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.
According to the author, Americans’ cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will______.
选项 A、affect their image in the new era
B、cut themselves off from the outside world
C、limit their role in world affairs
D、weaken the position of the US dollar
答案C
解析 推理题。本题问的是：作者认为，美国人的文化盲区和语言上的无知将会______。根据第5段可知美元已经不像以前那么坚挺了，美国人也慢慢开始认识到自己在世界的角色正在发生改变。据1979年的Harris民意调查，55%的美国人希望美国在世界事务中发挥更为重要的作用，在下一个世纪对重大的决策可以插手，即使并不总是占上风。因此美国对于国际事务的态度是十分热衷的。又根据第2段第4句“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”可知，由于语言和文化上的盲区和对其他国家品位、手势、习俗和语言的不重视，美国在整个世界上正面临着失去朋友、生意和尊重的处境。因此美国人的文化盲区和语言上的无知将会限制他们在世界事务中发挥的作用，故选C 。
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大学英语四级

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