It is interesting to visit another country, but there are some problems when you don’t know the   1  very well. It may be   2  to talk with the people there. We may not know how to use the telephone in the country that we are visiting. We may not know how to buy   3   we need. In a   4  country we might not know where to eat or what to order in a  5 . It is not easy to decide how  6  to tip waiters or taxi drivers. When we need help, we might not know how to ask for help. It is not pleasant to have an experience   7  that.   8  a short time, however, we learn what to do and what to   9 . We learn to enjoy life in another country and then we may be   10 to leave.

When a light passenger plane flew off course[跑道] some time ago, something was wrong with it and it crashed[坠毁] in the mountains and its pilot was killed. The only passengers, a young woman and her two baby daughters, were unhurt. It was the middle of winter. Snow lay thick on the ground. The woman knew that the nearest village was kilometers away. She couldn’t find anything in the snow but a suit-case[行李箱]. When it grew dark, she turned the suit-case into a bed and put the children inside it, covering[盖] them with all the clothes she could find. During the night, it got terribly cold. The woman kept as near as she could to the children and even tried to get into the case herself, but it was too small. Early next morning, she heard planes flying above and wanted to know how she could send a signal[信号Then she had an idea. She wrote the letters ‘SOS’ in the snow. Luckily, a pilot saw the signal and sent a message by radio to the nearest town. It was not long before a group of people arrived and they took the woman and her daughters to hospital at once.
【小题1】Where was something wrong with the plane?
【小题2】How many people were in the light passenger plane before it crashed?
【小题3】What did the woman make the suit-case into a bed for?
【小题4】What did the woman do to ask for help?
【小题5】Were the woman and her children saved?

I’ll never forget one summer day in 1975. On that day my  1 suddenly died because of an un­explained illness at the age of 36 . Later that afternoon, a police officer  2 to my house to ask for my father’s permission ( 允许) for the hospital to  3 Mother’ s valve ( 心脏瓣膜) . I was greatly  4 . I ran into the house in tears. At the age of 14 I just couldn’t understand why people would take apart(分解) a person I loved. _5  my father told him, "Yes. "
"How can you let them do that to her?" I   6  him.
" Linda," he said__7  , putting his arms around me, " the greatest present you can give is a part of  8 . Your mother and I decided long ago that if we can make a person’ s life  9  after we die, our death will have meaning. "
The lesson my father taught me that day became one of the most __10  in my life.
Years passed. I married and had a  11 of my own. In 1996 my father became seriously ill.
With a smile he told me that when he died, he wanted to  12 whatever was in good condition(状况) , especially his eyes.
My father died and we donated __ 13 as he had wanted. Three days later, my daughter said, " Mum, I’ m so 14 of what you did for Grandpa. " At that moment I realized that my father gave 15  his eyes. What he left behind sparkled( 闪烁) in my daughter’ s eyes— pride.
(   )1.  A. father         B. mother      C. grandma      D. grandpa
(   )2.  A. shouted       B. sent          C. came          D. reached
(   )3.  A. operate       B. use        C. make        D. repair
(   )4.  A. surprised    B. interested   C. excited        D. bored
(   )5.  A. So           B. As          C. But         D. And
(   )6.  A. reported       B. said to       C. told        D. cried at
(   )7.  A. quietly        B. happily      C. angrily      D. loudly
(   )8.  A. yourself       B. myself       C. himself      D. herself
(   )9.  A. worse         B. poorer      C. better        D. more helpful
(   )10.  A. wonderful     B. important     C. warm  hearted   D. beautiful
(   )11.  A. room         B. home        C. family      D. house
(   )12.  A. discover      B. show        C. sell         D. donate
(   )13.  A. his heart      B. his eyes       C. his life        D. his ears
(   )14.  A. afraid         B. tired         C. full           D. proud
(   )15.  A. much more than    B. less than   C. many more than  D. as much as

Asking for information or help is a very common and necessary activity, especially when we visit a foreign country. So knowing how to ask for information politely is important. In English, "Where are the restrooms?" and "Could you please tell me where the restrooms are?" are similar requests—both are correct English, but the first could sound rude. It’s important to use correct language, but sometimes this alone is not enough—we need to learn how to be polite when we make requests.
In English, just like in Chinese, we change the way we speak when talking with different people. The expressions you use might depend on whom you are speaking to or how well you know them. If you say to your teacher, "Where is my book?" this will sound rude. But if you say, "Excuse me, Mr West. Do you know where my book is?" your question will sound much more polite. On the other hand, it might be alright to say "Where is my book?" in some situations, perhaps with people you know well.
And you would not usually say, "Peter, lend me your pen. " A very direct order like this can sound rude in English. Usually in English polite questions are longer and include extra language, such as "Could you please...?" or "Can I ask...?" It sounds more polite to say, "Peter, could you please lend me your pen?" Sometimes we might even need to spend some time leading in to a question or request. For example, if you stop a stranger in the street, we might first say, "Excuse me. I wonder if you can help me. " or "I’m sorry to trouble you but," before asking them for help.
It might seem that speaking politely is more difficult than being direct, and in a way this may be true. However, in order not to offend people, learning about the language etiquette is just as important as learning grammar or vocabulary. And doing this will also help you become better at English, or any other language you wish to speak.
【小题1】 It’s important to know how to_     _in English when we visit a foreign country.
【小题2】 When you talk with different people, you need to__       _.
【小题3】 Extra words are used to help__      ___.
【小题4】._      _is as important as learning language structure.
【小题5】 How do you say " Don’t smoke here. " politely? "_         __*