文章大意:本文是一篇说明文。文章介绍了Sol Escobar创立的企业Give Your Best为难民提供免费的衣服,并在捐赠者和难民之间建立了亲密的人际关系。
When she first came to Britain as a refugee (难民) from Nigeria six years ago, Kemi had a three-month-old daughter, a room in a shared house and £5.39 to survive on each day. Finding money for new clothes was out of the question.
After four years, Kemi was granted (给与) refugee status and secured her first job interview — unsurprisingly, she had nothing to wear. However, she was referred to a small social enterprise called Give Your Best, which asked her her size and what kind of clothes she liked. “And they gave me three beautiful shirts. Those clothes were like gold to me. They asked me what I actually wanted. That makes you feel valued.”
The initiative was launched by Sol Escobar, who had spent several years volunteering at refugee camps in northern France. A friend put her in contact with a household of refugee women who couldn’t access any clothing. Escobar realised she had surplus (剩余) clothes she could donate, and appealed to her friends and networks for help. She was flooded with offers, but didn’t want to overload the women with potentially improper clothing. “So I thought, if I take photos of all of these items and put them on an Instagram page, they can all choose the things that they actually want.”
Eighteen months later, Give Your Best has processed almost 11,000 items of clothing, and has more than 800 refugee women approved to “shop” for free on its virtual shopfront. It is aiming for much more, however. Having reached the very limit of donations and requests it could handle through Instagram, the enterprise has just launched a new digital platform that will allow it to hugely upscale.
Like the hugely successful clothing resale app, clothes are photographed and uploaded to Give Your Best, where customers select those they like and donors then post the item. Crucially, however, no money changes hands.
As well as giving choice to its users and minimising fashion waste, Escobar says one consequence has been the small but intimate (亲密的) connections established between donor and shopper. Many donors choose to include a supportive note and a small gift — hugely welcomed by recipients (接受者), but also a reminder that “on the other side of your package, there’s a woman who is your size and has your fashion sense, because she’s shopping from your wardrobe (衣橱)”.
8. What’s the purpose of the enterprise?
A.To offer job training to refugees. |
B.To provide childcare for refugees. |
C.To give refugees dignity of choice. |
D.To strengthen refugees’ social position. |
9. What does paragraph 3 focus on?
A.How the enterprise survived. |
B.How the enterprise advertised. |
C.How the enterprise was named. |
D.How the enterprise was initiated. |
10. What do we learn about the enterprise from the text?
A.It is warmly received. |
B.It is difficult to operate. |
C.It makes huge profits. |
D.It needs to be more creative. |
11. What does the enterprise bring to its donors and recipients?
A.Enjoyable shopping experience. |
B.A sense of social responsibility. |
C.Close interpersonal relationship. |
D.A good insight into fashion trend. |