Question

When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at ‘bed and breakfast’ houses, because this kind of accommodation gives foreign visitors a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.

“We didn’t stay at ‘B&B’ (bed and breakfast) houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”

I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!

We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, their car was soon stopped.

English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However , to my surprise the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you”.

1.My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.

A．learning English in England

B．finding places to stay in England

C．driving their car on English roads

D．going to England to have fun

2.I suggested that they stay at ‘B&B’ houses because ______.

A．it would be available for them to practice English

B．it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels

C．it would be convenient for them to have dinner

D．it would be easy to find accommodation there

3.“NO VACANCIES” in English means ______.

A．no free rooms      B．with free rooms     C．not away on holiday  D．no holidays at all

4.If you see a road sign that says “DIVERSION”, you will ______.

A．get held by the traffic policemen

B．have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself

C．find the road is blocked by people

D．have to take another different road

5.When someone offered me more coffee and I said “Thank you” in French, I ______.

A．didn’t really want any more coffee

B．wanted the coffee pot taken away

C．really wanted some more coffee

D．wanted to express my politeness

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.B

2.A

3.A

4.D

5.C

【解析】

试题分析：本文叙述了在不同的文化中相同或者相近的语言往往会表达出不同的含义。在文章中作者也给出了多个例子来说明这个情况。

1.B 细节题。根据第一段第2行Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所).说明朋友询问我关于住宿的话题，故B正确。

2.A 细节题。根据第一段4,5行because this kind of accommodation gives foreign visitors a good chance to speak English with the family说明这样做，我的朋友可以锻炼他们的英语，故A正确。

3.A 细节题。根据Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full说明“NO VACANCIES”在英语是指没有空的房间了，都住满了。故A正确正确。

4.D 细节题。根据第四段2,3行In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road.说明在英国“DIVERSION”是指you must take a different road。故D正确。

5.C 细节题。根据最后一段2,3行I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more说明C项正确。

考点：考查文章差异类短文阅读

点评：文章基本上是考查细节题，对此类题型考生可以首先从问题中找到关键词，然后以此为线索，运用略读及查阅的技巧在文中迅速寻找这一细节，找到后再把这一部分内容仔细阅读一遍，仔细比较所给选项与文中细节的细微区别，在准确理解细节的前提下，最后确定最佳答案。