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 neighbors.
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 neighborhood 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 neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his 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 neighbors. 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 neighbors | 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 |
| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York city |
| C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbors |
| A．an important name | B．a popular name in the United States |
| C．his neighbor’s name | D．not a good name |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
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【推荐1】“Have a nice day！” may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless expression. When my friend Maxie says “Have a nice day” with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and safe since another person cares about me and wishes me well.
“Have a nice day. Next！” This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone (腔调) with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else's is the management's attempt to increase business.
The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don't know what to say. “Oh, you just had a tooth out? I'm terribly sorry, but have a nice day. ”
The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heartwarming because someone you don't know has tried to be nice to you.
Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it's nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don't care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.
1. How does the author understand Maxie's words?| A．Maxie shows her anxiety to the author. |
| B．Maxie really wishes the author a good day. |
| C．Maxie encourages the author to stay happy. |
| D．Maxie really worries about the author's safety. |
| A．The salesgirl is rude to the customers. | B．The salesgirl is bored with her work. |
| C．The salesgirl cares about me. | D．The salesgirl says the words as usual. |
| A．as a habit | B．as thanks |
| C．sincerely | D．Encouragingly |
| A．try to be polite to you | B．express respect to you |
| C．give his blessings to you | D．share his pleasure with you |
【推荐2】English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world's books and three quarters of international mail are in English.Of all languages，English has the largest vocabulary-perhaps as many as two million words.
However，let's face it:English is a crazy language.There is no egg in an eggplant，neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger.Sweet-meats are candy，while sweetbreads，which aren't sweet，are meat.
We take English for granted.But when we.explore its paradoxes（探讨它的矛盾），we find that quicksand can work slowly，boxing rings are square，public bathrooms have no baths in them.And why is it that a writer writes，but fingers don't finger，grocers don't grocers，and hammers don't ham？If the plural of tooth is teeth，shouldn't the plural of.booth be teeth？One goose，two geese-so one moose，two meese？
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same，while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites？How can overlook and oversee be opposites，while quite a lot and quite a few are alike？
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next？
English was invented by people，not computers，and it reflects（反映）the creativity of hu-
man beings.That's why，when stars are out，they are visible（能看见的）；but when the lights are out，they are invisible.And why，when I wind up my watch，I start it；but when I wind up this essay，I end it.
1. According to the passage____.| A．sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things |
| B．there should be egg in an eggplant |
| C．pineapples are the apples on the pine tree |
| D．boxing rings should be round. |
| A．Teeth. | B．Geese. |
| C．Meese. | D．Tooth. |
| A．A wise man and a wise guy. | B．Overlook and oversee. |
| C．Quite a lot and quite a few. | D．Hot as hell and cold as hell. |
| A．blow | B．roll up |
| C．get hurt | D．finish |
| A．clever | B．crazy |
| C．lazy | D．dull |
【推荐3】I met the last speaker of Naati, Ariep, on a beach on Malekula, an island in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. We said hello to each other in the local creole (克里奥尔语), and the conversation quickly turned to the topic of my unlikely appearance on the beach.
Ariep explained the relationship between Naati and the other languages of the area.
If we are heading toward a future in which we all speak one of a few large languages, isn’t that a good thing?
| A．I said “no”. |
| B．It really changes a lot. |
| C．Naati’s situation is not unique. |
| D．He said he is the last fluent speaker of Naati. |
| E．Ariep is fluent in an impressive number of languages. |
| F．A world with many different languages will do us all good. |
| G．I told him that I was studying one of his country’s native languages. |
【推荐1】In the age of reality television, success isn’t the only way to the public eye. Failure can also create fame, just like William Hung, 21, a native of Hong Kong.
Hung recently bas made an agreement with US-based entertainment firms Koch Records and Fuse Music Network. They will publish a full-length record, titled “The True Idol“ on April 6.
The idol isa civil engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley. He did a version of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” on television show “American Idol 3”, on January 27. The Fox TV singing contest searches for pop stars among ordinary people. In the case of Hung, however, his act was so bad that the judges cut him off in mid-act.
Hung’s response? “I already gave my best, so I have no regrets at all. “That’s good, because any common person would have found plenty to regret: the off-key singing; the blue Hawaiian shirt worn with pants pulled up too high: the terrible dancing: the hips jerking to a beat that did not belong to the song, maybe not even to this planet. Ut was, by all accounts, bad. But. it was this very bad act that sold well.
Marc Juns, president of Fuse, explained it this way, “Every one of us is happily guilty of singing our favorite song at the top of our lungs with complete freedom, completely off-key and completely unworried. That’s what William did and immediately won the hearts of America.”
Whatever it is, for the moment it’s big. Three websites devoted to Hung have gone up on the Internet in the past few weeks. Versions of his performance have been remixed with hip hop and techno music and have made it to the top 10 request list at a Chicago radio station.
So, what does Hung think of this?
“There were all these people saying things about me. A lot were saying I was very courageous and that I was great on the show, but some didn’t have much respect for me and some were kind of mean.”
Now he says he’s not so sure whether to distance himself from the glamour or to accept it. Returning to normal hasn’t been easy.
