In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life--style of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories, He called it ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because ‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.’ Keeping up with the Joneses’ came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are ‘Jonses’ in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
小题1:Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.| A．want to be as rich as their neighbours | | B．want others to know or to think that they are rich | | C．don’t want others to know they are rich | | D．want to be happy |
小题2:It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York City | | C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbours |
小题3:The underlined word neighbourhood in the second paragraph means ________.| A．a person who lives near another | B．people living in an area | | C．an area near the place referred to | D．an area in another town or city |
小题4: Arthur Momand used the name ‘Jones’ in his series of short stories because’ Jones’ is ________.| A．an important name | B．a popular name in the United States | | C．his neighbour’s name | D．not a good name |
小题5:According to the writer, it is to keep up with the Joneses.| A．correct | B．interesting | C．impossible | D．good |
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小题1:B
小题1:A
小题1:C
小题1:B
小题1:C |
小题1:根据第一段when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about,描述,可知选B
小题1:根据第二段He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City.描述,可知选A
小题1:联系上下文,可知这单词指的是和某处相邻的地方,故选C
小题1:根据倒数第二段He called it ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because ‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.’描述,可知选B
小题1:根据最后一段But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.描述,可知人们永远无法赶上别人的脚步,故选C |
核心考点
试题【In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And eve】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
Everyone knows about straight-A students．We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge（报复）of the Nerds．They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book．They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports．
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School．She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society．For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject．Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque．He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station．Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses．
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer．“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students．“Knowing how to make the most of your innate（天生的）abilities counts for more．Much more．”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ．For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down．
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed．“It’s what you do while you’re sitting．” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates．
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn．
小题1:The underlined word “nerds” can probably be ．| A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills | | B．successful top students popular with their peers | | C．students with certain learning difficulties | | D．born leaders crazy about social activities |
小题2:What can we conclude from the first paragraph?| A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students． | | B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students． | | C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films． | | D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society． |
小题3:What will be talked about after the last paragraph?| A．The interviews with more students． | | B．The role IQ plays in learning well． | | C．The techniques to be better learners． | | D．The achievements top students make． |
小题4: What can we infer from the passage?| A．IQ is more important than hard work in study． | | B．The brightest students can never get low grades． | | C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments． | | D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers |
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Fun is, in fact, a word heard far more frequently in families today than in the past, when "duty’’ and "responsibility" were often the words used.
Parents today are more youthful in appearance and attitudes. Their clothes and hair-styles are more casual, helping to bridge the divide. Those who are athletically inclined also enjoy Rollerblading, snowboarding, and rock-climbing with their children.
For the past three years, Kathy and Phil Dalby have spent at least one evening a week at a climbing gym with their three children. "It’s great to be able to work together," Mrs Dalby says. "We discuss various climbs and where the hard parts are. Sometimes that leads to other Conversations. We’re definitely closer."
A popular movement of parent effectiveness training in the 1970s has helped to reshape generational roles. The philosophy encourages children to describe their feelings about various situations. As a result, says Robert Billingham, a family-studies professor at Indiana University, "Parents and children began talking to each other in ways they had not before."
On the plus side, he adds, these conversations made parents realize that children may have important thoughts or feelings that adults need to be aware of.
But Professor Billingham also sees a downside: Many parents started making decisions based on what their child wanted. "The power shifted to children. Parents said, ’I have to focus on making my child happy’, as opposed to ’I have to act as a parent most appropriately’."
Other changes are occurring as the ranks of working mothers grow. Time-short parents encourage children’s independence, making them more responsible for themselves. "They’ll say, ’We trust you to make the right decisions’ (whether they’re ready to assume the responsibility or not) ,"says Billingham.
The self-esteem movement of the past quarter-century has also affected the family dynamics (原动力). Some parents worry that if they tell their child no, it will hurt the child’s self-esteem.
