Gestures are used to replace words in many countries. They usually have different meanings in different cultures. Let’s look at the three gestures.
What does the “O” gesture mean?
If you are an English speaker or diving (潜水) under the sea, it means “OK” or “good”. In fact, it’s believed that this gesture is popularized (普及) by divers. The Japanese read it as “money”. The French read it as “zero” or “no value”.
What does the “thumb-up” gesture mean?
This gesture also means differently in different countries. English speakers use it to stand for “OK”, which is the same meaning as the “O” gesture. The two can be used almost interchangeably.
To most people, it stands for the number “1”, since they count from 1 to 5, beginning with the thumb for 1 and ending with the little finger for the number 5.
Although Americans and British people usually ask for a ride with their thumbs raised, the gesture will not make a Greek driver stop to give them a ride.
What does it mean to stretch out your index finger (食指)?
Extending the index finger means different things in different countries. The Chinese stretch their index finger upward to indicate the number. They can refer to integers (整数) such as “one”, “one hundred”, “one thousand”, etc. In Japan, the index finger up means only one or once. This gesture represents the first in order. In the United States, use this gesture when asking the other person to wait. In Australia, in bars and restaurants, the forefinger is extended upward, saying, “A glass of beer, please.”
In the Middle East, it is impolite to point at something with your index finger.
1. For the French, which picture means “no value”?A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．可互换地 | B．不可替代地 | C．没有意义地 | D．坚定地 |
| A．An Australian driver. | B．A British driver. |
| C．A Greek driver. | D．An American driver. |
| A．thumb | B．index finger | C．middle finger | D．little finger |
| A．cookbook | B．science magazine | C．history book | D．book on cultures |
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Most Americans usually think Chinese Internet users are very different from American ones.
In fact, Chinese Internet users are a lot like American ones in many ways. For example, they like to visit websites, look for information and play games. And they’re also interested in smart phones such as IPhones. More importantly, the Internet attracts a large number of users in both countries.
However, there are also differences between the two countries’ Internet users. Can you guess? What the largest one is? Culture, the number of Internet users, the average time of surfing the Internet? No, the largest difference is age. The average age of Chinese Internet users is ten years younger than that of American user, which is almost Young enough to be the average American user’s son or daughter.
So it’s not difficult to understand why Chinese users try to use less e-mail but more chats, less online business but more games, less searching online but more bogging (写博客) .
1. What do people in both China and America enjoy doing on the Internet?| A．Playing games. | B．Using smart phones. |
| C．Buying iPads. | D．Both A and B. |
| A．Culture. | B．The number of Internet users. |
| C．The average time of surfing the Internet. | D．Age. |
| A．American Internet users are the same as Chinese ones in many ways. |
| B．Most American Internet users are younger than Chinese ones. |
| C．Chinese Internet users like to use the Internet for fun. |
| D．American Internet users like to use the Internet for work. |
| A．Chinese Internet users | B．American Internet users |
| C．Chinese Internet users and American Internet users | D．all the Internet users |
| A．Chinese Internet users like writing blogs. |
| B．Chinese Internet users are younger than American ones. |
| C．American Internet users always do the same things as Chinese ones. |
| D．The writer makes a comparison (比较) between two countries’ Internet users. |
【推荐2】People all over the world celebrate New Year’s Eve. Let’s have a look.
Sydney(悉尼), Australia
The city is famous for its firework shows. The fireworks are bright and beautiful and they make the dark sky very bright.
Paris(巴黎), France
Lots of people get together around the Eiffel Tower. People can see fireworks over there.
Madrid, Spain(西班牙)
Spanish people eat 12 grapes(葡萄) on New Year’s Eve. Every grape stands for one month of the year. They believe this will bring them good luck for the coming year.
Beijing, China
People usually spend New Year’s Eve with their family. They usually have a wonderful dinner. People often say “Happy New Year” to each other.
1. Sydney is famous for ________.| A．its firework shows | B．its sea | C．its food | D．its towers |
| A．Apples. | B．Pears. | C．Bananas. | D．Grapes. |
| A．Different Ways to Celebrate New Year’s Eve |
| B．Different Foods on New Year’s Eve |
| C．Different Countries and Their Festivals |
| D．Different Countries and Their Capitals |
【推荐3】In different countries, people have different manners. Some good manners in one country may be regarded as bad manners in another country.
If you go to Mongolia for the first time and some local people invite you to eat with them, you are supposed to give a loud “burp”(打嗝) after you finish eating. Burping at table shows you enjoy the food in Mongolia. However, in some other countries, it is quite impolite to give a loud “burp” at table.
In many countries people like to eat together with their friends. But in some parts of Polynesia, people think it is bad manners to be seen eating. They show their good manners by turning their backs on others while eating.
What are good manners in Eastern Africa? People think it is polite to pretend that they don’t see you when they are busy with their work. When you visit a friend in Eastern Africa, you should sit down beside him or her, waiting until he or she finishes his or her work. Then he or she will talk to you.