1. What is the main idea of this passage?| A．Sometimes an idea behaves quite foolishly. | B．Hung’s performance attracted the public eye. |
| C．How an unsuccessful person became famous. | D．Success sometimes does not require hard work. |
| A．his shirt and pants | B．his off-key singing |
| C．his hips jerking | D．his excellent version |
| A．William Hung. | B．Hung’s bad act. | C．Hung’s website. | D．The public’s opinion. |
a. The entertainment firms made an agreement with Hung.
b. The judges cut Hung off in mid-act in the singing contest.
c. Hung became popular among Americans.
d. Hung gave a terrible performance though he tried his best.
e. Three websites put Hung’s funny performance on the Internet.
| A．d, b, e, c, a | B．a, c, d. b, e | C．a, d, b, c, e | D．d, b, a, e, c |
| A．His success was based on his own hard work. |
| B．He attracted people’s attention in the contest. |
| C．He was good-looking though he didn’t sing well. |
| D．His character was completely different from other idols. |
【推荐2】Showrooming
One of the biggest challenges facing brick-and-mortar retailers (实体零售店) in recent years has been the “showrooming”. Driven by the desire to get the best prices, many shoppers are now visiting brick-and-mortar stores to personally check on products that interest them, only to leave and then buy the items online. The new trend is forcing retailers to find out new ways to keep consumers from leaving their store for cheaper prices online.
Recent research found that 40 percent of U.S. shoppers have showroomed previously, with big-box retailers suffering the most. Specifically, the study shows that Best Buy, Walmart and Target are the most likely brick-and-mortar stores to have shoppers test out a product in-store and then purchase it online later, while Amazon is benefiting most from the practice, with nearly 60 percent of shoppers using the online retail giant (巨人) most often to make their showrooming purchases.
Smartphones have pushed showrooming into the front. Shoppers no longer have to wait until they get home to see if they can find a cheaper price for the products they’re considering buying. With smartphones, consumers can now compare virtual prices, at both other brick-and-mortar stores and online ones while still inside a retail store. If they can find what they’re seeking for less online, the majority will be seeking the first exit. A recent study showed that 45 percent of customers shopping at brick-and-mortar stores walk out and buy their purchase online for a discount of as little as 2.5 percent.
This puts pressure on retailers to provide both an in-store experience worth staying for and an online presence that can attract shoppers who are showrooming in other businesses.
To cut down on showrooming, many retailers are adopting new methods to keep shoppers in their stores. Among the steps they’re taking are price-matching assurances that allow shoppers to pay a discounted price if they find it cheaper online. This ensures that even a showrooming shopper can make the purchase in the store — regardless of whether they find the cheaper price online.
Another popular method to fight against showrooming is to give shoppers the ability to buy something online and pick it up at the store. This reduces shipping costs and gets customers in the store, where they may be encouraged to make an additional purchase.
It is also important for businesses to take into consideration what makes shoppers purchase something in-store rather than online, and meet those needs. Research has found that more than 8 in 10 Americans consider being able to take the goods home immediately and the ability to touch and feel them—the most important aspects when deciding to purchase in a store rather than online.
1. What contributes to the growing popularity of showrooming?| A．The wide use of smartphones. | B．The competition between big stores. |
| C．The advertisement by online retail giants. | D．The decline of the brick-and-mortar stores. |
| A．searching for lower prices | B．leaving as soon as possible |
| C．locating the first exit quickly | D．making a purchase on the spot |
| A．increasing sales at stores | B．preventing purchase online |
| C．satisfying customers’ needs | D．advising shoppers to buy more |
【推荐3】There are few spectacles more unpleasant than a television presenter trying to hang on to a job. When one of the presenters of the BBC program Crimewatch resigned recently, rather than suffer the inevitable indignity of being unfinished and replaced by a younger version, he made the usual hurt noises about his masters' overemphasis on youth. People in the media listened sympathetically before he slid from view to join the ranks of television's has-beens.
The presenter's argument, that the views don't care how old you are so long as you can “do the job,” unfortunately is not backed up by the evidence. When you're on TV, viewers are always thinking about whether you're losing your hair or your figure and, lately, whether you've had cosmetic work done. This is what they're actually doing when you think they're listening to the wise things you say. Viewers actually don't understand much of what the job involves, they just see you sitting there looking the part. Like the ability to pet one's head while rubbing one's stomach, TV presenting is just one of those sills. Some of those who possess this skill can hit the big name, inevitably as they become more attached to the lifestyle this brings, however, the more likely they are to overstate the skill.
In reality, if somebody is paying you a lot of money to do a job, it's often on the tacit （心照不宣的） understanding that you may be fired suddenly-it's part of the deal. Unlike football managers, TV presenters pretend not to understand this. If they've had many years being paid silly sums to read a script from an autocue （ 自动题词机），it's difficult for them to accept that they've been the beneficiary of good fortune rather than anything else; even harder to face the fact that an editor could all too easily send them to the shopping channels.
