Millions of British people have ditched the
traditional ‘thank you’ and replaced it with the less formal ‘cheers’,
according to a survey.
Although the average person will say ‘thank you’
nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to throw in a ‘cheers’
or ‘ta’ where it’s needed, rather than risk sounding old fashioned.
One in 20 now say ‘nice one’ instead, while younger
generations are more likely to offer a ‘cool’ than a ‘thank you’.‘Merci’, ‘fab’
and even ‘gracias’ were also listed as common phrases to use, as was ‘much
appreciated’.
One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000
people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November
24, 2011, said a formal ‘thank you’ was now not often needed in everyday
conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly won’t say thank
you if they are in a bad mood. Most people declared that saying thank you was
something drilled into them by their parents. A huge 70 percent of those
questioned will say thank you to a person’s face without even meaning it, while
a fifth avoid saying it when they know they should — on at least two occasions
every day.
It seems our friends and family get the brunt (压力) of our bad manners with half admitting they’re not
good at thanking those closest to them — many justifying (为…辩解) the lack of thanks
because their family ‘already know I’m grateful’.
When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to
do the job for most people. A third will still send a handwritten thank-you
note — but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they bothered
to send one.
A quarter of British people say thank you with food,
with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another
15 percent bake a cake.
It follows that 85 percent of people will be annoyed
at not getting the gratitude (感激) they feel they should
receive.
1.Most of the people who took part in the survey say
that they say “thank you” _____.
A．when they are
in good mood
B．completely
out of habit
C．when they
feel truly grateful
D．purely out of
politeness
2.The underlined word “ditched” in Paragraph 1 means
“________”.
A．given up B．used C．shared D．grasped
3.It can be learned from the passage that _______.
A．different
ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionable
B．people should
avoid saying “thank you”
nowadays
C．a thank-you
note is still appreciated by most people
D．people in a
bad mood never say “thank you”
4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the
passage?
A．Most people
express their gratitude to others by buying food for them.
B．About fifty
percent of people try not to say thank you when they should.
C．Most people
may feel natural when they fail to receive others’
gratitude.
D．Many people
think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members.
