题目内容

The way we do things round here

Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, “Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us. ”That “quite” saddened me. I thought he was saying “we’ re kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.” Then I discovered that in American English “quite” sometimes means “very”, while in British English it means “fairly”.

So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don' t

just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures(文化).

Some of these differences may be only on the surface—dress, food and hours of work—while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate(气候),while getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality(准时).If you invite people to a party at 7 o’ clock

your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the

American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word “late” because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.

1.The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought______.

    A. the American bank didn’ t think much of him

    B. the American bank might hire another person

    C. it’ s difficult to get used to American culture

    D. it’ s easy to misunderstand Americans

2.The word “highlights” in Paragraph 2 probably means_____.

    A. encourages                  B. helps to narrow

    C. increases                    D. draws attention to

3.According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?

    A. Ask the native people for help.

    B. Understand and accept them.

    C. Do things in our own way.

    D. Do in-depth research.

4.When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are______.

    A. Italians    B. Germans    C. Greeks    D. the British

 

【答案】

 

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.B

【解析】【要点综述】作者以自己在美国的一次找工作的经历,说明了在国外工作了解外国文化差异的重要性。

1. 细节理解题。根据第一段的第三句话That “quite”saddened me.和第四句话I thought he was saying “we’re kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.”可知是A。结合下面的解释American English “quite” 的意思,可知B“这家银行打算雇佣另外一个人”错误。C“难以习惯美国文化”和D“容易误解美国人”与事实不符。

2.词义猜测题。从第二段的最后一句话画线部分前面的The way people do things和后面的many of the differences we see between cultures可知这里的highlights是“吸引注意力”的意思。A鼓励,B帮助缩小,C增加,与语境不符。

3.细节理解题。从第三段的第二句话Mostly,it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them可知是B。

4.细节理解题。根据最后一段的第四句话your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany以及后面给出的各个国家的例子,可知是德国人最守时。

 

练习册系列答案
相关题目

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A quarrel at home may result in you falling ill. Don’t laugh, it’s true. Family matters including living habits and even the way we speak have a big effect on our health, doctors say.
Wang Xiaoyu, a Senior 2 girl from Xichang, Sichuan Province, fainted (晕倒) in class when she heard her classmates quarrel at the top of their voices. Quarrels between her parents also put the girl into a coma. It is because she is suffering from depression (抑郁症), caused by bad relations at home, doctors explained.
“We don’t get sick or stay well by ourselves,” says Dr Robert Ferrer from the US. Ferrer shows that family forces may explain up to a quarter of health problems, in his recent research. The genes you get from your family may cause illness. If one of your parents has a heart attack, your risk of being affected may double. But effects on health are not only written in our DNA.
Unrelated people who live under the same roof also get similar problems. Diet, lifestyle and environment affect our health, too. Ferrer’s research also found that if teenagers feel they are ignored or unimportant at home they are more likely to get sick.
We may never fully understand all the effects that families have on our health. But just as individual (个别的) problems can have effects on others, a small improvement can have big benefits, Ferrer said.
【小题1】Which of the following can best explain why Wang Xiaoyu fainted in class?

A.Because her classmates often quarreled in class.
B.Because her parents used to quarrel.
C.Because of her depression caused by bad family relations.
D.Because her classmates shouted loudly at her.
【小题2】According to Dr Ferrer, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.We get sick or stay well by ourselves.
B.Only the genes we get from our family have a big effect on our health.
C.Our health has nothing to do with diet, lifestyle and environment.
D.Teenagers who are ignored at home get sick more easily than those who are not.
【小题3】The underlined word “coma” in Paragraph2 probably means ________.
A.surpriseB.faintC.tirednessD.sadness
【小题4】The best title for this passage is ________.
A.Family relations.B.The reasons why we get sick.
C.Family---- another cause to healthD.A research about health.

I came to live here where I am now between Wounded Knee Greek and Grass Greek。Others came too, and we made these little grey houses of logs that you see, and they are square. It is a bad way to live, for there can be no power in a square.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the respectful circle of the nation, and so long as the circle was unbroken, the people were getting rich. The flowering tree was the living center of the circle, and the circle of the four quarters nursed it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and strong wind gave strength and continuous power.
This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our brief. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. Birds make their nests in circle, for theirs are the same as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
Our places were like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s circle, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to nurse our children.
But the “white people” have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more. You can look at our boys and see how it is with us. Where we were living by the power of the circle in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to grow up.
【小题1】According to the passage, the Indians _______.

