So there you are on the phone, you ask a question, and suddenly there's silence． What is this, the phone's gone dead, the person you're talking to is dead? Possibly． But there could be another reason — the other person could be Finnish, or Japanese．
According to a handy new booklet from British Telecom （BT） for business people, in countries such as Britain and Italy "conversation is a form of entertainment． There is a continuous flow of talk．．．"． But in other countries especially Finland and Japan, "it is not only impolite to break in, but listeners will think over what has been said in silence"．
It also points out that English, when spoken by foreigners, is likely to include plenty of "false friends", where word-for-word translation fails． If a Frenchman says something is "interesting", he probably means it's profitable．If he "demands" something, he's actually just asking． If an American says your proposal is "quite good", you should be pleased, because "quite" means "very"． But if he tells you to "table" a proposal, then things are not good at all． Whereas an English person would understand tabling a proposal as putting an idea forward, to an American it means shelves it．
According to the booklet, British people are not "explicit" like the Americans, the Dutch, the Germans or the French． "If a Dutchman says an idea is interesting, he means that it is interesting． If an Englishman says it is interesting, you have to deduce （推论） from the way he says it whether he means it is a good or a bad idea．"
The Japanese, the Russians and the Arabs on the other hand, live in the land of true dioplomatic subtlety（微妙）．"If they say an idea is interesting, it may simply be out of politeness"．
It is safest to stick with plain speaking whenever possible, BT advises its British readers． And whatever you do, be careful to limit the use of the famous British sense of humor．When someone says that an idea is interesting, who don't really mean it?
| A．The Dutch． | B．The French． | C．The British． | D．The Japanese． |
While speaking in English, a foreigner seems .
| A．to use the words "false friends" quite often |
| B．to have a strong foreign accent |
| C．to have difficulty in expressing himself clearly |
| D．to keep on forgetting English words |
We may learn from the passage that the best thing to do while talking to others, especially to foreigners, is to .
| A．speak as a diplomat |
| B．be fully aware of culture difference |
| C．speak with a sense of humor |
| D．avoid being somewhat entertaining |
“Eat local．” It’s one way to reduce human effect on the planet．Eating local means to try to buy and consume foods that are grown in places close to home．However, most of the food sold at supermarkets is not locally grown or produced．Trucks and planes deliver these foods from hundreds or thousands of miles away．During the transportation, greenhouse gases are produced, causing global warming．So the shorter the distance your foods must travel, the less the harm is done to the environment．
But how do you get local food if you live in a large city, hundreds of miles away from farms？Environmental health scientist Dickson Despommier and his students came up with the idea of a “vertical farm”．
A vertical farm is a glass-walled structure that could be built as tall as a skyscraper．Since the garden is built upwards, rather than outwards, it requires much less space than an ordinary farm．The world is quickly running out of room for ordinary farming．Vertical farms could be a key to this situation．Despommier imagines a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor．The walls of the building would be clear, to allow crops to get as much sunlight as possible．Depending on a city’s water resources, Despommier thinks hydroponic（水培） farming is another method for the vertical farm which needs no soil to grow plants．
Despommier says the hydroponic greenhouses would use a system that would use a city’s waste water and fill it with nutrition to make the crops grow．If this method works, it would provide food to a city and save millions of tons of water．
The idea of a vertical farm has attracted the attention of government officials around the world．Scott Stringer, a government official from New York City, thinks the city is suitable for the vertical farming．“Obviously we don’t have much land left for us,” Stringer said, “But the sky is the limit in Manhattan．”
Despommier admits that there is still a lot of work to do to make vertical farms a reality．“But I think vertical farming is an idea that can work in a big way．” he says．Why are people advised to eat local?
| A．Because it means convenience to people． |
| B．Because it can help people save a lot of money． |
| C．Because local food has more nutrition． |
| D．Because it is environmentally friendly． |
Which is one of the vertical farm’s benefits when compared with ordinary farming?
| A．It produces healthier food． |
| B．It does less harm to the cities． |
| C．It consumes more energy of the city． |
| D．It requires less transport costs． |
By saying “the sky is the limit in Manhattan”, Stringer means ________．
| A．people can make full use of vertical space of Manhattan |
| B．there is a limit for using empty land in Manhattan |
| C．the height of buildings in Manhattan is limited |
| D．Manhattan has a great potential for development |
What can we learn about the vertical farming in the passage?
