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, but truly can’t manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. 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.
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 to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite 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,
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for pure business matters. So accept their hospitality at home !
1. Where are we expected to call our American friends if we go there by plane?| A．On the bus. | B．At the airport. |
| C．Near their home. | D．At our own hotel. |
| A．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| B．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| C．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| D．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| A．Treating friends at home. | B．Sharing everything they have. |
| C．Taking days off to be with friends. | D．Meeting friends at the airport at midnight. |
| A．Culture. | B．News. |
| C．Story. | D．Travel. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Culture means any human behavior that is learned in human society. All of the meaningful parts of a culture are passed on to different generations through tradition or social learning.
Culture is necessary for the survival and existence of human beings as human beings. Practically everything humans know, think, value, feel, and do is learned through taking part in a sociocultural system.
Kamala was a terrible-looking being, the head, a big ball of something covering the shoulders.
Children learn human language in the same way they learn other kinds of human behavior--by taking part in a cultural community.
| A．From this viewpoint, all human groups have a culture. |
| B．These children were the ghosts described by the local people. |
| C．This statement is well supported by some well-written cases. |
| D．Human beings can only develop human abilities by the local people. |
| E．Culture refers only to the high art and classical music of a particular society. |
| F．Close at its heels there came another terrible creature exactly like the first, but smaller in size. |
| G．They learn a certain human languages as well as certain kinds of human behavior through their membership in a certain cultural community. |
【推荐2】At your next meeting, wait for a pause in conversation and try to measure how long it lasts.
Among English speakers, chances are that it will be a second or two at most. But while this pattern may be universal, our awareness of silence differs dramatically across cultures.
What one culture considers a confusing or awkward pause may be seen by others as a valuable moment of reflection and sign of respect for what the last speaker has said. Research in Dutch (荷兰语)and also in English found that when a silence in conversation stretches to four seconds, people start to feel uneasy. In contrast, a separate study of business meetings found that Japanese people are happy with silences of 8.2 seconds---nearly twice as long as in Americans’ meetings.
In Japan, it is recognized that the best communication is when you don’t speak at all. It’s already a failure to understand each other by speaking because you’re repairing that failure by using words.
In the US, it may originate from the history of colonial(殖民地的)America as a crossroads of many different races. When you have a complex of difference, it’s hard to establish common understanding unless you talk and there’s understandably a kind of anxiety unless people are verbally engaged to establish a common life. this applies also to some extent to London.
In contract, when there’s more homogeneity, perhaps it’s easier for some kinds of silence to appear. For example, among your closest friends and family it’s easier to sit in silence than with people you’re less well acquainted with.
What does the underlined word “homogeneity” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．Similarity | B．Contradiction |
| C．Diversity | D．Misunderstanding |
【推荐3】This is a typical (典型的) day for Yang Jinlong.
At 9 a. m., he drives to primary schools and middle schools in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, to teach students about Shaanxi kuaiban. It is a traditional Chinese form of storytelling to the rhythm (节奏) of bamboo clapper (响板), which the art form is named after. Sometimes, he helps students prepare for competitions. Usually, his classes run until about 6 p. m. and then he returns home to prepare classes for the next day.
On June 10, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced 325 national intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) items in Beijing, increasing the list to1, 557 items. Shaanxi kuaiban, which appeared during the late Qing Dynasty, has been included. The form has been introduced to local schools as part of their art education.
Yang has been teaching young people the art form since 2003 after graduating from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing. He studied quyi there. Quyi is a general term for Chinese folk art forms, including storytelling crosstalk and clapper talk.
“Art education is important for students in China. Just as many students learn to play Western musical instruments like the piano and vioiin, there are many people learning traditional Chinese folk arts, including Shaanxi kuaiban, which I’ll work for my whole life,” he said.
Kuaiban is popular in northern China, including Beijing and Tianjin. According to Yang, Shaanxi kuaiban was influenced by the art of different areas. The art form can be played by a group of players or only one. With one or two pairs of kuaiban of different sizes in hand, the players speak in the local dialect (方言) while telling stories, which are usually about heroes. The player tells stories while playing kuaiban, and it’s easy for the watchers to remember the stories since all the lines rhyme.
Thanks to artists like Yang, this traditional Chinese form of storytelling is passed on and stays alive in our country.
