题文
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.
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, keeping up with the Joneses is ________.A．correctB．interestingC．impossibleD．good 题型：未知 难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:B
小题2:A
小题3:C
小题4:B
小题5:C
解析
文章介绍了美国的一个熟语：keeping up with the Joneses。小题1:B 细节题。根据第一段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说明B正确。
小题2:A 推断题。根据第二段第三行He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City.他们是搬到了纽约郊外的富人区，说明富人喜欢住在郊外。故A正确。
小题3:C 猜测词义题。第二段中neighbourhood只的是人民聚集居住的地方，故C的说法正确。
小题4:B 细节题。根据第四段第三行‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.说明Jones是美国一个很常见的名字，故B正确。
小题5:C 推理题。根据文章最后一句话. 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.说明MrJones总是在前面，所以要想追上Jones是不可能的。故C正确。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“In the United States.....”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。
