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".
A foreigner’s first impression of the U. S. is that

选项 A、fast-food industry in America is prosperous.
B、Americans are not polite in public eating-places.
C、Americans do not invite visitors to dinners to develop friendship.
D、Americans are often in a hurry to do things.

答案D

解析 外国人对美国的第一印象是[A]美国的快餐业很繁荣。[B]美国人在公共就餐场所不礼貌。[C]美国人不会为了培养友谊邀请访客吃饭。[D]美国人经常匆匆忙忙地做事情。根据题干中的关键词first impression,可以在第三段第一句话中找到本题的答案。原文指出:外国人到美国的第一印象就是:人人都匆匆忙忙,也就是说他们经常有压力。然后举例证明美国人是如何忙碌地工作和生活的,这正是[D]的内容。[A]文中并未提及;[B]错在作者并没有给美国人的习惯定性成不礼貌;[c]出现在第四段,根据文章内容,这不是外国人的第一印象。
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