Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They decided that miscommunications(沟通误解)were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific(太平洋), Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks?” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛),which in Micronesia means “yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today?” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on(依据)where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”.The Americans teaching English in other countries found that they .
A.should go abroad for vacations |
B.needed to learn foreign languages |
C.should often discuss their experiences |
D.had problems with communications |
People in Micronesia show “yes” by .
A.nodding heads | B.raising eyebrows | C.shaking heads | D.saying “no” |
Tom misunderstood(误解) his class at first because .
A.he did not know much about Indian culture |
B.he didn’t explain everything clearly enough |
C.some students didn’t understand his questions |
D.he didn’t know where the students came from |
Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?
A.In Bulgaria, nodding heads means “no”. |
B.Jan taught English on a Pacific island. |
C.Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage. |
D.In India, only shaking heads means “yes”. |
The passage is mainly about .
A.body language in foreign restaurants |
B.class discussion in India schools |
C.miscommunication in different cultures |
D.English teaching in other countries |
Students these days often have a lot of worries. Sometimes they have problems with their schoolwork, and sometimes with their friends.Some people think the worst thing is to do nothing. Laura Mills, a teenager from Washington, agrees. "Problems and worries are normal in life," says Laura. "But I think talking to someone helps a lot. If we don't talk to someone, we'll certainly feel worse. "
Laura once lost her purse, and worried for days. She was afraid to tell her parents about it. She even walked three miles to school each day because she didn't have any money. She just kept thinking. "If I tell my parents, they'll be angry! But in the end, she talked to her parents and they were really understanding. Her dad said he sometimes made careless mistakes himself. They got her a new purse and asked her to be more careful. "I will always remember to share my problems in the future!" Laura says.
Robert Hunt advises students about common problems. He feels the same way as Laura. "It is best not to avoid our problems. We should always try to solve them. He thinks that you can first find someone to talk to. This person doesn't need to be an expert (专家) like himself. Students often forget that their parents have more experience than them, and are always there to help them.
In English, we say that sharing a problem is like cutting it in half. So you're halfway to solving a problem if you talk to someone about it!Which of the following can be put in the blank in Paragraph One?
A.What can they do about this? |
B.Where do the problems come from? |
C.When did they have these problems? |
D.Why do they have so many problems? |
In Paragraph 2,the writer used the story of Laura to _______.
A.answer a question | B.give an example |
C.introduce his friend | D.share his experience |
According to the passage Robert Hunt might be_______.
A.Laura's teacher | B.the writer of the passage |
C.a person with a problem | D.an expert on students' problems |
What is the main idea of this passage?
A.Few children are careful with their money. |
B.Parents are more experienced than children. |
C.Talking to someone helps to solve problems. |
D.Students often have a lot of worries at school. |
Peter Qwen has been making wigs (假发)since the 1980s . He has made wigs for the stars of more than seventy movies ,including Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow and Nicole Kidman in The Others. One of his biggest jobs so far has designed the hair and makeup for the three Lord o f the Ring movies . He had just six weeks to design and make more than a hundred wigs, each one a different style, color, shape and length.
The hair and makeup in a movie are just as important as the costumes or the sets. Over the years, Peter has made actors look older, younger, healthy and sick. For one movie he even made a female actor look like a man! "What people don't realize about wigs is that we are not always making people more beautiful," he says. "Often we are covering up beauty and making them look ordinary."
All Peter's wigs are handmade using human hair, so they look as real as possible. This also makes them very expensive -between US $ 4,500 and US $12,500 each! He knows he's done a good job when people don't realize the star of the movie is wearing a wig. So he was pleased when one newspaper said that Nicole Kidman had dyed her hair dark brown for a movie. "It was a wig and no one knew that9" he said.What's the best title for this article?
A.How Peter Qwen's wigs change people |
B.Peter Qwen: A wigmaker to the stars |
C.Peter Qwen: Making real and expensive wigs |
D.Peter Qwen's wigs are important in a movie |
What special feature about wigs does Peter mention?
A.They can make people more beautiful. |
B.They can change people's hair styles. |
C.They can cover up beauty and make people look ordinary. |
D.They can make people look younger. |
Why are Peter's wigs so expensive?
A.They are made in foreign countries. |
B.Peter makes the best wigs. |
C.They are only made for rich film makers. |
D.They are handmade using human hair. |
Which statement is NOT true about Peter?
A.Peter Owen has made wigs for lots of movies. |
B.Designing and making the wigs for The Lord of the Rings was a huge job. |
C.Peter can make actors look quite different from their real looks. |
D.lf people know the star is wearing a wig, Peter will be happy. |
Whose attitude(态度) towards homework is positive(积极的) ?
