My Fellow Americans,
I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease (老年痴呆症).
Upon learning this news, Nancy & I had to decide whether as private citizens we would  36  this a private matter or we would make this news known in a  37  way.
In the past Nancy suffered from breast cancer  38  I had my cancer surgeries (外科手术). We found that after we told it to the public, we were able to  39  public awareness(意识). We were happy that  40   many more people went to have a test. They were treated in early stages and able to  41  to normal, healthy lives.
So now, we feel it is  42   to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater  43  of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are  44   by it.
At the moment I feel just fine. I’d  45   to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have  46  done. I will continue to share  47    journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch  48   my friends and supporters.
Unfortunately, as Alzheimer’s Disease  49 , the family often suffers a lot. I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this   50  experience. When the time comes I am confident that with your help she will   51  it with faith and courage.
At last, let me thank you, the American people for giving me the great honor of  52   me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home,  53  that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and endless optimism (乐观) for its future.
I now begin this  54  that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright   55  ahead.
Thank you my friends. May God always bless you.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan

One Christmas Eve, my husband made his way home from work.  36 , he worked the entire day but let his stuff go  37  so that they could be with their families.

He drove down the street and made the  38  towards our home. On one side of the road, an old man stood, drenched to the bone (被雨淋得湿透了), with his hand  39 . The rain had been  40  heavily that day. My husband stopped, and asked him where he was  41 . He wanted to go about five miles past our home, but my husband still told him to  42 . My husband chatted with him, drove  43  our house and took him home for his Christmas Eve.  44  turned out that this poor man was what we now  45  as a “slow learner” and the only job he could get to  46  him and his elderly mother was at the bakery near where my husband worked. He worked from 5 a.m. until 1 o’clock in the  47 . Not only that, but that poor man had been standing there trying to get a ride on Christmas Eve for about 5 hours  48  my husband picked him up.  49  else would give him a ride because they didn’t want to get their seats  50 .

Over the years my husband  51  to give him a ride home whenever he saw him trying to get a ride. When he passed  52 , my husband went to his funeral.  53  my husband didn’t know his family, they knew of him. Even his twin sister who  54  in the state of Washington knew who my husband was and everyone thanked him for his  55  toward one who had so little.

An act of kindness can make another person’s day, or even their life.

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

One cold night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco．There I was walking home around one o’clock in the morning after a   31  practice at the theatre. With the opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines by heart. I was having   32  handling my part-time job at the bank in the daytime and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about  33  both acting and San Francisco. I had  34  too much of city life.

As I walked down the  35  streets under the tall buildings, I felt very small and cold, so I began  36  both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out  37  a few homeless people under blankets.

About a block from my  38 , I heard a sound behind me. I   39  quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me  40  so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I   41  what the noise had been. It had been my wallet  42  to the sidewalk.

Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk   43  for 15 minutes, my wallet was   44  to be found.

Just as I was about to quit the  45  , I heard the garbage truck stop to the sidewalk next to  46  . When a voice came from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened and out jumped a small blonde(金发碧眼的) man with an  47  look in his eyes. “Is this  48  you’re looking for?” He asked, holding up something like a wallet.

It was already 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I couldn’t get much sleep, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some  49  of city life. I realized the city couldn’t be a bad place  50  people were willing to help each other.

One cold night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco．There I was walking home around one o clock m the morning after a   36  practice at the theatre With he opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines by heart. I was having   37 handling my part-time job at the bank in the daytime and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about  38 both acting and San Francisco. I had  39 too much of city life.

As I walked down the  40 streets under the tall buildings, I felt very small and cold, so I began  41 both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out  42 a few homeless people under blankets.

About a block from my  43 , I heard a sound behind me. I   44  quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me  45 so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I   46  what the noise had been. It had been my wallet  47 to the sidewalk.

Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk   48 for 15 minutes, my wallet was   49 to be found.

Just as I was about to quit the  50 , I heard the garbage truck stop to the sidewalk next to  51 .when a voice came from the inside, “Alisa Camcho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened and out jumped a small blonde man with an  52 look in his eyes. “Is this  53  you’re looking for?” He asked, holding up something like a wallet.

It was already 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I couldn’t get much sleep, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some  54 of city life. I realized the city couldn’t be a bad place  55 people were willing to help each other.