Culture shock occurs when people have been suddenly thrown into a new culture. Newcomers maybe anxious because they don’t speak the language. Neither do they know the customs nor understand the people’s behavior in daily life.
Quite often the visitors find that “yes” may not always mean “yes”, that friendliness does not necessarily mean friendship, or that statements that appear to be serious are really intended as jokes. The foreigners maybe unsure as to when to shake hands, when to start conversations, or how to approach a stranger. The idea of culture shock helps explain feelings of puzzlement and confusion.
Language problems do not lead to all the setbacks that people feel. When one has lost everything that was once familiar, such as understanding a transportation system, knowing how to register (注册，登记) for university classes, or knowing how to make friends, difficulties in coping with the new society may arise.
When an individual enters a strange culture, he or she feels like a fish out of water. Newcomers feel at times that they do not belong to the culture and feel deserted by the native members of the culture. When this happens, visitors may want to refuse everything about the new environment and may glorify and sing their own praises of the positive aspects of their own culture. On the other side, more visitors may sneeze at their native country by rejecting its value and instead choosing to approve of the value of the new country. This may occur as an attempt to accept the new culture in order to be taken in by the people in it.
1. What might happen when newcomers enter a new culture?| A．They have difficult yin saying yes or no. |
| B．They find it annoying to understand the friendship. |
| C．They refuse to shake hands with strangers. |
| D．They are puzzled by local customs and habits. |
| A．discouragements | B．achievements | C．arguments | D．amazement |
| A．They will miss their motherland deeply enough to return to their homeland. |
| B．They are willing to accept a new culture unconditionally and completely. |
| C．They try their best to fit into local life and live a positive and upward life. |
| D．They only contact fellow countrymen with the same experience. |
| A．What to do to ignore the differences. | B．How to live comfortably abroad. |
| C．How to deal with the culture shock. | D．What to do to avoid homesickness. |
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【推荐1】All animals play. Running and rolling are ways for them to have fun. But it also seems to be how they communicate and strengthen bonds with each other.
When a dog comes up to another dog, front legs bowed or his tail high or wagging, his friend knows he wants to play. But new research shows that this play behavior is surprisingly similar when horses and dogs play.
“Up to now, most studies have focused on dog-human play due to the important implications that such studies have in understanding the special relationship we establish with our pets,” researchers from Italy wrote in the journal Behavioural Processes. “Here, we focused on social play between dogs and horses.”
To study communication among different species, Elisabetta Palagi and her colleagues from the University of Pisa found 20 YouTube videos of dogs and horses playing where their interactions lasted at least 30 seconds. They analyzed the videos, looking for specific patterns of play.
They found that while playing, both dogs and horses often had relaxed, open mouths, which is a common playful facial expression in animals. Some also copied each others' movements, like pretending to bite, playing with an object, or rolling on their backs on the ground. The team also found that the dogs and horses copied each other's facial expressions. This behavior, called rapid facial mimicry, has been seen before in dogs and sun bears, points out National Geographic. But it has never been documented between animals of different species.
“A 2000-pound horse can play with a relatively tiny dog because the two are able to communicate their intentions. It's an important study because it shows how two animals who look and behave so differently can manage to discuss how to play in a way that's comfortable for both,” Barbara Smuts, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Michigan, told National Geographic.
1. How does a dog express his intention to play?| A．By bowing his back legs. | B．By crossing his legs. |
| C．By waving his tail high. | D．By raising his head. |
| A．By referring to some books about animal species. |
| B．By analyzing videos of dogs playing with horses. |
| C．By playing with some dogs and horses separately. |
| D．By conducting an experiment on dogs and sun bears. |
| A．Dogs like to play with horses best. |
| B．Dogs and horses imitate each other's actions. |
| C．Animals show happiness by opening their mouths. |
| D．Different animals have different patterns of play. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Opposed. | D．Unconcerned. |
【推荐2】Astronauts could be able to find drinking water inside tiny glass beads(玻璃珠) that are scattered (散落) across the surface of the Moon, according to researchers. The glass beads were found by scientists from the UK’s Open University while they were studying samples taken by China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft during a mission in 2020.
