You may have heard of the American Dream, an ideal that has powered the hopes of Americans for generations.

It began as a belief that the US was a land of opportunity, and that anyone could achieve success through hard work. At times, the dream has referred to home ownership, a good job, retirement security or each generation doing better than the last.

Yet today, this concept seems to have greatly changed. As Time magazine pointed out, quite different from the older generation, many Millennials (the generation born after 1980) redefine(重新定義) the American Dream as “day-to-day control of your life”. They “prize job mobility, flexible schedules, any work that is more interesting than typing, and the ability to travel”, said the magazine.

Home ownership, once the cornerstone of the American Dream, is becoming a smaller priority for this generation. Meanwhile, nearly 40% of them choose travel as part of their dream. And entrepreneurship(創(chuàng)業(yè)) is a rising favorite, as nearly 26% of Millennials consider self-employment as part of their dream.

So what has led to this huge change?

Many point fingers at the poor economy. “Modern young Americans seem bound to face a world stamped by ever narrowing opportunity and social stagnation(停滯),”noted The Daily Beast.

“The rate of 16-to 24-year-olds out of school and out of work is unusually high at 15%. Many college graduates have taken jobs that don’t require a degree,” Time reported.

The magazine worries that these difficulties may lead to a lost generation who are “unable to ever truly find their feet on the corporation’s ladder”.

Dan Kadlec, a reporter of Time, sees Millennials as resetting their expectations. “This situation is different for young adults today,” he wrote. “A true American dream has to feel attainable, and many Millennias are feeling they can only attain a day-today lifestyle that suits them.”

1.What’s the passage mainly about?

A. Meaning of American Dream

B. Redefinition of American Dream

C. Value of Achieving American Dream

D. History of Changing American Dream

2.The underlined word “cornerstone” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “ ”.

A. growth B. balance C. purpose D. basis

3.According to the passage, what has changed Millennials’ view of the American Dream?

A. A lack of confidence in themselves

B. Fierce competition in the job market

C. The discouraging economy and unemployment

D. Their dissatisfaction with the government

4.Dan Kadlec thinks Millennials’ new definition of the American Dream is ______.

A. understandable B. beautiful

C. worrying D. Positive

練習冊系列答案
相關(guān)習題

科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆浙江臨海臺州中學高三上第三次統(tǒng)練英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Do you want to help others—but don’t know where to start? Do you feel that the challenges facing us are too big for one person? One advantage of supporting the American Red Cross is that each of our individual contributions is magnified(放大)when we all join together．Another advantage is that it's easy to start helping．You can start this every minute, by using your mobile to send a text message to make a $10 donation to one of our ongoing campaigns．

Donate to Help Victims of Natural Disasters: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, which helps people affected by disasters such as floods, earthquakes, wildfires and hurricanes．

Please consider making a donation today to help the thousands of people who have been affected by these disasters．

Donate to Help Reduce Deaths from Measles(麻疹): Text PREVENT to 90999 to give $ 10 to the Red Cross and help us vaccinate（注射疫苗）children against measles．

Started in 2001．the Measles & Rubella Initiative—led by the American Red Cross， provides technical and financial support to governments and communities for mass vaccination campaigns around the world．The Initiative has supported the vaccination of more than 1 billion children helping to reduce measles deaths by 78％globally(compared to 2000)．

Please consider making a donation today to help us continue this campaign．To learn more visit www．Measlesrubellainitiative．org．

Important Information for Text Donors: You can make a $ 10 donation to the American Red Cross．Charges will appear on your wireless bill．All purchases must be authorized by account holder．You must be over 18 years old or have parental permission to participate．Text STOP to 90999 to STOP．Text HELP to 90999 for HELP．

1.The text mainly aims to tell us_____________．

A．how to keep our wireless bill safe when making donation

B．how to make a $10 donation by text message

C．when to become an authorized account holder

D．how to make individual contributions magnified

2.We should text_______to 90999 if we want to help victims of natural disasters．

A．STOP B．PREVENT C．HELP D．REDCROSS

3.What does “this campaign” in Paragraph 6 refer to?

A．Offering help to the disaster victims．

B．Supporting the American Red Cross．

C．Mass vaccination around the world．

D．Applying for charges on wireless bills．

4.1f a school boy wants to be a text donor, he should _____________.

A．get the permission of his parents

B．reach the marriage age

C．pay ＄10 to own an account

D．stop his daily purchases

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆廣東廣州執(zhí)信中學高三上學期期中英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項填空

His eyes ________ on the PPT, Lee listened to the teacher ________.

