Who made your T-shirt?” A Geowetown University student raised that question. Pietra Rivoli, a professor of business, wanted to find the answer. A few weeks later, she bought a T-shirt and began to follow its path from Texas cotton form to Chinese factory to charity bin (慈善捐赠箱). The result is an interesting new book, The Travel’s of a T-shirt in the Global Economy.
Following a T-shirt around the world in a way to make her point more interesting, but it also frees Rivoli from the usual arguments over global trade. She goes wherever the T-shirt goes, and there are surprises around every corner. In China, Rivoli shows why a clothing factory, even with its poor conditions, means a step toward a better life for the people who work there. In the colorful used-clothing markets of Tanzania, she realizes this, “it is only in this final stage of life that the T-shirt will meet a real market,” where the price of a shirt changes by the hour and is different by its size and even color. Rivoli’s book is full of memerable people and scenes, like the noise, the bad air and the “muddy-sweet smell of the cotton. ”She says, “Here in the factory, Shanghai smells like Shallowater Texas. ”
Rivoli is at her best when making those sorts of unexpected connections. She even finds one between the free traders and those who are against globalization. The chances opened up by trade are vast, she argues, but free markets need the correcting force of politics to keep them in check. True economic progress needs them both.
55. What do we learn about Professor Rivoli?
A. She used to work on a cotton farm.
B. She wrote a book about world trade.
C. She wants to give up her teaching job.
D. She wears a T-shirt wherever she goes.
56. By saying T-shirt “meet a real market”, Rivoli means in Tanzania_______.
A. cheaper T-shirts are needed.
B. used T-shirts are hard to sell
C. prices of T-shirt rise and fall frequently
D. prices of T-shirt are usually reasonable
57. What does the word “them” underlined in the last paragraph refer to?
A. Free-markets.
B. Price changes.
C. Unexpected connection.
D. Chances opened up by trade.
58. What would be the best title for the text?
A. What T-shirt Can Do to Help Cotton Farms
B. How T-shirt Are Made in Shanghai
C. How T-shirt Are Sold in Tanzania
D. What T-shirt Can Teach Us