When I was 16 years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learnt French at school and I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand English. But when I went to America I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a ring and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking like being lost and asked if he could help me.
“Yes,”I said.“I want to give my friend a ring.”
“Well, that’s nice,”he exclaimed (驚呼).“Are you getting married? But aren’t you a bit young？”
“Who is talking about marriage?” I replied. “I just want to give my friend a ring to tell her I’ve arrived. Can you tell me where there’s a phone box?”
“Oh!”he said.“There’s a phone downstairs.”
When at last we did meet up, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.“Don’t worry,” she said to me.“I had many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from us British. You’ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. But most of the time British and American people can understand each other!”
小題1:When the writer arrived at the airport, he wanted to _____.
| A．buy a ring for his friend | B．ask the way to his friend’s |
| C．telephone his friend | D．call a taxi |
小題2:The old man thought _____.
| A．the writer wanted to find a phone box |
| B．the writer was old enough to get married |
| C．the writer didn’t know the way |
| D．the writer wanted to find his girlfriend |
小題3:.At last, the old man _____.
| A．understood what the writer wanted to do |
| B．couldn’t understand the writer |
| C．bought a ring for the writer |
| D．took the writer to the phone box by himself |
小題4:Which sentence is wrong according to the passage?
A.The writer’s friend, Danny had a lot of difficulties in the U.S.A. at first.
B.There are some differences between American and British English.
C.British people can’t understand the Americans most of the time.
D.British and American people can understand each other most of the time.
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