① Why are we so worried about our careers? Partly it’s to do with money, but there’s a psychological aspect to our fears as well.
② We worry because we suspect—not wrongly—that the world is full of a frightening sort of person ready to judge us ruthlessly and swiftly: a person we can call a snob.
③ A snob is anyone who takes a relatively small part of us and uses it to come to a rigid conclusion about how much of their attention we deserve. In the past, that might be your ancestry and royal connections. Nowadays, the snob cares about one thing only: what you do for a living.
④ This explains why the first question we will be asked in any new social context is “What do you do?” and according to how we answer, snobs will either welcome us with broad smiles, or leave us in the cold.
⑤ And that is why we are fired up by such a desperate urge to achieve and impress.
⑥ Sometimes our behaviour is mistaken for greed and vanity, but it is more than this. A lot of our interest in fancy cars, jobs and houses has nothing to do with materialism. It has to do with a hunger for the respect and esteem that is only available in our societies through the acquisition of material goods. It isn’t the goods themselves we seek, it is the love we stand to gain through our possession of them. The next time we see someone driving a Ferrari, we shouldn’t condemn them for their greed, we should pity them for the intensity of their need for love from the world.
⑦ At the root of snobbery is a lack of imagination and confidence about how to decide who in the world is valuable. The snobs are brutally misguided and slavish in their beliefs about how the superior individuals can be identified. For snobs, it is the already acclaimed and already successful who are the only ones worthy of respect. There is no room in their timid regimented minds to imagine that someone might be clever, kind or good—and yet somehow have been overlooked entirely by society, their qualities lying hidden beneath an unfamiliar veil, and having as yet discovered no obvious outlet.
⑧ The true answer to snobbery is not to say that there is no such thing as a better or worse person, but to insist that better or worse exist in constantly unexpected places and carry none of the outward signs of distinction. And because we are such poor judges of the worth of others, our ultimate duty remains to be kind, good, curious and imaginative about pretty much everyone who ever crosses our path.
1.1.What gives rise to our worry about careers apart from money?
A Fear of being judged in a snobbish manner.
B The prospect of facing fault-finding managers.
C The ruthless way employees are often treated.
D Fright at the difficulty in hunting for a job.
解析：选A。A细节理解题。根据题干信息词worry about和part from money可将答案线索定位至前两段。定位非析第一段提到，我们之所以担心自己的职业，部分原因与金钱有关，但这种担忧也有心理层面的原因；第二段具体阐述了心理原因，即我们怀疑这个世界上有很多势利小人，他们随时准备无情且迅速地对我们做出评判。A项是对原文内容的概括，故为正确答案。其他三项原文并未提及，故均排除。故选A。
2.2.What do we learn from the passage about today’s snobs?
A They try hard to dig into a person’s past.
B They draw a rigid conclusion about people.
C They judge a person by their occupation.
D They tend to place people in a social context.
解析：选C。C细节理解题。根据题干信息词today’s snobs可将答案线索定位至第三段。第二段已经介绍过，势利小人是那些随时准备无情且迅速地对他人做出评判的人，第三段最后一句话指出，如今，势利小人只关心一件事：你的职业是什么。由此可知，如今的势利小人通过职业来评判一个人，故C项正确。第三段第一句话确实提到，势利小人会做出刻板结论，但这是过去和如今的势利小人都会做的事，题目主要问的是如今的势利小人有什么特点，B项回答针对性不强，故排除。A项和D项的内容原文并未提及，故排除。故选C。
3.3.What does the author say about people’s interest in material goods?
A It is the cause for condemnation of their greed.
B It has a lot to do with the comforts they provide.
C It arouses pity rather than respect from the wealthy.
D It arises from their craving for social recognition.
解析：选D。
D细节理解题。由第六段第三句可知，人们对物质财富的兴趣与他们对尊重和敬重的渴望有关，也就是说人们希望通过获取物质财富来获得社会的认可，D项与原文表述相符，故为正确答案。原文提到，当我们看到有人开着法拉利跑车时，不应该谴责他们的贪婪，这说明作者认为人们对物质财富的兴趣不能作为谴责他们贪婪的原因，A项说法与原文相悖，故排除。B项内容原文并未提及，故排除。文中说的是我们应怜悯开法拉利跑车的人（即富人），而非富人怜悯他人，C项偷换概念，故排除。故选D。
4.4.What kind of people do snobs deem worth respect and esteem?
A Those with fame and fortune.
B Those with regimented minds.
C Those with intelligence and imagination.
D Those with qualities lying hidden in disguise.
解析：选A。A细节理解题。第七段第三句提到，对于势利小人来说，只有已然声名显赫的成功人士才值得尊重。A项符合原文描述，故为正确答案。B项“那些思维刻板的人”是势利小人自身的特点，而非他们尊重的对象，故排除。根据原文可知，C项与D项均不是势利小人会尊重的人。故排除。故选A。
5.5.What does the author imply we should do to avoid being snobbish?
A Be aware there has never been such a thing as a better or worse person.
B Be kind to and curious about those who we happen to meet in our lives.
C Realize that better or worse keeps changing in unexpected ways.
D Judge people on the basis of their distinctive character traits.
解析：选B。B细节理解题。作者在最后一段提出了如何避免变得势利的方法，即对每一个出现在我们生活中的人，保持友好、善良、好奇与充满想象力。B项表述与原文相符，故为正确答案。最后一段第一句话提到，对抗势利的真正答案并非宣称不存在更好或更坏的人，A项与原文内容相悖，故排除。文中说的是更好或更坏的人总是存在于意想不到的地方，而非会发生变化，C项曲解文意，故排除。D项内容原文并未提及，故排除。故选B。
