Is the art of conversation dying? The other day, my wife   16  two teenage children did something we haven’t    17  for ages. It didn’t require the Internet, a TV screen, batteries… or anything else for that matter. But we all   18  it so much we’re thinking of doing it again sometime.

We had a conversation. The kind of real, live conversation that was   19  when I was growing up, but which seems all too rare these days. Today we have chat rooms, text messages, e-mails but we seem to be losing the   20  of communicating face-to-face. We all know   21  young people are out on a date(约会）these days, they spend most of that time   22  their mobile phones. And teenagers nowadays seem to   23  communicating with their friends by sending text messages rather than actually   24  to them.

If we carry on like this，in the future, we’ll lose the use of our   25 . What do you think? E-mail me, and who knows? Maybe we could even have a real conversation about it!

However, there are occasional(偶尔的)misunderstandings(误会). A smart English woman said to a smart American woman on a California beach. English woman: It’s the first time I’ve bathed for years. American woman (amazed): Is that so? I can’t believe it! English woman: It’s true. You see, the water at home’s always so cold. American woman : But…But surely you have hot water in England? English woman (laughs): Of course, but not in the sea! There can be similar misunderstandings over the word “pants”, though most English people know that Americans call trousers “pants”. American girl: I never wear pants. They don’t suit me. English girl: Really? Couldn’t that be a bit embarrassing(难堪的)? American girl: Embarrassing? Why? English girl: Well—that short skirt you’re wearing…American girl: Oh, my! But I wear panties(短衬裤)! In British English, “pants” are undergarments. However, young people in Britain do sometimes say “pants” for “trousers”.

1 All the English is based on__________.

A. British English　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    B. American English

C. Canadian English　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  D. Australian English

2 Which of the following sentences is not true?

A. Americans can read English literature easily.

B. British readers can read all the American literature with no difficulty, either.

C. Some of the English words we are learning now are from the USA.

D. There are some times misunderstandings between Americans and Englishmen.

3 Pants in American English mean _________in British English.

A. panties　　　　　　    B. undergarments

C. underwear　　　　　　  D. trousers

4 From the passage we know that “to bathe” in American English means ________ and means_______ in British English.

One day I was watching a movie at home and tears dropped from my eyes as I saw a touching scene. My three-year-old son came to me and asked me why I was crying. I   31  slient as I couldn’t explain to him it was just an emotional thing. To my surprise, he  32   my face with his little hand and said, ” Dear Mom, stop crying! You see  33   will be fine. You’re my good girl. So just get up and let’s get ready for school.” On hearing him saying this to me I could not help  34   .It was so funny for a child to say so .Later I  35   that he had repeated(重复) almost the  36   thing that I told him when he was crying.

The first time a child begins to speak, he tries to  37   what his parents have been telling him for a long time. Usually parents  38  with the words ”Mama” ,”Papa” and so on .But as the child  39   learning and possibly starts speaking on his own without being  40   ,we as parents always forget he’s still being tutored by us. The only difference is that we’re now doing that in a more   41   way than before. We always use words that we don’t want our child to say, and when he says those words, we  42    where he has learned them. Even then , some of us don’t realize that the child has learned the words only from us only. 43   We start to put the blame ( 指责) on either his friends or somebody who has talked to him when we are not present.

So if you want your child to have perfect   44   , you’ll have to set a good example to him. And if you can’t do this, you have no right to expect your child to have such a thing. After all, the parents’ words and behavior have a great  45   over his child.

31. A. became          B. got           C. set          D. kept

32. A. touched         B. hit           C. smelled      D. tasted

33. A. something       B. everything    C. nothing      D. anything

34. A. singing         B. shouting      C. laughing     D. crying

35. A. suggested       B. thought       C. realized     D. believed

36. A. strange         B. bad           C. same         D. exciting

37. A. ask             B. copy          C. practice     D. decide

38. A. start           B. deal          C. end          D. live

39. A. considers       B. hates         C. practices    D. continues

40. A. taught          B. watched       C. given        D. advised

41. A. same            B. similar       C. active       D. passive

42. A. wonder          B. doubt         C. believe      D. suppose

43. A. Though          B. Still         C. Besides      D. Instead

44. A. education       B. life          C. behavior     D. health

45. A. influence       B. use           C. scene        D. sight