第三部分 阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
In the United States, it is important to be on time for an appointment, a class, a meeting, etc. However, this may not be true in all countries. An American professor discovered this difference while teaching in a Brazilian university. The two - hour class was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and end at 12 p.m. On the first day, when the professor arrived on time, no one was in the classroom. Many students came after 10:30a.m. Several arrived after 10:30 a.m. Two students came after 11 a.m. Although all the students greeted the professor as they arrived, few apologized for their lateness. Were these students being rude? He decided to study the students’ behavior.
The professor talked to American and Brazilian students about lateness in both an informal and a formal situation: lunch with a friend and in a university class, separately. He gave them an example and asked them how they would react. If they had a lunch appointment with a friend, the average American student defined lateness as 19 minutes after the agreed time. On the other hand, the average Brazilian student felt the friend was late after 33 minutes.
In an American university, students are expected to arrive at the appointed hour. In contrast, in Brazil, neither the teacher nor the students always arrive at the appointed hcur. Classes not only begin at the scheduled time in the United States, but they also end at the scheduled time. In the Brazilian class, only a few students left the class at noon; many remained past 12:30 to discuss the class and ask more questions. While arriving late may not be very important in Brazil, neither is staying late.
The explanation for these differences is complicated. People from Brazilian and North American cultures have different feelings about lateness. In Brazil, the students believe that a person who usually arrives late is probably more successful than a person who is always on time. In fact, Brazilians expect a person with status or prestige to arrive late, while in the United States lateness is usually considered to be rude and unacceptable. Consequently, if a Brazilian is late for an appointment with a North American, the American may misunderstand the reason for the lateness and become angry.
56．It can be inferred that that the Brazilian students were late for their first class made the American professor_________.
A. curious B. disappointed C. discouraged D. less confident
57．All the Brazilian students arrived late for the first class of the American professor because_________.
A. they didn’t like the American professor
B. they thought the professor’s class was informal
C. they considered it appropriate to go to class late
D. they felt it rude to the teacher to come to class too early
58．Which of the following statements does the text lead us NOT to believe?
A. The professor misunderstood the reason for the lateness at first.
B. The professor changed the Brazilian students’ behavior eventually.
C. The professor found the Brazilian students and the American students have different attitudes and feelings about the lateness.
D. The professor would adapt his own behavior so that he could feel comfortable.
59．According to the author, the misunderstanding of lateness is causes by __________.
A. different status of the two nations B. different habits of individual students
C. different status of teachers and students D. different cultures of the two nations
B
It is known to all, Thanksgiving is not a traditional holiday in China, but a technical school in the northern Hebei province has put up a poster reminding the students to “cherish your parents’ hard work and repay their love”.
Prior to the western Thanksgiving Day, which falls Nov. 24 last year, education authorities in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang launched a “thanksgiving” campaign among nearly 100,000 students from 60 schools and universities.
Make our affection known
The students, all born between the mid and late 1980s and mostly the only child at home, were told to figure out how much their parents have to pay for their education and living expenses and compare the costs with their families’ annual income, write their parents a letter to express thanks, prepare a public speech on the same topic and take some concrete actions. “The youngsters must learn to be grateful,” said Wang Dongmei, an official in charge of students’ affairs at Shijiazhuang Technical School. Wang’s school has 12,100 students, but a recent survey shows nearly a half of them never write to their parent. “Forty – one percent of the students said they wrote once, but admitted it was actually an assignment rather than a voluntary move.”
Ironically though, many parents were rather “scared” by the unexpected thanksgiving letters and began to wonder what was wrong with their children. Some even took half a day’s train ride just to make sure their children were OK.
Learn to harbor(怀有) gratitude to others
China became “the land of only child” in the late 1970s and the first generation of “only child” are often referred to as “little emperors”, given the care, attention and material abundance they enjoyed. Experts say it is essential for China’s little emperors to love their parents before they become loving and responsible citizens. In a recent survey conducted at Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, at least 60 percent of the freshman students said they won’t readily help their parents relax by massaging their aching backs when they get home from a tiring day of work. More than 10 percent of the students don’t know their parents’ birthdays. When the youngsters celebrate their own birthdays, it never occurs to 60 percent of them that they should thank their mothers for bringing them to this world.
To express thanks has been included in the newly revised code of conduct for high school students in Shanghai, effective from the fall semester this year. At the annual parliamentary session in last March, a member proposed a Chinese Thanksgiving Day, a public day to boost harmony among the people. Such a holiday will remind the children of their parents’ love and teach them to be thankful and considerate to their elders. It will also remind the adults to be more caring and tolerant of others.
60. This text is mainly discussing .
A. Chinese Thanksgiving Day
B. China’s “Little Emperors” phenomenon
C. the reasons why Chinese youngsters should learn to be thankful and considerate
D. China’s one-child generations
61. According to the text, many parents were rather “scared” by the unexpected thanksgiving letters most probably because .
A. they had never received their children’s letters before
B. they were not used to the fact that their children suddenly showed their love to them
C. they were too introverted(含蓄的) to accept the love or gratitude from their children
D. they believed their children must have done something wrong in school
62. The newly revised code of conduct in the last paragraph .
A. Will be put into effect next term in China
B. is focusing upon calling on Chinese youngsters to learn how to be grateful
C. has added that expressing thanks should be done by students’ parents
D. is something like discipline witch high school students must observe
63. From this text we can see that .
A. the so-called little emperors have realized the point of the thanksgiving campaign
B. now Chinese young people, especially the generation of “only child” face a big problem——moral cultivation(培养)
C. learning to be grateful and ready to repay others’ kindness is not easy because of the heavy workload and tense competition in the present-day society
D. a Chinese Thanksgiving Day should not be referred to as a public day but a day for youngsters only