1. Why is today a typical day for Yang Jinlong?| A．He is teaching students about kuaiban as usual. |
| B．His work starts at 9 and lasts 6 hours like every day. |
| C．He is preparing for a kuaiban competition today. |
| D．His life today is as busy and boring as every day. |
| A．It is named after the Shaanxi dialect. |
| B．It is listed in the national intangible cultural heritage. |
| C．It is more popular than the piano and violin in northern China. |
| D．It is played to tell stories usually about common people. |
| A．Devoted. | B．Stressed. | C．Generous. | D．Curious. |
| A．To show how to play Shaanxi kuaiban in the local dialect. |
| B．To tell the difference between Chinese and Western arts. |
| C．To prove that kuaiban players are living a busy life. |
| D．To praise the work of spreading traditional Chinese art. |
【推荐1】If you frequently google language-related questions, you've probably seen an advertisement for Grammarly, an automated grammar-checker. Grammarly claims that it has the ability not only to fix mistakes, but also to improve style and polish too. Does it achieve what it claims to? Maybe not.
Artificial-intelligence systems like Grammarly are trained with data. Developers also manually add certain rules to the patterns Grammarly has taught itself. The software then looks at a user's essay : if a string of words seems ungrammatical, it tries to spot how the acknowledged mistake most closely resembles one from its training inputs.
All this shows how far artificial intelligence (AI) is from the human kind. Computers outsmart humans at problems that can be solved with pure maths, such as chess. Advances in language technology have been impressive in, for example, speech recognition, which involves another sort of statistical guess-whether or not a stretch of sound matches a certain string of words.
But grammar is the real magic of language. And machines are no match for humans. Computers can analyze grammatical sentences fairly well, labeling things like nouns and verb phrases. But they struggle with sentences that are difficult to analyze, precisely because they are ungrammatical.
To correct such essays requires knowing what the writer intended. But computers don't work in meaning or intention, they work in formulae. Humans, by contrast, can usually understand even rather damaged syntax, because of the ability to guess the contents of other minds. Grammar-checking computers focus on not how bad humans are with language, but just how good.
1. What's the text mainly about?| A．What AI system Grammarly is. | B．What problem AI has with grammar. |
| C．How AI system works on grammar. | D．How AI outsmarts humans in language. |
| A．Because they are trained with data. | B．Because they have taught themselves. |
| C．Because they easily spot mistakes. | D．Because maybe sound matches words. |
| A．Analyzing ungrammatical sentences. | B．Figuring out meaning and intention. |
| C．Identifying nouns and verb phrases. | D．Understanding damaged syntax. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. | C．Indifferent. | D．Worried. |
【推荐2】Chinese researchers say they have come up with a simple way to find out a person’s biological age — how much the body has aged physically — through a urine (尿) test.
Their findings will help researchers conduct numbers of ageing studies and even predict a person’s risk of age-related diseases, according to a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience.
Another paper by researchers at the Beijing Hospital and the West China Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan province, said on Tuesday that people aged at different rates due to changes in their genetic make-up and their environment.
Chronological age — which is based on one’s birth date — was not an exact measure of biological age so a more exact method was needed, the team said.
Ageing is driven by the lifelong gradual accumulation (积累) of a broad variety of molecular (分子) faults in the body’s cells. The team said they had identified a matter 8-oxoGsn that indicated increases in oxidative (氧化性) damage in urine as people’s bodies aged.
Cai Jianping, a co-author at the Beijing Hospital, said: “As we age, we suffer increasing oxidative damage and so the levels of oxidative matters increase in our body.” The team tested the levels of 8-oxoGsn in urine samples from 1,228 Chinese people aged two to 90 and concluded the marker helped accurately determine the stage of biological ageing in adults.
They had previously found that 8-oxoGsn levels also increased with age in the urine of animals such as mice.
The team has also developed a rapid analysis technique called ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (层析法), which can process up to 10 urine samples an hour, according to the study.
1. Scientifically speaking, by what does a doctor judge the stage of a person getting old?| A．His psychology. | B．His condition. |
| C．His biological age. | D．His chronological age. |
| A．One’s birth date. |
| B．The changes in their genetic make-up and their environment. |
| C．The accumulation of various molecular faults in the body’s cells. |
| D．The increases in oxidative damage in urine. |
| A．Molecular faults. | B．8-oxoGsn. |
| C．Oxidative damage. | D．Stage of biological ageing in adults. |
| A．Why people are ageing. |
| B．What determines the stage of people’s ageing physically. |
| C．A rapid method with which to judge how much people are aging physically. |
| D．How to delay people’s ageing physically. |
【推荐3】Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit; most people don't even notice that they're doing it when they sit down. While you may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of.
