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Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" saddened me. I thought he was saying "we're kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else." Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", while in British English it means "fairly".
So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures(文化).
Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate(气候),while getting on with business.
Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality(准时).If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.
The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought______.

A.the American bank didn't think much of him
B.the American bank might hire another person
C.it's difficult to get used to American culture
D.it's easy to misunderstand Americans

The word "highlights" in Paragraph 2 probably means_____.

A.encourages B.helps to narrow
C.increases D.draws attention to

According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?

A.Ask the native people for help.
B.Understand and accept them.
C.Do things in our own way.
D.Do in-depth research.

When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are______.

A.Italians B.Germans C.Greeks D.the British
科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等
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71.The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means Sontag_________.
A.was a symbol of American cultural life B.developed world literature,film and art
C.published many essays about world culture
D.kept pace with the newest development of world culture
72.She first won her name through ___________.
A.her story of a Polish actress B.her book Illness as Metaphor
C.publishing essays in magazines like partisan Review
D. her explanation of a set of difficult understandings
73.According to the passage,Susan Sontag__________.
A.was a sensualist as well as a moralist B. looked down upon the pop culture
C.thought content was more important than form
D.blamed the victim of cancer for being repressed
74.As for Susan Sontag’s lifelong habit , she __________.
A. misunderstood the idea of seriousness B. re-examined old positions
C. argued for an openess to pop culture D. preferred morals to beauty
75.Susan Sontag’s lasting fame was made upon___________-.
A. a tireless, all-purpose cultural view B. her lifelong watchword :seriousness
C. publishing books on morals D. enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing

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C. Serious educators. D. Science organizations.
69. The words “hooked oh teaching” underlined in Paragraph 2 probably mean ________.
A. attracted to teaching B. tired of teaching
C. satisfied with teaching D. unhappy about teaching
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A. The University of Chicago. B. Stanford University.
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C. showed an interest in music D. traveled to play modern music
42.The third paragraph is developed .
A. by space B. by examples C. by time D. by comparison
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A. His tale begins in New Orleans. B. He was born before jazz was invented.
C. His music was popular with his listeners. D. He learned popular music at a boy’s home.
44.Which would be the best title for the text?
A. The Invention of the Jazz Music B. The Father of the Jazz Style
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A. she can write several books at the same time
B. she often does some research before writing a book
C. she is one of the most popular American women writers
D. she can keep writing for quite a long time without a break
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A. how to deal with affairs at school B. what to do if Max and Martha die
C. what to do when new babies are born into their families
D. how to solve the difficult problems in their writing classes
62. One of Danielle Steel's achievements is that ______.
A. some TV plays were based on her books B. her picture books attracted a lot of young men
C. one of her books became a best-seller in 1998
D. she wrote the Guinness Book of World Records
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A. lives an exciting life B. values her readers a lot
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A. Top managers. B. Language learners.
C. Serious educators. D. Science organizations.
69. The words “hooked oh teaching” underlined in Paragraph 2 probably mean ________.
A. attracted to teaching B. tired of teaching
C. satisfied with teaching D. unhappy about teaching
70. Where did Tyler work as the leader of a research center for over 10 years?
A. The University of Chicago. B. Stanford University.
C. Ohio State University. D. Nebraska University.
71. Tyler is said to have never actually retired because ____________.
A. he developed a new method of testing B. he called for free spirit in research
C. he was still active in giving advice D. he still led the Eight-Year Study

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