If you visit a friend in Saudi Arabia, you should walk behind the tents unless you get to your friend’s. If you pass in front of others’ tents, you will be invited to eat with them. And it is bad manners if you refuse the invitation.
1. In Mongolia, burping is a way of showing that ________.| A．you enjoy the meal | B．you don’t like the meal |
| C．you want to leave | D．you want to eat more |
| A．be silent | B．eat quickly |
| C．turn your back on others | D．talk much with others |
| A．won’t talk to their friends until they finish what they are doing |
| B．ask their friends to help with their work |
| C．like to talk with their friends when they are working |
| D．pretend that they are busy when their friends come |
| A．to talk in front of others’ tents |
| B．to visit a friend who is working |
| C．to walk behind people’s tents |
| D．to say no when people invite you to eat with them |
| A．what are good manners |
| B．different manners in different countries |
| C．good manners of eating with friends |
| D．the difference between good manners and bad manners |
【推荐1】Have you noticed that it is easy to find what you want when you go to the library? For that, you can thank Melvil Dewey. Melvil was born in Adams Center, in 1851. His parents, owned a general store. He was always interested in books and words. That interest continued when he went to Amherst College. In 1872, he began working at the college library.
Melvil thought that it was important to be educated and libraries could play a big part in teaching people, so he wanted them to be easy to use. At the time, it was hard for people to use libraries. Books were not organized. Instead, books on the same subject might be in several parts of a library. It was hard to find books on one subject because there was no good way to know which books in a library were about which topics. So he invented a new system of organizing books. That system is called the Dewey Decimal System (DDS). It is so successful that many libraries still use it today. It is an easy way to keep track of and find books people want quickly.
Melvil did more than invented the DDS. He wanted libraries and librarians to work together, so he helped found the American Library Association in 1876. He also founded the Library Journal. Melvil did a lot for librarians. At the time, there was no place for a person to learn to be a librarian. So librarians had to try their best to learn on the job. Melvil opened the world’s first school for librarians in 1887. He also set up the first traveling library. Today’s bookmobiles are based on that library. Melvil Dewey died in 1931, but his work still helps people use libraries today.
1. What is Paragraph l mainly about?| A．Melvil’s school life. |
| B．Melvil’s early interest. |
| C．Melvil’s home town. |
| D．Melvil’s trouble in life. |
| A．There were few libraries in most places. |
| B．There were no librarians to provide services. |
| C．Books weren’t placed according to their subjects. |
| D．Few people learned to read or write at that time. |
①He invented a new way to organize books.
②He went to Amherst College.
③He set up the first travelling library.
④He founded the Library Journal.
| A．③④②① | B．①④③② | C．②①③④ | D．②①④③ |
Can kids make their own newspapers? They do in Paris. Student editors at a French newspaper for kids called Mon Quotidien, do every day.
The ten-year-old newspaper sometimes sells 200,000 copies every day. It gets more than one million dollars every year! This is much more than many other newspapers.
How do they decide what to put in the paper? All the adult editors working on the children’s newspaper agree that the paper should be simple to read. Kids should be able to finish it within 10 minutes. The paper covers(报道) kids’ favorite subjects like school life, animals and science. It also talks about big world problems.
In order to make the paper more popular with kids, adult editors invite students aged 10 to 15 to join them. They have meetings every Wednesday and Sunday. Adult editors, reporters and kids sit together and decide which topics should come out in the paper and on which page. Which topic should come out on the front page, world news or bears in the zoo? Often the kid editors and adult editors disagree. Sometimes, the adult editors have to give up because their little editors won’t give in. Usually the student editors stay in the newspaper office for three hours at each meeting. Any kid in France can call the newspaper if they are interested in being a one-day editor.
1. The French newspaper Mon Quotidien has a history of 10 years.
2. The newspaper is for the kids to create and practice, not to earn any money.
3. The editors of the newspaper are all kids.
4. The children can finish reading the newspaper within 10 minutes because it’s simple.
【推荐3】How much water is there on the moon? This is a question scientists have tried to answer for years. Scientists from China and the UK have now discovered that the moon may have plenty of water, according to a recent paper.
Over billions of years, space rocks have hit the surface of the moon, causing the soil to melt (融化) and be pushed out suddenly into space. It is then cooled down and falls back to the lunar surface, forming beads (珠子) of glass.
The Chang’e 5 probe, which returned to Earth on Dec 17, 2020, brought back a total of 1,731 grams of rocks and soil from the lunar surface, including glass beads, reported Xinhua.
The international research team looked into the 32 glass beads. They found that about one ton of glass beads may include 0.5 kilograms of water. “This ‘water’ was in the form of hydrogen (氢气) included in the glass beads, which can easily be turned into the water we can use,” Hui Hejiu, one of the study authors said. Researchers thought that the water included in the glass beads could reach as much as 270 trillion kilograms.
The solar wind could be the source of the water in the beads, according to the study. The glass beads have lots of holes inside to catch hydrogen from the wind.
