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 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 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 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 “Joneses” 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 (推斷) 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.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

4.If a person who keeps up with the Joneses, he would _________.

A．do as the poor persons around him do

B．do everything he likes to do

C．do as his neighbours do

D．do as the rich people around him do

Allan was born in the city．His father has several big factories and he’s very  1  ．The young man is now studying in a university．Last week he came to the small town to   2  his grandma．And he began to take his summer  3  here，too．He thought he was  4  than any other person here．And he was supercilious（目空一切的）．He often  5  the villagers and wouldn’t talk to  6  here．At first they were still  7  to him．now no one would say  8  to him．

One day a friend of his grandma’s had a birthday  9  ．The old woman told her grandson to go there with her．He had to do as she said．But he didn’t say a  10   and sat alone．At dinner a beautiful girl just sat  11  him．He hoped to talk with her，but she didn’t even  12  him．Suddenly she found there was a fly in his glass，but she didn’t  13  him about it．Soon he found it，too，and  14  ，“Oh，dear! There’s a fly in my glass!”

“Don’t be  15  ，sir,”the girl said with a smile．“It won’t be able to drink much!”

1．A．poor                         B．rich                        C．good                      D．tired

2．A．see                           B．look after                C．work for                D．telephone

3．A．day                          B．night                       C．holiday                   D．school

4．A．stronger                   B．tidier                       C．better                     D．more clever

5．A．laughed at                 B．helped                     C．watched                 D．looked over

6．A．somebody                 B．nobody                   C．a(chǎn)nybody                 D．everybody

7．A．cold                         B．friendly                   C．careful                   D．bad

8．A．sorry．                    B．yes                         C．no                         D．hello

9．A．meeting                    B．party                      C．cake                             D card

10．A．story                      B．passage                   C．word                      D．sentence

11．A．next to                    B．behind                    C．in front of               D．far from

12．A．pull                        B．push                       C．see                        D．look at

13．A．speak                            B．say                         C．tell                         D．talk

14．A．shouted                  B．jumped up               C．danced                   D．sang

15．A．happy                     B．a(chǎn)ngry                      C．sad                        D．sure