Question

When I was 16 years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children I learned French at school and I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand English. But when I went to America I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.

How wrong I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a ring and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking like being lost and asked if he could help me.

“Yes,” I said. “I want to give my friend a ring.”

“Well, that’s nice,” he said. “Are you getting married? But aren’t you a bit young?”

“Who is talking about marriage?” I replied. “I just want to give my friend a ring to tell her I’ve arrived. Can you tell me where there’s a phone box?”

“Oh!” he said. “There’s a phone downstairs.”

When at last we did meet up, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.

“Don’t worry,” she said to me. “I had many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from us British. You’ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. But most of the time British and American people can understand each other!”

1.Where was the writer from?

A. He was from America    B. He was from France

C. He was from England    D. He was from China

2.The writer thought _________ in America.

A. he wouldn’t have any language difficulties

B. he would not understand the Americans

C. the Americans might not understand him

D. he would have difficulties at the airport

3.The writer wanted ________.

A. to buy a ring for his friend

B. to make a call to his friend

C. to go to the telephone company

D. his friend to see him off

4.From the passage we can see that “give somebody a ring”____________.

A. means the same in America as in England

B. means “call somebody’ to the old man

C. means “be going to get married”

D. has different meaning in America and in England

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.B

4.D

【解析】本文主要讲述了作者16岁第一次去美国迪士尼时因为语言问题而发生的趣事。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段第二行的句子Like most English children I learned French at school可知，作者来自英国。故选C。

2.细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句when I went to America I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.当我去美国时，我真的期待没有任何语言障碍享受假期。故选A。

3.细节理解题。根据第二段的内容I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a ring and tell her that I had arrived.我正在找一个公共电话亭给我的美国朋友Danny打个电话，告诉她我到了。可知B正确。

4.推理判断题。根据对话的内容“I want to give my friend a ring.”“Well, that’s nice,” he said. “Are you getting married? But aren’t you a bit young?”我是想给我的朋友打个电话，但是在美国被误以为结婚送戒指。可推断“give somebody a ring”在美式和英式英语中有不同的含义。故选D。

【名师点睛】

我们在做阅读理解时的具体步骤：

（1）先精读问题，了解题后做到心中有数。

（2）用目光略读全文，捕捉有关信息。可利用标题、主题句等。例如，读记叙文时我们要问5W，即为何(Why)、什么(What)、谁(Who)、何时(When)、何地(Where)、怎样(How)。例如要找一个人名，我们可以直接找到含有这个人名的句子。（3）停下来读这个句子。如果是答案。我们这个问题就解决了，如果不是，可以继续搜寻查找。同时注意一些关键的提示词和标点符号。如本文的3小题，The writer wanted ________.浏览答案可知答案和文章中的give my American friend Danny a ring有关系。根据对句子的理解I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a ring and tell her that I had arrived.我正在找一个公共电话亭给我的美国朋友Danny打个电话，告诉她我到了。可知作者想打电话。故选B。