The hit movie Notting Hill begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps (撞) into Julia Roberts and spills (灑) orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says: “ I am so sorry. I am so sorry.”
His actions in this scene are very British. If Roberts’ character were from Britain then she would probably apologize repeatedly as well—even if the crash were not her fault. But this doesn’t happen in the film, as Roberts is from the US.
A report in The Telegraph last week said that three-quarters of British people apologize when they bump into someone in the street — regardless of whether they are responsible or not. In fact, we Britons use “sorry” in many situations. For example, if we mishear someone, we say “Sorry?” The person we are talking to will also apologize by replying: “No, I am sorry!” This can go on for up to five minutes as we compete over who is the most sorry.
Life is never as simple as “duibuqi” and “meiguanxi”.
How we use “sorry” has changed. Traditionally, “sorry” was used to express deep regret, but a survey in 2007 showed that we use it to mean anything from “what” to “whatever”.
Why are Britons so sorry? Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks about our apologetic tendencies are rooted in the British class system. We say sorry because historically the new middle classes in Britain had to apologize for not being working class, but also for not really being upper class. Another theory is that we apologize to avoid confrontation(沖突). For example, if you bump into someone they might get angry. To avoid this we instantly say “Sorry!”.
True manners are about being considerate and the modern day obsession with apologizing show that we are perhaps not as thoughtful as we once were. The word has lost some of its meaning. Do you see my point? Sorry, it might just be a British thing…
小題1:What can we infer from paragraph 2?
A.In fact Roberts are responsible for the collision.
B.People from the US say “sorry” more than British people.
C.There is no crash happening in the film.
D.British people say sorry even if it is not their fault.
小題2:Which of the following might Mark Tyrell agree to?
A.British people are sincere while saying sorry.
B.Now more British people say sorry because of the British class system.
C.British people say sorry to avoid quarrels.
D.British people apologize for not working hard.
小題3:What does the author want to tell us with the passage?
A.British people overuse “sorry” in daily life.
B.British people now say “sorry” in different situations.
C.Middle classes in British are to blame for not being working class.
D.Britons say “sorry” to avoid confrontation.
小題4:What does the underlined word “collision” in the first paragraph mean?
A.quarrelB.disagreementC.crashD.fight
 
小題1:D
小題2:B
小題3:A
小題4:C

試題分析:這篇文章通過一些電影情節(jié)和報道,告訴我們英國人在日常生活中頻繁的使用“對不起”,這個單詞已經(jīng)失去了它的一些意思。
小題1:細節(jié)題。文章第二段的主要意思是英國人如果和別人發(fā)生沖突的話,即使不是他的錯,他也會說“對不起”的。故選D
小題2:細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks about our apologetic tendencies are rooted in the British class system.馬克·泰勒,英國的一個心理學作家,認為他們道歉趨勢深植于英國的階級系統(tǒng)中。故選B
小題3:主旨題,通過這篇文章作者告訴我們英國人在日常生活中很多情況下都說對不起。故選A
小題4:推斷題。根據(jù)文章The hit movie Notting Hill begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps  into Julia Roberts and spills  orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says: “ I am so sorry. I am so sorry.”可知,當這個沖突發(fā)生之后,Grant馬上說對不起。所以,
Collision的意思是沖突。故選C
點評:本文文脈清晰,結(jié)構(gòu)很好把握。說明文是歷年高考很常見的文體,對于科技類的說明文比較難,而對于說物的文體較容易。本文中,把握好一個中心即作者對sorry這個詞進行了介紹。同時,此類文章中推斷題要理解作者寫作的意圖,方可作答。
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