Question

The British----and especially the English----are bad at complaining. Because of British politeness rules, according to which conflict should be avoided, people either just do not complain, or sometimes bottle it up and then outpour it in another way in other umimportant situations. In fact, there is a TV programme which show the British in typical situations where they would be perfectly reasonable in complaining, but they don’t. In one scene, a woman reads a newspaper over people’s shoulders and the people say nothing or look embarrassed.

The British are also well-known for putting up with bad service everywhere from restaurants to airports and railway stations because the standard rules of behaviour say that it is bad to draw attention to yourself. This is why, when you travel on the tube in London and there is yet another delay, the passengers will look at each other, sigh, smile wearily and raise their eyes to heaven. They might even say, “Huh! Typical!” in a resigned(顺从的)tone of voice that says that there’s nothing that can be done about it. When complaints are made, they are made in an apologetic or a humorous tone of voice. In France ,on the other hand, angry passengers might riot(闹事)and burn down the subway station if they had to put up with the poor service that the London underground provides.

Americans and other Europeans, who are much more direct and in-your-face than the British, often wonder why British people always say “sorry” or “excuse me” when they complain. “It’s like they’re apologizing for something that isn’t their fault, they say. They are missing the point. British people are not really sorry ---it is because the word ‘sorry’ actually works as a distancing skill. This is important in terms of negative politeness and not drawing attention to yourself. If you do not say ‘sorry’ or use other distancing words like ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘might’, ‘possibly’ and so on, you will be seen as rude.”

1.What does the underlined part “bottle it up” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. Put something into bottles    B. Not do anything dangerous

C. Cause problems by hesitating    D. Not allow emotions to be seen

2.The French tend to _______.

A. tolerate bad service    B. enjoy taking the subway

C. make a complaint humorously    D. express their dissatisfaction directly

3.When the British say “sorry”, they actually want to _______.

A. try not to be rude    B. apologize sincerely

C. show their feelings directly    D. draw attention to themselves

4.Which can be the best title for the text?

A. How to complain    B. Complaining politely

C. Poor service in Britain    D. Politeness rules across the world

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.A

4.B

【解析】这是一篇讲述英国人不擅长抱怨的文章，主要是因为英国人的礼貌原则，即使有正当的理由可以抱怨，但他们却不这样干。作者也从几个方面反映出英国人不爱抱怨的习惯，例如，英国人会因为从餐馆到机场和火车站等地方的不好服务而出名，但他们也不抱怨，而是坦然面对，因为标准的行为准则表明注意自己是不好的。由此讲述英国人这一好的美德。

1.词义辨析题。由第一段中的“Because of British politeness rules, according to which conflict should be avoided, people either just do not complain,or sometimes bottle it up and then outpour it in another way in other umimportant situations.”知，因为英国的礼貌规则，根据一些可避免的冲突，人们也不抱怨，或者有时候将它……，之后在其他不重要的情况下将它以另外一种方式流露出来。分析句意，可知bottle it up 意味着不把情感表露出来，被看见，故选D。

2.细节理解题。由第二段中的句子“In France ,on the other hand, angry passengers might riot(闹事)and burn down the subway station if they had to put up with the poor service that the London underground provides.”可知，另一方面，在法国如果生气的乘客们不得不忍受伦敦地铁提供的不好的服务，他们可能会闹事并且烧毁地铁站。由此分析出法国人倾向于直接表达出他们的不满，故选D。

3.推理判断题。由左后一段中的“British people are not really sorry ---it is because the word ‘sorry’ actually works as a distancing skill.”知，英国人不是真的感到抱歉，这是因为“对不起”这个词语被当作一种距离技巧。且由最后一句“If you do not say ‘sorry’ or use other distancing words like ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘might’, ‘possibly’ and so on, you will be seen as rude.”可知，如果他们不 说‘对不起’或者用其他像‘能够’、‘将会’、‘可能’、‘可能地’等的距离词语，他们将会被认为是粗鲁的。故由此可推理判断出英国人说对不起是真的想尝试着不粗鲁，故选A。

4.标题选择题。本篇文章主要讲述了英国人不擅长抱怨，而是以另外礼貌的方式将抱怨情感流露出来，尽量不让自己粗鲁，故可知最适合本篇文章的标题是礼貌地抱怨。A项：如何去抱怨，与本文主旨不符；C项：英国的差劲服务，没有答到主旨点上；D项：世界各地的礼貌规则，也为答到点上。故选B。

【名师点睛】

阅读理解旨在考查考生对于文章整体的理解与细节的把握和分析的能力，做阅读理解时要在了解整篇文章框架的基础上进行选择。对于主旨大意题类型中的标题选择题，标题的选择要遵循“精、准、全”三原则。“精”是指要用精炼的语言概括出文章的中心；“准”是指标题的选择要注意文章的外延和内涵，不能扩大或缩小文章的内容；“全”是指标题的选择应该排除掉那些片面的选项，而正确地选择能包含文章的主要内容及作者要表达的观点的选项。

例如本篇文章的第4小题，最适合本篇文章的标题是哪一个？通读全文可知，本文主要讲述的是英国人不擅长抱怨，而是礼貌地抱怨，换另外一种礼貌的方式将不满的情绪流出，尽量不让自己显得粗鲁，而其他国家的人则会直接表达出来或采用其他与英国人不同的表达方式表达出来。综合来看全文围绕着礼貌地抱怨开展，故本题选B。