55. A. After
B. Last
C. Soon D.
Later
25
“How are you?” is a nice question.
It’s a 36 way that people in the United States meet
each other. But “How are you?” is also a very 37 question. It’s a question that often 38 have an answer. The person who asks “How
are you?” hopes to hear the answer “
39 ”, even though
the person’s friend isn’t fine, 40 “How are you?” isn’t really a question,
and “Fine” isn’t really an answer. They are simply other ways of saying “Hello”
and “ 41 ”.
Sometimes, people also don’t say
just what they 42 . For example, when someone
asks, “Do you agree?” the other person might be thinking, “No, I don’t agree. I
think you’re wrong.” But it isn’t very 43 to say so, so the other person might say,
“I’m not so 44 .” It’s a nicer way to say
that you don’t agree with someone.
People also don’t say just what
they are thinking when they 45 talking with other people. For example,
many talks over the phone 46 when one person says “I’ve got to go now.” Often, the person who wants to hang up
gives an excuse: “Someone’s at the door.” “I’ve got to put the things 47 .” “Something is burning on
the 48 .” The excuse might be real,
or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to
talk 49 , but it isn’t very polite to
say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person’s 50 .
