Question

More People Are Leaving the Rat Race for the Simple Life

Time is more precious than money for an increasing number of people who are choosing to live more with less—and liking it.

Kay and Charles Giddens, two lawyers, sold their home to start a B&B hotel. Four years later, the couple dishes out banana pancake breakfast, cleans toilets and serves homemade chocolate chip cookies to guests in a B&B hotel surrounded by trees on a hill known for colorful sunsets.

“Do I miss the freeways? Do I miss the traffic? Do I miss the stress? No,” says Ms. Giddens, “This is a phenomenon that’s fairly widespread. A lot of people are reevaluating their lives and figuring out what they want to do. If their base is being damaged, what’s the payoff?”

Simple living ranges from cutting down on weeknight activities to sharing housing, living closer to work, avoiding shopping malls, borrowing books from the library instead of buying them, and taking a cut in pay to work at a more pleasurable job.

Vicki Robin, a writer, lives on a budget equal to a fifth of what she used to make. “You become conscious about where your money is going and how valuable it is,” Ms. Robin says, “You tend not to use things up. You cook at home rather than eat out…”

Janet Luhrs, a lawyer, quit her job after giving birth and leaving her daughter with a nanny for two weeks. “It was not the way I wanted to raise my kids,” she says, “Simplicity is not just about saving money; it’s about me sitting down every night with my kids to a candlelit dinner with classical music.”

Mrs. Luhrs now edits a magazine, Simple Living, which publishes tips on how to buy recycled furniture and shoes, organize potluck dinners instead of expensive receptions, and generally how to consume less.

“It’s not about poverty,” Mrs. Luhrs explains, “It’s about conscious living and creating the life you want. The less stuff you buy, the less money goes out of the door, and the less money you have to earn.”

1.Kay and Charles Giddens sold their home to ______.

A.pay off the debt

B.start a private hotel

C.cut down expenses

D.buy living necessities

2.Simple living includes ______.

A.building a home library

B.living in the countryside

C.enjoying a colorful night life

D.sharing housing with others

3.It can be learned from the passage that now Janet Luhrs ______.

A.spends more time with her kids

B.has an interest in classical music

C.works as a reporter of a magazine

D.helps people buy recycled clothes

4.How does the author develop the passage?

A.By using figures.

B.By asking questions.

C.By giving examples.

D.By making comparisons.

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。越来越多的人摆脱激烈竞争的环境回归简单的生活。他们重新审视生活的价值，希望过上一种自己喜欢的生活。

1.细节理解题。根据文章第二段中的sold their home to start a B&B hotel可知，他们把房子卖掉是为了经营自己的酒店，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段中的Simple living ranges from cutting down on weeknight activities to sharing housing可知，D选项sharing housing with others包含了simple living的内容，故选D。

3.推理判断题。根据文章第六段中的It was not the way I wanted to raise my kids,” she says, “Simplicity is not just about saving money可知，Janet Luhrs不工作是因为想把更多的时间花在跟她的小孩子一起，故选A。

4.推理判断题。纵观全文，不难看出文章是用了几个人物的例子，如Kay and Charles Giddens夫妇，作家Vicki Robin等，来讲述Simple living的概念的，故选C。