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 (礼貌) to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite (相反) 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 activities. 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.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

B．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

D．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

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．treated hospitably at his home

B．offered a ride to his home

C．warmly welcomed at the airport

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．willing to spend time	D．careful with 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 opinions of friendships

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

1.细节理解题。结合If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship可知答案。美国人之间可能很亲近、很真实的友谊也会很快消失。他们不会觉得受伤害。如果同样的两个人再次碰面，甚至是几年后见面，他们会拾起友谊。

2.推理判断题。结合For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants可知答案。除了生意上的事务外，邀请朋友去家里被认为比去餐馆更友好。

3.词义理解题。由the opposite判断划线部分的含义应与they don’t show their politeness (礼貌) to us if it requires a great deal of time相反。

4.文章标题题。美国人和中国人对友谊的不同看法，以及他们对待朋友的方式也是不同的。