中考英语阅读理解精选(附答案)..docVIP

No. 1 中考英语阅读理解 ·“老”字趣谈 每个国家都有各自的文化习惯，而这种文化上的差异往往会引起一定的误会，不过只 要熟悉对方的风俗习惯做到入乡随俗，一切就 OK 啦！ When my family moved to America in 2010 from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs and culture. One of the rules is that young people should always respect(尊敬 ) elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment in the United States. I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serv ing food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so q uickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always resp ect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, w ho happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how s ensitive( 敏感 ) Americans are and how they dislike the description “ old ”I then. walked ba ck to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they unders tood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no lo nger angry. In my village in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and e xperience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn fr om their rich experience. However, in the United States, people think “ growing old ”is a problem since “ old s” hows that a person is going to retire or that the body is not working well. Here many pe ople try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and w omen put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant tha t I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn ’want to hear. After that, I changed the way I