Destiny and Personal Responsibility
One important variable affecting communication across cultures is destiny（命运）and personal responsibility. This refers to the degree to which we feel ourselves the masters of our lives, contrary to the degree to which we see ourselves as subject to things outside our control. Another way to look at this is to ask how much we see ourselves able to change and act, to choose the course of our lives and relationships. Some have drawn a parallel between the personal responsibility in North American settings and the view itself. The North American view is vast, with large spaces of unpopulated land. The frontier attitude of “King” of the wilderness, and the expansiveness of the land reaching huge distances, may relate to generally high levels of confidence in the ability to shape and choose our destinies.
In this expansive land, many children grow up with a heroic sense of life, where ideas are big, and hope springs forever. When they experience temporary failures, they encouraged to redouble their efforts, to “try, try again.” Action, efficiency（效率）, and achievement are valued and expected. Free will is respected in laws and enforced by courts.
Now consider places in the world with much smaller land, whose history reflects wars and tough struggles: Northern Ireland, Mexico, Israel, Palestine. In these places, destiny’s role is more important in human life. In Mexico, there is a history of hard life, fighting over land, and loss of homes. Mexicans are more likely to see struggles as part of their life and unavoidable. Their passive attitude is expr4essed in their way of responding to failure or accident by saying “ni modo”(“no way” or “tough lick”), meaning that the failure was destined.
This variable is important to understanding cultural conflict. If someone believing in free will crosses paths with someone more passive, miscommunication is likely. The first person may expect action and accountability. Failing to see it, he may conclude that the second is lazy, not cooperative, or dishonest. The second person will expect respect for the natural order of thins. Failing to see it, he may conclude that the first is forcible, rude, or big headed in his ideas of what can be accomplished or changed.The author thinks that one’s character is partly determined by .
| A．physical senses | B．general attitude |
| C．financial background | D．geographic characteristics |
According to the passage, Mexicans would think that Americans are .
| A．impractical | B．dishonest | C．ambitious | D．hesitant |
The underlined word “subject” in Paragraph 1 probably means .
| A．a topic of a discussion | B．a branch of knowledge |
| C．a person being experimented on | D．a person under the power of others |
The author would probably agree that .
| A．vast land may lead to a more controllable desire |
| B．heroic sense of life roots deeply in a small country |
| C．living in limited space contributes to an accepting attitude |
| D．fighting over land may help people gain high levels of confidence |
In 1939 two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, started a drive-in restaurant in San Bernadino, California. They carefully chose a busy corner for their location. They had run their own businesses for years, first a theater, then a barbecue(烤肉) restaurant, then another drive-in. But in their new operation, they offered a new, shortened menu: French fries, hamburgers, and sodas. To this small selection they added one new idea: quick service, no waiters or waitresses, and no tips.
Their hamburgers sold for fifteen cents. Cheese was another four cents. Their French fries and hamburgers had a remarkable uniformity(一致性), for the brothers had developed a strict routine(程序) for the preparation of their food, and they insisted on their cooks sticking to their routine. Their new drive-in became surprisingly popular, particularly for lunch. People drove up by the hundreds during the busy noontime. The self-service restaurant was so popular that the brothers had allowed ten copies of their restaurant to be opened. They were content with this modest success until they met Ray Kroc.
Kroc was a salesman who met the McDonald brothers in 1954, when he was selling milkshake-mixing machines. He quickly saw the special attraction of the brothers’ fast-food restaurants and bought the right to franchise(特许经营) other copies of their restaurants. The agreement included the right to duplicate(复制) the menu, the equipment, even their red and white buildings with the golden arches(拱门).
