【推荐1】You are a new manager at the American branch of your German firm in Chicago．With a few minutes to spare between meetings，you go to get a quick cup of coffee．
“Hey，David，how are you?”one of the senior partners at the firm asks you．
“Good，thank you，Dr．Greer，”you reply．You’ve really been wanting to make a connection with the senior leadership at the firm，and this seems like a great opportunity．But as you start to think of something to say，your American colleague breaks in to steal your spotlight．
“So Arnold”，your colleague says to your boss，in such a casual manner that it makes your German soul cringe(畏缩)，“So what’s your Super bowl prediction? I mean，you’re a Niners fan，right?”
The conversation moves on，and you walk silently back to your desk with your coffee．You know how important small talk is in the U．S．，and you feel jealous of people you’re your colleague who can do it well．
There’s nothing small about the role that small talk plays in American professional culture．People from other countries are often surprised at how important small talk is in the U．S．and how naturally and comfortably people seem to do it—with peers，men，women，and even with superiors．You can be the most technically skilled worker in the world，but your ability to progress in your job in the United States is highly dependent on your ability to build and maintain positive relationships with people at work．And guess what skill is critical for building and maintaining these relationships? Small talk．
What can you do if you are from another culture and want to learn to use small talk in the U．S．to build relationships and establish trust? Work hard to hone(磨练)your own version of American-style small talk．Watch how others do it．You don’t have to mimic what they do；in fact，that would likely backfire because people would see you as inauthentic．But if you can develop your own personal version，that can go a long way toward making you feel comfortable and competence．
1. The author introduces the topic of the passage by______．

A．raising an interesting question

B．describing an interesting scene

C．making comparisons

D．telling a small jokes

2. What do we know about German people?

A．They usually make small talk in work breaks．

B．They hate making small talk．

C．They don’t make so much small talk．

D．They are good at making small talk too．

3. What makes people from other countries surprised in American professional culture?

A．American workers’ ability to make progress．

B．American workers’ attitude towards superiors．

C．The special meaning of small talk．

D．The role small talk plays in work settings．

4. What does“backfire”underlined in the last paragraph mean?

A．be difficult	B．be helpful
C．have a good result	D．have the opposite effect

【推荐2】The British are known for their sense of humour. However, it is often difficult for foreigners to understand their jokes. The main point to remember is that the British often use understatement.

Understatement means saying less than you think or feel. For example, if someone gets very wet in shower of rain, he might say, “It’s a little damp outside.” Or, if someone is very impolite and shouts at another person, someone else might say, “She isn’t exactly friendly.” Understatement is often used in unpleasant situation or to make another person look silly. Understatement plays an important part in British humour.

Another key to understand British humour is that the British like to make fun of themselves as well as others. They often laugh about the silly and unpleasant things that happen to our everyday life when someone accidentally falls over in the street. They also like to make jokes about people from different classes of society. They like to make jokes about their accents, the way they dress and the way they behave. What’s more, the British love to watch comedies about people who do not know how to behave in society. The comedy series Mr. Bean is a good example of this kind of humour. Mr. Bean is the character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson in 1990. Mr. Bean doesn’t talk often, and instead he uses his body movements and facial expressions to make people laugh. Perhaps what makes Mr. Bean so funny is that he does things that adults in the real world cannot do. Mr. Bean is popular in many countries around the world because you do not have to speak English to understand the humour. Because of this, many people have become familiar with the British sense of humour.

1. Why is it difficult for foreigners to understand British jokes?

A．The British often use overstatement.

B．The British try to understate something.

C．British jokes are not as funny as jokes in other countries.

D．British jokes are connected with many different cultures.