Water is made up of two elements—hydrogen and oxygen. The beads are created when meteoroids—small rocks or iron orbiting the Sun—hit the Moon. The crash causes small drops of melting(融化的) rock to rain down. When they mix with Moon dust they become beads that contain oxygen. When solar wind reaches the Moon, hydrogen and oxygen meet. This creates water that is locked inside the beads when they cool.
This isn’t the first time that scientists have found evidence of water on the Moon. Research has shown that there is frozen water inside dark craters (陨石坑) at the Moon’s north and south poles. However, researchers believe that the glass beads must be scattered all over the Moon because it is often hit by meteoroids. They think there could be as much as 300 million tonnes of water stored in beads.
Getting water out of the beads should be much easier than getting it from craters. Astronauts will just need to heat them up. The water comes out as a gas, which becomes liquid when it cools. This research is really important for future Moon missions. It means that astronaut s living there for a long time to carry out research could have a natural source of water.
NASA plans to land people on the Moon in 2025 and the European Space Agency plans to build astronaut s a Moon village. Professor Mahesh Anand, who was involved in the study, told The Guardian newspaper, “This is one of the most exciting discoveries we’ve made.”
1. What do we know about the glass beads?| A．They were found during a mission in 2020. |
| B．They are made up of oxygen and hydrogen. |
| C．They are small rocks orbiting the sun. |
| D．They are evidence of water on the moon. |
| A．By heating the beads up. | B．By mixing up Moon dust. |
| C．By cooling the hot rocks. | D．By freezing the dark craters. |
| A．Elements. | B．Beads. |
| C．Drops of melting rock. | D．Crashes of iron. |
| A．Exploration of the Moon | B．NASA Studies Water on the Moon |
| C．Formation of Moon Water | D．Glass Beads Hold Moon Water |
【推荐3】Experts say heavy backpacks are a health risk for kids.
Like little turtles with limbs poking out from their shell, kids shuffle(拖着脚走) to school every day wearing giant backpacks. Even high school students have to bend forward to carry their heavy books to and from school. It's frustrating and looks a little silly, but is it dangerous?
" Yes, " say many experts. " Kids are saying ‘My back hurts, and my neck and my shoulders hurt’, "says Dr. Karen Jacobs, a clinical professor at Boston University. " A heavy backpack can also lead to headaches, slow or sluggish development and other physical problems. "
Jacobs is also a spokesperson for the American Occupational Therapy Association, which sponsors National School Backpack Awareness Day on September 16. She says that too many textbooks and less locker space are making backpacks bigger. "Since at least 1998, we've noticed backpacks getting bigger and heavier, and not in proportion to the kids sizes, "says Jacobs.
A 2010 study from the University of California, San Diego, concluded, "Backpack loads are responsible for a significant amount of back pain in children. " The same study says a full third of kids aged between 11 and 14 report back pain. Other research from 2011 came to a similar conclusion.
"Like the frame of a house, the spine(脊椎)is what keeps bodies strong and upright. Put too much weight on this frame while a young body is still developing, and it could change a child's posture(姿势), compress the spine, and impair children’s growth, " says Rob Danoff, a doctor in Philadelphia's Aria Health. "It also might lead to back problems or injuries when the child's older. "
Experts warn against wearing a heavy backpack, adding something can be done to solve the problem.
1. Which of the following is the best title?| A．Keep Children's Backs Free of All Backpacks |
| B．Less Locker Space Means Bigger Backpacks |
| C．It's Time to Reduce Heavy Homework for Kids |
| D．Bigger Backpacks Equal Bigger Health Problems |
| A．The school. | B．The bookshop owner. |
| C．The parents. | D．The backpack maker. |
| A．strengthen | B．damage |
| C．improve | D．repair |
| A．Some solutions to the problem. |
| B．Some reasons for the problem. |
| C．Some advantages of e-backpacks. |
| D．Some dangers of heavy backpacks. |
【推荐1】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 a 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 o 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 peaking because you’re repairing that failure by using word.
In the US, it may start 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 develop common understanding unless you talk and there’s understandably a kind of anxiety unless people are verbally devoted to developing a common life. This applies also to some extent to London.
In contrast, when there’s more homogeneity, perhaps it’s easier or 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.
