中考真题2024年江西省阅读理解D篇-Money and Happiness
In October 2018, someone in South Carolina won $1.5 billion. The nearly impossible odds (概率) of winning were 1 in 302.5 million! Many people probably wish they’d been the lucky ones happily accepting the prize.
It’s not hard to imagine the things one could do with this newfound wealth, but would this money actually make someone happy? The experiences of several lottery (抽奖) winners show that it probably wouldn’t. Suddenly coming into big money can change a person’s life in unexpected and sometimes unpleasant ways. Take William Post, for example, who had only $2.46 in the bank when he won $16.2 million in a New York lottery in 1998. Within 3 months, he was poor again because of careless spending. He wasn’t as happy as he felt before winning the prize.
Then there was Callie Rogers, a British teenager from a common family, won $3 million in 2003. She bought her family and friends lavish gifts and bought herself expensive clothes. After six years, Callie lost all her money and realized that money didn’t make her happy. In fact, she became worried that people were friendly with her only to get her money.
Lottery winners are not the only ones who can end up unhappy. People who get big money for some other reasons, e.g. receiving money from others, are also at risk. They may not know how to deal with money and do not ask experts for advice. They waste money on things they don’t need and give away too much money to friends and relatives.
Researchers found that people are happy when they are able to pay for their basic needs, such as food, clothes, a safe place to live, and health care. People are also happy when they give reasonable (合理的) amounts of money to charities. Giving makes them feel as if they’re making a difference. Lavish things, such as expensive clothes and cars, only make people happy for a moment.
People can hope and wish to suddenly come into lots of money to improve their lives, but perhaps there are better ways to find happiness.
1.How does the writer support his opinion in Paragraph 2?
A By giving an example.
B By listing numbers.
C By telling the differences.
D By asking a question.
解析：选A。主旨大意题。在第二段中，作者通过给出William Post 和Callie Rogers的例子来支持他的观点，即中彩票并不总是带来长期的快乐。因此，作者通过给出例子来支持他的观点，答案为A
2.What did William and Callie have in common according to the passage?
A They came from the same country.
B They won the lotteries in the same year.
C They were poor before winning the lotteries.
D They spent their money quickly and carelessly.
解析：选C。细节理解题。根据第二段和第三段中的描述，William Post和Callie Rogers在中彩票之前都很穷，这是他们之间的共同之处。因此，选项C“他们在中彩票之前都很穷”是正确的。
3. What does the underlined word “lavish” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A Expensive.
B Funny.
C Surprising.
D Lucky.
解析：选A。词义猜测题。在第三段中，提到“She bought her family and friends lavish gifts and bought herself expensive clothes.”，她给家人和朋友买了lavish的礼物，还给自己买了昂贵的衣服。“and”表并列，因此可以推断出lavish的意思和expensive的意思一样，应该是昂贵的。因此，选项A“Expensive”是正确答案。
4.Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A Big money brings lasting happiness.
B People’s lives depend on lottery prizes.
C Reasonable spending makes people happy.
D The basic needs of people are easily satisfied.
解析：选C。推理判断题。在文章第五段中，作者提到当人们有能力支付食物、衣服、安全住所和医疗保健等基本需求时，他们会感到快乐。当人们向慈善机构捐赠合理的金钱时，他们也会感到快乐。换句话来说中奖者只有合理支配金钱，才能保持长久的快乐，因此可以推断出合理花费会让人感到快乐。因此，选项C“合理的花费让人快乐”是正确的。
5.What’s the writer’s purpose for writing the passage?
A To encourage readers to make big money.
B To advise people to stay away from lotteries.
C To show his opinion about money and happiness.
D To share some success stories about finding happiness.
解析：选C。主旨大意题。作者在文章中通过讲述不同人中奖后的不同反应和选择，表达了自己对于金钱和幸福关系的看法。他认为，虽然金钱可以带来一定的快乐，但快乐更多地来自于个人对生活的态度和选择。因此，作者写这篇文章的目的就是为了表达自己的观点，即C选项“展示他对于金钱和幸福的看法”。