Part A: Reading Comprehension

Directions: Read the following text. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

In the 2006 film version of The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep, scolds her unattractive assistant for imagining that high fashion doesn’t affect her. Priestly explains how the deep blue color of the assistant’s sweater descended over the years from fashion shows to department stores and to the bargain bin in which the poor girl doubtless found her garment.

This top-down conception of the fashion business couldn’t be more out of date or at odds with the feverish world described in Overdressed, Elizabeth Cline’s three-year indictment of “fast fashion.” In the last decade or so, advances in technology have allowed mass-market labels such as Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo to react to trends more quickly and anticipate demand more precisely. Quicker turnarounds mean less wasted inventory, more frequent releases, and more profit. These labels encourage style-conscious consumers to see clothes as disposable—meant to last only a wash or two, although they don’t advertise that—and to renew their wardrobe every few weeks. By offering on-trend items at dirt-cheap prices, Cline argues, these brands have hijacked fashion cycles, shaking an industry long accustomed to a seasonal pace.

The victims of this revolution, of course, are not limited to designers. For H&M to offer a $5.95 knit miniskirt in all its 2,300-plus stores around the world, it must rely on low-wage overseas labor, order in volumes that strain natural resources, and use massive amounts of harmful chemicals.

Overdressed is the fashion world’s answer to consumer-activist bestsellers like Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. “Mass-produced clothing, like fast food, fills a hunger and need, yet is non-durable, and wasteful,” Cline argues. Americans, she finds, buy roughly 20 billion garments a year—about 64 items per person—and no matter how much they give away, this excess leads to waste.

Towards the end of Overdressed, Cline introduced her ideal, a Brooklyn woman named Sarah Kate Beaumont, who since 2008 has made all of her own clothes—and beautifully. But as Cline is the first to note, it took Beaumont decades to perfect her craft; her example can’t be knocked off.

Though several fast-fashion companies have made efforts to curb their impact on labor and the environment—including H&M, with its green Conscious Collection line—Cline believes lasting change can only be effected by the customer. She exhibits the idealism common to many advocates of sustainability, be it in food or in energy. Vanity is a constant; people will only start shopping more sustainably when they can’t afford not to.

21. Priestly criticizes her assistant for her

[A]

insensitivity to fashion. 

[B]

obsession with high fashion. 

[C]

poor bargaining skill. 

[D]

lack of imagination. 

22. According to Cline, mass-market labels urge consumers to

[A]

combat unnecessary waste. 

[B]

shop for their garments more frequently. 

[C]

resist the influence of advertisements. 

[D]

shut out the feverish fashion world. 

23. The word “indictment” (Line 2, Para.2) is closest in meaning to

[A]

tolerance. 

[B]

indifference. 

[C]

enthusiasm. 

[D]

accusation. 

24. Which of the following can be inferred from the last paragraph?

[A]

Vanity has more often been found in idealists. 

[B]

The fast-fashion industry ignores sustainability. 

[C]

Pricing is vital to environment-friendly purchasing. 

[D]

People are more interested in unaffordable garments. 

25. What is the subject of the text?

[A]

Satire on an extravagant lifestyle. 

[B]

Challenge to a high-fashion myth. 

[C]

Criticism of the fast-fashion industry. 

[D]

Exposure of a mass-market secret. 

Answers & Explanations (答案与深度解析)

试题精解

21. [A] insensitivity to fashion.
【解析】细节题。第一段指出，Miranda Priestly 责骂她的助手，因为她“imagining that high fashion doesn’t affect her（想象高级时尚对她没有影响）”。这意味着助手对时尚的运作方式缺乏感知。A选项 insensitivity（不敏感/迟钝）精确总结了这一表现。

22. [B] shop for their garments more frequently.
【解析】细节题。第二段指出，快时尚品牌鼓励消费者把衣服视为“disposable（一次性的）”，并且“renew their wardrobe every few weeks（每隔几周就翻新一下衣柜）”。这说明这些品牌在敦促消费者更加频繁地购买衣服（shop more frequently）。

23. [D] accusation.
【解析】词义题。结合第二段语境，Elizabeth Cline 写的《Overdressed》描述了快时尚行业中剥削劳工、浪费资源等种种负面现象，因此该书是对“快时尚”的控诉。indictment 原意为“起诉、控告”，D选项 accusation（控诉/指责）为其同义词。

24. [C] Pricing is vital to environment-friendly purchasing.
【解析】推理题。最后一段最后一句：“people will only start shopping more sustainably when they can’t afford not to.”（只有当人们承担不起不环保购物的后果时——即不环保的衣服变得极其昂贵时，他们才会开始可持续地购物）。这说明“价格（pricing）”是决定人们是否进行环保购物的关键因素（vital）。

25. [C] Criticism of the fast-fashion industry.
【解析】主旨题。全文以《穿普拉达的女王》作为切入点，引出 Cline 的著作《Overdressed》，随后各段均围绕“快时尚（fast-fashion industry）”带来的危害展开论述：浪费资源、剥削劳工、破坏行业周期、环境污染等。文章主旨就是对快时尚行业的批判（Criticism）。

考研核心句型与长难句

【长难句剖析】

1. 否定+比较级结构表达最强烈的肯定：
"This top-down conception of the fashion business couldn’t be more out of date or at odds with the feverish world described in Overdressed..."
【解析】couldn't be more out of date 意为“不可能更过时了”，即“已经极其过时”。这里批判了第一段传统的“自上而下”的时尚观念。

2. 不定式作主语与并列结构：
"For H&M to offer a $5.95 knit miniskirt in all its 2,300-plus stores around the world, it must rely on low-wage overseas labor, order in volumes that strain natural resources, and use massive amounts of harmful chemicals."
【解析】For sb to do sth 作目的状语；主句中 it must 后接了三个并列的动词短语（rely on, order, use），深刻揭露了快时尚低价背后的惨重代价。

3. 双重否定表达条件限制：
"...people will only start shopping more sustainably when they can’t afford not to."
【解析】can't afford not to (shop sustainably) 意思是“承担不起不去（环保购物）的代价”。表明消费者的虚荣心是常态，只有经济上的强制（价格杠杆）才能促使他们做出改变。