ChristmasintheUnitedStatesistr-优题课

I travel a lot, and I find out different "styles" of directions every time I ask "How can I get to the post office?"
Foreign tourists are often confused in Japan because most streets there don't have names; in Japan, people use landmarks in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, "Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile."
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it's about five minutes from here." You say, "Yes, but how many miles away is it?" They don't know.
It's true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, "Sorry, I have no idea." But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I don't know." People in Yucatan believe that "I don't know" is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place they usually________.

A．refer to recognizable buildings and places

B．show him a map of the place

C．tell him the names of the streets

D．describe the place carefully

What is the place where people measure distance in time?

A．New York.	B．Kansas.
C．Los Angeles.	D．Iowa.

People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________.

A．so as to be polite	B．as a test
C．in order to save time	D．for fun

What can we infer from the text?

A．It's useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.

B．It's important for travelers to understand cultural differences.

C．People have similar understandings of politeness.

D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.

Holidays
Holiday News
Vacancies(空位) now and in the school holidays at a country hotel in Devon. This comfortable, friendly home-from-home lies near the beautiful quiet countryside, but just a drive away from the sea. The food is simple but good. Children and pets are welcome. Reduced prices for low season.
The Snowdonia Centre
The Snowdonia Centre for young mountain climbers has a mountain climbing lesson. The beginners’ costs are ￡57 for a week, including food and rooms. Equipment is included except walking shoes, which can be hired at a low cost. You must be in good health and prepared to go through a period of body exercises. This could be the beginning of a lifetime of mountain climbing adventure.
The World Sea Trip of a Lifetime
Our World Sea Trip of 2008 will be unlike any holiday you have ever been on before. Instead of one hotel after another, with all its packing and unpacking, waiting and traveling, you just go to bed in one country and wake up in another. On board the ship, you will be well taken care of. Every meal will be first-class and every cabin like your home. During the trip, you can rest on deck(甲板), enjoy yourself in the games rooms and in the evening dance to our musical team and watch our wonderful play. You will visit all the places most people only dream about — from Acapulco and Hawaii to Tokyo and Hong Kong. For a few thousand pounds, all you’ve ever hoped for can be yours.
What can you do if you like to go on holidays with pets?

A．Go to the Snowdonia Centre.

B．Choose the holiday in Devon.

C．Join the World Sea Trip of 2008.

D．Visit Acapulco and Hawaii.

In what way is the Snowdonia Centre different from the other two holidays?

A．It provides chances of family gatherings.

B．It provides customers with good food.

C．It offers comfortable rooms.

D．It offers a sports lesson.

What is special about the World Sea Trip of 2008?

A．You can sleep on a ship and tour many places.

B．You can have free meals on deck every day.

C．You will have chances to watch and act in a play.

D．You have to do your own packing and unpacking.

It seems that people are gradually losing their smartness as smartphones become increasingly important assistants in their lives. As we rely too much on technology instead of our brains, many people have lost three basic abilities.
The first skill many people have lost is remembering phone numbers. Because phone numbers are stored in smartphone contacts, there's now no need to dial a number or look at it again. This is fine until you need to call someone for help, only to find your phone is not around.
And some people may also have lost their sense of direction because navigation apps can guide people anywhere they want. People get so dependent on them that when they can't use their smartphones, they get lost and anxious.
But the worst lost skills may be social ones, meaning that some people are becoming socially inept(无能的)People often bury themselves in their smartphones. As we're too absent-minded by what's happening in the virtual(虚拟的)world, some of us have lost conversational skills and sometimes can't even distinguish whether a person is happy or not.
Last August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 51 students aged 11 and 12 who had over five hours' screen time every day. Their task was to tell the emotions of 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared.
The children made an average of 14.02 mistakes at the beginning. But after a five-day camp without electronic products, they made only 9.41 mistakes on average.
Luckily, people still have a chance to get these abilities back. You should try to keep your parents' numbers in mind for emergencies. You should also pay more attention to street signs and stores , which will help you to draw a mind map and stop you from getting lost. And the easiest solution to social skill loss is to take a break from electronic products.
The underlined sentence in the second paragraph implies that__________.

A．you are unable to contact others without your smart phone

B．others are able to call you anytime and anywhere

C．others are unable to get in touch with you by smartphone

D．you are able to turn to others for help

Overusing smartphones, people will probably_______ according to the passage.

A．find their destination without difficulty

B．have no sense of numbers

C．weaken their senses of hearing and sight

D．lose face-to-face communication skills

The passage mainly tells us that many people are__________.

A．becoming no smarter than smartphones

B．benefiting from smartphones' intelligence

C．losing some basic abilities because of using samrtphones

D．trying hard to break away from smartphones’ intelligence

The writer’s attitude towards electronic products is__________.

A．supportive	B．sympathetic
C．critical	D．optimistic

You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of odd,” Gray told the BBC. “They are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, lift users unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants(新进入者) to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.
According to Gray, when people enter an elevator, they usually _____.

A．try to keep a distance from other people

B．look around or examine their phone

C．make eye contact with those in the elevator

D．turn around and greet one another

Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in an elevator?

The underlined phrase “size up” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to _____.

A．ignore	B．make the best of
C．put up with	D．judge

According to the article, people feel awkward in lifts because of _____.

A．someone’s odd behaviors

B．their unfamiliarity with one another

C．the lack of space

D．their eye contact with one another

Modeled after US hot website Groupon.com, group buying websites are now popular in China. These websites use the power of group buying to get competitive discounts (打折)for a daily deal on some best stuff（物品，东西，活儿） to do, see, eat and buy in the cities across China. Discounts are available within just one click. Zhao lei, a software engineer in Beijing, loves the one-hour lunch break at noon, as it is the best time for him to check “today’s special” at his favorite group buying websites . Sometimes he searches for great deals at directory sites devoted to the new shopping space. Zhao spends around 800 yuan ($117.65) on group buying every month, mostly to buy food coupons (优惠劵)for eating at some nice restaurants and occasionally to find something fun to do. ‘‘I love group buying. In addition to the competitive discounts it offers, it helps me get something fun, exciting and new, and such surprises give me a reason to try something new,” he said. When he finds a really good bargain, he will send the link to friends or colleagues through MSN,QQ, or e-mail, or share the information at some social networking websites. In doing so, he often gets a certain cut off the price. At some sites, buyers are invited to leave notes about what they want to buy and the website will consider it if similar applications(申请)reach a certain number. That is how Zuo got her digital camera after waiting for two months. “It is cool. I want to buy a new digital camera for my trip to Switzerland this winter, but I never expected such cheap prices!” Zuo said.
We can learn from the passage that________.

A．China is the first country to start group buying

B．the price of group buying depends on the market

C．you can’t get the best you need through group buying

D．group buying is becoming popular in China

What is the passage mainly about?

A．Zhao Lei’s online purchasing life.

B．Group buying

C．The US hot websites

D．A new digital camera

Zhao Lei succeeded in getting a certain cut off the price by__________.

A．bargaining face to face

B．discussing with the sellers

C．providing the link to others

D．inviting others to talk about the price