My friend Dr. Dong had a wonderful chance to go to Seattle to present a paper at a professional meeting. When he got back to Beijing, he told me his experience.

   Dr. Dong enjoyed his first days very much. At the medical conference, he felt quite confident in his area of research and was able to perform well in his presentation. But after a few days, he began to feel uncomfortable. His medical English was fine, but the social communication skills were different.

   He got more and more worried that he was misunderstanding simple English greetings and table talk conventions(习俗). When someone greeted him with, “Hi, how’s it going?” he thought they had asked him “Where are you going?” and answered with the name of the conference hall, only to get a surprised stare from them. At a western style dinner, a colleague asked, “So how’re you enjoyin’ the States?” he thought he heard, “how are you enjoying your steak?” and answered that he was eating chicken, not beef. That time, they smiled, and patiently repeated the question, then both laughed at the error.

By the end of the meetings, Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” and was worn out from having to pay attention to so many new expressions and ways of dealing with things. He felt his handshake was not as firm as Americans’, found that people reacted unusually when he modestly insisted his English was not good after they complimented(称赞) him, didn’t know how to accept dinner invitations properly and therefore missed out on going to several lunches, and so on. Eventually, he was so confused that he felt the full impact of “culture shock”.

1.Why did Dr. Dong travel to Seattle?

A. To improve his spoken English.  B. To experience culture shock.

C. To give lectures on his research.   D. To attend a medical conference.

2. Which of the following best describes Dr. Dong’s experience in Seattle?

   A. Comfortable—very uncomfortable—uncomfortable.

   B. comfortable—very uncomfortable—comfortable.

   C. Comfortable—uncomfortable – very uncomfortable.

   D. Comfortable—uncomfortable – very comfortable.

3.Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” mainly because_______.

   A. he was too modest      B. he didn’t understand cultural differences

   C. he lacked confidence     D. he was not good at English listening

4.                                       

 

第二节短文改错（共10小题：每小题1. 5分，满分15分）

A few month after returning to the US from Spain, I              76.________

took part in a college course in French. Since I have learned        77.________

to speak Spanish good in Spain, I thought that it might            78._________

be interesting to begin studying another language. At first          79._________

class, our teacher asked us to do a pronunciation exercise, on       80.__________

which he would say a word and two in French, and each           81._________

student would do their best to copy. When he got to me , he        82._________

kept having me to say more words. Finally I asked him why.        83.__________

“I find it great fun. It’s the first time I’ve heard an American        84.__________

speak French with a Spain accent. ”he explained to me excitedly.    85.__________

 

The passengers on the subway who caught a glimpse of me may have thought I was strange. In particular a gentleman sitting opposite me was always staring at me, looking at the cheese bread on the floor in front of me and then staring back at me. A passenger probably dropped it by mistake and got off at a previous stop, but the gentleman might not think so. “Next stop, St. Patrick Station” — my stop was quickly coming up. I had a few minutes to either take the cheese bread, which nobody else was claiming, or leave it there.
In those few minutes I felt my pride getting in the way. “What would others on the subway think of me if I took the cheese bread? Would they think that I was poor and hungry? Would they think that I was stealing?” The ignorant thing to do was say “yes” to any of those self-imposed questions. Actually, they were just my own thoughts. Though I would leave the subway, walk a block to my office, get settled at my desk, and sit comfortably in my office for the whole day, I couldn’t get rid of the enormous sense of guilt and regret.
My thoughts once pushed me towards pride and ignorance, but finally I had to admit I was wrong. This missing cheese bread could be a gift for a homeless person who suffered from cold and hunger. So why not overcome a little bit of my pride and pass along so much kindness?
Just as the doors opened at my stop, I grabbed the cheese bread and left the subway. It felt awesome, but I didn’t care if people were looking at me or what they were thinking. Instead of going directly to my office as usual, I walked a few more blocks up to Queen’s park, where I often saw a homeless man sitting outside. I always wanted to give him something, but only today I walked toward him, who wrapped himself in a sleeping bag. I was full of satisfaction, and so did the homeless man, I thought.
【小题1】The gentleman kept staring at the author because _______.

A．he wanted to talk to the author

B．he might think the author dropped the bread

C．the author appeared too nervous

D．the author was going to get off

【小题2】The underlined word “self-imposed” in paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.

A．easily obtained

B．strongly supported

C．purposely created

D．completely unaccepted

【小题3】Why did the author grab the cheese bread when he got off?

A．He noticed that no one was looking at him.

B．He didn’t want to see the cheese bread to go to waste.

C．He remembered a homeless man at that very moment.

D．He valued kindness more than his own pride.

______ at the airport, he telephoned his wife and bold her what he would do when he got home.

       A. Once arrived                                 B. As soon as he reached      

       C. When he got                                  D. Upon arriving

Mules

       Although the top men in smuggling（走私）business must work together, most of a syndicate’s（集团）small fry, especially the mules, know only their immediate contacts. If caught there is little they can give away. A mule probably will not even know the name of the person who gives him his instructions, nor how to get in touch with him. Usually he even does not know the person to whom he has to make delivery. He will be told just to sit tight in a certain hotel or bar until someone contacts him. In this way if he is blown, coming through airport customs he cannot unwittingly lead agents to the next link in the chain. All the persons at the receiving end do is to hang around the airport among the waiting crowd, and see that the mule comes through safely. If he does not, he is dimply written off（报废；注销）as a loss. To make identification of mules easier, several syndicates have devised their own “club ties” so that a mule wearing one can immediately be picked out.

       Mules often receive careful training before embarking on their first journey. One Beirut organization, for example, uses a room with three airline seats in it. There the trainee mules sit for hours on end wearing weighted smuggling vests beneath their clothes, so that they become accustomed to standing up after a long flight in a natural way, and without revealing what they are carrying. An outfit in Brussels maintained a comfortable apartment where the mules could relax and get a firm grip on themselves on the night before their first journey; they were helped to dress before setting out for the airport in the morning. More often than not a courier will not know precisely where he is going or what flight number is until he is actually handed his tickets at the airport. This prevents the careless boast in some bar or to a girl friend the night before.

       Mules occasionally run off with the goods to keep the profit themselves. As insurance against this, a syndicate often sends a high-up on the same plane to keep a wary eye on couriers, particularly new ones. Even then things can go badly wrong. One international currency smuggler who was having trouble getting money out of Britain was offered help by a group of men who said they were in a position to “fix thing” – for a fee of course. Foolishly, the smuggler agreed to accept their help. When he got to London’s Heathrow Airport, he handed over to one of the men a black suitcase containing nearly $90,000 in cash, destined for Frankfurt. Just to keep an eye on things, the smuggler went along on the same plane. When they landed at Frankfurt he was handed back his suitcase. He beat a straight path to the men’s toilet, opened the case, and found only old clothes. The courier had switched suitcase en route, but the smuggler could hardly run to the police and complain that “the man who was smuggling money out of England for me has stolen it.”

What is a “mule”?

A A person who sends smuggling goods for a syndicate is called mule.

B A person in charge of smuggling goods is called mule.

C A person who makes delivery for a syndicate is called mule.

D A person who receives instructions from a smuggler is called mule.

The sentence “if he is blown” in line (6) is closest in meaning to

A if he is arrested.                  B if he is recognized, but not necessarily arrested.

C if he is recognized and arrested.     D if he runs away.

Why does the author give an example in the last paragraph?

A To show how a smuggler is caught. 

B To show a smuggler is afraid of the police.

C To show to keep a wary eye on couriers is useless.

D To show mules may keep the profit for themselves.

how does a mule work?

A Jointly.                   B Independently.

C consciously.               D Separately.