英语阅读理解Passage30-40.doc

Passage30 We are all conditioned by the way we are brought up. Our values are determined by our parents, and in a larger sense, by the culture in which we live. The Chinese, for example, are not accustomed to the drinking of milk, and may actually become sick if they are compelled to drink a glassful of the beverage. Americans, on the other hand, thrives on milk, although they have many taboos of their own. Some years ago I gave a dinner party during which served a delicious hors’doeuvre filled with a meat that the meat was, but Refused to tell them until they had eaten their fill. I then explained that they had just dined on the flesh of freshly killed rattlesnake. The reaction was nausea-and in some cases violent vomiting .If I had served rattlesnake to a Chinese, he would doubtless has requested a second helping, for in China the dish is considered a delicacy. Another interesting case is the young man I met recently in New York City. An American by birth, he had been removed from his native state of Oregon at the age of six months when his parents went to Japan as missionaries. Orphaned before his first birthday, he was reared by a Japanese family in a remote village. The young man was unmistakably American in appearance, withblond hair and blue eyes. But he had a Japanese style of walking, Japanese facial expressions, and he thought like a Japanese, Though he had learned to speak English fluently, he felt, uncomfortable and out of place in an American city. He soon returned to Japan. The best title of this passage is: Cultural Conditioning Our Parents’ Values American Customs Taboos Among the Chinese Patterns of Behavior The main idea of this passage is that We inherit our values from our values from our parents. The way we are brought up determined what profession we will choose. What is taboo in one culture may be perfectly acceptable in another one. All cultural values are the same. Our values are determined by the culture in which we are brought up. T