Uint19
Part II Reading Comprehension
(35 minutes)
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one’s side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell.
Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War II and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that “Gift” means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm’s length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable.
Our linguistic (語言上的) and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and language of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world.
Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four language on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual(多語的)guided tours. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them.
When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives—usually the richer—who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation’s diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters.
For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.
But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even tough it may not always be the upper hand.
21. It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably .
A) stand still
B) jump aside
C) step forward
D) draw back
22. The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their .
A) cultural self-centeredness C) indifference towards foreign visitors
B) casual manners D) arrogance towards other cultures
23. In countries other than their own most Americans .
A) are isolated by the local people
B) are not well informed due to the language barrier
C) tend to get along well with the natives
D) need interpreters in hotels and restaurants
24. According to the author, American’s cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will .
A) affect their image in the new era
B) cut themselves off from the outside world
C) limit their role in world affairs
D) weaken the position of the US dollar