If the water in the beads is easy to get, it will be a “really big deal” for space exploration, Phil Bland, an expert in Australia said. At present, water used by astronauts during their long stays in space stations is recycled. The urine (尿液) produced and water used by an astronaut per day is about 2 kilograms. They are collected and purified (净化), and then provided to astronauts to drink. With this new finding, human settlements on the moon could have plenty of water in the future.
1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.| A．the melted soil | B．the space rock | C．the solar wind | D．the Chang’e probe |
| A．1731 | B．32 | C．4 | D．270 |
| A．The solar wind. | B．The lunar atmosphere. |
| C．Melting ice on the lunar surface. | D．Space rocks on the lunar surface. |
| A．By melting the ice from space rocks. | B．By taking water from solar wind. |
| C．By taking water out of the lunar soil. | D．By purifying urine and water used by astronauts. |
| A．It could help to find life on the moon. |
| B．It means growing plants in space is possible. |
| C．It means astronauts could get water from the moon. |
| D．It could help make water recycling easier in space. |
【推荐1】Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing （令人疑惑的）. A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They decided that misunderstandings and miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks? ” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows （眉毛）, which in Micronesia means “yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today? ” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with different nods （点头）and shakes （摇头） of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”.
1. These Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ________.| A．should go abroad for vacations | B．needed to learn foreign languages |
| C．should often discuss their experiences | D．had problems with communications |
| A．By nodding heads. | B．By raising eyebrows. |
| C．By shaking heads. | D．By saying “no”. |
| A．In Bulgaria, nodding heads means “no”. | B．Jan taught English on a Pacific island. |
| C．Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage. | D．In India, only shaking heads means “yes”. |
| A．Tom’s students. | B．People in India. |
| C．Nods and shakes of the head. | D．A few students. |
| A．Body language in foreign restaurants. | B．Class discussion in Indian schools. |
| C．Miscommunication in different cultures. | D．English teaching in other countries. |
【推荐2】To build good relationships with people from other cultures, it is necessary to learn how to communicate well with them. Here are some tips that can help you learn from people from other cultures and share your culture with them.
A little knowledge can go a long way. If you have time before meeting with someone from another culture, try to take time to learn the basic dos and don’ts of that culture. You can find information about this from the Internet easily.
If you could not understand someone or think that he or she did not understand you, say something about it. If you think you did not understand what someone meant, try saying something like, “I’m not sure I understood you. Could we go over that again?” It’s usually better to be upfront (坦率的) than to let a problem in communication go undressed, since there may be bigger problems later.
Each culture has its own values, beliefs, and prejudice(偏见). Signs of these may come out when communicating with people from other cultures. Basic communication, however, is not the time to judge people based on these differences. Instead, respect(尊重) them for what they are. You may even learn something new.
Communicating with people from other cultures can also have its difficulties. Expect that not everything will come out quite right or be fully understood. Be patient with others, and ask them to be patient with you, too.
Using non-standard language improperly can make you hard to understand. Since a language’s slang(俚语) is highly dependent on context(语境), it is best not to use it unless you are quite sure you know how to use it properly.
1. What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?| A．Learn about the culture. | B．Be respectful. | C．Be patient. | D．Use slang properly. |
| A．We will hate each other. | B．Our parents will be angry with us. |
| C．Problems will be bigger later. | D．We will learn something new. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．The importance of cultures | B．How to greet each other |
| C．The difficulties in communication | D．How to communicate well with people from other cultures |
| A．News. | B．Health. | C．Culture. | D．Sports. |
【推荐3】It was a dark evening in 1999. Song Yang, a Chinese student, lost his way in West London. This was only his third day in the U. K. He saw an old man carrying heavy bags on the side of the road, unable to move. Song helped him home.
The old man, named Hans, lived by the River Thames (泰晤士河) alone. Although the view was amazing through the window of his house, it was a mess inside.
Learning Song was looking for a place to stay, Hans invited him to move in. They agreed that they would split (分摊) the bills ana care for each other. Hans often helped Song learn English and get to know the country. Song helped make meals and do the housework. Soon the two became friends and family. Each time Song came back to China, he would take Hans with him.
In 2007, when Song completed his studies in the UK and returned to China, Hans had to stay in London by himself. After a few months of living without Song, Hans got very sick. He lost over 20 kilograms and couldn’t even get out of the bed. Song couldn’t stop thinking and-worrying about Hans, so he went to London. In 2008, Song brought Hans back to China. Hans finally recovered (康复) and he lived a few years of happy life with Song and his family. Hans always said, “China is my home because Song is my family.”
In 2013, Hans died in Zhengzhou. For more than 4,700 days, both the young and the old had kept their promise of caring for each other.
1. What’s the purpose of the underlined sentence in Para. 2?| A．It shows the beautiful view of the River Thames. |
| B．It shows how convenient Hans’s living environment is. |
| C．It shows the way Hans enjoys the beautiful view. |
| D．It shows how terrible Hans’s living environment is. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Shocked. | B．Thankful. | C．Sad. | D．Angry. |
| A．Care for Each Other. | B．Study in London. |
| C．A Promise to Hans. | D．Ways to Learn English. |
