2012大学生英语竞赛c类决赛真题及详解.pptVIP

[1] There is a phenomenon that sociologists call reference anxiety—or, more popularly, keeping up with the (46) Jo _____ . According to that thinking, most people judge their possessions in comparison with others’. People tend not to ask themselves, “Does my house meet my needs?” (47) Ins______ they ask, “Is my house nicer than my neighbor’s?” If your two-bedroom house is surrounded by three-and four-bedroom houses, with some (48) ar ____ the corner doing a tear-down to build a McMansion, your reference anxiety may rise. Suddenly that two-bedroom house—one that your grandparents might have considered quite nice, even luxurious—doesn’t seem enough. And so the money you spent on it stops (49) ____ (provide) you with a sense of wellbeing. [2] Americans’ soaring reference anxiety is a product of the widening gap in income (50) ____ (distribute). In other words, the rich are getting richer faster, and the rest of the population are none too happy about it. During much of the U.S. history, the (51) ____ (major) lived in small towns or urban areas where conditions for most people were approximately the same-hence, low (52) ____ anxiety. Also, most people knew relatively little about those who were living higher on the hog. [3] But in the past few (53) de_____ , new economic forces have changed all that. Rapid growth in income for the top 5 percent of households has brought (54) ab ____ a substantial cohort of people who live notably better than the middle class does, amplifying our reference anxiety. That wealthier minority is occupying ever-larger homes and spending more on each change of clothes when the middle is doing O.K. In nations with (55) h____ levels of income equality like the Scandinavian countries, well-being tends to be higher than in nations with unequal wealth distribution such as the United States. 【答案】 46. Joneses 47. Instead 48. around 49. providing 50. distribution 51. majority 52. reference 53. decades 54. about 55. high Part I Listening Compre