Question

I was brought up in the British, stiff upper lip style. Strong feelings aren’t something you display in public. So, you can imagine that I was unprepared for the outpouring of public grief(悲伤) at a Chinese funeral.

My funeral.editorial team leader died recently after a short illness. He was 31. The news was so unexpected that it left us all shocked and upset. A female colleague burst into tears and cried piteously at her desk. Somehow we got through the day's work. The next day was the funeral.

Our big boss stepped forward to deliver a eulogy and was soon in tears. She carried on, in Chinese of course, but at the end said in English: "There will be no more deadlines for you in heaven." Next came a long-term colleague who also dissolved in tears but carried on with her speech despite being almost overcome by emotion. Then a close friend of the dead man paid tribute(哀悼), weeping openly as he spoke. Sorrow is spreading. Me and women were now sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, the man's mother, supported between two women, addressed her son in his coffin. At one point, the mother almost collapsed and had to be held up. We were invited to step forward to each lay a white rose on the casket. Our dead colleague looked as if he was taking a nap. At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion.

In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral. Here in China it would seem that grieving is a public affair. It strikes me that it is more cathartic to cry your eyes out than try to keep it bottled up for fear of embarrassment, which is what many of us do in the West.

Afterwards, a Chinese colleague told me that the lamenting at the funeral had been restrained(克制) by Chinese standards. In some rural areas, she said, people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens. But we have all seen on TV scenes of grief-stricken people in Gaza and the West Bank, in Afghanistan, Iraq and the relatives of victims of terrorist bombings around the world. Chinese grief is no different. I realized that it's the reserved British way of mourning that is out of step with the rest of the world.

It was our newspaper's production day. We were bussed back to the office to resume work. No more deadlines for our former colleague, but we had to pull together to put the newspaper to print. The boss invited the team to go out for dinner after work. We relaxed, smiled, joked. There was no mention of the funeral or our poor colleague. Enough sorrow had been shed already. We needed a break.

1.The underlined words “stiff upper lip style” in Paragraph 1 mean “________”.

A．cold-blooded                       B．warm-hearted

C．light-hearted              D．self-controlled

2.At the funeral, ________.

A. five individuals made speeches

B. the boss’s speech was best thought of

C. the writer was astonished by the scene

D. everyone was crying out loudly

3.According to the writer, people in the West ________.     

A. are not willing to be sad for the dead

B. cry their eyes out at the public funeral

C. prefer to control their sadness in public

D. have better way to express sadness

4.It is implied that ________.  

A. Chinese express their sadness quite unlike other peoples

B. the English might cry noisily for the dead in Dickens’ time

C. victims of terrorist bombings should be greatly honored

D. English funeral culture is more civilized than the others

5.This passage talks mainly about________.       

A. an editor’s death                      B. bad funeral customs

C.cultural differences             D. western ways of grief 

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.C

3.C

4.B

5.C

 【解析】

试题分析：文章介绍了中英两国葬礼文化中的不同表现。

1.推断题：cold-blooded冷血的；warm-hearted热心的；light-hearted省心的；self-controlled自我控制的。“stiff upper lip style”意为：坚定沉着，D项更为贴近，故选D。

2.细节题： 根据文章第3段最后一行 At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion. 可知C正确。

3.细节题：根据文章第4段第1句In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral. 和最后一句It strikes me that it is more cathartic to cry your eyes out than try to keep it bottled up for fear of embarrassment, which is what many of us do in the West. 可知C正确。

4.推断题：A项说中国人的悲伤表达方式不同于其他国家的人，在第5段中有一句Chinese grief is no different，克制A是错的；B项在狄更斯时代英国人可能因死亡大声哭泣，在第5段中 In some rural areas, she said, people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens. 可知B是正确的；C项在恐怖爆炸中的牺牲者是光荣的，文中并没有提到是否是光荣的，只说他们的亲属是悲伤的，故C项是错误的；D项英国人的葬礼文化比其他国家的要文明，文中并没有说英国的葬礼文化更文明，故D项是错误的。因此选B。

5.推理题：根据文章内容可知中国葬礼文化和英国的葬礼文化的不同。故选C。

考点：考查政治经济文化类阅读