56、(1分)

　　 Precipitation, commonly referred to as rainfall(降雨量), is a measure of the quantity of water in the form of either rain, hall(雹子), or snow which reaches the ground, The average annual(每年的) precipitation over the whole of the United States is thirty-six inches. It should be understood, however, that a foot of snow is not equal to a foot of precipitation. A general formula(公式) for computing the precipitation of snowfall(降雪量) is that thirty-- eight inches of snow is equal to one inch of precipitation. In New York State, for example, seventy-six inches of snow in one year would be recorded as only two inches of precipitation. The total annual precipitation Forty inches of rain would be recorded as forty inches of precipitation. The total annual precipitation would be recorded as forty-two inches.

5. According to the writer, it is　　　 to keep up with the Joneses.

　 A. correct　　　 B. interesting　　 C. impossible　　　 D. good

4. 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

3. The underlined word neighbourhood in the second paragraph means ________.

　 A. a person who lives near another　　　 B. people living in an area

　 C. an area near the place referred to　　 D. an area in another town or city

2. It can be inferred 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

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

55、(1分)

　　 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 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(公寓房间) in New York City.

　　 Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life--style of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series (系列) 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.

5. The writer suggests that Hank Viscardi _______.

　 A. had no friends　　　　　 B. never saw himself as different from others

　 C. was very shy　　　　　　 D. was too proud to accept help from others

4. When Hank marched and drilled along with the other soldiers, he ______.

　 A. did everything the other soldiers did

　 B. did most of the things the other soldiers did

　 C. did some of the things the other soldiers did

　 D. took some special training

3. The sentence “he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job” implies that the Red Cross _____.

　 A. was only glad to give him a job

　 B. gave him a job because he was a good soldier

　 C. gave him a job after he talked to someone whom he knew in the organization

　 D. was not willing to give him a job at first