A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. The reason for this is that the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart and that crossing one leg over the other increases resistance, making it even harder for the blood to circulate. This causes your body to increase your blood pressure to push the blood back to the heart. You won't feel any immediate effects, but repeated, drawn-out increases in blood pressure can cause long-term health issues. So, planning to sit for a long period of time? Don't keep your legs crossed.
Crossing your legs at the knee can also cause pressure on the major nerve in your leg that passes just below your knee and along the outside of your leg, explains Richard Graves, a medical expert. This pressure can cause numbness and temporary paralysis (麻痹) of some of the muscles in your foot and leg, preventing you from being able to raise your ankle—what we know as that “pins and needles” sensation. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.
So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet on the floor. Not only will it help your posture and stability, but it will also save your health in the long run.
1. What can we learn about crossing one's legs?| A．It is a very bad social habit. |
| B．It can do harm to people's health. |
| C．It is usually practiced deliberately. |
| D．It can make others feel uncomfortable. |
| A．affect your blood pressure | B．resist gravity effectively |
| C．lead to heart attacks easily | D．improve the function of legs |
| A．being highly flexible | B．being a little tired |
| C．serious muscle injuries | D．slight sharp pains |
| A．To compare common habits. | B．To evaluate effects of an experiment. |
| C．To give readers some advice. | D．To introduce research methods. |
【推荐1】Though not as mainstream as devices like smartphones and fitness trackers, more companies are now experimenting with the concept of connected garments. Among the pioneers is London-based CuteCircuit, whose latest creation is the “Sound Shirt”, which allows deaf people to “feel” live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations in real time.
The fashionable jacket achieves the incredible function using software that changes the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16-micro motors fitted inside the clothing’s fabric. The devices shake in sync（同步）to the intensity(强度）of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. The series of touch-like sensations across the wearer’s body enables them to feel the entire works, resulting in a fully amazing musical experience.
To ensure the shirt is comfortable, the designers chose to leave out wires and instead wove conductive textiles(传导纺织品) into the garment’s fabric. Francesca Rosella, co-founder, and chief creative officer of CuteCircuit, explains, “There are no wires inside, so we’re only using smart fabrics—we have a combination of microelectronics and very thin, flexible and conductive fabrics. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive fabrics so that the garment is soft and stretchable.”
CuteCircuit, which has been testing the Sound Shirt for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3,673(3,000 pounds), the smart jacket will not be cheap. However, twin sisters Hermon and Heroda Berhane, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech garment is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. “It’s almost like feeling the depth of the music,” says Hermon. “It just feels as though we can move along with it.” Heroda agrees, adding, “I think it could definitely change our lives.”
1. What is “sound shirt” meant for?| A．Deaf people. | B．Poor people | C．Students. | D．Musicians. |
| A．Special materials. | B．Powerful function. |
| C．Working principle. | D．Fashionable design. |
| A．By using wires. | B．By using smart fabrics. |
| C．By avoiding electronic motors. | D．By making the shirt very thin. |
| A．To persuade us to learn from them. |
| B．To get the public to know them better . |
| C．To state the smart jacket is affordable. |
| D．To prove the smart jacket enjoys promising future. |
【推荐2】Laungi Bhuiyan, a pensioner from the Indian state of Bihar, has become known as “Canal Man” after it was discovered that he spent 30 years of his life digging a 3-kilometer-long water canal, all by himself, using hand tools.
The remote village of Kothilawa had always suffered water shortages, with most of the rainwater falling in the nearby hills flowing into the river, instead of towards the village. This was one of the reasons why some villagers moved away, but Laungi Bhuiyan made up his mind to take matters into his own hands, so he stayed behind. No one offered to help, so for three long decades he dug the 4-feet wide and 3-feet deep canal himself, using only whatever hand tools he had.
Kothilawa is surrounded by forests and mountains. During the rainy season, the water falling from the mountains used to flow straight into a river flowing through the area, but ever since Laungi Bhuiyan completed his 3-km-long canal, it’ s been collected in a pond near the village, allowing locals to raise animals and even irrigate crops, without worrying about water shortages.
