and image may need to adapt to produce designs which are right for the mainstream Marks and Spencer type of market. They also have to be able to work at both the exclusively expensive and the cheap end of the market and the challenge to produce good design inexpensively may well be more demanding than where money is no object.
单选题     To be successful as a fashion designer you must ______.
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。文章第1句说,对任何想在时装界获得成功的人士而言,仅仅在学校取得优异成绩是不够的。由此可知,要想成为一名成功的服装设计师首先必须要专业成绩好,故答案为A。
单选题     Why is fashion a continuously stressful business according to the passage?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。第2段第2句提到,做时装设计的人总是承受着无尽的压力,总是在最快地为下个季节的服装作准备”,A“下个季节的辛苦工作不断到来”与原文相符,故为答案。
单选题     How does St. Martin's School of Art train her students of fashion?
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。第3段讲到了圣马丁学校的课程设置情况。第一年会让学生随意发挥,第二年开始就引入了约束条件,让学生进入现实的商业环境,故答案为B。
单选题     The word 'brief' (Line 1, Para. 4) can be replaced by ______.
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】语义理解题。该词所在句是本段的主题句。该段大意是说,时装设计者不能自我展现,总要听命于雇主,而且还要根据公司的需求设计出适合最低端和最高端消费水平的服装,故答案为A.dictate,意为“命令,指令”。
单选题     The views on fashion design expressed in this article ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】主旨大意题。首段讲时装设计师成功所需具备的条件,第2段讲他们的艰苦,第3、4段提到他们的工作与想象中的不同,也极大地受到现实的束缚。所以本文可以说是在消除人们对时装设计的误解,指出其艰辛的一面。故选C。