题文
Are you a compulsive spender, or do you hold on to your money as long as possible? Are you a bargain hunter? Would you rather use charge accounts than pay cash? Your answers to these questions will reflect your personality. According to psychologists, our individual money habits not only show our beliefs and values, but can also stem from past problems.Experts in psychology believe that for many people, money is an important symbol of strength and influence. Husbands who complain about their wives’ spending habits may be afraid that they are losing power in their marriage. Wives, on the other hand, may waste huge amounts of money because they are angry at their husbands. In addition, many people consider money a symbol of love. They spend it on their family and friends to express love, or they buy themselves expensive presents because they need love.
People can be addicted to different things — for example, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. They are compulsive in their addictions, i.e. they must satisfy these needs to feel comfortable. In the same way, according to psychologists, compulsive spenders must spend money. For people who buy on credit, furthermore, charge accounts are even more exciting than money: in other words, they feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasures in spending enormous amounts are actually greater than those they get from the things they buy.
There is even a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices, and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things that they don’t need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets, but they are really playing an exciting game: when they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for the things that they do and the real reason.
It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also business people. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business: they consider people’s needs for love, power, or influence, their basic values, their beliefs and opinions, etc. in their advertising and sales methods.
Psychologists often use a method called “behavior therapy(疗法)” to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money: they give them “assignments”. If a person buys something in every store that he enters, for instance, a therapist might teach him self-discipline in this way: on the first day of his therapy, he must go into a store, stay five minutes, and then leave. On the second day, he should stay for ten minutes and try something on. On the third day, he stays for fifteen minutes, asks the salesclerk a question, but does not buy anything. Soon he will learn that nothing bad will happen to him if he doesn’t buy anything, and he can solve the problem of his compulsive buying.
小题1:If you use charge accounts, ____.A．you pay in cashB．you pay with credit cardC．you pay less than you shouldD．you pay more than you should小题2:Compulsive bargain hunters buy things for all the following reasons except that ____.A．the things they buy are cheapB．they believe they can balance their budgetsC．they get psychological satisfaction D．they really need the things they buy小题3:Behavior therapy in this case aims at____.A．helping businessmen to increase their businessB．helping compulsive spenders to buy lessC．finding out how people will react if they are allowed to buyD．finding out what people will do in front of a bargain小题4:The underlined word “those” in Paragraph 3 refers to ____.A．different thingsB．their addictionsC．charge accountsD．their pleasures小题5:From the passage we can conclude that ____.A．how you spend money reveals if you are psychologically healthyB．money is a necessity and will bring you happiness if you have muchC．compulsive buying problems can be solved by taking some medicine D．all businessmen understand well the psychology of customers 题型：未知 难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:B
小题4:D
小题5:A
解析
文章讲述的是不同的消费方式和消费习惯能反映出消费者的性格特征和不同的心理需求。
小题1:事实细节题。根据第一段第一，二行Would you rather use charge accounts than pay cash?可知。选B。
小题2:事实细节题。 根据第五段Compulsive bargain hunters，however，often buy things that they don’t need just because they are cheap．可知选D。
小题3:推理判断题。根据最后一段最后一句可知。
小题4:词义猜测题。句意为他们花大量金钱的乐趣实际上比他们从买到的东西那得到的乐趣更多。所以是乐趣与乐趣相比，即pleasure，选D。
小题5:推理判断题。B项文中没有讲到，C项错在taking some medicine D项错在all businessmen。选A。
点评：本文是一篇很有趣的文章，介绍了关于理智消费的问题，本文有些难度，对于考生的能力要求较高，但只要认真细致阅读，并不难发现答案。可以先看题目再读文章，这样可以提高阅读的速度。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“Are you a compulsive.....”主要考查你对 [社会现象类阅读 ]考点的理解。社会现象类阅读
社会现象类阅读概念：
这类文章通过写人记事来揭示文章的主题，显示其社会意义，一般采用顺序或倒叙来叙述。题目经常是一些细节问题。考查的方面可以是原因和其中引发的思考。
社会现象类阅读解题技巧：
这类文章通过写人记事来揭示文章的主题，显示其社会意义，一般采用顺序或倒叙来叙述。题目经常是一些细节问题。考查的方面可以是原因和其中引发的思考。阅读这类文章要理清思路。
1、浏览试题，明确要求。
在阅读文章前，最好先浏览一下文章后面的题干和选项。知道了问题后再去看文章，可使思路更敏捷，而且也便于阅读时留意文中出现的与选项有关的信息。
2、通读全文，抓住主要内容。
在不影响理解的前提下，尽可能地阅读以便在尽可能短的时间内理解文章或段落的内容。阅读时，如遇到不熟悉的单词、词组或一时看不懂的句子，不要停下来苦思冥想，继续读下去，通过上下文的词语和句子可能就理解了。
3、抓住中心思想和段落大意。
通读全文时，要特别注意主题句。每篇文章或每个段落都有与文章有关的句子，尤其是科技、政论性文章的主题句一般都在文章的开头或结尾，插在中间的很少。所以，文章的第一段或开头的第一、二个句子往往包含着文章的中心思想、作者的意图或全文的概述，因此要特别注意，彻底理解。
4、有针对性地仔细阅读，找寻所需信息。
在前面的基础上，可进行有针对性地阅读了。把与问题无关的内容一扫而过，而对于和问题有关的内容认真阅读，还可以用笔在下面做出记号。再把这些信息与问题的要求结合起来，逐条分析，综合判断，找出正确答案。
5、进行合理的推理判断。
对文章有了全面的了解之后，可以按照文章要求以及上下文之间的关系，做出推理判断。在进行推理判断的时候，需要综合考虑句型、语法、句子之间的逻辑关系、文化背景等方面的因素。
6、认真复读，验证答案。
要用全文的中心思想统帅各个题目，研究其内在联系和逻辑关系，并依次审核那些还未打上的题目，确保理解无误。
