How can the appearance of a product be more important than what it does? The battle between form and function rose again when James Dyson, British inventor of the Dyson vacuum（真空）cleaner that has sold in millions around the world, resigned as chairman of London's Design Museum． It is widely believed that Mr．Dyson felt that the museum put too much stress on style and fashion at the expense of serious industrial design．
Mr．Dyson accused the museum of not keeping true to itself． He may be right, but these days, museums everywhere can no longer afford to be unique centers of scholarship and learning．Among competition for sponsorship, they must use exhibitions of populist culture, nice cafes and shops or, best of all, a new building by Frank Gehry to increase visitor numbers．
On the one hand, some producers can be too old-fashioned and too concerned with the importance of product engineering and the functionality of their goods．On the other hand there are those who believe that how a product looks is more important．Design is indeed a broad term, involving both function and form．Typically, in any given product area, it changes from the former to the latter． Clothing is a good example．But surely you would have to be a very shallow person to think something's appearance was more important than what it did．
Today nearly all goods at any given price-point do much the same job．So almost the only way producers can differentiate their products from those of their competitors is to create some sort of emotional connection with the consumer, which could be through the visual appeal of the product or its packaging; or the imagery（意象）created by advertising. And what of the Dyson vacuum cleaners? Mr. Dyson may believe that people buy these machines because of the graphs showing their superior suction(喝酒), but most vacuum cleaners do a good job; the main reason people pay extra for a Dyson is because it is a vacuum cleaner with a trendy brand. With its inside workings exposed, it is a bit like a Richard Rogers building with all its pipes shown in bright colors on the outside instead of being hidden inside. Functional it may be, but it is a bit of a trick, too．
Mr. Dyson left the Design Museum because he thought the museum        ．

A．didn't increase the number of visitors

B．couldn't provide scholarships for learners

C．hadn't great appeal for serious industrial designs

D．wasn't loyal to its original purpose of learning

Speaking of clothing, the underlined word "latter" refers to        ．

A．affording protection

B．indicating one's identity

C．making someone beautiful

D．providing warmth

What is the author's opinion in Paragraph 4?

A．A product with convenient packaging sells well．

B．The majority of consumers prefer to buy branded goods．

C．Emotion contributes much to the development of advertising industry．

D．Most similarly priced products are of a comparable standard．

The author believes that people buy the Dyson vacuum cleaner because          ．

A．it has a fashionable range

B．it has very good suction

C．it sells well around the world

D．it is invented by James Dyson

What is the author's attitude towards the form of a product?

A．Optimistic	B．Skeptical
C．Objective	D．Disapproving

科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等