Question

【題目】The British----and especially the English----are bad at complaining. Because of British politeness rules, according to which conflict should be avoided, people either just do not complain, or sometimes bottle it up and then outpour it in another way in other umimportant situations. In fact, there is a TV programme which show the British in typical situations where they would be perfectly reasonable in complaining, but they don’t. In one scene, a woman reads a newspaper over people’s shoulders and the people say nothing or look embarrassed.

The British are also well-known for putting up with bad service everywhere from restaurants to airports and railway stations because the standard rules of behaviour say that it is bad to draw attention to yourself. This is why, when you travel on the tube in London and there is yet another delay, the passengers will look at each other, sigh, smile wearily and raise their eyes to heaven. They might even say, “Huh! Typical!” in a resigned(順從的)tone of voice that says that there’s nothing that can be done about it. When complaints are made, they are made in an apologetic or a humorous tone of voice. In France ,on the other hand, angry passengers might riot(鬧事)and burn down the subway station if they had to put up with the poor service that the London underground provides.

Americans and other Europeans, who are much more direct and in-your-face than the British, often wonder why British people always say “sorry” or “excuse me” when they complain. “It’s like they’re apologizing for something that isn’t their fault, they say. They are missing the point. British people are not really sorry ---it is because the word ‘sorry’ actually works as a distancing skill. This is important in terms of negative politeness and not drawing attention to yourself. If you do not say ‘sorry’ or use other distancing words like ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘might’, ‘possibly’ and so on, you will be seen as rude.”

【1】What does the underlined part “bottle it up” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. Put something into bottles B. Not do anything dangerous

C. Cause problems by hesitating D. Not allow emotions to be seen

【2】The French tend to _______.

A. tolerate bad service B. enjoy taking the subway

C. make a complaint humorously D. express their dissatisfaction directly

【3】When the British say “sorry”, they actually want to _______.

A. try not to be rude B. apologize sincerely

C. show their feelings directly D. draw attention to themselves

【4】Which can be the best title for the text?

A. How to complain B. Complaining politely

C. Poor service in Britain D. Politeness rules across the world

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】D

【3】A

【4】B

【解析】這是一篇講述英國人不擅長抱怨的文章，主要是因?yàn)橛�國人的禮貌原則，即使有正當(dāng)?shù)睦碛煽梢员г梗�但他們卻不這樣干。作者也從幾個方面反映出英國人不愛抱怨的習(xí)慣，例如，英國人會因?yàn)閺牟宛^到機(jī)場和火車站等地方的不好服務(wù)而出名，但他們也不抱怨，而是坦然面對，因?yàn)闃?biāo)準(zhǔn)的行為準(zhǔn)則表明注意自己是不好的。由此講述英國人這一好的美德。

【1】詞義辨析題。由第一段中的“Because of British politeness rules, according to which conflict should be avoided, people either just do not complain,or sometimes bottle it up and then outpour it in another way in other umimportant situations.”知，因?yàn)橛�國的禮貌規(guī)則，根據(jù)一些可避免的沖突，人們也不抱怨，或者有時候?qū)⑺?/span>……，之后在其他不重要的情況下將它以另外一種方式流露出來。分析句意，可知bottle it up 意味著不把情感表露出來，被看見，故選D。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由第二段中的句子“In France ,on the other hand, angry passengers might riot(鬧事)and burn down the subway station if they had to put up with the poor service that the London underground provides.”可知，另一方面，在法國如果生氣的乘客們不得不忍受倫敦地鐵提供的不好的服務(wù)，他們可能會鬧事并且燒毀地鐵站。由此分析出法國人傾向于直接表達(dá)出他們的不滿，故選D。

【3】推理判斷題。由左后一段中的“British people are not really sorry ---it is because the word ‘sorry’ actually works as a distancing skill.”知，英國人不是真的感到抱歉，這是因?yàn)?/span>“對不起”這個詞語被當(dāng)作一種距離技巧。且由最后一句“If you do not say ‘sorry’ or use other distancing words like ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘might’, ‘possibly’ and so on, you will be seen as rude.”可知，如果他們不 說‘對不起’或者用其他像‘能夠’、‘將會’、‘可能’、‘可能地’等的距離詞語，他們將會被認(rèn)為是粗魯?shù)摹９视纱丝赏评砼袛喑鲇�國人說對不起是真的想嘗試著不粗魯，故選A。

【4】標(biāo)題選擇題。本篇文章主要講述了英國人不擅長抱怨，而是以另外禮貌的方式將抱怨情感流露出來，盡量不讓自己粗魯，故可知最適合本篇文章的標(biāo)題是禮貌地抱怨。A項(xiàng)：如何去抱怨，與本文主旨不符；C項(xiàng)：英國的差勁服務(wù)，沒有答到主旨點(diǎn)上；D項(xiàng)：世界各地的禮貌規(guī)則，也為答到點(diǎn)上。故選B。