| A．In a vertical farm, soil may not be needed to grow plants． |
| B．It has solved the problem of the food shortage in a big way． |
| C．It is a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor． |
| D．Crops are mainly grown in the rainwater in a vertical farm． |
Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality simply by looking at the person's shoes．“Shoes convey a thin but useful slice of information about their wearers,” the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality．“Shoes serve a practical purpose, and also serve as nonverbal cues （线索） with symbolic messages．People tend to pay attention to the shoes they and others wear．”
Medical Daily notes that the number of detailed personality traits （特质） detected in the study include a person's general age, income, political tendency, and other personality traits, including someone's emotional stability．Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style, cost, color and condition of someone's shoes．In the study, 63 University of Kansas students looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study's participants．Participants in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes, and then filled out a personality questionnaire．
So, what do your shoes say about your personality? Some of the results were expected: People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes, and flashier footwear was typically worn by outgoing people．However, some of the more specific results are interesting．For example, “practical and functional” shoes were generally worn by more “friendly” people, while ankle boots were more closely connected with “aggressive” personalities．The strangest of all may be that those who wore “uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities．
And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take exceptional care of them, you may suffer from “attachment anxiety,” spending too much time worrying about what other people think of your appearance．There was even a political calculation in the mix with wearing “shabbier and less expensive” shoes．
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personality traits, but researchers pointed out that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were revealing deep insights into their personalities．By looking at a person’s shoes, it’s possible for people to_____．
| A．know the wearer thoroughly and accurately |
| B．form an opinion about the wearer’s character |
| C．have exact cues about the wearer’s social status |
| D．judge the wearer’s educational background |
What can we know about the passage?
| A．Wealthy people tend to choose shiny shoes． |
| B．Calm people prefer shoes with uncomfortable appearance． |
| C．Friendly people are likely to wear ankle boots． |
| D．Outgoing people always wear shoes with practical functions． |
Takingexceptional care of new shoes shows that _____．
| A．the owners care much about others’ opinions on their appearance |
| B．the owners are in a relaxed state |
| C．the owners are particular about their appearance |
| D．the owners have too many shoes to choose from |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．How To Choose Suitable Shoes |
| B．How To Judge People’s Personality Traits |
| C．People Are What They Wear |
| D．Shoes Reflect People’s Personalities |
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets．When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality．
People have been influenced to become technology addicted．One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices．One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol．
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life．They have successfully created a cultural disease．Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern．
I see people trapped in a pathological （病态的） relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them．I call this technology servitude．I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money．
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question．Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology．When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology．Mae West is famous for the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful．” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology．
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies．” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology．The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______．
| A．advantage | B．attraction |
| C．adaption | D．attempt |
From the passage, technology companies aim to ______．
| A．attract people to buy their products |
| B．provide the latest information |
| C．improve people’s quality of life |
| D．deal with cultural diseases |
It can be inferred from this passage that people ______．
| A．consider too much technology wonderful |
| B．have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
| C．can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
| D．may enjoy life better without overused technology |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
| A．Neutral． | B．Skeptical． |
| C．Disapproving． | D．Sympathetic． |
Dear David,
I’m glad you would like to share your feelings with me．It’s hardly surprising that your feelings of not being “grown up” have come on strongly at this point in your life, just before you’re about to become a father．You are asking: will I make a good father? How will I cope? Should I have brought another little person into the world? Can I provide for it? Heeelp! I think nearly every sensitive about-to-be-parent must have these occasional feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy before the birth and it would be most unusual if you didn’t share them．
