SECTION 2: READING TEST
Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. You are to choose ONE best answer, (A), (B), (C) or (D), to each question. Answer all the questions following each passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
Questions 1-5
When Harvey Ball took a black felt-tip pen to a piece of yellow paper in 1963, he never could have realized that he was drafting the face that would launch 50 million buttons and an eventual war over copyright. Mr. Ball, a commercial artist, was simply filling a request from Joy Young of the Worcester Mutual Insurance Company to create an image for their "smile campaign" to coach employees to be more congenial in their customer relations. It seems there was a hunger for a bright grin—the original order of 100 smiley-face buttons were snatched up and an order for 10,000 more was placed at once.
The Worcester Historical Museum takes this founding moment seriously. "Just as you'd want to know the biography of General Washington, we realized we didn't know the comprehensive history of the Smiley Face," says Bill Wallace, the executive director of the historical museum where the exhibit "Smiley—An American Icon" opens to the public Oct. 6 in Worcester, Mass.
Worcester, often referred to by neighboring Bostonians as "that manufacturing town off Route 90," lays claim to several other famous commercial firsts, the monkey wrench and shredded wheat among them. Smiley Face is a particularly warm spot in the city's history. Through a careful historical analysis, Mr. Wallace says that while the Smiley Face birthplace is undisputed, it took several phases of distribution before the distinctive rounded-tipped smile with one eye slightly larger than the other proliferated in the mainstream.
As the original buttons spread like drifting pollen with no copyright attached, a bank in Seattle next realized its commercial potential. Under the guidance of advertising executive David Stern, the University Federal Savings & Loan launched a very public marketing campaign in 1967 centered on the Smiley Face. It eventually distributed 150,000 buttons along with piggy banks and coin purses. Old photos of the bank show giant Smiley Face wallpaper.
By 1970, Murray and Bernard Spain, brothers who owned a card shop in Philadelphia, were affixing the yellow grin to everything from key chains to cookie jars along with "Have a happy day." "In the 1970s, there was a trend toward happiness," says Wallace. "We had assassinated a president, we were in a war with Vietnam, and people were looking for [tokens of] happiness. [The Spain brothers] ran with it."
The Smiley Face resurged in the 1990s. This time it was fanned by a legal dispute between Wal-Mart, who uses it to promote its low prices, and Franklin Loufrani, a Frenchman who owns a company called SmileyWorld. Mr. Loufrani says he created the Smiley Face and has trademarked it around the world. He has been distributing its image in 80 countries since 1971.
Loufrani's actions irked Ball, who felt that such a universal symbol should remain in the public domain in perpetuity. So in a pleasant proactive move, Ball declared in 1999 that the first Friday in October would be "World Smile Day" to promote general kindness and charity toward children in need. Ball died in 2001.
The Worcester exhibit opens on "World Smile Day", Oct. 6. It features a plethora of Smiley Face merchandise—from the original Ball buttons to plastic purses and a toilet seat—and contemporary interpretations by local artists. The exhibit is scheduled to run through Feb. 11.
1. According to the passage, the Worcester Historical Museum ______.
(A) concentrates on the collection of the most famous commercial firsts the city has invented
(B) has composed a comprehensive history of the Smiley Face through the exhibition
(C) treats Smiley Face as the other famous commercial firsts the city has produced
(D) has organized the exhibit to arouse the Americans' patriotism
2. When the author used the expression "spread like drifting pollen "(para.4) to describe the gradual distribution of Smiley Face, he implies that ________.
(A) Harvey Ball did not claim the copyright of the yellow grin button
(B) the Smiley Face was immediately accepted by the public
(C) the button was not sold as an ordinary commercial product
(D) Harvey Ball had the intention to abandon the copyright of Smiley Face
3. Why did Bill Wallace mention the assassination of the then American president and the Vietnam War in the 1970s?
(A) To have a review of the contemporary American history.
(B) To remind people that we should never forget the past.
(C) To explain why Americans liked the Smiley Face during that period.
(D) To show how the Spain brothers made a fortune through selling the yellow grin.
4. In the expression "Loufrani's actions irked Ball" (para.7), the word "irked" can best be replaced by ______.
(A) perplexed
(B) provoked
(C) irritated
(D) challenged
5. Which of the following is NOT true about the "World Smile Day"?
(A) It was established to commemorate the founder Harvey Ball.
(B) It was to promote general kindness and charity toward children in need.
(C) It was declared by Harvey Ball in 1999.
(D) It was decided to be held on the first Friday in October each year.