Today McDonald’s is really a household name. In 1976, McDonald’s had over $ l billion in total sales. Its first twenty-two years is one of the most surprising success stories in modern American business history.This passage mainly talks about _______.
| A．the development of fast food services |
| B．how McDonald’s became a billion-dollar business |
| C．the business careers of Mac and Dick McDonald |
| D．Ray Kroc’s business talent |
Mac and Dick managed all of the following businesses except _______.
| A．a drive-in | B．a theater |
| C．a cinema | D．a barbecue restaurant |
We may infer from this passage that _______.
| A．Mac and Dick McDonald never became wealthy for they sold their idea to Kroc. |
| B．the place the McDonalds chose was the only source of the great popularity of their drive-in |
| C．forty years ago there were lots of fast-food restaurants |
| D．Ray Kroc was a good businessman |
The passage suggests that _______.
| A．creativity is an important element of business success |
| B．Ray Kroc was the close partner of the McDonald brothers |
| C．Mac and Dick McDonald became broken after they sold their ideas to Ray Kroc |
| D．California is the best place to go into business |
In opposing President Barack Obama's opening to Cuba, Florida's Republican senator, Marco Rubio, explained, "This entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, on a lie, the lie and the illusion that more commerce and access to money and goods will translate to political freedom for the Cuban people." Rubio has correctly touched on the hottest issue. But theory, logic and history suggest that he's wrong in his conclusions.
I would recommend to Rubio one of the classics of conservative(保守的) thought, Milton Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom." He doesn't have to spend too much time on it. The first chapter outlines the "relation between economic freedom and political freedom." The point Friedman makes in the book is one that America's founding fathers well understood. Drawing on the political philosopher John Locke, they believed that the freedom to buy, sell, own and trade were primary elements of human freedom and individual autonomy(自治). As they expand, liberty expands.
This is not just theory, of course. Over the last two centuries, the countries that embraced "more commerce and access to money and goods" in Rubio's phrase -- Britain, America, then Western Europe and East Asia -- have moved toward greater prosperity, but also political freedom. If you exclude oil-rich countries, where money is not earned but dug from the ground, on the whole there has been a strong connection between economic freedom and political freedom.
In Latin America today, democracy(民主政治) and markets have acted to strengthen each other, transforming the continent, which 30 years ago was almost entirely ruled by dictatorships(独裁) to one that is today almost entirely ruled by democracies. After opening up its economy in the 1970s, Chile began to grow, but that growth then produced a stronger civil society that over time contributed to the end of the dictatorship within the country. Yet Cuba is an outlier, one of the last regimes in Latin America that has embraced neither markets nor ballots. The Obama administration is acting on the theory that more commerce, capitalism, contact, travel and trade will empower the people of Cuba and thus gives them a greater voice in their political future. And so the first point to make is that it will help Cubans economically -- it will raise their incomes, their standard of living, and boost access to technology. These are all good things in and of themselves.
But easing the embargo(贸易禁止) will also help Americans, who will benefit from being able to trade with a neighbor. This is the reason that conservatives have long understood that free trade is not a gift bestowed on someone. It helps both countries and in particular, helps the United States. That's why the Wall Street Journal's editorial page -- bastion of conservative thought -- has been an advocate on lifting the trade embargo against Cuba, which is a far larger step than Obama's normalization. What message does the writer try to deliver through this passage?
| A．President Obama is making a wrong move opening to Cuba. |
| B．Marco Rubio is making a mistake criticizing Obama’s normalization policy. |
| C．Obama’s policy will benefit both Cubans and Americans economically and politically. |
| D．Obama’s decision agrees with the fact that economic freedom grows with political freedom. |
How does the writer prove his point in paragraph 3 and 4?
| A．by analyzing cause and effect |
| B．by giving examples |
| C．by making comparison and contrast |
| D．by raising questions |
What does the underlined phrase “translate to” most probably mean?
| A．connect with | B．adapt to |
| C．get down to | D．lead to |
It is implied in the passage that_____________
| A．The Obama administration wants to help people in Cuba, so President Obama decided to open to Cuba. |
| B．Chile is different from other countries in Latin America in that it has both economic and political freedom. |
| C．America’s founding fathers based their ideology on the theory of Milton Friedman. |
| D．The conservatives and the Wall Street Journal are on the same page on free trade. |
Who doesn’t believe that democracy and markets strengthen each other?
| A．the writer | B．President Obama |
| C．Milton Friedman | D．Marco Rubio |
Rabindranath Tagore(泰戈尔) was an Indian writer and poet, who was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Composed of 326 short verses, Stray Birds(飞鸟集) is a collection of short verses translated from Bengali into English by the poet himself, where Tagore spiritualizes nature into the experiences of human existence while demonstrating his love for nature and simplicity through poetic words.
