题文
Homeownership has let us down. For generations, Americans believed that owning a home was undoubtedly good. Our political leaders hammered home the point. Franklin Roosevelt held that a country of homeowners was “unconquerable.” Homeownership could even save babies, save children, save families and save America. A house with a lawn and a fence wasn’t just a nice place to live in or a risk-free investment; it was a way to shape a nation. No wonder leaders of all political types wanted to spend more than $100 billion a year on subsidies（补助）and tax breaks to encourage people to buy.But the dark side of homeownership is now all too apparent: Indeed, easy lending stimulated（刺激）by the cult of homeownership may have triggered（引起）the financial crisis. Housing remains a drag on the economy. Existing-home sales in April dropped 27% from the previous month, worsening fears of a double-dip. And all that is just the obvious tale of a housing bubble and what happened when it popped. The real story is deeper and darker still.
For the better part of a century, politics, industry and culture lined up to create a fetish of the idea of buying a house. Homeownership has done plenty of good over the decades; it has provided stability to tens of millions of families. Yet by idealizing the act of buying a home, we have ignored the downsides. In the bubble years, lending standards slipped dramatically, allowing many Americans to put far too much of their income into paying for their housing. And we ignored longer-term phenomena too. Homeownership contributed to the hollowing out of cities and kept renters out of the best neighborhoods. It fed America’s overuse of energy and oil. It made it more difficult for those who had lost a job to find another. Perhaps worst of all, it helped us become casually self-deceiving: By telling ourselves that homeownership was a pathway to wealth and stable communities and better test scores, we avoided dealing with these frightening issues head-on.
Now, as the U.S. recovers from the biggest housing bust（破产）since the Great Depression, it is time to rethink how realistic our expectations of homeownership are—and how much money we want to spend chasing them. Many argue that homeownership should not be a goal pursued at all costs.
小题1:Political leaders wanted to spend money encouraging people to buy houses because______.A．owning a home was undoubtedly goodB．homeownership could shape a countryC．houses could save families and AmericaD．homeownership was unconquerable 小题2:The underlined sentence in Para. 2 means ______.A．homeownership has quite a lot of bad effects B．there might be another housing breakdown in the U.S. C．the existing-home sales will keep decreasing in the U.S.D．the result of homeownership is much worse than it appears小题3:It can be inferred from Para. 3 that ______.A．Americans choose to live out of urban areasB．it is the way to wealth to have one’s own houseC．it is hard for Americans to get a home loan D．homeownership has made many people out of work小题4:What is the author’s attitude towards homeownership?A．Cautious.B．Ambiguous.C．Favorable.D．Optimistic. 题型：未知 难度：其他题型
答案
63-66 BDAA小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:A
小题4:A
解析
小题1:B 细节题。根据第一段后三行it was a way to shape a nation. No wonder leaders of all political types wanted to spend more than $100 billion a year on subsidies（补助）and tax breaks to encourage people to buy.说明homeownership是如此的重要，甚至能够塑造一个国家，故B正确。
小题2:D 推理题。根据本段后4行Existing-home sales in April dropped 27% from the previous month, worsening fears of a double-dip. And all that is just the obvious tale of a housing bubble and what happened when it popped. The real story is deeper and darker still.说明现在的homeownership已经给社会经济带来了很多负面的影响，引起了经济危机，所引起的问题要比表面上更加严重，故D正确。
小题3:A 推断题。根据第三段7,8行Homeownership contributed to the hollowing out of cities and kept renters out of the best neighborhoods.说明很多美国人都走出了城市，住到了乡下去。故A说法正确。
小题4:A 推理题。作者在文章中客观的讲述了homeownership的好处以及给我们的社会带来的不好的地方，使用他对于homeownership的态度是很谨慎小心的。故A说法正确。
点评：本文客观地讲述了homeownership给我们带来的好处与坏处，讲述了homeownership的重要性。本文的难点在于考生对于话题内容的不熟悉，不容易完全理解整个文章。对于推理题的考查较多，在审题的时候要抓住题目的关键所在，结合各选项中的信息词做适当地比对，再从文章上下文的含义出发，做出准确细致的判断。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“Homeownership has le.....”主要考查你对 [政治经济类阅读 ]考点的理解。政治经济类阅读
政治经济类文章的概念：
要做好这类阅读，平时就要注意了解国内外发生的政治经济大事，掌握一定背景知识，对这类文章的叙述特点及内容安排有一定了解，还要扩展这方面的词汇。阅读这类文章，要抓住文章的核心，即文章整体和各段主要在说什么，也要注意段落之间的逻辑关系。
如何备考政治经济类阅读理解题：
【题型说明】政治经济类阅读文章是高考常选材料之一。该类文章时代气息浓郁，语言鲜活，但熟字新义词、超纲词及专业词语多，长句、难句多。政治类文章大多数是同学们感性趣的内容，读起来倒有似曾相识的感觉，经济类文章读起来就像是雾里看花，文章看完，一头雾水。再加之这类文章的命题侧重于词义猜测、推理判断和文章主旨，同学们对这类题材是望而生畏。
【备考策略】建立心理优势。针对不同体裁的文章，我们要采取相应的阅读方法和技巧。政治类文章多采用记叙文形式，我们可采取“顺读法”，以便抓关键语句，领会文章主旨；而经济类文章则多采用说明文形式，我们则可以采取“逆读法”，先读试题，再从文章中查找有用信息。若遇到的确难读的材料。千万不用着急，因为你觉得难，其他人也一定是同感。在高考前，我们就要有这种心理准备，高考试卷肯定有一、两篇难以阅读的材料。不过，我们平时可以有意识地从报刊杂志上找一些较难的阅读材料来阅读，以培养自己迎难而上的心理素质。
【答题方法】
1、寻找主干：
根据英语中五种基本句型结构，把句子中的主语、谓语、宾语、表语等主要成分找出来，其他成分如定语、状语、补语等则易于理解。找到了句子主干，句子的意思至少明白了一半。
2、剔除从句：
在一个长句中可能会出现若干个从句，在理解时，如果把各个从句剔除出来单独理解，然后把大意拼凑起来，整个长句的意思就会明白六、七分。
3、辨别分句：
一个长句如果是由几个并列、转折、递进、对比关系的分句组成，句中往往有表示这些分句关系的连接词，只要能弄清楚分句和分句之间的逻辑关系，再把各层分句的意思加以连贯，整个长句的句意基本上能跃然脑中。
4、寻找关键词：
如果一个句子看完，一点句意的感觉也没有，下下策就是抓住句中的关键词，通过关键词大体弄懂这个长句的意思。
