阅读理解

　　In the United States, friendships can be close, constant, intense, generous and real, yet fade away in a short time if situations change．Neither side feels hurt by this．Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while－then no more．If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship where it left off and are delighted．

　　In the States, you can feel free to visit people's homes, share their holidays, or enjoy their lives without fear that you are taking on a lasting obligation(义务)．Do not hesitate to accept hospitality(好客)because you can't give it in return．No one will expect you to do so for they know you are far from home．Americans will enjoy welcoming you and be pleased if you accept their hospitality easily．

　　Once you arrive there, the welcome will be full and warm and real．Most visitors find themselves readily invited into many homes there．In some countries it is considered inhospitable to entertain at home, offering what is felt as only home－cooked food, not“doing something for your guest”．It is felt that restaurant entertaining, shows more respect and welcome．Or for other different reasons, such as crowded space, language difficulties, or family custom, outsiders are not invited into homes．

　　In the United States, both methods are used, but it is often considered more friendly to invite a person to one's home than to go to a public place, except in purely business relationships．So, if your host or hostess brings you home, do not feel that you are being shown inferior treatment．

　　Don't feel neglected if you do not find flowers awaiting you in your hotel room, either．Flowers are very expensive there; hotel delivery is uncertain; arrival times are delayed, changed, or canceled——so flowers are not customarily sent as a welcoming touch．Please do not feel unwanted!Outward signs vary in different lands; the inward welcome is what matters, and this will be real．

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阅读理解

　　The next time you try for a high-ranking post, you could let your possible boss listen to a recommending phone call“made”by US President George W．Bush or British Prime Minister Tony Blair．

　　Of course, neither of them could really do that for you－you would just“borrow”their voices．

　　AT ＆ T labs will start selling speech software that, it says, is so good at reproducing the sounds of a human voice that it can recreate voices of long-dead famous people back to life．

　　The software, which turns printed text into speech, makes it possible for a company to use recordings of a person's voice to say things that the person never actually said．

　　Possible customers for the software, which is priced at the thousands of dollars, include telephone call centers, companies that make software that reads digital files aloud, makers of automated voices devices．The advances raise several problems．Who, for example owns the rights to a famous person's voice?(Some experts even believe that new contracts will be drawn that include voice-licensing clauses．)

　　And although scientists say the technology is not yet good enough to commit fraud(假冒), would the synthesized(合成的)voices at last be able to trick people into thinking that they were getting phone calls or digital audio recordings from people they knew?

　　Even Mr．Fruchterman, one of AT ＆ T lab's possible first customers, said he wondered what the new technology right bring．“Just like you can't trust a photograph any more,”he said,“You won't be able to trust a voice either．”

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