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 neighbors.

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 neighborhood 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(仆人) and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

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 neighbors. 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 neighbors

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 make themselves happy

2.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 neighbors

3.According to the writer, it is_______ to keep up with the Joneses.

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

4.Which of the following activities probably does not belong to the rich people?

A. holding a race B. riding horses

C. holding parties D. hiring a servant

补全对话
从方框中选择适当的句子完成下面的对话，并将其序号填在横线上
A: Hey, you look mad. What’s wrong?
B：I．．．I just can’t stand that terrible driver. He is so．．．
A：      【小题1】      Oh, would you like something to drink, coffee or cola?
B：Neither. A cup of water is OK.
A：Here you are. (one minute later)       【小题2】      
B：Yeah, much better.
A：So what exactly happened to you?
B：Just now I was riding my bike along the road. A car passed me quickly and suddenly stopped one meter away from me. At the same time there was another car coming in the other direction(方向), I had to brake(刹车)hard and then I hit the person on another bike.
A：      【小题3】       
B：Luckily no. But we both fell off our bike.
A：       【小题4】       
B：No, no. I got angry just because the driver drove off without saying anything.
A：      【小题5】        

Every day when I enter the classroom, I will take a look at the wall beside my seat. You will find nothing special about this old wall if you just look at it. But for the students in my class, it is a special wall. Take a good look at it, and you will get to know the real feelings and thoughts of us, the 9^th graders.
In the middle of the wall, there is a big “VICTORY”. It was written in pencil. I guess it must have been written by someone who got a good mark in an exam.
A little higher above the formulas, there is a poem. It only has two sentences. It reads: All those sweet memories have disappeared. Like tears dropping in the heavy rain.
Oh! It must have been written at the end of the last semester in middle school. Classmates had to leave school and good friends had to part. What a sad poem!
If you look at the wall more carefully, you will find many other interesting things, like a crying face, or a happy face, and other patterns(图案). There are still some patterns and letters that I can’t understand, but they all show the feeling of the students who drew them.
For years, the wall has witnessed(目睹) all the things that have happened in the classroom. I don’t know how it will be next year, two years from now, or even ten years from now. But I hope more smiling faces will be drawn on it.
【小题1】There is ____ special on this wall.