2. The author explains understatement by ________.

A．using examples	B．making comparisons
C．following time order	D．describing a process

3. Mr. Bean makes people laugh by ________.

A．telling funny stories	B．making jokes about others’ accents
C．copying how others behave	D．using his body movements and facial expressions

4. This passage may be taken from ________.

A．a fiction novel	B．a travel brochure
C．a magazine	D．a chemical textbook

【推荐3】Finding spare change or an extra dollar in your pocket always feels like a victory.     1     Without thinking, you might hear the familiar rhyme in your head when you spot one on the sidewalk: "Find a penny, pick it up. All day long you'll have good luck. "

According to one theory, people originally thought pennies would bring good luck because of religious beliefs.     2     This theory also fueled other superstitions（迷信行为）like charm bracelets and metal horseshoes, which are also "lucky". Plus, metal currency like pennies were linked to more wealth and thus more luck. That might be a straightforward explanation, but other eleven strange origins of other everyday superstition sure aren't.

Another reason people might have claimed pennies would bring good luck comes down to the battle between good and evil, which is like two sides of the coin. Finding a penny heads up meant you'd have luck on your side, but tails up would mean the opposite,     3    . Some people say that if you find a penny tails up, you should turn it over to make it heads up so that it can bring luck to whoever finds it next.     4    . The Irish half-penny, which stopped circulating in 1987, is especially lucky to anyone who finds one. Then there's also the old saying "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a penny in the shoe."     5    

A．Pennies From Heaven is a way of thinking

B．although the exact reasoning for this is unknown

C．No matter what the reason is, pennies are part of many lucky traditions

D．But even finding something worth as little as a penny is satisfying

E．These are all things brides should wear on their wedding day for good luck in their marriage

F．Placing silver sixpence（六便士银币）in the bride's left shoe is said to be a symbol of wealth

G．Folk tales from ancient civilizations said metals were gifts from gods intended to protect people from evil

【推荐2】阅读理解。
Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive．It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity．Some of them were not sure how to use it．They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves．Then they served them mixed with butter and salt．They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches．
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century．During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it．
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk．Because she was such a great lady that her friends thought they must copy everything she did, they also drank their tea with milk in it．Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk．
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening．No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess（公爵夫人）found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o'clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it．She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born ．
1. This passage mainly discusses ______．

A．the history of tea drinking in Britain

B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain

C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea

D．how tea-time was born

2. Tea became a popular drink in Britain ______．

A．in the sixteenth century

B．in the seventeenth century

C．in the eighteenth century

D．in the late seventeenth century

3. People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because ______．

A．it tasted like milk

B．it tasted more pleasant

C．it became a popular drink

D．Madame de Sevinge was so great that people tried to copy the way she drank tea

4. We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly due to the influence of ______．

A．a famous French lady

B．the ancient Chinese

C．the upper(上层的) social class

D．people in Holland

【推荐3】You're rushing to work and a man ahead of you falls down on the sidewalk. Do you stop to help? In a study of by-standers, it was found that some people keep on walking.
"There is a tendency to decide that no action is needed," says a psychologist, "In order to take action, you have to work against them." Here are some common thoughts that stop you from helping.
●Why should I be the one? I'm probably not the most able person in this crowd. You might think someone older or with more medical knowledge should offer assistance.
●What if he doesn't really need my help? The fear of embarrassment is powerful; no one wants to risk looking foolish in front of others.
●No one else looks concerned. We can follow the people around us, but most people tend to hold back their emotions in public.
"If you spot trouble and find yourself explaining inaction, force yourself to stop and figure out the situation instead of walking on," says the psychologist. "Then retry to involve other people; you don't have to take on the entire responsibility of being helpful. Sometimes it's just a matter of turning to the person next to you and saying, 'It looks like we should do something.' Or asking someone if an ambulance has been called and, if not, to call for one. Once you take action, most people will follow you."
1. Which is NOT the common thought that stops you from helping others?

A．I'm not the very capable person.

B．It looks like we should do something.

C．No one else is concerned.

D．He doesn't really need my help.

2. In order to offer your timely help, you need to                         .

A．go directly to the police station

B．get along well with the passers-by who spot the trouble

C．ask others for help and call the police

D．work against the first thoughts that stop you from offering help

3. The main purpose of the passage is to tell readers                                                    .

A．to give others a hand	B．to be more able
C．to explain their inaction	D．to evaluate the situation