Question

One day an American called Simon went to London to visit his friend, Rick. Rick told him that his flat was on the first floor. When he arrived, Simon went straight to the first floor of the building. But he was told that there was no Rick on that floor. Do you know why?

In fact, the British call the first floor of a building the ground floor. The floor above the ground floor is the first floor, while Americans would call it the second floor.

The story shows that there are a few culture differences between Britain and America, though the British and Americans both speak English.

The British usually hide their feelings. They seldom start a conversation with strangers. For example, on the train the British often spend their time reading newspapers or books. But Americans are quite different. They’re more active and easier to talk with.

The British and Americans may use different terms for many things. The British usually use “football”, “eraser” and “mail” while Americans prefer to use “soccer”, “rubber” and “post”.

1.Which picture shows us where Rick’s flat was?

A.     B.     C.     D.

2.According to the passage, the British usually spend their time _______ on the train.

A. playing cards    B. talking    C. doing some reading    D. singing and dancing

3.What does the underlined word “term” mean in Chinese in the passage?

A. 成果    B. 学期    C. 会议    D. 用语

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Differences in culture    B. Simon’s funny story

C. Information abroad    D. Hiding the feeling

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】英国和美国都是说英语的国家，但是他们在文化上是有一些差别的。这篇短文通过具体的例子，给我们讲述了英美文化上的差异。

1.细节理解题。根据短文中One day an American called Simon went to London to visit his friend, Rick. Rick told him that his flat was on the first floor以及In fact, the British call the first floor of a building the ground floor. The floor above the ground floor is the first floor, while Americans would call it the second floor.可知，英国人把建筑的一楼称作ground floor，二楼是the first floor。因此Rick应该住的是二楼，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据短文第四段中For example, on the train the British often spend their time reading newspapers or books.可知，在火车上，英国人总是喜欢读报纸或者读书。由此可知应选C。

3.词义猜测题。根据短文最后一段The British and Americans may use different terms for many things. The British usually use “football”, “eraser” and “mail” while Americans prefer to use “soccer”, “rubber” and “post”.

可知，这一段介绍的是英国人和美国人在用词上的不同，文章中是通过举例来叙述的，由此可知term这个词的意思应该是词语，用语，故应选D。

4.主旨大意题。这篇短文先用了一个具体事例开头，第三段点明了文章的中心，根据这一段中The story shows that there are a few culture differences between Britain and America, though the British and Americans both speak English.可知，这篇短文讲述的是英国和美国文化上的区别。故应选A。

点睛：这篇短文利用很多事例，给我们讲述了英美文化的差异。短文内容因为结合事例展开叙述，因此对于学生们来说是比较容易理解的。后面的题型设置比较丰富，有细节理解、词义猜测和主旨大意。第1小题需要结合短文的前两段内容来理解，英国人所说的the first floor其实应该是我们通常所说的二楼，所以应选B。再如第4小题，这个题目问的是文章的主要大意，一般来说，短文的主旨常出现在文章的首段或者末段，但是这篇文章不是，它出现在文章的中间，在短文的第三段，文章讲述了英美文化上的差别，所以应选A。