Now read the following verses taken from Stray Birds(1916) and try to answer the questions.
·Man does not reveal himself in his history, he struggles up through it. (verse 52)
·The cloud stood humbly(谦逊的) in a corner of the sky.
The Morning crowned it with splendour(光辉). (verse 100)
·Man is worse than an animal when he is an animal. (verse 248)
·Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave.
The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him. (verse 127)
·The stream of truth flows through its channels of mistakes. (verse 243)
·Let him only see the thorns who has eyes to see the rose. (verse 230)
·Set bird’s wings with gold and it will never again soar in the sky. (verse 231)
·Men are cruel, but Man is kind. (verse 219)
·Let me not put myself wrongly to my world and set it against me. (verse 206)
·Wrong cannot afford defeat but right can. (verse 68)
·“I give my whole water in joy,” sings the waterfall. “though little of it is enough for the thirsty.” (verse 69)
·The woodcutter’s axe(斧头) begged for its handle from the tree.
The tree gave it. (verse 71)
·Thank the flame for its light, but do not forget the lampholder standing in the shade with constancy of patience. (verse 64)Which of the verses sing praise for those who are ready to sacrifice(奉献) themselves without asking anything in return?
| A．verse 248 &69 | B．verse 71 & 100 |
| C．verse 69 & 71 | D．verse 100& 52 |
Which of the verse makes strong comparison and contrast between two opposite types of persons?
| A．verse 68 | B．verse 248 |
| C．verse 127 | D．verse 243 |
Which of the verses has similar meaning to the saying “All is not gold that glitters(闪光); but gold will glitter forever.”?
| A．verse 100 | B．verse 69 |
| C．verse 230 | D．verse 206 |
Which of the verses might be most suitable said to parents, telling them not to spoil their children with wealth?
| A．verse 231 | B．verse 71 |
| C．verse 127 | D．verse 100 |
Halloween is the one night of the year where being scared is supposed to be good fun. However, amid all the harmless activities like trick-or-treating, sometimes genuinely frightening and disturbing things can happen. October 31 has been the date of some horrific murders and unexplained disappearances, which are far more terrifying than any ghosts, goblins, or witches. Because they happened to take place on Halloween, the following mysteries have an extra aura of creepiness to them, and they remain unsolved to this day.
1
Hyun Jong was a 21-year-old South Korean student attending Pennsylvania State University. In 2001, after leaving the Halloween party in a club, she was dropped off at her apartment by her friends at 4:00 AM. This was the last anyone ever saw of her. A search was conducted of her apartment. There was no sign of any struggle, but many of her belongings were there, indicating that she had gone inside after being dropped off. But what happened to her afterward? Although some evidence indicated her death, her body has never been found.
2
On Halloween night in 1977, the parents of 19-month-old Nima Louise Carter placed their child inside her crib. The next morning, Nima’s parents were shocked to discover that she was missing. Since the windows were locked, it’s theorized that someone must have been hiding in the closet and took the child out of the house while her parents were asleep. The police took it as child abduction. A month later, a group of kids were playing in an abandoned house four blocks away. When they opened up the house’s refrigerator, they received a horrifying shock when the body of an infant came tumbling out. The child was identified as Nima Louise Carter, who died of suffocation(窒息).
