C

　　I left my hometown in London last year and now I have enjoyed working in this small city in China. Learning a foreign language opens you up to the culture and history of a country. So in order to know more about China, I started to learn Chinese.

　　But at times, I found myself in funny situations. When I greeted strangers in China, they began to talk a lot and very fast. They asked me questions about everything. But all I could do was to look at them with a blank face. I had no idea what they were talking about. Were they just being kind, funny or impolite? Many people want to make friends with me. But I am a bit upset when I find out the reason why they need a foreign friend. They say they want to practice their English. I don’t need friends like this. I like friends to share my feelings and ideas with.

　　However, the more Chinese I learn, the more similarities I find it has with English. In English, thick-skinned is to describe a person who doesn’t care for criticism (批評). I was surprised to find that houlianpi in Chinese means the same. And both languages share some common idioms (習語). For example, “l(fā)ook on with folded arms” means xiushoupangguan, and “burn the boats” is similar to pofuchenzhou.

　　I’m still on my journey to learn Chinese. I believe that sometimes you have the most fun on a journey.

　　( )29. The writer comes from 　　　　.

　　A. the UK B. the USA

　　C. Australia D. Canada

　　( )30. The underlined word “similarities” means “　　　　” in Chinese.

　　A. 相似點 B. 不同點

　　C. 規(guī)律性 D. 重要性

　　( )31. A thick-skinned person may 　　　　.

　　A. be very strong and seldom fall ill

　　B. like to criticize others for their mistakes

　　C. talk a lot and speak fast

　　D. feel OK when he’s criticized

　　D

　　We all know that the British people love their manners (禮儀). They are part of their national identity (特性), as well as having fish and chips and complaining about the weather. Recently I read online that they said “sorry” up to eight times a day.

　　After some research I have not been able to find any specific reasons why they are like this. I suppose, for centuries, manners, including how they behave at table and talk to other people have been one of the differences between the lower and upper classes and those manners show their social classes. Britain has traditionally been a quite conservative (保守的) country. There are many articles suggesting that their seemingly polite attitude of always saying “please” and “thank you” is quite false (錯誤的) because it is impossible for a person to always feel that he or she wants to thank someone or say “please”.

　　Maybe it is for this reason that people are going one of two ways: they are too polite and hold back their feelings or they are not polite at all and express their true feelings directly. Some British people are tired of pretending that they are always happy and having to please others. But sometimes because they feel they have to be polite, they are prevented from saying what they truly think.

　　( )32. What don’t the British people often do?

　　A. Eat fish and chips.

　　B. Have no quite good manners.

　　C. Be polite to others.

　　D. Talk about the weather.

　　( )33. What do the British people say up to eight times every day?

　　A. Hello. B. Thank you.

　　C. I don’t know. D. Sorry.

　　( )34. What does the writer think are the reasons why the British people are so polite?

　�、� The upper classes should have good manners.

　　② They have learned much about politeness at school.

　�、� They like to hold back their true feelings.

　　④ They are not honest at all.

　　A. ①② B. ③④ C. ①③ D. ②④

　　( )35. What does the underlined word “pretending” mean in Chinese?

　　A. 打算 B. 假裝 C. 想象 D. 體驗

　　四. 完成句子 (共5小題，計10分)

　　根據(jù)漢語意思，用單詞或短語完成句子。

　　36. 我不知道她新家的地址。

　　I don’t know the 　　 　 of her new place.

　　37. 大家都不喜歡麥克，因為他是個不懂禮貌的孩子。

　　None of us love Mike, because he is 　　 　 .

　　38. 路過書店時能幫我買些郵票嗎?

　　Could you please buy me some stamps when you 　　 　 the bookstore?

　　39. 他想知道火車站是否在廣場的東面。

　　He wants to know if the train station is to the 　　 　 of the square.

　　40. 他們請求再給三天時間。

　　They 　　 　 for another three days.

　　五. 短文填空 (共10小題，計10分)

　　用方框中所給單詞的適當形式填空，使短文完整正確(每個單詞限用一次)。

　　be, care, either, quiet, move,

　　obey, suppose, they, use, wear

　　There is a big library in my school. It is very (41)　　　　 to us students because we can read many kinds of books there. There (42)　　　　 many rules in the school library. Firstly, we must keep (43)　　　　 in the library and we can’t talk loudly. Secondly, we have to wear clean clothes and we are not allowed (44)　　　　 slippers (拖鞋) there. Thirdly, we have to keep the library clean and we aren’t (45)　　　　 to spit or litter everywhere. And we can’t smoke, (46)　　　　.

　　Fourthly, we must take (47)　　　　 of the books and magazines there and we aren’t allowed to writer or draw on (48)　　　　. Finally, it’s necessary to care for public facilities (公共設施) in the library. We can’t (49)　　　　 the desks and the chairs there.

　　I think it’s the duty of everybody (50)　　　　 the rules in the school library. And if we break the rules, the library will be in a mess. Don’t you think so?