Question

IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful enterprisers. 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 goods 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 large 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 develop. 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 went up. 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(内涵) 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

Answer 1

1.C

2.D

3.B

【解析】

试题分析：本文主要讲述了IKEA是世界上最大的家居零售商，而IKEA背后的IKEA也是世界上最成功的企业家之一。IKEA以现代的极抽象的家居而出名，但是它在最开始并不是家居公司，而是出售各种各样的商品。IKEA在Almhult, Sweden开了第一家陈列室，而人们对此陈列室的反应是势不可挡的，人们喜欢在股买家居之前看见和尝试这些家居商品。这使得IKEA的销售量增加，和公司不断房发展。到1955年，IKEA开始设计自己的家居产品。

1. packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. 意思是：扁平封装将意味着IKEA更低的运输费用，同时对于消费者更低的价格。可知扁平封装有助于降低运输费用。故选C。

2. Kamprad使用17岁的时候，他爸爸给他的成绩提高的奖赏，创建了生意IKEA，IKEA从最开始的各种各样的商品零售商，到后来慢慢创建家具公司，并且慢慢把公司发展成功。故选D。

3. Kamprad把IKEA经营成一个私人控股的公司。主要表现出Ingvar Kamprad的成就，以及IKEA辉煌的发展现状。所以作者对于IKEA的未来的态度是很有信心，乐观的。故选B。

考点：考查说明文阅读。