Question

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon 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. This can

be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower

more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

1.The writer of this passage must be ______.

A. an American     B. a Chinese

C. a professor     D. a student

2.From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.

A. warmly welcomed at the airport

B. offered a ride to his home

C. treated hospitably at his home

D. treated to dinner in a restaurant

3.The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.

A. strict with time     B. serious with time

C. careful with time   D. willing to spend time

4.A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.

A. Friendships between Chinese

B. Friendships between Americans

C. Americans’ hospitality

D. Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.D

【解析】

试题分析: 这篇短文主要介绍了美国人和中国人在交友与待客这两方面的文化差异。

1.B细节题：从第三段的句子：Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is …可知作者是中国人，选B

2.C细节题：从倒数第二段的句子：Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.可知在美国人的家，我们会被热情的接待。选C

3.D猜词题：从前面的句子：they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time可知当需要花很多时间的时候，美国人不愿对我们表示礼貌，而我们是正好相反，愿意花时间的选D项。

4.D 主旨大意。本文主要讲述美国是一个流动的社会。美国人之间的友谊可以接近和真实，但很快消失。他们不觉得受到伤害。如果两人再次见面，甚至几年后，他们会继续他们的友谊。这对中国人来说可能是非常难理解。因为我们之间的友谊发展得慢但可能成为终身的感情，故选D项。

考点：文化类阅读。