1. Translate the text with a dictionary.

2. Give the company’s background. Text 13

Read the text and match the paragraphs with the indicated parts of the kettle on the picture below.

9093 Kettle

I. When Alberto Alessi approached Michael Graves to produce а ‘functional’ kettle, the second of its designer kettle series, he did so with а well-defined set of requirements, including the need for it to whistle. Graves had to work within these rigid requirements to produce а final design – one that ultimately became Allessi’s best-selling product and spawned а family of related items. What is it about this playful kettle, priced high for its category at over $100, that has so intrigued consumers? Michael Graves comments: “Architectural and product designs have а narrative capacity – you can start to tell а story about them and imagine а lot of things. The Alessi bird kettle has а personality, with its simple geometry. Its dots on the bottom are red to signify heat as it’s places on the stove. And the shape of the grooved handle, which is blue where it was cool to touch, and, of course, а bird whistles.”

II. The conical stainless steel kettle possesses an unremarkable geometry. It is the ornamentation – bird, handle, rivets – that differentiates the kettle and endows it with personality. А basic color code is applied: red elements get hot, blue elements remain cool. Its form is at once playful, approachable, and sophisticated, а signature style of its postmodern designer, and а combination largely responsible for its mass-market appeal. One wonders, however, if its success has more to do with its marketing, with its celebrity architect association, than its blue handle or whistling red bird, enabling its premium price point and transforming an otherwise commodity kettle into а kind of Veblen goods, where the high price drives the demand and the physical design is secondary.

III. The handle remains cool at all times, true to its color code. The grip is positioned along а circular metal rod, just off center toward the back, extending up and over the lid. This position facilitates pouring but somewhat obstructs removal of the lid. The color and slight finger-formed depressions nicely afford gripping. The front and back of the grip are terminated with red balls, indicating that the exposed metal just beyond them heats up with the body.

IV. The most eccentric feature of the kettle is the polyamide red bird perched at the mouth of the spout, а cap that creates а disappointingly nonbirdlike whistle when water boils. Still, the color and iconic rendering of the bird define the product. The bird must be removed to pour water. Aside from the obvious burn hazard, removing the cap every time is enough of а hassle that it is often just left off and eventually lost. А hinged cap, а feature offered on its less expensive Target progeny, would be а welcome modification.

V. The exposed rivets near the bottom of the base are an interesting aesthetic choice. Their presence is clearly ornamental – reminiscent of the rivets once used to secure base to body in older kettle as an Art Deco object. The rivets do offer а subtle aesthetic counterweight to the top-heavy ornamentation, and they convey а sense of strength and stability, echoing the solidity of the base and the kettle’s high-quality stainless-steel construction.