阅读理解 （共44分）

六、阅读下面的四篇短文，根据短文内容，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。 （共26分，每小题2分）

                                                        A

48. Who is a big detective fan? 
A. Arthur.                  B. Mary.                 C. Charles.                D. Melissa.

49. Where is Mary from? 
A. Hebei.                    B. Hubei.               C. Beijing.                 D. Fujian.

50. What is Melissa happy to be? 
A. A good reader.       B. A Teens reporter.        C. A detective.         D. A Conan fan.

                                                         B
An old woman had two large pots (罐) , one on each end of a pole. She carried the pole with the pots across her neck.One of the pots had a crack (裂缝) in it while the other pot was perfect (完美的)and always delivered a full pot of water. At the end of the long walk from the well to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half-full.For two years this happened daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed (羞愧的) of its own imperfection.

One day, the cracked pot spoke to the woman by the well: “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out (漏) all the way back to your house.”The old woman smiled: “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your crack, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. And every day while we walk back, you water them.

“For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, I would not have this beauty.”

Each of us has our own cracks. But it’s these cracks that make our lives together so interesting and meaningful. 

51.The old woman used ______ to carry water. 
A. two new pots                      B. one good pot and one cracked pot
C. two old pots                       D. one big pot and one small pot

52. The old woman planted _______ on the side of the path. 
A. flower seeds       B. apple seeds         C. vegetable seeds         D. rice seeds

53. The story wants to tell us that _______. 
A. we mustn’t laugh at others
B. we should try to be perfect in our life
C. imperfection makes a life meaningful
D. we shouldn’t use a cracked pot to carry water

                                                      C

Are you still doing the V for victory sign? It’s out. The latest popular hand gesture (手势) is to curl (卷曲) both of your hands and put them together to make a heart-shape.
Known as “hand heart”, many young stars in the US including Justin Bieber, Blake Lively and Taylor Swift have done the move in recent photos.

“The heart-hand gesture means something between ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’,” said the country singer Taylor Swift, 21. “It’s a sweet, simple message which you can send without saying a word.”

Tailor Swift often puts her hands above her head in the heart shape at her concerts. And she is believed to be the first to make the gesture popular.Last month during a charity show, Justin Bieber and his superstar friends did the hand heart and put the photos online. They did it to help out three kids whose parents were killed in a car accident. The gesture became a real hit after that.

“It used to take longer for nonverbal(不用语言的) culture to move. But now, with smart phones and the Internet, it’s much faster,” said Patti Wood, an American language expert.
In the Republic of Korea, the hand heart has been popular for a long time, in a different way. People there like making a “bigger heart” by putting their hands above their heads and making a heart shape with their arms. It means: “I love you.” 243w

54. _____ is the first to make the heart-hand gesture popular. 
A. Justin Bieber              B. Blake Lively              C. Patti Wood              D. Taylor Swift

55. A charity show is a show that is put on to _____. 
A. help the people in need                                          B. make a gesture popular
C. express your love or thanks                                   D. show your special gesture

56. Which of the following statements is true? 
A. Smart phones and the Internet are improving fast. 
B. Smart phones and the Internet used to take longer time in use.
C. It’s much easier for nonverbal culture to reach more people.
D. It takes nonverbal culture a long time to become popular.

                                                       D
Communication among human beings never occurs in a vacuum. Instead, all communication takes place in a social and cultural environment. In most cases, understanding the behaviors of those who share the same or similar culture seems to be easier because they are familiar with each other’s ways of thinking, expressing, acting, and reacting. However, it appears a little difficult for people in one culture to understand the behavior(s) of people in another culture in their cross-cultural communication(跨文化交际). Due to the lack of cultural awareness of one another, both Chinese and Americans may face misunderstandings in their interactions (交往).

One of the ways that Chinese show modesty is through self-denial; that is, having been praised by others, most Chinese tend to show disagreement by responding (回应) verbally that they do not deserve to be complimented(夸赞) for what they have done. However, when Chinese still use their self-denial among self-praising Americans, their modest responses to Americans’ compliments may turn out to be embarrassing to some Americans.

Unfortunately, in cross-cultural communication, misunderstanding can be created often. The following dialogue between an American and a Chinese is an example: “Your English is very good.” (the American’s compliment) “No, no, no. my English is very poor.” (the Chinese self-denial)

In Chinese culture, the ability to preserve self-denial is marked as a sign of virtue (美德)in modesty. Yet, when Americans’ compliments are rejected by Chinese, Americans tend not to value Chinese self-denial as a sign of modesty. Instead, some Americans may feel embarrassed as if they have made a wrong judgment, while some others are more likely to assume that self-denial is a strategy used to fish for more compliments. The dialogue does show how the Chinese polite response failed to match the American’s go od intention owing to their culturally influenced attitudes towards compliments.

57. What is the subject of the passage? 
A. Chinese people vs. American people.
B. Communication in cultural environment.
C. Misunderstanding between Chinese and Americans.
D. Self-denial and self-praising in the US.

58. From the uses of “self-denial” in Paragraph 2 and 3, we can see the word means _____.
A. what is said about myself is true               B. what is said about myself is not true
C. a big strength in myself                           D. a big weakness in myself 

59. What will an American probably say when he or she hears the compliment: “I think your speech is excellent”?
A. That’s all right.                        B. I’m sorry. Please excuse my poor skills.
C. It’s just so-so.                        D. Yes, I think I do well. I’m glad you enjoy it.

60. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? 
A. Much communication is independent of a social and cultural environment.
B. Self-denial is used to show modesty by Chinese people.
C. Chinese and Americans react differently in reply to compliments.
D. Misunderstanding may be created in cross-cultural communication.