13.The financial crisis is reminding Americans of a lesson they first learned in childhood:Share and share alike.They are sharing or swapping tools and books,cars and handbags,time and talent.
The renewed desire to share shows up in a variety of examples:A car-sharing service has had a 70percent membership increase since the crisis occurred.Some companies encouraged his employees to take vanpooling.Governments are putting bikes on the street for public use.How-to-swap Web sites are increasing quickly.
The economy reflects the way Americans have cut back,especially on daily items:Department store sales dropped 1.3percent in June.People are not buying cars,and as a result,auto sales dropped 27.7percent last month.They are not paying others to do what they can do themselves-Home Depot reports increased attendance at in-store do-it-yourself clinics.And although paint sales are down in general,according to Sherwin-Williams,individual consumers are still buying.
When Tom Burdett needed to cut some tiles at his home outside Annapolis,he refused to buy expensive tools.So he asked his neighbors and friends for help.Sure enough,someone had just what he needed.And when that friend needed help fixing a satellite dish,Burdett volunteered to help.
The sharing mind-set is not new to the American culture,but many Americans give it up when the nation changed from an agricultural society to an industrial one,said Rosemary Hornak,a psychology professor at Meredith College in Raleigh,N.C.They moved farther from their families and did not have time to connect with new neighbors because they worked so much,she said.
Neighborhood conversations tell more of the story as the movement grows organically (持续地) in communities across the Washington region and the nation.On one street in Arlington,for example,neighbors are collecting their separate money for mulch (覆盖料) and dividing it among themselves.
32.What is the text mainly about?B
A.Introducing a new way of life.B.Sharing in the financial crisis.
C.How to reduce the living expense.D.How to handle the financial crisis.
33.Why do people in modern times give up the sharing mind-set?C
A.Because they don't need it at all.B.Because they aren't interested in it.
C.Because they are busy with work.D.Because they hate being disturbed.
34.The underlined phrase"cut back"in Para.3probably meansD.
A.shared B.helped C.abandoned D.reduced
35.It can be inferred from the passage thatA.
A.more and more Americans solve problems in their daily life by helping each other.B.if the prices of service goes down,individual consumers won't do something themselves.
C.the sharing-mind set is a strange to many Americans.
D.when the crisis ends,Americans will abandon the sharing-mind set.
分析 本文主要讲了在经济危机之下,美国人又重新拾起了分享这一生活方式,以便共同度过难关.
解答 32-35 BCDA
32 B 主旨大意题.根据文章第一段第一句中出现的"sharing and sharing alike"以及下面所举的例子,可知本文主要是讲述了经济危机中人们之间的互相分享.故选B.
33 C 细节理解题.根据倒数第二段中的最后一句话"…they worked so much"推知人们都忙于自己的工作,故参考答案为C.
34 D 词义猜测题.根据划线部分后举的例子,指人们在一些方面减少了开支,可推知cut back的意思是"减少",故参考答案为D.
35 A 推理判断题.根据文章的中心思想是sharing以及文中所举的例子可以看出,更多的美国人倾向于互相分享、帮助解决问题.故选A.
点评 本文是政治经济类阅读理解.做这类题材阅读理解时要求考生对文章通读一遍,做题时结合原文和题目有针对性的找出相关语句进行仔细分析,结合选项选出正确答案.推理判断题也是要在抓住关键句子的基础上合理的分析才能得出正确答案,切忌胡乱猜测,一定要做到有理有据.