小题1:What’s the trend in parent-child relationship mentioned in the passage?| A．Parents are chasing after fashion and ignoring the feelings of their children. | | B．More parents and children are sharing the same enthusiasm for a certain sport. | | C．Parents are taking more responsibility and setting more limits for their children. | | D．The generation gap is narrowing and parents are respecting their children’s thoughts more. |
小题2:Which of the following has NOT contributed to the change in the parent-child relationship?| A．Younger parents. | B．Parent effectiveness training. | | C．More working mothers. | D．The self-esteem movement. |
小题3: What’s Billingham’s attitude towards parents who make children more responsible for themselves?| A．He supports them. | B．He admires them. | | C．He disagrees with them. | D．He thinks they’re unreasonable. |
小题4:What will probably be discussed following the last paragraph?| A．The effect of more working mothers on children’ s education. | | B．The benefits of the new relationship between parents and children. | | C．The importance of self-esteem and ways to develop children’s self-esteem. | | D．The risks of setting no rules and some suggestions on how to have a balanced attitude. |
小题5:What’s the best title for the text?| A．Parents and Children as Friends. | B．Parents and Professors as Debaters. | | C．Growing Mutual Understanding. | D．Disappearing Responsibility. |
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Until recently, women in advertisements wore one of three things — an apron, an attractive dress or a frown. Although that is now changing, many women still feel angry about offending advertisements. “This ad degrades women.” they protested（抗议）.Why does this sort of advertising exist? How can advertisers and ad agencies still produce, sometimes, after months of research, advertising that offends the consumer?
The ASA, the body which deals with complaints about print media, is carrying out research into how women feel about the way they are pictured in advertisements. Its conclusions are likely to be what the advertising industry already knows: although women are often annoyed by the ads, few feel strong enough to complain.
Women are not the only victims of poor and boring stereotypes（老套）— in many TV commercials men are seen either as useless, childish fools who are unable to perform the simplest household tasks, or as inconsiderate fellows, always on the lookout for an escape to the pub. But it is women who seem to suffer more from the industry’s inability to put people into an authentic present-day situation. Yet according to Emma Bennett, director of a London advertising agency, women are not aggressive or extremely angry about those stereotypes and sexist （歧视妇女）advertising. “They just find it annoying or tiresome.”
She says that it is not advertising’s use of the housewife role that bothers women, but the way in which it is handled. “The most important thing is the advertisement’s tone of voice. Women hate being insincerely praised or given desperately down-to-earth common-sense advice.”
In the end, the responsibility for good advertising must be shared between the advertiser, the advertising agency and the consumer. Advertising does not set trends but it reflects them. It is up to the consumer to tell advertisers where they fail, and the process of change will remain slow until people on the receiving end take the business seriously and make their –feelings known.
小题1:Despite recent changes in attitudes, some advertisements still fail to .| A．change women’s opinions of themselves | | B．show any understanding of consumers’ feelings | | C．persuade the public to buy certain products | | D．meet the needs of the advertising industry |
小题2:According to the writer, the commonest fault of present-day advertising is to .| A．condemn the role of the housewife | B．ignore protests about advertisements | | C．present a misleading image of women | D．picture the activities of men wrongly |
小题3:Emma Bennett suggests that advertisement ought to .| A．give further emphasis to practical advice | | B．change their style rather than their content | | C．use male images instead of female ones | | D．sing higher praise for women than before |
小题4:We can learn from the passage that advertising industry should .| A．take its job more eagerly | B．do more pioneering work | | C．take notice of the public opinion | D．concentrate on the products advertised |
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Blogs allow readers to post comments. There were millions of blogs out there, so I 36 expected anyone to read mine, 37 respond. But almost immediately they did. Twelve messages were 38 after my first entry. I went to the library five times that day—each time there were more.
The next morning I couldn’t wait to get up and hurry to the library. 39 I told my story. It gave structure and a purpose to my day.
For so long I’d been unable to 40 in the real world, afraid of rejection or pity or scorn(轻蔑). 41 here it was safe. This 42 with people on the other side of the screen, many on the other side of the world, was 43 me back to life again.
One particularly cold Tuesday I opened my 44 to see, among emails from bloggers 45 how I was surviving the snow, one saying: “New York Times Journalist Trying to Contact You.” Ian Urbina had discovered my blog 46 when researching an article on people living in their 47 in the U.S. exchanged emails and later he called me up. I hadn’t spoken to 48 for months but, as rain streamed down the glass 49 , the words came. I had been living in the car for almost nine months.
The article 50 on the front page. I didn’t know until I opened my computer. There were emails from people around the world. For almost a year on one had known I 51 existed but now here were hundreds wishing me well. They said they were 52 for me.
