IV.閱讀測驗:24%,每題2分       Ever fashionable, the Alessi brand has managed to transform from a metal utensil anddish designer to fully explore all kitchen and houschold options, incorporating the work ofleading designers from Philippe Stark to Michae1 Graves and Aldo Rossi. Throughout itshistary. Alessi has chosen direction bascd on the guidance of its designers and thedevelopment of the product itself. The brand vision appcars to be to revel in dosign in allareas of life, to enjoy and celebrate the simplicity of cveryday objects, and to take riskswhether there exists a need for risk or not. Or put simply: No man should be forced to dinefrom a boring plate .But how did Alessi acquire such a frivolously jubilant rcputation? The year was 1921, the setting, a small town in the foothills of the Italian Alps, the founderGiovanni Alessi for whom the company is named was a metal expert working with a lathe tocreate workmanlike metal utensils and dishcs. The rcsult was a family-run brand that wouldcontinually adapt to set style in the kitchen and home using a variety of mediums from silver,bronze and stainless steel to porcelain, ceramic, and eventually, plastic.        Although Giovanni was an able craftsman, it wasn't until his eldest son Carlo stepped upto the plate in the thirties and forties that the brand began to be associated with a style ofdesign unique to the Alessi name. Carlo's playfully flamboyant Bombe coffee and tea set iscelebrated as creating a design sensibility in Italy that can still be seen as an influence in manyof the products today. It was these early designs that encouraged ordinary Italians to viewtheir kitchen as a living arthouse, where the salt and pepper shaker were more than just thefunctional sum of their parts.        Carlo's eldest son Alberto continued along the path set by la famiglia and propelled thecompany into the international world of design. In the early nineties, on the advice of hisdesigners, Alberto allowed the use of plastic to address a trend of "customers yearning forjoytul. playful design," as he put it. This change of direction for the brand, which prior to theadvent of plastic, was becoming an elitist symbol of yuppie affuence, helped Alessi to breakaway from the harsh lines of the eighties and adjust to the mnore organic tineties.        And it is this advice from his designers that seems to inform Alberto's approach tomanaging the brand's direction. Rather than tracking the whims and desires of the market base,Alessi follows the suggestion of its designers in deciding where its next steps will be. Thisapproach is a boon to designers who may wish to design free lrom the confines of theaudience's voicc. In this manner, the exolution of Alessi's is such that an elegant cup andsaucer can residc next to a flamboyantly tentacled octopus whisk.        But for thosc acsthetes who worry that the brand is too acccssible to the masses, Alessihas created a dual branding system to distinguish between its popular pricc point products andthe more exclusive designs. There is the Alessi product, which is mass produced and easilyaccessed through department stores, and then a system of marks for designers dedicated toexperimenting and manufactured in limited editions. These names include Officina Alessi,product designed solely in metal, Alessi Twergi, using only wood, and Alessi Tendentse,which uses porcelain and crystal glass.        Content for its produets to be confined to the kitchen, the Alessi name in turn aspires toattain rocognition within the design community. And the rest of the world obviously concursas Alessi design can be found in museums throughout the world
【題組】39. What is most likely the author's comment on Alessi products?
(A) A symbol of household innovation
(B) Transforming industry into art
(C) A brand with long tradition
(D) Putting fun into function