Ever since word of his impressive achievements started spreading on social media, Bhuiyan has been nicknamed “Canal Man”. A Twitter user shared his unbelievable story and called Indian billionaire Anand Mahindra, asking him if he would support the Kothilawa hero by making a tractor available to him. “I think his canal is as impressive a monument as the Taj or the Pyramids. I’ d consider it an honor to have him use my tractor,” the billionaire replied.
While many have taken to social media to praise Laungi Bhuiyan for his perseverance（毅力）, some said that had the Government done the job it was supposed to, the Kothilawa man needn’t have worked hard for decades, and locals would have benefited from the water canal much sooner. Others went as far as to suggest his work be recognized, and that he be provided with compensation.
1. Why didn’t Laungi Bhuiyan move away from Kothilawa with other villagers?| A．He didn’t want to have his way of life changed. |
| B．He had great difficulty making a living elsewhere. |
| C．He decided to fix the problem of water shortages himself. |
| D．He wouldn’t separate from the village he’ d lived in for decades. |
| A．Irrigating crops and raising animals. |
| B．Channeling rainwater into the pond. |
| C．Transporting water from a nearby river. |
| D．Storing rainwater during the rainy season. |
| A．He thought highly of Laungi Bhuiyan. |
| B．Laungi Bhuiyan’ s canal is a place of interest. |
| C．He would complete the canal with Laungi Bhuiyan. |
| D．His tractor would greatly ease Laungi Bhuiyan’ s labour. |
| A．Laungi Bhuiyan would be compensated with the help of social media. |
| B．There were different voices on Laungi Bhuiyan’ s decades-long work. |
| C．Laungi Bhuiyan’ s work was highly recognized by Indian authorities. |
| D．All people were not satisfied with Indian authorities’ performance. |
【推荐3】Many years ago mathematics was my enemy． I was afraid of it and I hated it so much that you could not imagine．
Then came a new teacher to our village． On the first day， he entered the classroom with huge steps， reached the blackboard in a few seconds， and wrote his name on the blackboard． Some letters were in higher places and some were in lower places； some were as big as the board itself and some were so small that we had to open our eyes a lot to see them； some were wide enough， but on the other hand some were too thin．
As he turned around， the class suddenly became still and silent， trying to make out what it was． As we read his name， we were all smiling， no laughing out loud． Soon we realized that he had a special and lasting sense of humor and we began to learn mathematics in a relaxed and happy mood （心情）．
As for my mathematics study， the barriers（障碍） began to turn into pieces， and the fear began to disappear slowly． What was dark and colorless suddenly became exciting， challenging， interesting and above all simply fun．There was some humor added to every sum （算术） and there was fun in every problem．
Thanks to this special teacher， math became the most enjoyable subject to me．
1. The writer thought mathematics was very before he met the new math teacher．| A．interesting |
| B．easy |
| C．boring |
| D．challenging |
| A．see |
| B．hear |
| C．write |
| D．feel |
| A．his parents |
| B．his teacher |
| C．his classmates |
| D．his friends |
| A．His name |
| B．A picture |
| C．A word |
| D．A sentence |
| A．A teacher made math fun |
| B．First day of my school |
| C．Math teacher's handwriting |
| D．The way to learn math |
【推荐1】Climate change is increasingly affecting our daily lives.Latest research and studies in the US highlight the facts about the human-caused change to our global weather systems and its effects on our planet.First among them is that rising temperatures and increasingly chaotic(混乱的)weather are the work of humanity.There's a 99.9999%chance that humans are the cause of global warming.Humans burn fossil fuels such as oil,coal and gas,which give out carbon dioxide(Co2),methane and other gases into Earth's atmosphere and oceans.Co2,is the greenhouse gas that's most responsible for warming.
Scientists worldwide have also conducted countless researches on this issue.For example,a group of scientists in Australia have published a study analysing the contributions to climate change by the worlds nations versus the effect that climate change will have on those countries.
They have found that some developed nations,such as Australia,the US and Canada,are essentially climate free riders,driving the problem of climate change while suffering relatively few of the costs,such as destructive flood,increased extreme weather and rising sea levels.Meanwhile,many countries in Africa or small island states which produce few greenhouse gas emissions are the most vulnerable(易受损害的)countries.
