同等學力英語閱讀及翻譯專項練習 11

Americans usually consider themselves a friendly people. Their friendships, however, tend to be shorter and more casual than friendships among people from other cultures. It is not uncommon for Americans to have only one close friend during their lifetime, and consider other “friends” to be just social acquaintances. This attitude probably has something to do with American mobility and the fact that Americans do not like to be dependent on other people. They tend to “compartmentalize” ( 劃分 ) friendships, having “friends at work”, “friends on the softball team”, “family friends”, etc.

Because the United States is a highly active society, full of movement and change, people always seem to be on the go. In this highly charged atmosphere, Americans can sometimes seem brusque ( 無禮的 ) or impatient. They want to get to know you as quickly as possible and then move on to something else. Sometimes, early on, they will ask you questions that you may feel are very personal. No insult is intended; the questions usually grow out of their genuine interest or curiosity, and their impatience to get to the heart of the matter. And the same goes for you. If you do not understand certain American behavior or you want to know more about them, do not hesitate to ask them questions about themselves. Americans are usually eager to explain all about their country or anything “American” in which you may be interested. So much so in fact that you may become tired of listening. It doesn't matter because Americans tend to be uncomfortable with silence during a conversation. They would rather talk about the weather or the latest sports scores, for example, than deal with silence.

On the other hand, don't expect Americans to be knowledgeable about international geography or world affairs, unless those subjects directly involve the United States . Because the United States is not surrounded by many other nations some Americans tend to ignore the rest of the world.

1. The general topic of the passage is ______.

A. American culture B. American society

C. Americans' activities D. Americans' personality

2. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Americans do not like to depend on other people.

B. Friendships among Americans tend to be casual.

C. Americans know a lot about international affairs.

D. Americans always seem to be on the go.

3. The phrase “highly charged” (Paragraph 2) most probably means ______.

A. extremely free B. highly responsible

C. very cheerful D. full of mobility and change

4. It can be inferred from the passage that ______ .

A. Americans want to participate in all kinds of activities

B. Americans' character is affected by their social and geographical environment

C. Americans do not know how to deal with silence

D. curiosity is characteristic of Americans

5. According to the passage, Americans tend to ignore the rest of the world because ______.

A. they are not interested in other countries

B. they are too proud of themselves

C. their country does not have many neighboring nations

D. they are too busy to learn about other countries

美國人通常認為他們自己是友好的民族。然而，美國人的友誼往往比其他文化人們的友誼更短暫、更隨意。對于美國人來說，一個人一生只有一個親密朋友，把其它“朋友”只看成社交場上的熟人，這并不罕見。這種態度可能與美國人的流動性有關，也與這樣的事實有關：美國人不喜歡依賴別人。美國人往往把友誼分類，有“工作中的朋友”、“壘球隊的朋友”和“家庭朋友”等等。

由于美國是一個非�；钴S的社會——總是處于運動和變化之中，所以美國人似乎總是在流動。在這種流動頻繁的環境下，美國人有時可能顯得無禮或不耐煩。他們希望盡可能快地了解你，然后轉向別的事情。交往初期，他們有時會問一些你覺得非常隱秘的問題。他們絕對不是有意冒犯你；他們問這些問題完全是出于感興趣或好奇心，或是他們沒有耐心去了解事情的實質。你同樣也可以這么做。如果你不懂美國人的某種行為，或是你希望更多地了解他們，你就應該毫不猶豫地問他們一些問題。美國人通常會熱心地向你解釋有關他們國家的所有事情，或是任何你可能感興趣的“美國的”事情。實際上，他們太熱心了，以至于你可能會聽膩了。這沒有關系，因為，在交談中，美國人往往對緘默感到不自在。比如，他們寧愿談論天氣或最新的體壇賽況也不愿意應付緘默的場面。

另一方面，不要指望美國人了解世界地理或國際事務，除非這些事務與美國直接有關。因為與美國接壤的國家不太多，所以有些美國人往往忽視世界上其它國家的事務。

參考答案 ： 1 ． D 2 ． C 3 ． D 4 ． B 5 ． C