Question

They can be seen more frequently than ever before on college campuses, wearing thick-rimmed glasses while listening to indie(獨立的) music. One might find them playing unusual musical instruments, shopping at second-hand stores or expressing themselves in other unique ways. They call themselves hipsters. Being “hip” used to mean following the latest fashion. But gradually the word has evolved into a synonym for “cool”.
Hipsters value independent thinking, progressive politics, an appreciation of creativity and intelligence. Hipsters take pains and pride in not being mainstream. However, their culture has become quite trendy. This irony is central to their culture and offers an interesting paradox.
“I do take things in the mainstream with a grain of salt,” says Ben Polson, a college student at Brown University in the US. Polson describes himself as a hipster and says he often questions what determines popularity, especially regarding music.When lesser-known bands become popular they often lose their former fan base in exchange for a new one. There is a famous hipster saying that goes: I used to like that band before it got popular.
According to Polson, bands’ music changes when they go mainstream. They become “l(fā)ess experimental, doing things just to save popularity and fans. The original elements that we were drawn to slowly dwindle for the sake of popularity.”
Many young adults have started to view hipsters’ outlook as cool and are adopting their counterculture mindset (心態(tài))themselves. This has led to specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position. Ironically, some such stores, including clothing labels Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, have gained mainstream popularity. This has seemingly diluted(沖淡) the anti-mainstream culture.
“A lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters, they’re just trying to conform to the non-conformist(不墨守成規(guī)者) to seem cooler,” says Amanda Leopold, a college student from Oberlin College, US. Although Leopold has many unconventional tastes and seems quite individualist, she refuses to classify herself as a hipster.
There is a conflict among hipsters about the very definition of the label. To some, to be a hipster is to be free from cultural constraints. To others, it means wearing a certain style and listening to a specific style of music. The former constantly strives for uniqueness, while the latter strives not to be mainstream.
And yet, the movement is gaining mainstream popularity. “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip,” says Leopold. “There have been hipsters since the seventies. It’s only become popular recently.”
Hipsters reject materialism and laugh at mainstream culture. But are they really beyond material comforts? Do they have any ideas of their own if they despise mainstream so much?
Christy Wampole, an associate professor of literature at Princeton University, US, is not so sure. She says the hipster is a contradiction in himself and an easy target of mockery(嘲弄). Writing in The New York Times, Wampole paints a less appreciative picture of a typical hipster.
“The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies continuously, searching for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation(例證); his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things.”
【小題1】From the passage we can know that hipsters are ____________________________.

A．a group of people who are self-denied

B．a group of students who are good at musical instruments

C．people who follow the latest trends and fashions

D．people who pay no attention to material things

【小題2】The underlined word dwindle in the fourth paragraph may probably mean______________.

A．enlarge

B．delete

C．disappear

D．decrease

【小題3】Leopold refuses to classify herself as a hipster because_______________________.

A．she doesn’t like her own unconventional tastes

B．there are too many specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position

C．she thinks that a lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters

D．the hipsters’ culture has become quite trendy

【小題4】When Leopold said “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip”, we can see that she felt a bit ______________.

A．happy

B．disappointed

C．excited

D．content

【小題5】The passage mainly tells us ________________________.

A．the difficult situation of hipsters	B．the trend of fashion
C．the changes of the society	D．the culture of hipsters

Answer 1

【小題1】C
【小題2】D
【小題3】C
【小題4】B
【小題5】A

解析試題分析：本文主要講述了hipsters在現在遇見的新的情況，很多最初的特色已經消失了。
【小題1】C 細節(jié)題。根據第一段4,5行They call themselves hipsters. Being “hip” used to mean following the latest fashion.說明C項正確。
【小題2】D 推理題。根據本句The original elements that we were drawn to slowly dwindle for the sake of popularity.”說明未來受人歡迎這些最初的元素慢慢地褪色，慢慢減少了。故該詞是指D項。
【小題3】C 細節(jié)題。根據第五段1,2行“A lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters, they’re just trying to conform to the non-conformist(不墨守成規(guī)者) to seem cooler,” says Amanda Leopold說明很多人都不是真正的hipster都只是自我標榜為hipster的。故C正確。
【小題4】B 推理題。根據everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip,”說明每個人都想成為hip，這樣一來沒有人會是真的hip;他這樣說，說明他對人們的這種行為有點失望。故B正確。
【小題5】A 主旨大意題。根據文章最后2段說明hipsters現在出現了很多新的變化，已經不再是以前的hipsters了，故A正確。
考點：考查文化類短文閱讀
點評：本文主要講述了hipsters在現在遇見的新的情況，測試考生在閱讀基礎上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據文章所述事件的邏輯關系，對未說明的趨勢或結局作出合理的推斷；或根據作者所闡述的觀點理論，對文章未涉及的現象、事例給以解釋。考生首先要仔細閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準確把握作者觀點。