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  3. A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them.

A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them.

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问题     A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair, this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. Small-minded officials, rude waiters, and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the U.S. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.
    For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside world.
    The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life if you didn’t take in the stranger and take care of him; there was no one else who would. And someday, remember, you might be in the same situation.
    Today there are many charitable organizations that specialize in helping the weary travelers. Yet, the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the U.S., especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. "I was just traveling through, got talking with this American, and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner, amazing". Such observations reported by visitors to the U.S. are not uncommon, but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.
    As is true of any developed society, in America a complex set of cultural signals, assumptions, and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And, of course, speaking a language does not necessarily mean that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fall to "translate" cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example, when an American uses the word "friend", the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor’s language and cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor’s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest.Yet, being friendly is a virtue that many Americans value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.
选项 A、rude taxi drivers rarely seen in the U.S.
B、small-minded officials deserve a serious comment.
C、Canadians are not so friendly as their neighbors.
D、most Americans are ready to offer help.
答案D
解析 本题为细节题。文章的一开头就讲到："The report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly，courteous，and helpful most Americans were to them"．这句话与答案选项相符，在大多数游客眼里，美国人都是友好的，礼貌的，助人为乐的。其他三个选项的意思分别是：在美国很少见到粗鲁的出租汽车司机。小心眼的政府官员应受到批评。是加拿大人不象他们的美国邻居那样友好。通过四个选项的比较可以看出，尽管文章的后面也讲到有例外，在美国也能见到小心眼的政府官员和粗鲁的出租汽车司机，但总的来说，美国人的美德还是值得称赞的。
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