问题补充:
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 neighboursB.want others to know or to think that they are richC.don’t want others to know they are richD.want to be happy【小题2】It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to .A.live outside New York CityB.live in New York CityC.live in apartmentsD.have many neighbours【小题3】The underlined word neighbourhood in the second paragraph means .A.a person who lives near anotherB.people living in an areaC.an area near the place referred toD.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 nameB.a popular name in the United StatesC.his neighbour’s nameD.not a good name【小题5】According to the writer, it is to keep up with the Joneses.A.correctB.interestingC.impossibleD.goodB
答案:
(答案→)B
解析:
【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