单选题 Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one's side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell.
Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War Ⅱ and marked the items GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that "gift" means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm's length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable.
Our linguistic (语言上的) and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world.
Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual (多语的) guided tours. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them.
When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives-usually the richer --who speak English. Our business deals, as well as the nation's diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters.
For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.
But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs , we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand.

单选题 It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】由第二段后两句得知：“我们喜欢与他人的距离至少3英尺或一臂远。拉丁人和中东人则喜欢彼此距离更近些，并且身体有接触，而这常常使美国人不舒服”。由此可见，如果一个中东人靠向美国人距离很近时，美国人一定会往后退，因为比较近的距离令美国人不舒服，但他们不会“跳到一边去”(jump aside)，更不会“迎上前去”(step forward)，当然也不会“站着不动”(stand still)。

单选题 The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】作者举了一些例证是批评美国人的“文化自我中心”倾向。因为文中并没有提到美国人举止随便(casual manners)，对外国游客冷漠(indifferent towards foreign visitors)以及对外来文化的意识(awareness of other cultures)。只不过美国人认为他们的语言是全球性的(universal)，他们的手势语言尽人皆懂。因此可以说美国人在文化方面是自我中心倾向的。

单选题 In countries other than their own most Americans ______.

单选题 According to the author, Americans' cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will result in the following except ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】第七、第八段是这样描述的：毕竟美国是自由世界的最强大的国家，尽管它有文化的盲目性和语言的无知性，这许多年来它倒也还过得去。但这一切已经过去了……我们 (美国人)已慢慢开始意识到我们在世界(事务中)应起的作用正在改变。这说明美国人的文化盲目和语言学的无知，局限着他们在世界事物中发挥作用(limit the role in world affairs)。B和C项的内容也可在文中找到依据，唯有D项与文中陈述的事实相反。