Question

【題目】This day marks the rising of a new food startup, the first company to be financed entirely by the crowd, and of it every business thus relies on thousands of customers to grow. Lisa, 25, its main founder and CEO, believes it will be a path that will become increasingly popular, and ultimately will produce more thriving（繁榮的）businesses from the scratch.

“In the food industry, no venture capital (VC, 風(fēng)險投資) will even look at you until you’ve hit a million in sales. As a fresh hand in business, unless you’re independently wealthy, you will likely need to raise some money before then,” Lisa complained. So few businesses approached VC firms at the beginning. It was no exception with her. Thus, she turned to a new financing tool at hand, crowdfunding, to raise money from the crowd who’d like to take a bet on her company.

But for a company, it didn’t make sense to seek investments when all they had was an idea and a few months of consumer testing data. The food market is extremely competitive. No investor would put money behind a totally unproven new super food product founded by a bunch of twenty-somethings. “But we had a story. And crowds love stories.” Lisa said delightedly. So she put together an online crowdfunding campaign, explaining how she began working with this amazingly nutritious plant in the Peace Corps and then started selling it in the U.S. to support the poor in the West Africa.

On the online platform where they were to raise the money, a friend convinced them to change their goal from $20,000 to $50,000. Lisa stayed up all night worrying they wouldn’t hit it. But they reached $24,000 in 24 hours and ended their funding with $53,000. Seeing the number, Lisa said, “Thank you! To my crowd and for your belief!”

【1】Why couldn’t Lisa get investments in a traditional way?

A. She lacked confidence in business.

B. Her food company was in poor condition.

C. VC demanded too much in choosing partners.

D. Consumers were not satisfied with her new products.

【2】According to the passage, crowdfunding ________.

A. ensures the investors a good return

B. aims to help badly managed companies

C. attracts more people to become investors

D. helps startups deal with money shortages

【3】The underlined word “twenty-somethings” refers to ________.

A. twenty impractical ideas B. young people over twenty

C. twenty inexperienced partners D. a company with twenty branches

【4】Which of the following best explains Lisa’s success?

A. Great minds think alike. B. Honesty is the best policy.

C. Many hands make light work. D. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】B

【4】C

【解析】文章講述了一個年輕人麗莎，以一種眾籌的方式籌集到一筆資金開創(chuàng)了自己的食品公司。

【1】C細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。根據(jù)文章第二段中麗莎的話“在食品行業(yè)，只有你的銷售額達(dá)到一百萬，否則的話沒有風(fēng)險資本（VC、風(fēng)險投資）會光顧你。作為一個新手，除非你非常富有，否則的話你只能在這之前自己籌集到一筆資金。”從中可知，VC在選擇伙伴時要求很高。故選Ｃ。

【2】D細(xì)節(jié)理解題。第二段“she turned to a new financing tool at hand, crowdfunding, to raise money from the crowd who’d like to take a bet on her company.”及下文“The food market is extremely competitive. No investor would put money behind a totally unproven new super food product founded by a bunch of twenty-somethings.”可知，眾籌資金幫助解決了資金短缺的問題。故選D。

【3】B猜測詞義題。在第二段最后一句“So few businesses approached VC firms at the beginning. It was no exception with her. Thus, she turned to a new financing tool at hand, crowdfunding, to raise money from the crowd who’d like to take a bet on her company.”和下段中“No investor would put money behind a totally unproven new super food product founded by a bunch of twenty-somethings.”其中，the crowd與a bunch of 是同義詞組。由此可知“twenty-somethings”是一群20多歲的年輕人。故選B。

【4】C推理判斷題。文中的第二段“she turned to a new financing tool at hand, crowdfunding, to raise money from the crowd who’d like to take a bet on her company”第三段“No investor would put money behind a totally unproven new superfood product founded by a bunch of twenty-somethings.”及最后一段在網(wǎng)上發(fā)了個帖子來籌集資金，最終籌集到$53,000，最后麗莎說：“Thank you! To my crowd and for your belief!”可知，是眾人的幫助她完成夢想。故選C。