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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 traveler or 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 which specialize in helping the weary traveler. 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 meant that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail 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 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 American value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.
The tradition of hospitality to strangers ______.
选项 A、tends to be superficial and artificial
B、is generally well kept up in the United States
C、is always understood properly
D、was something to do with the busy tourist trails
答案B
解析 从文章第4段的内容可知，现在有许多慈善机构专门帮助那些疲倦的旅行者；不过，款待陌生人的传统在美国仍然盛行，在那些远离旅游热线的小城市和城镇尤其如此；到美国旅行过的游客有这样的感受很常见，但人们并不总是能够正确理解这样的感受；很多美国人随意表现出的友好既不应被看作是表面应付和矫揉造作，而应被看成是一种文化传统历史发展的结果；文章最后一段还指出：友好待人是许多美国人都看重的美德。由此可知：在美国，人们看重款待陌生人的传统，这一传统也一直得到人们的继承。B项与文章的意思相符。A项和C项明显与文章的意思不符。D项不正确，依据是文中的“在那些远离繁忙旅游线路的小城市和城镇，人们更是款待陌生人”。综上所述，只有B项为正确答案。
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