A. fixed; attentively

B. have been fixed; carefully

C. fixing; interestingly

D. fixed; purposefully

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年浙江臺州中學高二上期中英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five days off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便車).

I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.

Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.

After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.”

I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.

1.The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because .

A. her work delayed her trip to Sydney

B. she missed the only train back home

C. she was going home for her holidays

D. the town was far away from Sydney

2.Which of the following did Gordon do according to Paragraph 2?

A. He helped the girl find a ride.

B. He gave the girl a ride back home.

C. He bought sandwiches for the girl.

D. He watched the girl for three hours.

3.The reason why the author offered a lift to the elderly man was that .

A. she realized he was Gordon

B. she had known him for decades

C. she was going to the nearby town

D. she wanted to repay the favour she once got

4.What does the author want to tell the readers through the story?

A. Those who give rides will be repaid.

B. Good manners bring about happiness.

C. Giving sometimes produces nice results.

D. People should offer free rides to others.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年江西南昌二中高二上第三次月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項填空

Everyone in our class likes Mary because she is good at telling and ______ jokes.

A. turning up B. putting up

C. making up D. showing up

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年江西吉安第一中學高二上段考1英語試卷（解析版） 題型：完形填空

完形填空

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項。

We have been driving in fog all morning, but the fog is lifting now. The little seaside villages are , one by one. “There is my grandmother's house,” I say, across the bay to a shabby old house.

I am in Nova Scotia on a pilgrimage (朝圣) with Lisa, my granddaughter, seeking roots for her, retracing (追溯) memory for me. Lisa was one of the mobile children, from house to house in childhood. She longs for a sense of , and so we have come to Nova Scotia where my husband and I were born and where our ancestors for 200 years.

We soon by the house and I tell her what it was like here, the memories back, swift as the tide (潮水).

Suddenly, I long to walk again in the where I was once so gloriously a child. It still________a member of the family, but has not been lived in for a while. We cannot go into the house, but I can still walk the rooms in memory. Here, my mother________ in her bedroom window and wrote in her diary. I can still see the enthusiastic family ________ into and out of the house. I could never have enough of being ________them. However, that was long after those childhood days. Lisa ________ attentively as I talk and then says, “So this is where I ________ ; where I belong.”

She has ________ her roots. To know where I come from is one of the great longings of the human ________ . To be rooted is “to have an origin”. We need ________ origin. Looking backward, we discover what is unique in us; learn the ________ of “I”. We must all go home again—in reality or memory.

1.A. appearing B. moving C. exposing D. expanding

2.A. referring B. travelling C. pointing D. coming

3.A. shared B. short C. fresh D. treasured

4.A. passed B. raised C. moved D. sent

5.A. home B. duty C. reality D. relief

6.A. built B. lived C. remained D. explored

7.A. catch up B. pull up C. step down D. come down

8.A. falling B. turning C. rushing D. bringing

9.A. yard B. village C. room D. house

10.A. adapts to B. appeals to C. belongs to D. occurs to

11.A. across B. through C. along D. past

12.A. lay B. played C. stood D. sat

13.A. marching B. looking C. breaking D. pouring

14.A. between B. with C. near D. behind

15.A. wonders B. listens C. reacts D. agrees

16.A. began B. grew C. studied D. stayed

17.A. deepened B. recognized C. accepted D. found

18.A. heart B. rights C. interest D. behaviors

19.A. one B. its C. that D. every

20.A. meaning B. expression C. connection D. Background

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年山西臨汾第一中學高一12月月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：短文改錯

短文改錯

假定英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文,請你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語言錯誤,每句中最多有兩處。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加:在缺詞處加一個漏字符號(∧),并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除:把多余的詞用斜線(\)劃掉。

修改:在錯的詞下劃一橫線,并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意: 1.每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞;

2.只允許修改10處,多者(從第11處起)不計分。

Mr. Smith, our English teacher, works hard. Every day, he spends too much time with his work. With little sleep and hardly any break, so he works from morning till night. Hard work have made him very ill. “He has ruined his healthy. We are worried about him.” That is which other teachers say. Yesterday afternoon, I paid visit to Mr. Smith. I was eager to see him, but outside her room I stopped. I had to calm myself down. Quietly I step into the room. I saw him lying in bed, looking at some of the picture we had taken together. I understood that he missed us just as many as we missed him.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年山西康杰中學高一上學期期中英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項填空

Selecting a mobile phone for personal use is no easy task because technology so rapidly.

A. is changing B. will have changed

C. has changed D. will change

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆江蘇省鹽城市高三上學期期中模擬練習英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項填空

—Was it still there _______ you were away to answer the phone?

—There is no doubt about it.

A． that B． which C． where D． while

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習冊答案