Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another. Some societies, such as America and Australia, for example, are mobile and very open. People here change jobs and move house quite often. As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly. So it’s normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal.

On the other hand there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long-term relationships are more important. A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business. But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society.

To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first. On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it’s no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don’t want to answer.

Cross-cultural differences aren’t just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them. All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place. This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with.

Some societies have ‘universalist’ cultures. These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way.

‘Particularist’ societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society’s unwritten ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person. So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person.

This difference can cause problems. A traveler from a particularist society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalist culture. The Indian traveler has too much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family. He expects that the check-in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him. The check-in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn’t be fair to the other passengers. But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don’t have his problem.

 

56. Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americans and Australians ________.

A. like traveling better                              

B. easy to communicate with

C. difficult to make real friends                  

D. have a long-term relationship with their neighbors

57. People like Malaysians prefer to associate with those ________.

A. who will tell them everything of their own     

B. who want to do business with them

C. they know quite well                                   

D. who are good at talking

58. A person from a less mobile society will feel it ________ when a stranger keeps talking to him or her, and asking him or her questions.

A. boring                   B. friendly                    C. normal                            D. rough

59. Which of the following is TRUE about “particularist societies”?

A. There is no rule for people to obey.

B. People obey the society’s rules completely.

C. No one obeys the society’s rules though they have.

D. The society’s rules can be changed with different persons or situations.

60. The writer of the passage thinks that the Indian and the German have different ideas about rules because of different ________.

A. interests            B. habits and customs          C. cultures             D. ways of life

About 1966 or so, a NASA team doing work for the Apollo moon mission took the astronauts near Tuba City. There the landscape of the Navajo Reservation looks very much like the lunar surface. Among all the trucks and large vehicles were two large figures that were dressed in full lunar space suits.

Nearby a Navajo shepherd (牧羊人) and his son were watching the strange creatures walk about, occasionally being watched over by other NASA workers. The two Navajo people were noticed and approached by the NASA people. Since the shepherd and his son did not know English, they asked the NASA people who the strange creatures were. The NASA people told them that they were just men that were getting ready to go to the moon. The shepherd became very excited and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts.

The NASA officials thought this was a great idea so they provided a tape recorder. After the man gave them his message, they asked his son to translate. His son would not.

Later, they tried a few more people on the reservation to translate and every person they asked would chuckle (偷偷地笑) and then refuse to translate. Finally, with cash in hand someone translated the message, “Watch out for these guys, they have come to take your land!”

 

52. The appearance of the Navajo Reservation is very similar to that of ________.

A. the Tuba City                                              

B. the moon          

C. the NASA research center                            

D. the Apollo moon mission

53. When the older Navajo heard that the men in front of him were going to the moon, he ________.

A. felt frightened and ran away quickly       

B. chatted excitedly with the NASA workers

C. got on the modern trucks and large vehicles for fun

D. tried to say something to the moon creatures

54. The son did not translate the words his father said because ________.

A. he had trouble in understanding his father

B. the words his father used were too difficult to be translated

C. his father was sending a warning against the NASA people

D. he believed that the NASA workers could understand their language

55. According to this passage, we can know that the shepherd was ________.

A. patient and brave                                         

B. foolish and impolite

C. humorous and intelligent                              

D. knowledgeable and talkative

We now think of chocolate as sweet, but once it was bitter. We think of it as a candy, but once it was a medicine. Today, chocolate can be a hot drink, a frozen dessert, or just a snack. Sometimes it’s an ingredient (配料) in the main course of a meal. Mexicans make a hot chocolate sauce called mole and pour it over chicken. The Mexicans also eat chocolate with spices (香料) like chili peppers.

       Chocolate is a product of the tropical cacao tree. The beans taste so bitter that even the monkeys say “Ugh!” and run away. Workers must first dry and then roast the beans. This removes the bitter taste.

       The word “chocolate” comes from a Mayan word. The Mayas were an ancient people who once lived in Mexico. They valued the cacao tree. Some used the beans for money, while others crushed them to make a drink.

       When the Spaniards came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, they started drinking cacao too. Because the drink was strong and bitter, they thought it was a medicine. No one had the idea of adding sugar. The Spaniards took some beans back to Europe and opened cafes. Wealthy people drank cacao and said it was good for the digestion.

       In the 1800s, the owner of a chocolate factory in England discovered that sugar removed the bitter taste of cacao. It quickly became a cheap and popular drink. Soon afterwards, a factory made the first solid block of sweetened chocolate. Later on, another factory mixed milk and chocolate together. People liked the taste of milk chocolate even better.

       Besides the chocolate candy bar, one of the most popular American snacks is the chocolate chip cookie. Favorite desserts are chocolate cream pie and, of course, an ice cream sundae with hot fudge sauce.

 

48. It was ______ that discovered sugar could remove the bitter taste of cacao.

A. The workers in the chocolate factory                   

B. The Spaniards

C. The people in England                       

D. The owner of a chocolate factory

49. According to the passage which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Nobody had the idea of adding sugar until the sixteenth century.