3
Chris Jenkins was a 21-year-old student who visited a bar on Halloween night in 2002. After leaving the bar around midnight, Chris disappeared without a trace. He remained a missing person for four months until his body was discovered in the Mississippi River. Since Chris was still wearing his Halloween costume, all indications were that he died shortly after he disappeared. Since his cause of death was determined to be drowning, authorities initially(初步的) believed it was an accident or suicide. His parents refused to believe this and appealed for a more careful investigation. Finally, in 2006, the death was reclassified as a murder case.
4
Sometime during the early morning Halloween hours of 1981, a Manhattan couple named Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman were murdered in their apartment. The couple was severely beaten before being shot in the head, execution-style, and the apartment was in a complete mess. Sisman was rumored to be involved in drugs, so authorities initially believed that to be the motive for the killings. However, the case took a turn when a prisoner claimed that one of his fellow inmates(狱友) had somehow predicted the crime weeks before it actually happened. The police then questioned the inmate, yet no insightful information was brought out.Whose body was found inside a fridge?
| A．Chris Jenkins | B．Hyun Jong |
| C．Nima Louise Carter | D．Sisman Platzman |
What does the underlined “this” refer to in the third case?
| A．the authorities’ initial conclusion |
| B．the cause of their son’s death |
| C．their son’s death |
| D．the investigation |
Of the four cases, at first the police had wrong conclusions except in _______
| A．the Hyun Jong case | B．the Nima Louis Carter case |
| C．the Chris Jenkins case | D．the Platzmans case |
Which of the following facts is mentioned in the passage?
| A．Chris Jenkins’ parents persuaded the police to dig deeper into their son’s death. |
| B．Ronald and Elizabeth were beaten to death in their apartment. |
| C．Someone must have hidden inside Hyun Jong’s apartment and took her away. |
| D．Nima Louis Carter was frozen to death in a fridge. |
The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization, beginning in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. Similarly, the language spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonization elsewhere and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, held sway over a population of 470–570 million people, approximately a quarter of the world's population at that time.
Over the past 400 years the form of the language used in the Americas—especially in the United States—and that used in the United Kingdom have diverged in a few minor ways, leading to the versions now occasionally referred to as American English and British English. Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, idioms, and formatting of dates and numbers. A small number of words have completely different meanings in the two versions or are even unknown or not used in one of the versions. One particular contribution towards formalizing these differences came from Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828) with the intention of showing that people in the United States spoke a different dialect from Britain, much like a regional accent.
It may be the case that increased worldwide communication through radio, television, the Internet and globalization has reduced the tendency towards regional variation. This can result either in some variations becoming extinct (for instance, the wireless, being progressively superseded by the radio) or in the acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere.
Chief among other native English dialects are Canadian English and Australian English, which rank third and fourth in the number of native speakers. For the most part, Canadian English, while featuring numerous British forms alongside native Canadianisms, shares vocabulary, phonology and syntax with American English, leading many to recognize North American English as an organic grouping of dialects. Australian English likewise shares many American and British English usages alongside plentiful features unique to Australia, and retains a significantly higher degree of distinctiveness from both the larger varieties than does Canadian English. South African English, New Zealand English and the Hiberno-English of Ireland are also distinctive and rank fifth, sixth and seventh in the number of native speakers.Which of the following native English dialects ranks fifth in the number of native speakers?
| A．Canadian English |
| B．South African English |
| C．the Hiberno-English of Ireland |
| D．Australian English |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why the English language spread to numerous parts of the world?
| A．British colonization |
| B．the spread of the former English Empire |
| C．British trade around the world |
| D．a large British population |
It can be inferred from the passage that_____
| A．Australian English has developed more characteristics of its own than Canadian English. |
| B．it is obvious that some variations will become extinct due to worldwide communication. |
| C．everyone will be speaking “perfectly good English” in the future. |
| D．almost a quarter of the world’s population spoke British English in 1921. |
This passage is intended __________________
| A．to persuade us to speak perfectly good English in the future. |
| B．to draw people’s attention to the extinction of different English dialects. |
| C．to give the readers some useful information on variation of the English language. |
| D．to do a research on how the English language has influenced the world. |
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