Originally, both the British and the American spoke with a rhotic accent. Rhotic essentially means an accent where the letter “r” is pronounced strongly after a vowel (元音). Rhotic accents are strong in both the US and Scotland, but seem to have disappeared from British English and its derivatives, such as Australian English and New Zealand English.

The major American accent –– the typical accent of the mid-western US –– is rhotic, and British English is, as a rule, non-rhotic. Specifically, US speakers pronounce every “r”, wherever they appear in a word. Most British speakers (and you will note that there are some British Isle accents that are strongly rhotic, like US) do not pronounce every “r”. Americans stress the “r” at the end of words such as “teacher” or “neighbour”, but in many non-rhotic British accents it is more of a “schwa” (an unstressed sound) so it comes out as, “teacha” (unstressed) or “neighba”.

This main difference also differs across the country of origin. For example, the US has a clear difference in the accents between people of the north and south, not to mention less clear differences across the states. Similarly, British people have a different accent according to their locality. The “cockney (伦敦东区)” accent is greatly different to the middle and upper class accents.

Another common difference appears to be that Americans pronounce words such as “herbal” without the “h”. Syllables (音节) may be stressed differently, too. “Oregano” in the US tends to be pronounced “o–reg–a–no” while in British English it is more likely to be “o–reg–AH–no”.

【小题1】When a rhotic accent occurs, ______.

A. the letter “r” is silent in any positions         B. the letter “r” is sounded after a vowel

C. the ending syllable of a word is stressed      D. the ending syllable of a word is unheard

【小题2】The underlined word “derivatives” in the first paragraph probably means “_____”.

A. neighbours                      B. ancestors           C. symbols                   D. branches

【小题3】In non-rhotic British accents, ______.

A. “bother” sounds the same as “buther”                 B. “cheaper” sounds the same as “chapter”

C. “worker” sounds the same as “worka”                D. “painting” sounds the same as “paintin”

【小题4】Even in the original country of the specific English language, accents differ ____.

A. from area to area                                        B. from person to person

C. from word to word                                    D. from stress to stress

【小题5】American people trend to pronounce words like “herbal” with the “h” ______.

A. stressed                          B. silent                                                           C. changed                 D. loud

Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, “Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us.” That “quite” saddened me. I thought he was saying “we’re kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.” Then I discovered that in American English “quite” sometimes means “very”, while in British English it means “fairly”.

So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don’t just mean the words people speak. It is the body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures.

Some of these differences may be only on the surface—dress, food and hours of work—while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate, while getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality(准时). If you invite people to a party at 7 o’clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to  an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word “late” because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.

50. The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought________.

A. the American bank didn’t think much of him

B. the American bank might hire another person

C. it’s difficult to get used to American culture

D. it’s easy to misunderstand Americans

51. The word “highlight” in Paragraph 2 probably means____________.

A. encourages  B. helps to narrow     C. increases    D. draws attention to

52. According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?

A. Ask the native people for help

B. Understand and accept them

C. Do things in your own way

D. Do in-depth research

53. When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are__________.

A. Italians       B. Germans       C. Greeks        D. The British

The way we do things round here
Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" saddened me. I thought he was saying "we're kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else." Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", while in British English it means "fairly".
So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures（文化）．
Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate（气候），while getting on with business.
Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality（准时）．If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the
American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country

1. 1.

   The author was unhappy as mentioned in paragraph 1 because he thought______.

   1. A.
      the American bank didn’t think much of him
   2. B.
      the American bank might hire another person
   3. C.
      it’s difficult to get used to American culture
   4. D.
      it’s easy to misunderstanding Americans
2. 2.

   The word “highlights”in paragraph 2 probably means______.

   1. A.
      encourage
   2. B.
      helps to marrow
   3. C.
      increase
   4. D.
      draws attention to
3. 3.

   According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?

   1. A.
      Ask the native people for help
   2. B.
      Understand and accept them
   3. C.
      Do things in our own way
   4. D.
      Do in-depth research
4. 4.

   When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are______.

   1. A.
      Italians
   2. B.
      Germans
   3. C.
      Greeks
   4. D.
      the British

The way we do things round here

Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" saddened me. I thought he was saying "we're kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else." Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", while in British English it means "fairly".

So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures（文化）．

Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate（气候），while getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality（准时）．If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the

American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.

1.The author was unhappy as mentioned in paragraph 1 because he thought_____.

A. the American bank didn’t think much of him

B. the American bank might hire another person

C. it’s difficult to get used to American  culture.

D. it’s easy to misunderstanding Americans

2.The word “highlights”in paragraph 2 probably means_____

A. encourage B. helps to marrow

C. increase D. draws attention to

3. According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?

A. Ask the native people for help.    B. Understand and accept them.

C. Do things in our own way.       D. Do in-depth research.

4.. When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are______.

A. Italians      B. Germans      C. Greeks       D. the British