B. The word “chocolate” comes from a Mexican word.

C. The beans taste so bitter that even the monkeys like them.

D. Workers must dry and roast the beans to remove the bitter taste.

50. The Spaniards think that cacao was a medicine because ______.

A. it was strong and bitter.                               

B. it was good for digestion.

C. it cured man’s diseases.                               

D. it was a kind of drink for good health.

51. Which is the right time order of the events regarding chocolate?

a. Chocolate became a cheap and popular drink in England.

b. A factory made the first solid block of sweetened chocolate.

c. The Spaniards started drinking cacao.

d. It was found that sugar removed the bitter taste of cacao.

e. A factory mixed milk and chocolate together.

A. a-b-c-d-e                  B. c-d-e-b-a                  C. c-d-a-b-e                  D. c-d-b-e-a

People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell stories according to pictures.

About 5,000 years ago the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as a kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet (字母表).

The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture-writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of these pictures are like modern comic strip (连环画) stories. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it.

By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world.

These days we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawings, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the streets, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.

 

44. Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain probably because ________.

A. the hunters wanted to see the pictures           

B. the painters were animal lovers

C. the painters wanted to show imagination        

D. the pictures were thought to be helpful

45. The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons EXCEPT that ________.

A. the former was easy to write                        

B. there were fewer signs in the former

C. the former was easy to pronounce            

D. each sign stood for only one sound

46. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet.

B. The Egyptians liked to write comic strip stories.

C. The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one.

D. The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyptians.

47. In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures ________.

A. should be made understandable              

B. should be made interesting

C. are of much use in our life                         

D. are disappearing from our life

To Chinese immigrants in the mid-1800s, California was “The Land of the Golden Mountain.” In their homeland they had heard the words, “There’s gold in California.” They sailed 7,000 miles to join the gold rush and strike it rich. Between 1849 and 1882, more than 30,000 Chinese came to California. Most were men. They had been farmers in China. They came here to be miners and laborers. They ended up doing many other jobs, too.

Like many other immigrants, they did not plan to stay in America. They came because of their ties to their homeland and their families. They planned to return to China with their fortunes and help their families.

Only a few Chinese gold miners struck it rich. Most picked over the areas that had been mined already. But still, white miners resented the Chinese. Slowly, they drove the “yellow peril” from the mining camps.

By the end of the 1850s, many Chinese returned home. Those who stayed found other jobs.

Few women had come west in the gold rush. The Chinese saw a good business opportunity. They began doing the jobs women would have done. Many became house servants. Many more opened laundries.

The Chinese opened restaurants. Chop suey and chow mein are popular Chinese-American dishes. The Chinese probably created these dishes to serve to the white miners.

Other Chinese became fishermen, farmers, and even cigar makers.

 

41. Why did Chinese go to America in the mid-1800s?

A. Because they could find good jobs there.

B. Because they had found gold there.

C. Because they could open laundries and restaurants there.

D. Because they heard there was gold there.

42. The underlined word “resented” mean “________”.

A. liked                        B. helped                      C. hated                       D. served

43. Which should be the title of the passage?

A. Early Chinese immigrants in America             

B. Dream to strike it rich

C. The difference between men and women       

D. Gold miners in America

All our dreams have something to do with our feelings, fears, longings, wishes, needs and memories. But something on the “outside” may affect what we   21  . If a person is hungry or tired or cold, his dream may include a feeling of this kind. If the   22   on your body has slipped off your bed, you may dream that you are   23   or resting on the ice and snow. The material for the dream you will   24   tonight is probably to come from the experiences you have today.

  25   the subject of your dream usually comes from something that has an effect on you   26   you are sleeping (feeling of cold, a noise, a discomfort, etc.) and it may also use your past experiences and the wishes and interests you have now. This is why very young   27   are likely to dream of fairies (仙女), older children of school examinations,   28   people of food, homesick soldiers of their families and prisoners of freedom.

To show you how that is   29   while you are asleep and how your wishes or needs can all be joined together in a dream,   30   is the story of an experiment. A man was asleep and the back of his   31   was rubbed   32   a piece of cotton. He would dream that he   33   in a hospital and his girlfriend was visiting him,   34   on the bed and feeling gently his hand!

There are some scientists who have made a special   35   of why we dream, what we dream and what those dreams   36  . Their explanation of dreams, though a bit reasonable, is not accepted by everyone, but it   37   an interesting approach (方法) to the problem. They believe that dreams are   38   expressions of wishes that didn’t   39  . In other words, a dream is a way of having your wishes   40   out.

21. A. long

B. dream

C. think

D. wish

22. A. blanket

B. book

C. shoe

D. trousers

23. A. working

B. running

C. sleeping

D. studying

24. A. have

B. meet

C. see

D. think

25. A. But

B. For

C. Because

D. So

26. A. before

B. while

C. after

D. during

27. A. children

B. fathers

C. drivers

D. gentlemen

28. A. happy

B. sad

C. hungry

D. old

29. A. taking

B. happening

C. dreaming

D. carrying

30. A. that

B. it

C. here

D. this

31. A. leg

B. head

C. body

D. hand

32. A. in

B. of

C. with

D. off

33. A. left

B. lived

C. gave

D. was

34. A. waiting

B. sitting

C. smiling

D. speaking

35. A. study

B. watch

C. sleep

D. way

36. A. stand

B. do

C. form

D. mean

37. A. makes

B. offers

C. finds

D. demands

38. A. any

B. almost

C. mostly

D. hardly

39. A. get

B. arrive

C. come true

D. believe in

40. A. carried

B. taken

C. kept

D. called

 

 

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