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 them 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 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 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 dealings, 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】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据题干关键词Middle Easterners定位到第二段。末句提到Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable(但是拉丁美洲人和中东人喜欢靠得很近，甚至接触身体，这使美国人感到不舒服)，由此可以推断美国人不喜欢与别人有身体接触，因此这种情况下他们可能会做出后退的反应，D项“退缩”为正确答案。
单选题
The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their ______.
单选题
In countries other than their own most Americans ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。根据题干关键词in countries other than their own可以定位到第五段when we go abroad...(我们往往聚在讲英语的旅馆、饭店里。人们对我们的态度和给我们的信息受到能说英语的当地人——通常是有钱人——的影响。我们的商务及国家外交都要通过翻译才能进行)。由此可见B项“由于语言障碍，消息不灵通”为正确答案。
单选题
According to the author, Americans" cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据题干关键词cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance定位到第三段，本段提到...are losing us friends, business and respect in the world(在世界上失去朋友、商机和威信)。文章结尾提到：但这一切都已过去，美元再也买不到所有的好东西，我们仍想在21世纪的重要决策中发挥作用，因此C项“限制了美国在国际事务中的作用”为正确答案。
单选题
The author"s intention in writing this article is to make Americans realize that ______.