In the United States, when one became 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 lifestyle 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.

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

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

3.The underlined word “neighbourhood” in the second paragraph means ________.

A．a(chǎn) person who lives near another

B．people living in an area

C．a(chǎn)n area near the place referred to

D．a(chǎn)n area in another town or city

4.Arthur Momand used the name ‘Jones’ in his series of short stories because’ Jones’ is ________.

A．a(chǎn)n important name

B．a(chǎn) popular name in the United States

C．his neighbour’s name

D．not a good name

5.According to the writer, keeping up with the Joneses is ________.

A．correct

B．interesting

C．impossible

D．good

 

【答案】

1.B

2.A

3.C

4.B

5.C

【解析】文章介紹了美國(guó)的一個(gè)熟語(yǔ)：keeping up with the Joneses。

1.B 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第一段1,2行when one became rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is說(shuō)明B正確。

2.A 推斷題。根據(jù)第二段第三行He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City.他們是搬到了紐約郊外的富人區(qū)，說(shuō)明富人喜歡住在郊外。故A正確。

3.C 猜測(cè)詞義題。第二段中neighbourhood只的是人民聚集居住的地方，故C的說(shuō)法正確。

4.B 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第四段第三行‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.說(shuō)明Jones是美國(guó)一個(gè)很常見(jiàn)的名字，故B正確。

5.C 推理題。根據(jù)文章最后一句話. 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.說(shuō)明MrJones總是在前面，所以要想追上Jones是不可能的。故C正確。

 

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