2013职称英语综合类的A级真题及答案阅读理解_职称英语阅读理解

2013职称英语综合类的A级真题及答案阅读理解

　　The result was an outcry and the first of a series of government-and industrysponsored inquiries into the surrealworld of ultimate fashion.The trade continues to insist that couture offers you more than you pay for，but its not as simple as that.When such a temple of old wealth starts talking about value for money。it isnt to convince anyone that dresses costing as much as houses are a bargain.Rather，it is to preserve the peculiar mystique，lucrativeassociations and threatened interests that couture represents.

　　Essentially，the arguments couldnt be simpler.On one side are those who say that the business will die if it doesnt change. On the other are those who say it will die if it is highly dated. Huge in its costs，tiny in its clientele and questionable in its influence，it still remains one of the great themes of Parisian life.In his book, The Fashion Conspiracy, Nicholas Coleridge estimates that the entire couture industry rests on the whimsof less than 30 immensely wealthy women，and although the number may have grown in recent years with the new prosperity of Asia, the number of couture customers worldwide is no more than 4.000.

　　To qualify as couture, a garment must be entirely handmade by one of the 11 Paris couture houses registered to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.Each house must employ at least 20 people.and show a minimum of 75 new designs a year.So far,so traditional.but the Big Four operatorsChanel，Dior,Givenchy and Gaultierincreasingly use couture as a marketing device for their far more profitable readytowear，fragrance and accessory lines.