A.don’t have modern instruments in their homes
B.refused to move from round places
C.lived in round places, but were forced to live in square houses
D.lived in round places, but then decided to move into square houses
【小题2】Two things being compared in the passage are _______.
A.the Indians’ past and present living conditions
B.the Indians’ past and modern beliefs
C.the Indians’ old and new power
D.people and nature
【小题3】In the second paragraph “the four quarters” refers to _______.
A.the four rooms of the Indian’s house
B.the four kinds of natural power
C.the four seasons
D.the four directions
【小题4】According to the author, once the Indians moved into square houses, _______.
A.they had to move to other houses
B.boys took more time to grow into men
C.they forgot the old way of life
D.everyone was not happy

One of the most remarkable things about the human mind is our ability to imagine the future. In our   16  we can see what has not yet happened.For example, while we are looking forward to visiting a new place or country, we   17  what it will be like. We predict the   18  people will eat, dress and act. Of course, we do not always predict things correctly. Things are often very different from the way we   19  them to be.

One of the   20  dreams in history is the dream of the German scientist, Kekule, who had been   21  to work out a very difficult problem in physics. He had   22  and analyzed the problem from every angle for days, but there seemed to be no way of   23  out the answer. Then one night he went to bed and dreamed.When he   24  up, he realized that he knew the answer. He had solved the problem in his   25 .

The hypnotist(催眠者) sat in the chair opposite him and spoke   26 : I want you to concentrate on my voice. Think about nothing. You know nothing but my voice. And as you pay attention to my voice, your   27  will get heavier. Soon you’ll be asleep.

You will hear my voice and   28  my words, but your body will be asleep, your eyes are too heavy. You are almost asleep, and when you wake up you will   29  nothing.

You will forget everything. Now I am going to   30  slowly from one to five. One, two, three, four, five.

1.                A.brains          B.senses          C.sights D.minds

 

2.                A.imagine        B.know           C.feel  D.guess

 

3.                A.custom         B.way            C.style D.habit

 

4.                A.required        B.wished         C.left  D.expected

 

5.                A.famous         B.dull            C.funny    D.silly

 

6.                A.trying          B.managing       C.thinking  D.hoping

 

7.                A.learned        B.studied         C.discussed D.surveyed

 

8.                A.finding         B.making         C.turning   D.letting

 

9.                A.gave           B.sat             C.woke D.got

 

10.               A.lesson         B.dream         C.research  D.exercise

 

11.               A.softly          B.loudly          C.slowly D.firmly

 

12.               A.head          B.feet           C.eyes  D.body

 

13.               A.believe         B.understand      C.take  D.repeat

 

14.               A.accept         B.receive         C.hear  D.remember

 

15.               A.add           B.say            C.count D.speak

 

 

Do you know how it is when you see someone yawn and you start yawning too? Or how hard it is to be among people laughing and not laugh yourself? Well, apparently it's because we have mirror neurons (神经元)in our brains.

Put simply, the existence of mirror neurons suggests that every time we see someone else do something, our brains imitate (模仿)it, whether or not we actually perform the same action. This explains a great deal about how we learn to smile, talk, walk, dance or play sports. But the idea goes further: mirror neurons not only appear to explain physical actions, they also tell us that there is a biological basis for the way we understand other people.

Mirror neurons can undoubtedly be found all over our brains, but especially in the areas which relate to our ability to use languages, and to understand how other people feel. Researchers have found that mirror neurons relate strongly to language. A group of researchers discovered that if they gave people sentences to listen to (for example: "The hand took hold of the ball"), the same mirror neurons were triggered as when the action was actually performed (in this example, actually taking hold of a ball).

Any problems with mirror neurons may well result in problems with behavior. Much research suggests that people with social and behavioral problems have mirror neurons which are not fully functioning. However, it is not yet known exactly how these discoveries might help find treatments for social disorders.

Research into mirror neurons seems to provide us with even more information concerning how humans behave and interact (互动). Indeed, it may turn out to be the equivalent (相等物)for neuroscience of what Einstein's theory of relativity was for physics. And the next time you feel the urge to cough in the cinema when someone else does—well, perhaps you'll understand why.

1.Mirror neurons can explain _________.

A.why we cry when we are hurt

B.why we cough when we suffer from a cold

C.why we smile when we see someone else smile

D.why we yawn when we see someone else stay up late

2.The underlined word "triggered" in the third paragraph probably means “_________”.

A.set off            B.cut off            C.built up           D.broken up

3.We can learn from the passage that mirror neurons _________.

A.relate to human behavior and interaction

B.control human physical actions and feelings

C.result in bad behavior and social disorders

D.determine our knowledge and language abilities

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A.Ways to find mirror neurons.              B.Problems of mirror neurons.

C.Existence of mirror neurons.               D.Functions of mirror neurons.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网