阅读理解
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 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.