Now every time I pressed “Check Mail”, there were more messages. I watched the numbers of the visitors counter on my blog 53 by the hundreds. These were people at their computers all over the world. I felt as of I was viewing a miracle unfold(展开).
Over the next week, in libraries and in the car 54 under lamp posts at night, I wrote my papers. I had notepaper spread 55 the dashboard(仪表盘). And every morning in the quiet of the lane, I wrote for my life.
| 小题1: | | A．nearly | B．eagerly | C．patiently | D．hardly |
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| 小题2: | | A．rather than | B．more than | C．let alone | D．other than |
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| 小题3: | | A．read | B．printed | C．left | D．taken |
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| 小题4: | | A．The other day | B．Day and night | C．All day long | D．Another day |
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| 小题5: | | A．give out | B．reach out | C．make out | D．hand out |
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| 小题7: | | A．problem | B．work | C．appointment | D．connection |
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| 小题8: | | A．paying | B．giving | C．binging | D．writing |
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| 小题9: | | A．website | B．mailbox | C．blog | D．newspaper |
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| 小题10: | | A．concerned about | B．bored with | C．careless of | D．disappointed at |
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| 小题11: | | A．by mistake | B．in time | C．by chance | D．at last |
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| 小题12: | | A．homes | B．offices | C．cars | D．libraries |
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| 小题13: | | A．everybody | B．anyone | C．another | D．other |
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| 小题14: | | A．inwards | B．inside | C．outwards | D．outside |
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| 小题15: | | A．carried | B．published | C．appeared | D．contributed |
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| 小题16: | | A．already | B．even | C．almost | D．only |
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| 小题17: | | A．praying | B．fighting | C．voting | D．looking |
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| 小题18: | | A．ending | B．increasing | C．dropping | D．expanding |
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| 小题19: | | A．repaired | B．washed | C．crashed | D．parked |
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| 小题20: | | A．through | B．beyond | C．across | D．above |
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When did you last visit a shopping mall? In many places, the answer would be “last weekend”. Some people go even more often. Why? For one thing, malls offer goods and services that people need all in one place : food, clothing, things for their houses, entertainment，and even medical services. So, are mallsone of the highlights of modern civilization? Environmental activists wo uld say “No!” They would go even further and say that consumer behavior is causing a huge environmental disaster. They cause consumers of ignorance of the side effect of their shopping—urban sprawl (城市杂乱无序拓展的地区）.
Social scientists agree that patterns of development have changed the landscape a great deal in the last half century. Prior to 1950，most people lived in towns or cities and either walked to work or took public transportation. Only very wealthy people had automobiles. Farmers lived in rural areas or isolated villages and came into town only when they needed things they couldn’t produce themselves. If you gazed at the landscape you would see towns surrounded by countryside. Then a massive change occurred.
Automobiles became affordable and people were quick to adopt them. Now ambitious workers could live in the suburbs, the areas just outside cities, which started to grow rapidly. As long as there was lots of cheap land in the suburbs, no one paid much attention to the usage of that land. Malls, fast food restaurants, cinemas, and car dealerships spread out in large, flat buildings. These one - storey buildings and their parking lot took up a great deal of space. Well - meaning farmers thought they were better off selling their land than growing crops. In ignorance, no one realized that once the land was built up in urban sprawl, the good farming land would be ruined forever. There was no way to preserve it.
Only in recent years have people come to mourn the old way of life as they have developed insight into the problems of unconditional growth. Now people realize that urban sprawl has come with serious environmental problems. The negative aspects of sprawl include air and water pollution, loss of agricultural land, traffic jams, and the death of businesses in the old town centers. Many scholars think the time has come to analyze the problems better so we can develop appropriate policies to control further sprawl. Some think the best way to do is to educate citizens about their priceless environment.
小题1:What is mainly discussed in the passage?| A．Urban sprawl | B．Weekend fun | | C．New automobiles | D．Isolated villages |
小题2:Who do activists blame for environmental problems?| A．Endangered animals. | B．Unthinking shoppers. | | C．Shopping mall owners. | D．Ambitious farmers. |
小题3:What does the underlined word “They” refer to in the first paragraph?.| A．Activists | B．Malls. | C．Farmers. | D．Scientists. |
小题4:What is the scholars’ attitude toward urban sprawl?| A．Respectful. | B．Pessimistic. | C．Disapproving. | D．Doubtful. |
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