Just as our degree of individual freedom uncomfortable to many foreign visitors, foreign attitudes toward truth seem uncertain to Americans.
In many countries people will tell you what they think you want to hear, whether or not it is true. To them, this implies politeness. To Americans, it is considered misleading-even dishonest--to distort facts on purpose, however kind the motive. The point is ---our priorities(优先) are different; in the United States truth has a higher priority than politeness. We are taught from babyhood that “Honesty is the best policy.” Elsewhere, politeness, honor, family loyalty, “machismo” or many other values might come far ahead of honesty if one is listing priorities.
But with us, trust and truth are of paramount importance. If we say of a man, “You cannot trust him.” This is one of the most damning statements that can be made about him.
In view of such profound differences in values, it is natural that misunderstandings and irritations often occur, especially in exact areas such as the negotiation of contracts. A Mexican has said, “With us b business is like a courtship(求爱).” Americans lack this grace, but on the other hand you can count on their word. You know where you are with them; except in advertising, they will not be “whispering sweet nothings” that they do not mean in order to make you feel desirable!
“How far is it to the next village?” the American asks a man standing by the edge of the road. In some countries, because the man realizes that the traveler is tired and eager to reach his destination, he will politely say “Just down the road.” He thinks this is more encouraging, gentler, and therefore the wanted answer. So the American drives on through the night, getting more and more angry, feeling “tricked.” He thinks the man deliberately lied to him, for obviously he must have known the distance quite well.
Had conditions been reversed, the American would feel he was “cheating” the driver if he implied the next town was close when he knew it was really 15miles further on. Although, he, too, would be sympathetic to the weary driver, he would say, “you have a good way to go yet; it is at least 15 more miles.” The driver might be disappointed, but he would know what to expect.
This often-epeated question of accuracy versus courtesy leads to many misunderstandings between people of different cultures. If you are aware of the situation in advance, it is sometimes easier to recognize the problem.
67．The best title for the passage should be_______.
A．Truth or politeness      B．Truth or lying
C．Cultural differences     D．Honest Americans
68．In American’s view, people who tell you what they think you want to hear, whether or not it is true, are_______.
A．polite            B．honest        C．kind         D．misleading
69．According to the author, misunderstandings and angers often occur as a result of_______.
A．the exactness of negotiation    B．the importance in trust and truth
C．deep differences in values       D．lack of respect
70．According to the author, Americans_______.
A．treat a business deal like a courtship
B．list honor on the top of the list of values
C．do not whisper sweet nothings in advertising
D．expect to know the exact distance when asking the way

Long time ago, there was a seed. Because he was only a seed,   36   cared to notice him. Thus, feeling useless, the seed thought he was not important at all.

     Then one day, a   37  picked him up and threw him on an open field under the sun. He was   38 , thinking, "Why would a wind do such a thing?" But   39  any pleasant answers, he was   40   with sunlight as well as   41  , sometimes light and sometimes heavy.

 Time flew by and years later, he saw a  42  sitting by his side. "Thank God for this. I really need some   43 ",he heard the traveler say.

  "What are you   44  ?"The seed asked. He thought the man was   45  him. Surely he had seen many people sitting by his side,  46  no one ever spoke to him like that.

  "Who is this?" The man was   47

  "This is me, the seed. "

  "The seed?" The man looked at the big   48   "Are you kidding me? You are not a seed. You are a tree. A big tree ！

   "   49  ?"

   "Yes! Why else do you think people   50  here?"

   "What do they come here for?"

   "To   51 your shade! Don't tell me you didn't know you had   52 over time. "

    A moment passed, and the traveler's words made him think a lot.

    The seed, now a big tree, thought and  53  for the first time in his life. The years of suffering from the sun and the rain were useful to him at last.

   "Oh! That means I'm not a(n)   54  seed anymore! Wow! I'm a big tree now. That's the   55  that I really want !"

1.A. everybody    B. nobody              C. someone          D. anything

2.A. wind          B. bird                   C. boy               D. man

3.A. confused      B. glad                 C. excited            D. hurt

4.A. except for    B. because of           C. instead of         D. in case of

5.A. made          B. covered             C. heated            D. provided

6.A. food           B. rain                 C. friends            D. flowers

7.A. traveler       B. woman               C. dog               D. god

8.A. water          B. 1ove                C. rest               D. money

9.A. thinking of     B. preparing for       C. looking for       D. talking about

10.A. looking at     B. making fun of      C. seeing off       D. getting away from

11.A. so             B. because              C. but               D. since

12.A. angered       B. delighted            C. moved           D. surprised

13.A. stone           B. mountain            C. tree               D. river

14.A. When         B. Really              C. Where            D. Who

15.A. hate            B. leave                C. live               D. come

16.A. hunt            B. like                  C. enjoy             D. steal

17.A. appeared       B. survived            C. grown            D. risen

18.A. cried            B. smiled              C. sang               D. danced

19.A. small            B. beautiful          C. ugly               D. lovely

20.A. experience      B. adventure         C. reason            D. life

As he had no friends and relatives in the town, the traveler tried to find a _____ somewhere.

   A. log    B. lodge    C. landing    D. lodging

Air travel is such an everyday experience these days that we are not surprised when we read about a politician having talks with the Japanese Prime Minister one day, attending a meeting in Australia the following morning and having to be off at midday to sign a trade agreement in Hong Kong. But frequent long-distance flying can be so tiring that the traveler begins to feel his brain is in one country, his digestion（消化吸收）in another and his powers of concentration nowhere---in short, he hardly knows where he is.
Air travel is so quick nowadays that we can leave London after breakfast and be in New York in eight hours, yet what really upsets us most is that when we arrive it is lunch time while we have already had lunch on the plane and are expecting dinner.
Doctors say that air travelers are in no condition to work after crossing a number of time zones. Airline pilots, however, often live by their own watches.
【小题1】After a long air travel, a traveler _______.

Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another．Some societies, such as America and Australia, for example, are mobile and very open．People here change jobs and move house quite often．As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly．So it’s normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal．

    On the other hand there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long – term relationships are more important．A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business．But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society．

    To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first．On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it’s no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don’t want to answer．

    Cross-cultural differences aren’t just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them．All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place．This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with．

    Some societies have ‘universalistic’ cultures．These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way．

    ‘Particularistic’ societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society’s unwritten ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person．So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person．

    This difference can cause problems．A traveler from a particularistic society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalistic culture．The Indian traveler has two much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family．He expects that the check – in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him．The check – in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn’t be fair to the other passengers．But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don’t have his problem．

1.Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americans and Australians _____．

A．like traveling better                                                     B．easy to communicate with

C．difficult to make real friends                                            D．have a long–term relationship with their neighbors

2.People like Malaysians prefer to associate with those  _________．

A．who will tell them everything of their own  

B．who want to do business with them

C．they know quite well                

D．who are good at talking

3.A person from a less mobile society will feel it _______ when a stranger keeps talking to him or her, and asking him or her questions．

A．boring B．friendly C．normal     D．rough

4.The writer of the passage thinks that the Indian and the German have different ideas about rules because of different _______．

A．interests     B．habits and customs C．cultures   D．ways of life