2011高考英语阅读理解汇编:文化类（全国II卷）

　　（2011全国II）D

　　The way we do things round here

　　Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us. That quite saddened me. I thought he was saying were kind of pleased you decided to join

　　us although I wish we had hired someone else. Then I discovered that in American English quitesometimes means very, while in British English it means fairly.

　　So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I dont

　　just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures（文化）．

　　Some of these differences may be only on the surface一dress, food and hours of work一while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate（气候），while getting on with business.

　　Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality（准时）．If you invite people to a party at 7 oclock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the

　　American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word late because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.

　　52. The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought______．

　　A. the American bank didnt think much of him

　　B. the American bank might hire another person

　　C. its difficult to get used to American culture

　　D. its easy to misunderstand Americans

　　53．The word highlights in Paragraph 2 probably means_____.

　　A. encourages B. helps to narrow

　　C. increases D. draws attention to

　　54. According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?

　　A. Ask the native people for help.

　　B. Understand and accept them.

　　C. Do things in our own way.

　　D. Do in-depth research.

　　55. When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are______.

　　A. Italians B. Germans C. Greeks D. the British

　　答案：ADBB