◆ Susan

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阅读难度：★★★☆☆

建议阅读时间：5分钟

If you’ve been shelling out for designer clothing in the hopes that it will be more durable than cheaper options, you might want to reconsider it.A new study from The University of Leeds suggests that low-cost clothing might actually outlast pricier pieces.

The study was led by Dr Mark Sumner, a lecturer in fashion and sustainability.Using samples of T-shirts and jeans from a variety of brands and price points, researchers measured factors such as seam(接缝) strength, colorfastness(色牢度), and how long it took for the fabric of each piece to develop rips or tears(撕裂).

Despite the popular notion that designer clothes are more sturdily(刚强地) constructed than off-the-rack(现成的) items, the study found that fast-fashion shirts and jeans usually out-performed their luxury counterparts.

“Some of the garments performed very well across a wide range of tests—more often than not, the best products were ‘fast-fashion’ products,” Dr Sumner told The Telegraph.“Jeans from one fashion brand lasted twice as long as a designer label jeans, but cost one-tenth of the price of the designer jeans,” he said.

According to Dr Sumner’s interview with The Telegraph, designer label T-shirts were“the worst performing” in all of the tests.Surprisingly, T-shirts from an online fast-fashion brand held up the best.

Of course, price isn’t the only thing to consider when shopping for new threads.The fashion industry is a huge source of environmental pollution, with low-cost clothing contributing heavily to landfi ll waste and carbon gas emissions.

According to the EPA Offi ce of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year.With trends appearing and vanishing in the blink of an eye, the average number of times a garment is worn before it is disposed of has decreased 36% over the past 15 years, according to a 2017 report.

Although some clothing items are estimated to be trashed after just seven wears, less than 1% of clothing is recycled to create new clothing.Plus, fast-fashion can come with ethical concerns depending on the company.

But it’s not just fast-fashion brands that are guilty of wasteful practices.Earlier this year, high-end design label Burberry acknowledged burning almost $40 million of unsold clothes, accessories(饰品), and perfume.According to the BBC, the company opted to destroy the items rather than sell them more cheaply in order to protect the brand’s value.

All in all, there’s a lot to consider when purchasing new clothing.But, keeping those bargain jeans in your wardrobe(衣柜) rotation could be good for your budget and the environment—and chances are they can last just as long as the designer pair you’ve been eyeing.

阅读理解

1.What’s the meaning of the underlined words in the fi rst paragraph?

A.Bought.B.Lived.C.Paid.D.Preferred.

2.What’s the result of the research?

A.Seam strength and colorfastness are better.

B.The more expensive the jeans are, the more long-wearing.

C.It takes long for the fabric of each piece to develop rips or tears.

D.Fast-fashion shirts and jeans last longer than luxury ones.

3.According to Dr Sumner, ‘fast-fashion’ products have the following characteristics _____.

①cheap ② durable ③ environmentally-friendly ④ expensive ⑤polluting

A.①② B.②③ C.③④ D.④⑤

4.From the passage we can infer that designer clothes are ______.

A.low-carbon B.changed quickly C.trashed easily D.wasted heavily

5.In a nutshell, the author suggested that we’d better buy _____.

A.expensive clothes B.bargain jeans

C.high-end design label Burberry D.perfume

答案与解析

1.C。词义猜测题。根据后面语境中的“cheaper，pricier”等可以判断C正确。

2.D。细节理解题。根据文章第三段“the study found that fast-fashion shirts and jeans usually out-performed their luxury counterparts”，意思是“研究发现，快时尚品牌的T恤和牛仔裤通常都比名牌衣服更耐穿”。

3.A。细节理解题。根据文章第四段和第五段的内容可以判断A正确。③⑤两点虽然是廉价衣服的特点但不是萨姆纳博士的话。

4.A。推理判断题。根据第六段对廉价衣服的描述可以推断A正确。

5.B。细节理解题。根据文章最后一段中“keeping those bargain jeans in your wardrobe(衣柜) rotation could be good for your budget and the environment”可以知道B正确。

长难句分析

1.The fashion industry is a huge source of environmental pollution, with low-cost clothing contributing heavily to landfi ll waste and carbon gas emissions.时装行业是造成环境污染的一大源头，低成本服装严重加剧了垃圾填埋和二氧化碳排放。

这是个简单句，句中使用with复合结构。with+宾语+现在分词，这是常考的一点。如：

He fell asleep with the lamp burning．他没熄灯就睡着了。

I won’t be able to go on holiday with my mother being ill．因为妈妈有病，我无法去度假。

2.All in all, there’s a lot to consider when purchasing new clothing.总而言之，在买新衣服之前要考虑的东西很多。

这是个复合句。在there be句型中，主语a lot 有to consider这个不定式做定语，when引导的时间状语从句使用了省略形式。例如：Many years ago,there was such a beautiful girl who was called Caixia.很久以前有一个叫彩霞的美丽女孩。