Question

“When an American asks me this question, it’s like a wall of ice crashing down between us.” my Moscow-born friend Galina said. The question is “How are you?”.

The answer Americans give, of course is, “Fine.” But when Russians hear this they think one of two things: you are experiencing a rare moment of fineness or you are lying.

Ask a Russian, “How are you?” and you will hear, for better or worse, the truth. I have experienced many painful minutes of silence after my grandmother made her stock response: “Terrible,” to which she might add, “Why? Because being old is terrible and I am very old.”

“‘Fine’ makes Russians think that Americans have no soul,” I explained recently to an American-born friend. “That they just want to go home, eat a frozen dinner in front of the TV, and wait out the hours before going to work to make money again.” He laughed, “You know, there’s something to that.”

The thing most Russians don’t realize is that, in English, “How are you?” isn’t a question at all, but a form of “hi”, like the Russian “privyet!”

Psychologists at the University of Michigan have shown that, while Russians are, indeed, easier to be depressed than Americans, their open acceptance of bad experiences might be healthier.

Recently, when I looked through a few American guides on traveling to Russia, I was disappointed to find that they all suggested that tourists adopt the American approach to “How are you”.

1.When you ask a Russian “how are you” the Russian will ________.

A. answer “fine” B. tell you the truth

C. make no answer D. get angry and walk away

2.If an American answers “fine” to the question “how are you”, the Russian will think ______.

A. he is not honest B. he will go home

C. he likes watching TV D. he is living a bad life

3.We can infer Russians’ answer to “how are you” can make Americans feel ________.

A. happy B. angry

C. puzzled D. touched

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.C

【解析】

試題分析：文章介紹了美國人和俄羅斯人對“How are you?”的不同理解。在英語中，“How are you?”是問好的一種方式，而在俄羅斯人看來，“How are you?”是一個問題。

1.Ask a Russian, “How are you?” and you will hear, for better or worse, the truth.”可知，俄羅斯人會實話實說，故選B。

2.But when Russians hear this they think one of two things: you are experiencing a rare moment of fineness or you are lying.”可知，當美國人回答“很好”時，俄羅斯人會認為那個人在撒謊，故選A。

3.The thing most Russians don’t realize is that, in English, “How are you?” isn’t a question at all, but a form of “hi””可知，俄羅斯人把“How are you?”看作是一個問題，而在英語里，“How are you?”不是問題，而是一種問好的方式，故選C。

考點：文化類短文閱讀