题目内容
Consider the different parts of the day, for example. The time of the day when something is done can
give a special meaning to the event. Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance of
an announcement made during the middle of the moming or afternoon that takes everyone away from his
work.
In the United States, it is not customary to telephone someone very early in the morning. If you telephone
him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call shows that the matter is
very urgent and requires immediate attention. It is the same with telephone calls made after 11:00 p. m. if
someone receives a call during sleeping hours. He probably thinks it is a matter of life or death. The time
chosen for the call communicates its importance.
The meanings of time differ in different parts of the world. Thus, misunderstanding arises between
people from cultures that treat time differently. In the United States, people tend to think of time as something
fixed in nature, something from which one cannot escape. As a rule, Americans think of time as a road into
the future, along which one progresses. The road has many sections, which are to be kept separate..."one
thing at a time". Thus, an American may feel angry when he has made an appointment with someone and
then finds a lot of other things happening at the same time.
Americans look ahead and are concerned almost entirely with the future. The American idea of the future
is limited, however. It is the foreseeable future and not the future of involving many centuries.
Since time has many different meanings in different cultures, communication is often difficult. We will
understand each other a little better if we can keep this fact in mind.
because _____.
B. it is made by the manager
C. it makes everyone lose his job
D. it communicates in many ways
B. impolite since it disturbs the receiver's sleep
C. to be a threat to the receiver's life
D. as urgent as one made early in the morning
B. people from different cultures misunderstand him
C. he cannot escape from something fixed in nature
D. others do not keep things separate
B. the future that one looks forward to
C. the future toward which one makes progress
D. the future which involves centuries
B. they are concerned with the future
C. they learn the way time communicates
D. they keep in mind that different cultures treat time differently
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