"When studying foreign speech, don't forget about body language," Anne Merritt said. Something as simple as a smile can show friendliness in one culture, embarrassment in another, impatience in a third. Even silence means different things in different places. If you want to avoid making some mistakes when traveling abroad, you should pay attention to the following. Touch Britain, along with much of Northern Europe and the Far East, has a "non-contact" culture. In those countries, there is very little physical contact in people's daily talks. Even brushing someone's arm by accident is the reason for an apology. However, in the high-contact cultures of the Middle East, Latin America, and southern Europe, physical touch is a big part of daily life. What's more, there are different standards for who touches whom and where. In much of the Arab world, men hold hands and kiss each other in greeting, but would never do the same with a woman. In Thailand and Laos, it is taboo to touch anyone's head, even children's. In South Korea, elders can touch younger people with force when trying to get through a crowd, but younger people can't do the same. Eye contact In most Western countries, frequent eye contact is a sign of confidence and attentiveness . We may think that a conversation partner who looks away is either not listening to us or lying. Of course, this is not the standard around the world. In many Asian, African, and Latin American countries, the unbroken eye contact would be considered impolite and rude. These cultures consider avoiding eye contact a sign of respect for bosses and elders. In these parts of the world, children won't look at an adult who is speaking to them, and nor will employees look at their bosses. In southern Europe, physical touch is_. A) unnecessary B) impolite C) dangerous D) common
D
A Koala Isn't a Bear Koalas remind people of teddy bears.They have thick fur and large ears.Their broad, flat nose makes them look cute, similar to teddy bears.In fact koalas aren't cute.They have sharp teeth and very sharp claws! Koalas are marsupials.This means the mother carries her baby in a pocket while it develops, similar to a kangaroo.The baby koala lives in its mother's pocket for the first six months of its life. The name "koala" comes from a native Australian word that means "no drink". The koalas get almost all their water from the eucalyptus leaves they eat.That's where they get their food too.Koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves, and only the leaves of certain eucalyptus trees.The eucalyptus trees are where the koalas live.It's also where they sleep.Koalas sleep about nineteen hours a day! Why do they sleep so much? Some people think it's because they're lazy.But koalas aren't lazy.They sleep so much because there isn't much nutrition in eucalyptus leaves.Koalas store hardly any fat, so they must save their energy.One way to do this is to move slowly and sleep a lot. After a day of sleeping they like to move around and eat just after sunset.They live alone most of the time.Koalas are very protective of their trees.If a koala sees another koala eating in its favorite tree, it might tell the other koala to leave by "barking" at it.Koalas do "talk" to each other.Besides barks, the males make a deep grunting sound.The mothers and babies talk in soft clicking sounds.If they get scared they may scream like a baby. Why do koalas sleep a lot? A) Their babies need to get much rest. B) They get tired from playing so much. C) Their food does not give them much energy. D) They do not like to be awake when it is warm.
C
(Question)
English is fast becoming the only language of a new generation of educated Arabs. This isn't a good thing for the region or the rest of the world. The journalism school at the AUD is the only modern program in the Middle East that allows students to study in Arabic. Still, many students arrive with poorly written Arabic and the formal spoken language and require refresher Arabic language courses. Literacy in the Gulf States is 98%, according to UNESCO. But that literacy is increasingly in English, not Arabic. This English bias starts early, with children in private "model" schools in the United Arab Emirates studying all their subjects, including math and science, in English. But the trend appears to be taking hold regionwide. In Saudi Arabia, many upper-middle-class families speak English at home -- not just at work . One Arabic official told me his own children do not speak Arabic fluently. He said he put them in English schools to help ensure they'd have great career prospects. But now he says he regrets that his children don't feel comfortable speaking the language of their forefathers. Why is there the anxiety among these elites? I am continually told that what I've experienced anecdotally is true: The wealthier the family, the less likely its members speak Arabic at home. If people in the same country don't speak the same language, how can they work across class lines to solve the problems of high unemployment that affect even oil-rich Saudi Arabia? For executives trying to build local businesses, the English bias is a challenge. The dean of the AUD's school of journalism, Ali Al Jaber, told me, "If you can't address your own people, then you can't be successful." Sure, English is the world's business language. More Chinese are learning English right now than there are Americans in the U.S. But China has struck a bilingual balance. Its research universities teach some of the world's brightest minds in Chinese. Professor Wardeh finds much for Arab nations to admire in _ . We can know from the passage that _ . A) the popularity of English in Saudi Arabia is a good thing B) there is no problem of unemployment in Saudi Arabia C) the poor in Saudi Arabia are more likely to speak Arabic D) the English bias doesn't affect the local business
(Answer)
C