Question

IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Born in Sweden in 1926, Kamprad was a natural businessman. As a child, he enjoyed selling things and made small profits from selling matches, seeds, and pencils in his community. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades. Naturally he used it to start up a business—IKEA.

IKEA’s name comes from Kamprad's initials (I.K.) and the place where he grew up (‘E’and ‘A’). Today IKEA is known for its modern, minimalist furniture, but it was not a furniture company in the beginning. Rather, IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods.

Kamprad’s wares included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices, including watches, pens and stockings.

IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order catalogue in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.

In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden. IKEA is known today for its spacious stores with furniture in attractive settings, but in the early1950s, people ordered from catalogues. Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming: people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it. This led to increased sales and the company continued to thrive. By 1955, IKEA was designing all its own furniture.

In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling(拆卸) a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales soared. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having connotations(內涵) of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．

Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.

1.The author states in Paragraph 6 that flat packaging___________.

A. needs large space to assembly furniture

B. is a business concept inspired by Kamprad

C. helps reduce transportation costs

D. makes the company self-sufficient

2.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Ingvar Kamprad is the richest man in the world.

B. IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer.

C. The advantage of IKEA’s furniture is dissembling.

D. Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and led it to great success.

3.What is the author’s attitude towards IKEA’s future according to the last paragraph?

A. Indifferent B. Optimistic

C. Doubtful D. Pessimistic

4.The passage is developed primarily in terms of ___________.

A. order of events

B. analysis of a process

C. examples that illustrate(闡釋) a problem

D. comparison and contrast

Answer 1

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要講的是宜家公司作為世界上最大的家具零售公司的發展歷程。提到了整個公司是如何建立起來，慢慢發展和中間所遇到的困難以及他最終獲得成功的策略。

1. packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers是說平板包裝意味著較低的運輸成本和更低的銷售價格。所以答案選C。

2.

3. Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company意思是令人驚嘆的是，Ingvar Kamprad成功地使宜家保持它的私企的性質。所以根據這句話可以知道，作者宜家未來發展的態度還是很樂觀的。答案選B。

4. he used it to start up a business—IKEA.宜家成立，Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.宜家作為唯一的家具銷售市場獲得成功In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden.宜家成立了第一家實體店In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling a table to make it easier to transport. 宜家的組裝方式的形成Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries.宜家現在的分店有200多家。所以據此看來，文章結構是按照大事件的順序排列的。答案選A。

考點：考查說明文閱讀。