Homeownership has let us down. For generations, Americans believed that owning a home was undoubtedly good. Our political leaders hammered home the point. Franklin Roosevelt held that a country of homeowners was “unconquerable.” Homeownership could even save babies, save children, save families and save America. A house with a lawn and a fence wasn’t just a nice place to live in or a risk-free investment; it was a way to shape a nation. No wonder leaders of all political types wanted to spend more than $100 billion a year on subsidies（補(bǔ)助）and tax breaks to encourage people to buy.
But the dark side of homeownership is now all too apparent: Indeed, easy lending stimulated（刺激）by the cult of homeownership may have triggered（引起）the financial crisis. Housing remains a drag on the economy. Existing-home sales in April dropped 27% from the previous month, worsening fears of a double-dip. And all that is just the obvious tale of a housing bubble and what happened when it popped. The real story is deeper and darker still.
For the better part of a century, politics, industry and culture lined up to create a fetish of the idea of buying a house. Homeownership has done plenty of good over the decades; it has provided stability to tens of millions of families. Yet by idealizing the act of buying a home, we have ignored the downsides. In the bubble years, lending standards slipped dramatically, allowing many Americans to put far too much of their income into paying for their housing. And we ignored longer-term phenomena too. Homeownership contributed to the hollowing out of cities and kept renters out of the best neighborhoods. It fed America’s overuse of energy and oil. It made it more difficult for those who had lost a job to find another. Perhaps worst of all, it helped us become casually self-deceiving: By telling ourselves that homeownership was a pathway to wealth and stable communities and better test scores, we avoided dealing with these frightening issues head-on.
Now, as the U.S. recovers from the biggest housing bust（破產(chǎn)）since the Great Depression, it is time to rethink how realistic our expectations of homeownership are—and how much money we want to spend chasing them. Many argue that homeownership should not be a goal pursued at all costs.
小題1:Political leaders wanted to spend money encouraging people to buy houses because______.
A．owning a home was undoubtedly good
B．homeownership could shape a country
C．houses could save families and America
D．homeownership was unconquerable
小題2:The underlined sentence in Para. 2 means ______.
A．homeownership has quite a lot of bad effects
B．there might be another housing breakdown in the U.S.
C．the existing-home sales will keep decreasing in the U.S.
D．the result of homeownership is much worse than it appears
小題3:It can be inferred from Para. 3 that ______.
A．Americans choose to live out of urban areas
B．it is the way to wealth to have one’s own house
C．it is hard for Americans to get a home loan
D．homeownership has made many people out of work
小題4:What is the author’s attitude towards homeownership?
A．Cautious.B．Ambiguous.C．Favorable.D．Optimistic.
63-66 BDAA
小題1:B
小題2:D
小題3:A
小題4:A

試題分析：
小題1:B 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第一段后三行it was a way to shape a nation. No wonder leaders of all political types wanted to spend more than $100 billion a year on subsidies（補(bǔ)助）and tax breaks to encourage people to buy.說(shuō)明homeownership是如此的重要，甚至能夠塑造一個(gè)國(guó)家，故B正確。
小題2:D 推理題。根據(jù)本段后4行Existing-home sales in April dropped 27% from the previous month, worsening fears of a double-dip. And all that is just the obvious tale of a housing bubble and what happened when it popped. The real story is deeper and darker still.說(shuō)明現(xiàn)在的homeownership已經(jīng)給社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)帶來(lái)了很多負(fù)面的影響，引起了經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)，所引起的問(wèn)題要比表面上更加嚴(yán)重，故D正確。
小題3:A 推斷題。根據(jù)第三段7,8行Homeownership contributed to the hollowing out of cities and kept renters out of the best neighborhoods.說(shuō)明很多美國(guó)人都走出了城市，住到了鄉(xiāng)下去。故A說(shuō)法正確。
小題4:A 推理題。作者在文章中客觀的講述了homeownership的好處以及給我們的社會(huì)帶來(lái)的不好的地方，使用他對(duì)于homeownership的態(tài)度是很謹(jǐn)慎小心的。故A說(shuō)法正確。
點(diǎn)評(píng)：本文客觀地講述了homeownership給我們帶來(lái)的好處與壞處，講述了homeownership的重要性。本文的難點(diǎn)在于考生對(duì)于話題內(nèi)容的不熟悉，不容易完全理解整個(gè)文章。對(duì)于推理題的考查較多，在審題的時(shí)候要抓住題目的關(guān)鍵所在，結(jié)合各選項(xiàng)中的信息詞做適當(dāng)?shù)乇葘?duì)，再?gòu)奈恼律舷挛牡暮x出發(fā)，做出準(zhǔn)確細(xì)致的判斷。
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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A．know English has a long history
B．understand the development of English
C．enjoy the interest of English idioms（習(xí)語(yǔ)）
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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Only then did I know I had made a fool of myself. Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions. Remember: what the English teachers said is always right to us students.
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A．English idioms were not important
B．I had no interest in English learning
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C．he was not interested in the topic
D．I had to stop talking
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B．the Englishman became a real fool
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A．The Englishman left china without seeing the Great Wall.
B．The Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after I talked about it.
C．The Englishman wanted me to act as his guide.
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


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A．quite abstractB．very confusing
C．very detailed D．quite controversial
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A．Claude Monet.B．Edouard Manet.
C．Auguste Renoir.D．Alfred Sisley.
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A．with imagination B．a(chǎn)t a distance
C．outdoors D．in a studio
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Gallows humor(黑色幽默) may seem like a mistake, or at least in poor taste. But psychologists say that gallows humor can be an important way to relieve stress.“Humor makes you feel in control and it can give you that feeling that everything is okay even when it’s not,”says James M.Jones, a psychology professor at the University of Delaware.
Psychologists say that just because you’re laughing doesn’t mean you’re wasting time. Occasional tease among colleagues, particularly if it is associated with the job, can inspire creativity, departmental cohesiveness(凝聚力) and performance.
“There are a lot of stresses out there,”says Ed Dunkelblau, a psychologist in Chicago.“Gallows humor is a way of making difficult things a little less difficult.”
This is as long as the humor is used for the right purpose. The main point of it should be inspiring people—not laughing at them. “Anything that would lift morale(士氣) in terms of the company would be good humor,”says Thierry Guedj, a professor.
You want to give your employees and co-workers a sense of belonging, so don’t make observations that are aggressive. Most obviously, Dr. Guedj says, don’t make comments about people’s physical appearance or faith. If you have any doubt about its appropriateness, don’t go through with it.
Or you can take aim at the person that you know won’t be offended(冒犯): yourself. “If there’s going to be a joke or story, it should be you,”Mr Dunkelblau says.
“People with the ability to laugh at themselves can give other people permission to laugh at themselves, too,”Mr Jones says.“And if you can laugh at yourself, you feel better about yourself.”
小題1:According to the passage, gallows humor has the following functions EXCEPT   .
A．leading to a big mistakeB．reducing pressure
C．making people more creativeD．improving performance
小題2:What is Ed Dunkelblau’s attitude towards gallows humor?
A．Negative.B．Positive.C．Neutral.(中立的)D．Uncertain.
小題3:When people use gallows humor, they should      .
A．observe who is aggressive
B．show a sense of belonging
C．doubt about the result of humor
D．try to avoid involving private things
小題4:What can we infer from the passage?
A．People tend to laugh at others rather than themselves.
B．Laughing at yourself can make others free from stress.
C．People can’t avoid offending others with gallows humor.
D．People who laugh at themselves are easy to gain others’ permission.

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