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

根据对话内容，从方框中选出合适的句子补全对话，并将其标号填入相应的括号内。(满分10分)

请阅读以下相关的职业或兴趣爱好:

A．The person works in a hospital emergency room. His/her job is to assist doctors to rescue patients who are seriously ill.

B．The person likes sports activities the most. For him/her, having sports activities is very interesting.

C．The person works for himself/herself at home. He/She writes for others.

D．The person doesn’t like other things such as gardening. But he/she really likes music, especially classical music.

E.     The person likes collecting all kinds of things, such as baseball cards and stamps.

F.     Many people may like collecting things, such as collecting cards or stamps. But he/she likes reading very much.

请阅读以下个人信息，然后匹配与他们相关的职业或兴趣爱好：

1. Mary: I never used to like stamp collecting. I read almost everything I can: books, magazines, newspapers. I go to the public library about twice a week. If you’d like to send me something, maybe books are my favorite.

2. Tom: My wife says I should take up gardening. We have a big garden and she loves working in it. But the truth is, it bores me. My friends and my wife think I’m really boring, because I’m always listening to music. I go to concerts all the time. I love Mozart and all that classical staff.

3. Mike: I don’t really like video games and that sort of things. I prefer being outdoors, hiking or playing sports. I always go out with my family playing baseball and stuff all the time. I think most sports are pretty interesting.

4. Lisa: I’m a free writer, and a lot of people think my job is easier because I don’t have to go to the office every day. And I don’t have to deal with office politics. But, you know, my job is very hard. I have to be very organized and much disciplined. And pretty self-motivated. And when I have a problem, there is no one around to help me.

5. Victor: My life is very stressful. In my working place, everyone is in a hurry and under tremendous pressure. The doctors are demanding, and there is always too much to do to save a dying patient.

根据对话内容，从方框中选出合适的句子补全对话，并将其标号填入相应的括号内。 (满分10分)

 (Man—M       Woman—W      Girl—G)

M：  (1)

W：I'm looking for a coat for my daughter.

M；Here, madam.     (2)

W_： The one on the right looks very nice, doesn't it? (3)

G：No, Mum, I don't like red very much. (4)

W；Green? What about that green one over there? How do you like that?

G：It's nice, isn't it?

W_： Yes.  (5)

M_： 80 dollars.

W：OK. We'11 take it

下面短文中有10处语言错误。请在有错误的地方增加，删除或修改某个单词。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（/\）, 并在其下面写上该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（﹨）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。

Some students think a difficult exam is just like a challenge and the more difficult it is, the more better it will be. They say a difficult exam can help them to find out what they are weak in their studies and improve their learning methods. Though, others were against a difficult exam. In their opinions, if it is very difficult, they may become discourage and feel terrible about their studies. I prefer an exam neither too difficult or too easy. A very easy exam is not good of teachers to learn how we are getting on with our studies, and too difficult an exam will make us lose our heart.