单选题 Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is the element that Americans save carefully. "We are slaves to nothing but the clock", it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost tangible, it is a precious commodity. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count. A foreigner's first impression of the U. S. is likely to be that everyone is in a rush—often under pressure. City people appear always to be hurrying to get where they are going, elbowing others as they try to complete their errands. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. People in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. Many newcomers to the States will miss the opening courtesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust and rapport. Rapport to most of us is less important than performance. We seek out evidence of past performances rather than evaluate a business colleague through social courtesies. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly. Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are thus felt to be added weight by the passage of time. In the U. S., however, it is taken as a sign of competence to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully, with rapidity. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to "get it moving".

单选题 By saying that "Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced" (Line 3, Para. 2), the writer means that______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：推断题。题目问的是作者说“Once the sands have run out of a person’s hourglass，they cannot be replaced”是什么意思。此处运用了比喻的写法，考生要理解上下文的意思，才能正确答题。此句话的前文说道：时间几乎被视为是有形的东西，珍贵的商品。许多人都深感人生的短暂。此句直译的意思是“沙粒一旦从人生的沙漏间溜走，就不能再被填充上了”，也就是“时间溜走，一去不复返”的意思，进一步解释了时间为什么短促，故选B。

单选题 A foreigner's first impression of the U. S. is that______.

单选题 Which of the following best defines the word "rapport" ( Line 5, Para. 4) ?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：释义题。题目问的是rapport一词的意思。考生可利用结构法解。这个单词出现在第四段的这句话中“they develop a sense of trust and rapport”。就像我们汉语常用的并列类的构词方法，英语当中经常用and连接两个语义相近或相关的词。因此，本题中rapport就是trust的近义词。观察四个答案，只有C项是trust的近义词，故选C。

单选题 From the text, we can conclude that Americans______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：细节题。题目问的是哪一项与美国人有关。考生宜采取排除法解题。文章指出“Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings…much less do they take them out for dinner(美国人不会在这样轻松的环境中通过长时间的闲聊了解他们的来访者，更很少带他们出去吃饭)”，可排除A选项。B选项中的内容并未提及。根据C项中的关键词rapidity和fulfill the task successfully，可以在第五段中部找到相应的信息“it is taken as a sign of fulfill a job successfully，with rapidity(时效性被视为解决问题的能力或成功地完成一项工作的标志)”，与C项的论述一致。D选项错在to gain respect，原文的目的状语是get it moving，故选C。

单选题 What is the attitude of the newcomers from different cultures towards the work finished fast?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：态度题。题目问的是来自别的国家的新人对快速完成工作的态度是什么。根据题干中的关键词“different cultures”和“work finished fast”，可以在第五段的第一句话和第二句话中找到解答本题的相关信息。原文指出“Unless a certain amount of time is allowed to elapse，if seems if the task were insignificant(要不磨蹭一段时间，他们就会觉得他们做的事情不够重要)”，与A选项吻合，故选A。