A.William and Mary. | B.Chris and Sarah. |
C.William and Sarah. | D.Mary and Chris. |
According to Mary's post, we know _______.
A.she likes homework a lot. |
B.she thinks checking homework is worthless. |
C.she hates students who don't do homework. |
D.she hopes people can understand her hard work. |
Sarah is a_______.
A.parent | B.writer | C.student | D.teacher |
New York is one of the last large American cities to have some of its policemen on horseback. The New York police have 170 horses working in certain parts of the city. The horses are expensive to feed, but it is even more expensive to look after them. Because the horses must walk on the streets, they need special horseshoes. In fact, they need more than 8,000 of them each year. Every police horse in New York gets new shoes every month. Keeping these shoes in good repair is the job of six blacksmiths(铁匠). There are only about thirty-five of these blacksmiths in the whole United States. The cost of shoeing a horse is between twenty dollars and thirty-five dollars, and it takes a good blacksmith two or three hours to do the job.
A blacksmith’s job is not an easy one. He must be able to shape a shoe from a piece of metal and then fit it to the horse’s foot. The blacksmith must bend over all the time when he is fitting the shoe and must hold the weight of the horse’s leg while he works. Clearly, a blacksmith must be very strong. But even more important, he must be able to deal with horses---for before the blacksmith can begin his work, he has to get the horse to lift its leg.
One of the blacksmiths in New York is James Corbin. He came to the country from Ireland in 1948. He not only makes horseshoes for the police but also works for a group of horse owners near the city. Corbin became interested in blacksmithing because his father did it, and, as he puts it, “It’s a good way to make a living.”According to the reading passage, a blacksmith must be likely a ________________ man.
A.clever | B.rich | C.strong | D.lucky |
James Corbin became a blacksmith because he ________________.
A.was interested in horses |
B.was needed by the policemen |
C.drew a picture of the horseshoe |
D.had to make a living |
In the reading passage “to shape a shoe” is to ________________.
A.fit it on the horse’s foot |
B.use it for two or three hours |
C.make the form of a horseshoe from a piece of metal |
D.draw a picture of the shoe |
The best title for the passage is “________________”.
A.Policemen on Horseback |
B.Blacksmiths and Horseshoeing |
C.James Corbin, a Blacksmith |
D.Horseshoeing is a Good Way to Make a Living |
Which of the following is true?
A.Only a few large American cities have some policemen on horseback. |
B.New York is the only city in America to have some policemen on horseback. |
C.Policemen on horseback enjoy travelling around the United States. |
D.Policemen on horseback are less expensive than those in cars. |
Long long ago, there lived two girls named Emily and Tina. Both of them had long black hair and blue eyes. One day while they were playing in the back yard (庭院), Emily heard a tinkling (叮当) sound. She jumped up. “Listen,” she told her twin. They listened. The noise came again.
This time Tina heard it. She sat up. “It came from over there,” She whispered, looking at the zinnias (鱼尾菊) far away. They came near to find it out. Then something flew out, making the same tinkling sound they had heard before. The children looked at one another. “Was it a bee?” asked Tina. “I don’t think so,” replied Emily. “Do bees make a sound like bells?” “Let’s call it the Tinkle Bee anyway,” said Tina. Emily nodded, listening with a little difficulty. What had made that noise?
The next day, Emily and Tina brought their cookies outside. Tina took her plate by the zinnias. Suddenly she caught something. “Emily!” she called. “I’ve got the Tinkle Bee!” Emily rushed over. They sat down on the grass. Tina opened her hand very carefully. There was that sound! Something was shining in Tina’s hand. They smiled. Then Emily cried, “It’s a fairy (仙女)!” Tina looked down at it in her hand. It looked like a girl. A tiny girl with wings! Tina dropped it before she noticed that a wing was torn (撕裂). The little fairy could not fly away so she took a piece of grass out of the ground and sat on it.
Emily and Tina were surprised at what they saw. The fairy turned to Emily and said, “Hello, I am Marabella.” Then she said again, “Marabella the Fairy.” Emily smiled. “I’m Emily,” she said. Tina said, “I’m Tina. Are you really a fairy?” “Oh, yes!” replied Marabella. “I’ve always been a fairy.”Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “tiny” in this passage?
A.Weak. | B.Nice. | C.Little. | D.Sick. |
How did the sound come out?
A.A bee behind the zinnias made the sound. |
B.It came out from the fairy’s flying. |
C.It came out when the fairy shouted for help. |
D.The bell by the zinnias rang. |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
A.Emily and Tina found a tinkling sound when they were playing in the yard. |
B.Emily and Tina were very interested in the tinkling sound. |
C.How a fairy by the zinnias was saved by the twins. |
D.The process of Emily and Tina’s finding a fairy. |