It’s difficult, honestly, to feel grown-up unless you have something less grown-up to relate to．The boss with a hen-pecking wife may feel like a seven-year-old when he’s at home．But as he walks through the office door, and knows he’s going to be surrounded by staff looking to him for advice, he grows into a fully mature man．And I think it’s a mistake to imagine that we all feel, as we age, a kind of progression of states, from the baby to the adult．Most people feel, on Tuesday, about three years old, and on a Wednesday, around 80．I remember feeling very grown-up at eight, a time when I was weighed down with responsibility．These days, much older, I can, in the company of people I feel at ease with, feel like a young girl．
There’s a common remark that “all men are little boys”, but it’s not true．It’s truer that men often behave like little boys．But nearly all people, at some moments in their lives, are capable of great maturity．
Once your baby arrives, you’ll soon feel less childlike, or rather, less often．When your child tries to put its fingers into the electric plug, the adult in you will rise up to prevent it．You’ll see you have very little in common with a needy child, particularly if it’s looking to you for comfort and support．
Comfort yourself, David, with two truths．One is that your friends laugh when they talk about this subject because they, like you, feel frightened．And remember that people who haven’t grown up don’t go around talking about the fact that they don’t feel grown-up．
Hope my advice will be helpful and good luck to you and your little one．
Sincerely Yours,
Miss AdviceAccording to the passage, Miss Advice thinks David’s self-doubt is _______．
| A．valuable | B．natural | C．unusual | D．bearable |
From Paragraph 2, we can learn that people’s sense of maturity _______．
| A．will increase with age |
| B．is obviously seen at home |
| C．changes with different situations |
| D．becomes stronger with familiar people |
Miss Advice holds the opinion that _______．
| A．all men behave like little boys |
| B．people tend to laugh at the subject |
| C．men with a baby feel more grown-up |
| D．people enjoy talking about their immaturity |
Miss Advice wrote the letter to _______．
| A．offer suggestions to a future father |
| B．teach people how to grow up |
| C．encourage people to be responsible |
| D．solve problems of the less grown-up |
“I want to be just like you．You are from uptown, aren’t you?” the young man asked in the local slang with a broad smile unaware of the burning tropical sun．Selling bags of potatoes at the roadside, his extra-large T shirt and faded blue jeans were a proof to the universal influence of American pop culture in Africa．I had accepted a seat at his potato stand to take a break before concluding business in Accra that afternoon．Between busy sales serving customers stuck in traffic, he asked numerous questions about life in America, convinced that having a visa to the United States was like winning the lottery （彩票）．How could I tell him that I envied his simple life and childish innocence when I was guilty of the silent culture that has helped to create a false image of Africans living abroad?
Outwardly, I looked like the poster boy for success visiting from the United States．My white designer shirt and matching pants were straight from the shopping malls in Detroit, where I worked as an engineer．Inwardly, I was caught in a web of ambition and cultural disappointment．My clothes suggested wealthy, yet I could not afford the numerous requests for money or to make gifts of my belongings．Uncles and aunties who were prepared to mortgage （作贷款抵押） their homes to help me leave 10 years ago now expected me to finance cousins hoping to make the same move to the United States．
America had helped me achieve my ambition for furthering my education and professional experience．I had arrived with a high-school diploma, and after 10 years, I hold a graduate degree and have a relatively successful professional career．Every inch of progress, however, had been achieved through exhausting battles．My college education had been financed partly through working multiple minimum-wage jobs．I was fortunate to secure a job upon graduation, but adjusting to corporate culture made me pay another high price．Initially, I found myself putting in twice the effort just to keep up．Scared by a wave of layoffs, I went to graduate school part time because it was the only way I knew that afforded me an edge in job security．It was as though I had run 10 continuous marathons, one for each year abroad, and my body screamed for rest．In the eyes of the young potato seller, the author seemed _____．
| A．to be a successful man |
| B．to have won a lottery |
| C．to represent American culture |
| D．to know a lot about the U．S． |
At the bottom of his heart, the author feels that _____．
| A．he wants to exchange places with the young seller |
| B．he is sorry for his cousins still living in Africa |
| C．his American dream has come true |
| D．he is torn between the two cultures |
The author managed to attend a graduate school because _____．
| A．studying graduate courses helped him adapt well to the life in the company |
| B．a graduate degree was the minimum requirement for his career |
| C．a graduate degree would give him an advantage over others in the job market |
| D．he wanted to settle permanently in the U．S |
Which of the following is closest to the main idea of the passage?
| A．An immigrant was accepted by the society after ten years of struggle． |
| B．An African American returned home with fame and fortune． |
| C．An immigrant returned home with an exhausted heart． |
| D．A young African was climbing to the top of his career． |
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