阅读理解。
Celebrity (名人) has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture. Fans used
to be crazy about specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption (消费) on the interest of
celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of
putting models on the cover because they don't sell nearly as well as famous faces. As a result, celebrities
have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others' products to
developing their own.
Celebrity clothing lines aren't a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed
at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses. Today they're started by first-class stars
whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands. The most successful start-ups have been
those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the
market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.
However, for every success story, there's a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his
consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product's origins is, if it fails to impress consumers with its
own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial (最初的)
attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty (忠诚) returning to tried-and-true labels.
Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment. The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than
ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity's shelf life,
and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when
the opportunity appears. Still, the ego's (自我的) potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved
great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the
saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short
time, but fashion-like celebrity-has always been temporary.
1. Fashion magazines today _____. [ ]
A. seldom put models on the cover
B. no longer put models on the cover
C. need not worry about celebrities' market potential
D. judge the market potential of every celebrity correctly
2. A change in the consumer market can be found today that _____. [ ]
A. price rather than brand name is more concerned
B. producers prefer models to celebrities for advertisements
C. producers prefer TV actresses to film stars for advertisements
D. quality rather than the outside of products is more concerned
3. The underlined sentence in paragraph 4 indicates that any wrong step will possibly _____. [ ]
A. decrease the popularity of a celebrity and the sales of his products
B. damage the image of a celebrity in the eyes of the general public
C. cut short the artistic career of a celebrity in show business
D. influence the price of a celebrity's products
4. The passage is mainly about _____. [ ]
A. celebrity and personal style
B. celebrity and markets potential
C. celebrity and fashion design
D. celebrity and clothing industry