2. 外语
  3. A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them.

A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them.

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问题     A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair, this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. Small minded officials, rude waiters, and ill mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the U.S.. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.
    For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside world.
    The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life: if you didn’t take in the stranger and take care of him, there was no one else who would, and someday, remember, you might be in the same situation.
    Today there are many charitable organizations which specialize in helping the weary traveler. Yet, the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the U.S., especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. "I was just traveling through, got talking with this American, and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner—amazing." Such observations reported by visitors to the U.S. are not uncommon, but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.
    As is true of any developed society, in America a complex set of cultural signals, assumptions, and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And, of course, speaking a language does not necessarily meant that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail to "translate" cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example, when an American uses the word "friend", the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor’s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet, being friendly is a virtue that many American value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.
Families in frontier settlements used to entertain strangers ______.
选项 A、to improve their hard life
B、in view of their long distance travel
C、to add some flavor to their own daily life
D、out of a charitable impulse
答案C
解析 从文章第2段最后一句可知，陌生人和旅行者带来了欢乐，因而受到人们的欢迎；从文章第3段的内容可知，边界上严酷的现实也促进了这一好客传统的发展；独自旅行的人，如果饿了、受伤了或是生病了，常常只能求助于距离最近的小屋或居民点；对于旅行者来说，这不是选择的问题，对当地人来说，也不仅仅是一时的仁慈冲动，这反映了日常生活的严酷性——如果你不接纳并照顾陌生人，那么也没有人会这么做。据此可知，在边界居住的人们之所以常常招待陌生人，是因为这样做可以为自己枯燥乏味和孤独寂寞的生活解闷。C项与文章的意思相符。A项不正确，文中只是说可以解闷，并没有说可以改善艰难的生活。B项不正确，文中没有提到；D项明显与文章第3段第3句的意思不符。综上所述，只有C项为正确答案。
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