山东省潍坊实验高级中学2020届高三英语二轮复习专题训练：(七)概要写作专项

【二轮专题练】（七）概要写作专项

A

阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。

While it takes time, energy and money that could surely be put to a much more productive use, there are millions of collectors around the world. People collect postcards, chocolate wrappers or whatever they like. Collecting must be one of the most varied human activities, and it’s one that many psychologists find fascinating. Many forms of collecting have been dignified with a technical name: an arctophilist collects teddy bears, a philatelist collects postage stamps and a deltiologist collects postcards.

There are people who collect something because they want to make money, and this could be called an instrumental reason for collecting, that is, collecting as a means to an end. They will look for, say, antiques (古董) that they can buy cheaply and expect to be able to sell at a profit. But there may well be a psychological factor too: buying cheap and selling dear can keep the collector a sense of achievement. And as selling online is so easy, more people are joining in.

If you think about collecting postage stamps, another potential reason for it is its educational value. Stamp collecting opens a window to other countries and to the plants, animals or famous people shown on the stamps. Similarly, in the nineteenth century many collectors amassed (积累) animals and plants from around the globe and their collections provide a vast amount of information about the natural world. Without those collections, our understanding would be greatly inferior to what it is.

Not all collectors are interested in learning from their hobby, though, so what we might call a psychological reason for collecting is the need for a sense of control and a sense of fulfillment, perhaps as a way of dealing with insecurity. Stamp collectors, for instance, arrange their stamp albums, usually very neatly, organizing their collections according to certain commonplace principles — perhaps by country in alphabetic order or grouping stamps by what they describe —people, birds, maps and so on.

B

阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。

Work is a very important part of life in the United States. When the early immigrants came to this country, they brought the idea that work was the way to God and heaven. This attitude still influences America today. Work is not only important for the salary, but also for social and psychological working, being productive. For most Americans, they are what they do. What happens, then, when a person retires at the age of sixty-five or seventy? It’s easy to imagine that retirement is no easy thing. Retirees often feel they are unproductive and no longer needed by others.

Once people retire, they may also get into financial trouble. Many people rely on Social Security checks every month. During their working years, employees contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the government. When people retire, they receive this money as income. These checks do not provide enough money to live on, however, because prices are increasing very rapidly. After retirement, they have to change their lifestyles. They have to spend carefully to be sure that they can afford to buy food, fuel, and other necessities.

Of course, not all senior citizens feel sad when they are in face of retirement. Working for so