阅读理解
For anyone who is determined to be a fashion (时尚) designer, it is not enough to have succeeded in
college. The real test is whether they can survive, and become established during their eady 20s, making
a name for themselves in the real world where business skills can be as important as talent and creativity.
Fashion is a hard business. There is a continuous amount of stress because work is at a constant and
extremely fast speed to prepare for the next season's collections. It is extremely competitive and there is
the constant need to make attractive advertisements of the latest fashion in newspapers and magazines. It
also requires continual freshness because the appetite for new ideas is hard to satisfy. "We try to warn
people before they come to us about how tough it is."says Lydia Kemeny, the Heed of Fashion at St.
Martin's School of Art in London. "And we point out that drive and determination are absolutely
necessary."
This may seem far removed from the popular opinions of fashionable 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 walk our foot on the
blossoming (绽放的) flower of creativity but in the second year we start introducing the restrictions of
price, producing abitity,marketing and so on."
Almost all fashion design is done to a brief. I
t is not a form of selfexpression as such, although there
is certainly room for imagination and creativity. Most young designers are going to end up as employees
of a producer or a fashion house and th
ey still need to be able to work within the characteristic style ot
their employer. Even those students who are most modern in their own taste of clothes may need to adapt
to produce designs which are right for the mainstream of market. They also have to be able to work at
both the expensive and the cheap end of the market and the challenge to produce good design
inexpensi
vely may well be demanding.
1. Which of the following is mainly discussed in the passage?
A. Talent in fashion.
B. Good marks at college.
C. Ability to create new designs.
D. Business skills in fashion industry.
2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?
A. Fashion designers are highly motivated and really determined.
B. Good preparations for the next season can reduce stress.
C. Consumers' appetite for new ideas keeps changing.
D. Advertisament business is very competitive.
3. How does St.Martin's School of Art train her students of fashion?
A. To encourage the new students to design freely with imagination.
B. To require students to develop their creativity in their designing.
C. To demand students 
to make pretty dresses for companies.
D. To offer commercial courses for the new students.
4. What does the underlined word "this" in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Lydia Kemeny's opinion.
B. The competitive business world.
C. The warning to the young designers.
D. The real situation in fashion industry.
