单选题 Americans usually consider themselves a friendly people. Their friendships, however, tend to be shorter and more casual than friendships among people from other cultures. It is not uncommon for Americans to have only one close friend during their life-time, and consider other "friends" to be just social acquaintances. This attitude probably has something to do with American mobility and the fact that Americans do not like to be dependent on other people. They tend to "compartmentalize" friendships, having "friends at work" ,"friends on the softball team", "family friends", etc.
Because the United States is a highly active society, full of movement and change, people always seem to be on the go. In this highly charged atmosphere, Americans can sometimes seem brusque or impatient. They want to get to know you as quickly as possible and then move on to something else. Sometimes, early on, they will ask you questions that you may feel are very personal. No insult is intended; the questions usually grow out of their genuine interest or curiosity, and their impatience to get to the heart of the matter. And the same goes for you. If you do not understand certain American behavior or you want to know more about them, do not hesitate to ask them questions about themselves. Americans are usually eager to explain all about their country or anything "American" in which you may be interested. So much so in fact that you may become tired of listening. It doesn't matter, because Americans tend to be uncomfortable with silence during a conversation. They would rather talk about the weather or the latest sports scores, for example, than deal with silence.
On the other hand, don't expect Americans to be knowledgeable about international geography or world affairs, unless those subjects directly involve the United States. Because the United States is not surrounded by many other nations, some Americans tend to ignore the rest of the world.

单选题 The general topic of the passage is______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本文谈的是美国人的性格，在特定的美国文化和社会中所形成的美国人的性格。
A意为：美国文化。B意为：美国社会。C意为：美国人的活动。
单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】意为：美国人对国际事务有很多知识。最后一段提到，不要指望美国对世界地理和国际事务有多少了解，除非是涉及美国方面的问题。因为与美国交界的国家不多，美国人一般对其他国家的事务置之不理。
A意为：美国人不喜欢依靠他人。第一段第四句指出，这种态度(指上一句提到的内容)也许与美国人的流动性有关，并且与下列这样一个事实有关：美国人不喜欢依靠其他人。
B意为：美国人将友谊一般看作是随意的。第一段第二句提到，与其他文化社会中人们的友谊相比，美国人将友谊一般看作是短暂、随意的。
D意为：美国人似乎总是流动的。第二段第一句提到，因为美国是一个非常活跃的社会，总是处于移动和变化中，所以美国人似乎总是流动的。
单选题 The phrase "highly charged" (Paragraph 2) most probably means______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】意为：充满流动和变化。在第二段第二句，作者提到了this highly charged atmosphere，既然这里用了this，那么，highly charged atmosphere当指上一句提到的a highly active society，而full of movement and change则是对a highly active society的进一步解释。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】意为：美国的国民性受到其社会和地理环境的影响。第一段(主要参阅第四句)和第二段(主要参阅本段第一句)都提到了美国社会对美国人的性格的影响，最后一段提到了地理环境的影响。
D意为：美国人典型地表现出好奇心理。
单选题 According to the passage, Americans tend to ignore the rest of the world because______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】意为：他们的国家没有多少邻国。参阅第三段第二句。