Something similar eventually awaits all the people who are currently making fortunes that would have been unimaginable to earlier generations of presenters. One day we'll decide that their face no longer fits and they'll be dragged away complaining about the same ageist policy from which they no doubt previously profited. Show business is a brutal （残忍的） business. The one thing it reliably punishes is age, particularly among women. That's why, at the age of fifty, female TV presenters become female radio presenters and why girl bands planning to re-form need to get it done before they're forty, after which it will get too hard for everyone to suspend their collective disbelief.
1. What does the writer imply about the Crimewatch presenter he mentions in the first paragraph?| A．He was unwise to resign when he did. |
| B．He will soon be forgotten by the viewers. |
| C．He may well have had a valid point to make. |
| D．He was treated insensitively by his employers. |
| A．a public image | B．a level of success |
| C．an overstatement | D．a common misunderstanding |
| A．To support his view that presenters are overpaid. |
| B．To stress how important luck is in certain occupations. |
| C．To show how relatively secure TV presents are in their jobs. |
| D．To illustrate a general rule that applies to certain types of job. |
| A．should look for work in other forms of broadcasting |
| B．may have benefited from it themselves at some point |
| C．are less well respected than presenters of the past |
| D．are being unfair to up-and-coming younger colleagues |
【推荐1】For Beth Terry, when she read an article about how seabirds are being killed by discarded plastics, she realized that it was time to give up plastics.
First, she focused on her kitchen and got rid of the shopping bags and other plastic products. Then she turned to her bathroom. Toothpaste without plastic packaging was extremely hard to find, so she started making her own with baking soda.
Sometimes her personal war on plastics created awkward moments. During a vacation to Disneyland in California to run a half-marathon, Ms Terry and her husband left their reusable cloth bags in the hotel, soon discovering that the local supermarket only had plastic bags. How should they carry her fruits like apples, oranges, pears and melons?
“We just rolled them up in our T-shirts and carried them that way,” said Ms Terry, 54, recalling how she crab-walked back to the hotel to stay true to her principles. “ If I let myself off the hook this time, it would be easier for me to take plastics next time,” she said.
Treating plastics like a drug habit that needs to be kicked is a lifestyle promise being shared by more and more consumers, horrified by tens of millions of tons of plastics created worldwide each year, much of it in the form of single-use items like straws that end up in landfills(垃圾填埋场）or,worse, the oceans.
If you gathered up all your plastic waste each week, as Mr. Terry once did, you would have a small hill on the floor. How should we begin? “The one thing I want to make people know is to go step by step. Don’t try to do everything at once,” said Ms. Terry, who is the author of Plastic-Free:How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.
1. What made Beth Terry give up plastics in her life?| A．Seeing some horrible scenes. |
| B．Reading about some terrible news. |
| C．Finding piles of plastic waste in her room. |
| D．Knowing about the annual creation of plastics. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Absurd. | C．Relaxing. | D．Terrible. |
| A．Allow myself to ask a favor. |
| B．Remind myself to keep on trying. |
| C．Remind myself to make a change. |
| D．Allow myself to get out of trouble. |
| A．To remember your original aims. |
| B．To stay true to your principles. |
| C．To make gradual progress. |
| D．To keep your word. |
【推荐2】A group of graduates, successful in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Before offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and a variety of cups-porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking and cheap, some exquisite and expensive-telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress．Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups…And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.
"God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee!"
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything．"
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
1. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．the nice-looking cup | B．the ordinary-looking cup |
| C．the coffee of good quality | D．the coffee of poor quality |
| A．To tell his students the right attitude to life |
| B．To teach his students how to enjoy coffee． |
| C．To show the students his collection of cups． |
| D．To give his students many more choices． |
| A．get the best type of coffee cups | B．make the best of what they have |
| C．have a wide range of coffee cups | D．care about social status and wealth |
| A．The Pressure of Life | B．God's Coffee |
| C．The Happiest People | D．Professor's Coffee Cups |
【推荐3】In many ways, my interest in language learning began with my grandmother. She moved from Switzerland to England when she was young and I was always amazed that she spoke English to me, Italian to my grandfather and French or German on the phone to her relatives and friends. I always imagined she could be a translator of books, or a tour guide. What’s more, she didn’t learn English at school, but picked it up by herself when she came to England.
It’s hard for me to understand how someone can speak several languages so well. I can just speak a bit of Italian and German by listening to her. And I hardly use other languages in my own job. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to learn other languages. In my eyes, being able to ask for a meal in a restaurant on holiday in a non-English speaking country would be great. Most important of all, it would be nice to talk with people from around the world-it would be easier to make new friends if I spoke their language. In fact, language learning is easier now than ever because of new technology. For example, recording your voice helps you see how well you’re doing and helps you continue to improve. There are apps to help you learn new words. However, I still think going to class improves conversation skills and helps you quickly deal with mistakes. So it’s better to combine (结合) different methods.
1. We can learn from paragraph 1 that the author’s grandmother| A．loves traveling abroad | B．was born in Germany |
| C．learned English by herself | D．is a translator of books |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．To get a better job. |
| B．To take more international trips. |
| C．To learn more about food in other countries. |
| D．To communicate with people from other countries. |
| A．study in different places | B．check their progress easily |
| C．deal with mistakes quickly | D．improve conversation skills greatly |