While it's important that this issue is defined by scientists,it needs to be acted on by global leaders.The Paris Agreement,finalised in December 2015,was widely seen as a positive step forward in addressing climate change.However,in order to help those vulnerable countries while achieving global emissions reductions,urgent and effective actions in accordance with the policies in the Paris Agreement must be taken.
1. What is the main cause of global warming according to the passage?| A．The rising temperature. | B．The increasingly chaotic weather. |
| C．Humans behaviours of burning fossil fuels. | D．Fossil fuels such as oil,coal and gas. |
| A．some vulnerable countries | B．some developed countries |
| C．some developing countries | D．some African countries |
| A．Some developed countries drive the problem of climate change but bear relatively few of the costs. |
| B．Some countries unfairly bear the burden of the problem of climate change they did not create. |
| C．The costs of climate change include destructive flood,increased extreme weather and rising sea levels. |
| D．The most easily affected countries that produce few greenhouse gas emissions are all in Africa. |
| A．Define greenhouse gas emissions. |
| B．Take urgent and effective actions in accordance with the policies in the Paris Agreement. |
| C．Help the most vulnerable countries adapt to climate change. |
| D．Pay more attention to global climate change. |
【推荐2】Animals, including insects, do not have a language like ours. They do not talk to each other in words and sentences. But if we watch them, we can see that they do have ways of communicating with each other.
Can you see the rabbits' tail? When rabbits see this white tail moving up and down, they run too. The rabbit has reminded them of potential dangers without making a sound. It has given them a signal.
Many other animals use this kind of language. When a cobra (眼镜蛇) is angry, it raises its hood (兜帽) and makes itself look fierce. This warns other animals. When a bee has found some food, it goes back to its home. It cannot tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does a little dance in the air. This tells the bees where the food is.
Some animals say things by making sound. A dog barks, for example, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs (猫的呜呜声) when pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning. Sometimes we human beings speak in the same way. We make sounds like "Oh!" or "Ah!" when we are frightened or pleased or when we drop something on our toes.
But we have something that no animals have—a large number of words which have the meanings of things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other all kinds of different information in words and sentences, which no other animals can do. No other animals have so wonderful a language as we have.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?| A．Animals do have a language like that of human beings. |
| B．Bees communicate with each other by dancing. |
| C．Some animals can use words. |
| D．A dog barks to show its friendliness. |
| A．warn other rabbits of danger | B．tell other rabbits where food is |
| C．make itself look fierce | D．help it to run fast |
| A．cats | B．rabbits | C．bees | D．birds |
| A．Humans' language is more wonderful than animals' language. |
| B．People should pay attention to animals' body language and sounds. |
| C．Animals have their own ways to communicate with each other. |
| D．Animals are smarter than we think. |
【推荐3】Speaking of Oxford and Cambridge,people will immediately think of the two oldest and most famous universities in the UK.It is also known to the public that the competition between the two universities is very intense,especially when the annual Boat Race is held.
Oxford and Cambridge are both located near rivers,and rowing is a popular and prestigious sport.The very first race took place in 1829,when a student from Cambridge challenged his former school friend who was studying at Oxford.Gradually,the Boat Race between the two universities has become tradition.The team who lost from the previous year will challenge the other team to a rematch.
The Boat Race was first held on the River Thames at Henley.Later,it was moved up along the river to somewhere near Putney,in south-west London.The average race time IS about 20 minutes,but the record is just over 14 minutes.The famous competition is usually held in March or April every year.Over the years the two universities have gone head-to-head on the river.
The race is a very popular spectator event.There are a large number of people who are attracted every year to the River Thames to watch the event,and several millions more to watch on television.The training for the race is very tough,and rowers practise very hard in order to try to win the next race.
1. The underlined word"prestigious"in paragraph 2 can be replaced by“______”.| A．Dangerous | B．crowded | C．famous | D．uncertain |
| A．The very first race took place in the 19th century. |
| B．The Boat Race was first held on the River Thames at Henley. |
| C．There are many people to watch the event every year. |
| D．Cambridge challenges Oxford every time |
| A．The Annual Boat Race Between Oxford and Cambridge |
| B．The Oxford and Cambridge Universities |
| C．The Training for the Annual Boat Race |
| D．Public Competitions Between Oxford and Cambridge |
