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  3. Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of

Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of

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问题     Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is the element that Americans save carefully.
    "We are slaves to nothing but the clock," it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost tangible. It is a precious commodity. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a person’s hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.
    A foreigner’s first impression of the U. S. is likely to be that everyone is in a rush— often under pressure. City people appear always to be hurrying to get where they are going, elbowing others as they try to complete their errands. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. People in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they too can be served and get back to work within the time allowed.
    Many newcomers to the States will miss the opening courtesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust and rapport. Rapport to most of us is less important than performance. We seek out evidence of past performance rather than evaluate a business colleague through social courtesies. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly.
    Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are thus felt to be added weight by the passage of time. In the U. S. , however, it is taken as a sign of competence to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with rapidity. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to "get it moving".
By saying that "Once the sands have run out of a person’s hourglass, they cannot be replaced"(Lines 3-4, Paragraph 2), the writer means that
选项 A、the sands that cannot be replaced will disappear.
B、the past time cannot come back again.
C、the hourglass cannot save time for people.
D、people should not wear hourglass with sands.
答案B
解析 作者说Once the sands have run out of a person’s hourglass，they cannot be replaced(在第二段第三至第四行)这句话的意思是?[A]无法取代的沙粒会消失。[B]逝去的时间再也回不来了。[C]沙漏无法为人们节省时间。[D]人们应该戴着沙漏。原文此处运用了比喻的手法。此句话的前文提到：时间就是一种宝贵的商品，许多人深感人的一生之短促。此句直译也就是：沙粒一旦从人生时间的沙漏里溜走，就不能再被填充上了。也就是时间溜走、一去不复返的意思。后面又进一步解释了为什么时间短促，这正是[B]的意思。[A]、[C]、[D]三项都是字面意思，不可被迷惑。
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