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.

37. 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

38. It can be inferred (推断) 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

39. Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones”

   is ________.

   A. an important name                 B. a popular name in the United States

   C. his neighbour’s name             D. not a good name

40. 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

When young people talk about him, they see the big boy as a success in music. He is quiet and kind of shy. He doesn’t smile very often. But when he talks about music, he can talk too much. And he really has his ideas about music.

Jay Chou (周杰伦) was born in Taiwan. His mother is a middle school teacher. When he was three years old, he got interested in music. He was popular in the middle school because he was good at playing the piano. And he was a waiter before he was famous.

“Chou is not very good-looking in fact,” one of his fans said. His fans often can’t hear him sing or talk clearly. But the big boy has so many fans here and there.

Jay Chou is 32 years old now. He is still popular with his fans. They are very excited when they hear him sing his new songs.

(  ) 6. Young people think Jay Chou is very ______ in music.

A. successful      B. quiet       C. shy         D. fun

(  ) 7. When talking about music, Jay Chou is ______.

A. quiet        B. active       C. shy          D. exciting

(  ) 8. He was very popular because ______.

A. his mother was a middle school teacher B. he was interested in music

C. did well in playing the piano                   D. he was good-looking

(  ) 9. Which is NOT true about Jay Chou?

A. He can be a successful young singer.             B. He is now still very popular with his fans.

C. He was good at piano when he was young.D. He doesn’t sing clearly so his fans leave him.

(  ) 10. Although Jay Chou isn’t young, he’s ______ with his fans.

A. good              B. popular   C. excited           D. young

 

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