题目内容
When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at ‘bed and breakfast’ houses, because this kind of accommodation gives foreign visitors a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.
“We didn’t stay at ‘B&B’ (bed and breakfast) houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”
I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, their car was soon stopped.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However , to my surprise the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you”.
51. My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.
A. learning English in England B. finding places to stay in England
C. driving their car on English roads D. going to England to have fun
52. I suggested that they stay at ‘B&B’ houses because ______.
A. it would be available for them to practise English
B. it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels
C. it would be convenient for them to have dinner
D. it would be easy to find accommodation there
53. “NO VACANCIES” in English means ______.
A. no free rooms B. with free rooms C. not away on holiday D. no holidays at all
54. If you see a road sign that says “DIVERSION”, you will ______.
A. get held by the traffic policemen B. have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself
C. find the road is blocked by people D. have to take another different road
55. When someone offered me more coffee and I said “Thank you” in French, I ______.
A. didn’t really want any more coffee B. wanted the coffee pot taken away
C. really wanted some more coffee D. wanted to express my politeness
BAADC
