Close contacts between Japan and the rest of the world were created in the twentieth century. In the last forty years, business contacts between Japan and the West have become very important. Many foreign companies now have offices in Japan and Japanese businessmen do business around the world. Differences between Japanese and Western ways of doing business, however, often bewilder foreign businessmen and make doing business in Japan difficult for foreigners.

　　The American businessman, for example, wants to start talking business immediately. He does not want to wait. The Japanese businessman， on the other hand， likes to arrive at decisions after giving them serious thought. Another thing foreign businessmen have difficulty in understanding is when a Japanese means “Yes” or “No”. This is because of cultural differences between Japanese and Western society(社会)， Which make it difficult for a Japanese to say “No” directly.

In the USA， it is easy to say “No” to something one does not want to do. But in Japan， it is very difficult to say “No”. To refuse an invitation or a request(请求) with “No” is felt to be impolite. It is thought to be selfish and unfriendly. So instead of saying “No” directly， the Japanese have developed many ways to avoid(避免) saying “No”. These can help them avoid hurting other people’s feelings. However， this often makes their ways of doing business rather difficult for foreigners to understand and follow.

1.What often makes foreigners feel difficult to do business in Japan?

A. Their different ways of doing business.

B. Their different lifestyles.

C. The fact that the Japanese never say “No”.

D. The fact that the Japanese are slow to take action.

2. Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined expression “bewilder foreign businessmen” in Paragraph One?

A. cause foreign businessmen to change their minds.

B. give a feeling of surprise to foreign businessmen.

C. attract foreign businessmen’s attention.

D. make foreign businessmen think wrongly.

3.What fact does the passage lead you to believe?

A. American businessmen do things more slowly than Japanese ones.

B. American businessmen like to say “Yes” and “No”.

C. Americans usually say what they are thinking.

D. Americans do not say what they think or feel clearly.

4.From the passage we can infer(推断) that __________.

A. Japanese businessmen are good at business

B. foreign businessmen should try to know Japanese ways of doing business

C. foreign businessmen must be more polite

D. you must learn from Japanese businessmen if you want to succeed

Almost all people like flowers. Some people like flowers because of their smells, shapes, colors and so on. Others like flowers because they think different flowers mean different things. Flowers have their own language. For example, red roses mean “love” and sunflowers mean “loyalty(忠诚)”. So people in more than 100 countries have chosen their own national flowers which say something about their countries’ spirit. In 1994, China talked about choosing a national flower. Some people liked the peony(牡丹) but others liked the plum blossom(梅花). They couldn’t agree with each other. So it has not been decided yet.
People like to buy different flowers in different seasons. Where do all the beautiful flowers in shops come from? They may come from far away, so their price is higher.
a. Farmers grow flowers in their fields.
b. Planes or trains or buses take the flowers to different places.
c. Flower shopkeepers buy flowers from the flower markets. They look after the flowers and throw away the broken or bad ones. They cut the flowers to make them more beautiful.
d. You go to buy the flowers in the shops. When you buy a flower, you’re paying lots of people: the farmer, the driver of the plane or train or bus, the seller in the flower market and the flower shopkeeper.
So you’d better keep your flowers from far away for a long time. But how? Why not dry them? It’s easy! Sand drying is a way. Dry, clean sand is one of the oldest things for drying flowers. And it’s one of the cheapest.
·Fill a box half-way with sand.
·Put the flowers on top of the sand.
·Put the box in a warm, dry place.
·Leave the flowers there for one to three weeks.
·Take them out and they will be dry.
【小题1】The underlined words “national flowers” most probably means ______.

They often leave the boy alone at home. They think that he’s old enough to look after _____.

Close contacts between Japan and the rest of the world were created in the twentieth century. In the last forty years, business contacts between Japan and the West have become very important. Many foreign companies now have offices in Japan and Japanese businessmen do business around the world. Differences between Japanese and Western ways of doing business, however, often bewilder foreign businessmen and make doing business in Japan difficult for foreigners.

The American businessman, for example, wants to start talking business immediately. He does not want to wait. The Japanese businessman, on the other hand, likes to arrive at decisions after giving them serious thought. Another thing foreign businessmen have difficulty in understanding is when a Japanese means “Yes” or “No”. This is because of cultural differences between Japanese and Western society(社会), Which make it difficult for a Japanese to say “No” directly.

In the USA, it is easy to say “No” to something one does not want to do. But in Japan, it is very difficult to say “No”. To refuse an invitation or a request(请求) with “No” is felt to be impolite. It is thought to be selfish and unfriendly. So instead of saying “No” directly, the Japanese have developed many ways to avoid(避免) saying “No”. These can help them avoid hurting other people’s feelings. However, this often makes their ways of doing business rather difficult for foreigners to understand and follow.

1.What often makes foreigners feel difficult to do business in Japan?

2.Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined expression “bewilder foreign businessmen” in Paragraph One?

3.What fact does the passage lead you to believe?

4.From the passage we can infer(推断) that __________.