2. 外语
  3. Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we me are understo

Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we me are understo

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问题     Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we me are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon (召唤)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 (语言上的) and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are. losing us friends, business and respect in the world.
    Even here in tile United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual (多语言的) 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(聚集)in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. Then 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(外交), are conducted through interpreters.
    For many years, 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 though it [nay not always be the upper hand.
In countries other than their own, most Americans______.
选项 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
答案B
解析 推理题。本题问的是：在外国，绝大多数美国人______。根据第4段第2句“Then attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives—usually the richer—who speak English”可知，美国人对外国了解的信息通常仅从在那些国家里说英语的有钱人处获得。有钱人毕竟只是任何一个社会中的小部分，不能代表那个国家的全部，但是由于语言障碍，美国人又只能从他们那里获得片面的信息，故选B 。
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