大学英语四级体型、期末英语考试练习(2份卷)18.docVIP

een Americans takes a form that can be called repartee. No one speaks for very long. Speakers take turns frequently, often after only a few sentences have been spoken. “Watching a conversation between two Americans is like watching a table tennis game,” a British observer said. “Your head goes back and forth and back and forth so fast it almost makes your neck hurt.” Americans tend to be impatient with people who take long turns. Such people are said to “talk too much.” Many Americans have difficulty paying attention to someone who speaks more than a few sentences at a time, as Nigerians, Arabs, and some others do. Americans admire conciseness, or what they call “getting to the point.” Americans engage in little ritual interaction (礼仪式的交流). Only a few ritual greetings are common: “How are you?” “I’m fine, thank you,” “Nice to meet you,” and “Hope to see you again.” These things are said in certain situations Americans learn to recognize, and, like any ritual greetings, are concerned more with form than with substance. That is, the questions are supposed to be asked and the statements are supposed to be made in particular situations, no matter what the people involved are feeling or what they really have in mind. In many American’s opinions, people who rely heavily on ritual greetings are “too shy” or “too polite,” unwilling to reveal their true natures and ideas. Americans are generally impatient with long ritual greetings about family members’ health—common among Latin Americans—considering them a waste of time. During a typical conversation between Americans, people try to be ________. a. polite b. interested c. concise d. friendly 27. By comparing a conversation between two Americans to a table tennis game, the British observer means that _________. a. Americans like to take short turns in a conversation b. Americans enjoy talking as well as watching a table tennis game c. Americans get excited easily d. Am