I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles”（风格）of directions every time I

题干

I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles”（风格）of directions every time I ask “ How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused（困惑的）in Japan because most streets there don’t have names. In Japan, people use landmarks（地标）in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “ Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat. In many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “ Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map. They measure distance in time, not miles. “ How far away is the post office?” you ask. “ Oh,” they answer, “ it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “ Yes, but how many miles is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “ Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “ I don’t know”. People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
【小题1】When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually _______ .

A．describe the place carefully

B．show him a map of the place

C．tell him the names of the streets

D．refer to recognizable buildings and places

【小题2】What is the place where people measure distance in time?

A．New York.

B．Los Angles.

C. Kansas C. Iowa
【小题3】People inYucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________ .

A．in order to save time	B．as a test
C．so as to be polite	D．for fun

【小题4】What can we infer from the text?

A．It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences.

B．It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.

C．People have similar understanding of politeness.

D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.

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同类题1

Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that _______. "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" _______ me. I thought he was saying" We're _______ pleased you decided to join us although I _______ we had hired someone else. "Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", _______ in British English it means "fairly".

So the _______ lesson about working in other countries is to _______ the language and by that I don't just _______ the words people speak. It contains _______ language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things ________ many of the differences we see between cultures.

Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while ________ may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the ________ and accepting them, like the climate, while we're getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be a（n）________. People are ________ polite; the service is better; you ask something to be done and it happens without having to ask again.________, other differences can be ________ punctuality（准时）.If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock, your guests will consider it polite to ________ 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 in the evening in Greece. I ________ not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the ________ people base their behavior on. It is simply ________ in their own country.

同类题3

In a society such as the United states or Canada, which has many national, religious, and cultural differences, people highly value individualism—the differences among people. Teachers place a lot of importance on the qualities that make each student special. The educational systems in these countries show these values. Students do not memorize information. Instead, they work individually and find answers themselves. There is often discussion in the classroom. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions.
In most Asian societies, by contrast, the people have the same language, history, and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the educational system in much of the Orient reflects society’s belief in group goals and purposed rather than individualism. Children in China, Japan, and Korea often work together and help one another on assignments. In the classroom, the teaching methods are often very formal. The teacher lectures, and the students listen. There is not much discussion. Instead, the students recite rules or information that they have memorized.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these systems of education. For example, one advantage to the system in Japan is that students there learn much more math and science than American students learn by the end of high school. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than North Americans do. The system is difficult, but it prepares students for a society that values discipline and self-control. There is, however, a disadvantage. Memorization is an important learning method in Japanese schools, yet many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information that they have memorized.
The advantage of the educational system in North American, on the other hand, is that students learn to think for themselves. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas. There is , however, a disadvantage. When students graduate from high school, they haven’t memorized as many basic rules and facts as students in other countries have..

	Students in the US and 【小题1】	Students in China, Japan and Korean
What do they value?	【小题2】	【小题3】 goals and purposes
Ways of study	working individually	listen to the teachers
	forming their own ideas and opinions	memorizing and 【小题4】
	a lot of discussion in the classroom	not much discussion
【小题5】	Learning to think for themselves	learning much more math and 【小题6】 by the end of high 【小题7】
	Learning to think for themselves	studying more hours each day and more days each year
	good for a society that values 【小题8】 ideas.	good for a society valuing 【小题9】 and self-control
disadvantages	students haven’t memorized many basic rules and facts when before 【小题10】	Information is forgotten easily

同类题4

Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities).Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.

Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt to "read" people from another culture as we would "read" someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions.

Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.

It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of "reading" the other person incorrectly.

【小题1】What does the smile usually mean in America?