1. Which of the following people might have the longest silence in conversation?| A．The Dutch | B．Americans |
| C．The English. | D．The Japanese |
| A．Speaking more gives the upper hand |
| B．Speak out what you have in your mind. |
| C．Great minds think alike without words |
| D．The shorter talking silence, the better |
| A．A four-second silence in conversation is universal |
| B．It’s hand for Americans to reach n common agreement |
| C．English speakers are more talkative than Japanese speakers. |
| D．The closer we and our family are, the easier the silence appears |
| A．Similarity | B．Difference |
| C．Diversity. | D．Misunderstanding |
【推荐2】Today’s workplaces are more multicultural than ever, and it’s normal to work with people from many different places and backgrounds. This has opened up many new opportunities — but it also creates some challenges.
Cultural differences aren’t just about nationality, race or belief. Many of us work in multi-generational organizations, alongside younger or older colleagues who have cultural references, assumption and attitudes that are very different from our own. All of this means that we need to be better at understanding and operating in a wide variety of cultures. That’s where Cultural Intelligence, or also CQ, the ability to adapt to new cultural settings, comes in.
People with high CQ aren’t experts in every kind of culture. Instead, they have the skills to go into new environments with confidence, and to make informed judgments based on observations and evidence.
These people are good at understanding unfamiliar or ambiguous behaviour. They recognize shared influences among particular groups, and this allows them to identify the impact of a particular culture.
However, they also know that cultural influences are complex and interconnected. And they’re aware that while culture is significant, factors such as business roles and individual personalities can have a powerful effect on behaviour, too.
For example, let’s say you have a meeting with an Italian stockbroker (证券经纪人). Does this person behave the way people do because they’re Italian, because they’re stockbrokers, or because they’re Italian stockbrokers? Or is it because they’re millennials, or introverts? It’s likely a combination of all of these elements (要素), so aim to avoid making assumptions or generalizations based on any single aspect.
Cultural knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to know every detail of a culture. It’s about knowing how that culture in general shapes people’s behaviours, values, and beliefs. When you understand that, individual “rules” of behaviour make much more sense.
1. Why do we need to have CQ?| A．Because the earth has become a global village. |
| B．Because we work in multi-national organizations. |
| C．Because we trade with people from all over the world. |
| D．Because we work with people from different places and backgrounds. |
| A．People with high CQ specialize in every kind of culture. |
| B．People with high CQ can understand unfamiliar or uncertain behaviour. |
| C．People with high CQ have an ability of dealing with different customers. |
| D．People with high CQ think it is easy for them to adapt to new cultural settings. |
| A．To show a special Italian man. |
| B．To stress the importance of learning stocks. |
| C．To prove complex cultural influences. |
| D．To demonstrate the need of understanding others. |
| A．How to find the individual “rules” of behaviour. |
| B．How to know every detail of an unfamiliar culture. |
| C．How to work in a multicultural workplace. |
| D．How to understand others in multicultural workplace. |
Americans are very direct people. When you want something you say “Yes” and when you don’t, you say “No”. If you want something different from what is offered, you ask for it. Westerners will not ask you again and again or try to press something on you after you have said you don’t want it. In fact, if you say “No” when you really want something to drink or to eat, you may find yourself very thirsty or hungry.
But there are a few Western customs which are very important and you should try at all times to observe.A Westerner doesn’t leave his paper or cloth on the table. He puts it on his lap where it’s supposed to protect his clothes from spilled food or uses it to wipe his hand or mouth when necessary.
A Westerner doesn’t put his own fork, knife or spoon into a serving bowl. He uses it in the bowl to put some of the food on his own plate, and then returns the serving fork(knife or spoon) to the bowl.
A Westerner doesn’t spit food anywhere. If he has bones in his mouth, he takes them out with his fingers and places them on the edge of his plate, never on the table or floor.
A Westerner doesn’t belch(打嗝) out loud. If he does, he says “Excuse me” quietly and goes on with the conversation.
1. People in America __________.
| A．come from different countries in the world |
| B．mainly come from Europe |
| C．mainly come from Asia |
| D．come from China |
| A．a Westerner will ask you again and again |
| B．you will be forced to eat |
| C．you will feel glad and happy |
| D．you will surely find yourself hungry still |
| A．care what they wear very much |
| B．care who offers the first toast at dinner |
| C．do the same things as Chinese do |
| D．don’t care what you wear, who sits next to whom |
