四级阅读理解练习两篇

　　As we have said, however, the class system is much less rigid than it was, and for a long time it has been government policy to reduce class distinctions. 『Working-class students very commonly receive a university education and enter the professions, and working-class incomes have grown so much recently that the distinctions between the two classes are becoming less and less clear. 』②However, regardless of one’s social status, certain standards of politeness are expected of everybody, and a well-bred person is polite to everyone he meets, and treats a labourer with the same respect he gives an important businessman. Servility inspires both embarrassment and dislike. Even the word “sir”, except in school and in certain occupations (e.g. commerce, the army etc.) sounds too servile to be commonly used.

　　The middle class mainly refers to people .

　　A. who were born as aristocrat

　　B. who have the right to sit in the House of Lords

　　C. who speak in many different local accents

　　D. who are prosperous businessmen or who work in some professions

　　2. The most obvious difference between the working class and the middle class in English is their .

　　A. dress B. work 　C. accent D. meal

　　3. Why isn’t the word “sir” commonly used in Britain?

　　A. Because it sounds too servile and is likely to cause embarrassment. B. Because it can only be used in some certain occupations.

　　C. Because it is an impolite word.

　　D. Because it shows that the speaker is not a well-bred person.

　　4. The “upper class” in England today .

　　A. are extremely small in number so that media pays no attention to them

　　B. still uses old words like “Sir” in their everyday life

　　C. includes the hereditary aristocracy

　　D. refers only to the royal family

　　5. Which of the following is not true about the English class system?

　　A. It is an embarrassing subject for English people.

　　B. Working-class students cannot receive a university education.

　　C. The class system is much less rigid than it was.

　　D. The class system still exists below the surface.

　　Vocabulary

　　1. convention n. 习俗 　　2. embarrass v. 使困窘

　　rigid adj. 严格 　　 4. hereditary adj. 世袭的

　　manual adj. 体力的 　　 6. accent n. 口音

　　received pronunciation adj. (英语的)标准发音

　　well-bred adj. 有教养的 9. servility n. 卑屈

　　10. occupation n. 职业

　　长难句解析

　　①【解析】这是一个复合句，主句由“and”引导的两个并列句组成，“though”引导的让步状语从句，也是由两个并列的句子组成。

　　【译文】尽管本世纪等级意识越来越淡，等级制度也越来越不严格，但对于英国人来说它仍是一个尴尬的话题，仍旧引以为耻。

　　②【解析】这是一个复合句，由“and”引导的两个并列句组成，“so…that”作“grown”的状语。

　　【译文】劳工家庭中的孩子上大学成为非常平常的事情，此后他们也加入各种专业行当。劳工阶层的工资近来也快速增长，使得两个阶层间的界线越来越模糊。

　　答案与详解

　　【短文大意】本文主要讲述英国等级意识虽然越来越淡，但在表层下，等级仍然存在。而“阶层”的最大区别是他们的口音。

　　1. D细节题。意为“那些比较富裕的生意人或有一定的职业的人”。见第一段的倒数第二句：中产阶级主要包括富裕的生意人和有一定的职业的人。所以正确答案应该是 D。

　　2. C细节题。意为“口音”。见第二段的第一句：他们之间最明显的区别是他们的口音。所以正确答案应该是 C。

　　3. A推断题。意为“因为它听起来太过谦卑，很可能会引起尴尬”。见文章的最后两句：谦卑会引起尴尬和不悦。甚至像“先生”这样的词，除了在特定的职业中(如商业、军队)外，也不太常用，因为它听起来太过谦卑。所以正确答案应该是 A。

　　4. C细节题。A选项前半是对的。上流社会人数很少，后半是错的，媒体还在关注他们，注意一定要看清楚再选。B选项相关内容在文末。D没有提到。B在第一段中间出现，是正确答案。

　　5. B细节题。意为“来自工人阶级家庭的学生不能接受大学教育”。见第三段第二句的前半句：来自工人阶级家庭的学生接受大学教育并且某种职业的情况已十分普遍。所以选项 B的答案与文章不相符，是正确答案。

　　四级阅读理解练习：文化背景对商业运作的影响

　　Culture is one of the most challenging elements of the international marketplace. 『This system of learned behavior patterns characteristic of the members of a given society is constantly shaped by a set of dynamic variables: language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, aesthetics, technology, education, and social institutions.』① To cope with this system, an international manager needs both factual and interpretive knowledge of culture. To some extent, the factual knowledge can be learned; its interpretation comes only through experience.

　　The most complicated problems in dealing with the cultural environment stem from the fact that one cannot learn culture—one has to live it. Two schools of thought exist in the business world on how to deal with cultural diversity. One is that business is business the world around, following the model of Pepsi and McDonald’s. In some cases, globalization is a fact of life; however, cultural differences are still far from converging.

　　The other school proposes that companies must tailor business approaches to individual cultures. Setting up policies and procedures in each country has been compared to an organ transplant; the critical question centers around acceptance or rejection. The major challenge to the international manager is to make sure that rejection is not a result of cultural myopia or even blindness.

　　Fortune examined the international performance of a dozen large companies that earn 20 percent or more of their revenue overseas. The internationally successful companies all share an important quality: patience. They have not rushed into situations but rather built their operations carefully by following the most basic business principles. These principles are to know your adversary, know your audience, and know your customer.

　　1. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

　　A. All international managers can learn culture.

　　B. Business diversity is not necessary.

　　C. Views differ on how to treat culture in business world.

　　D. Most people do not know foreign culture well.

　　2. According to the author, the model of Pepsi .

　　A. is in line with the theories of the school advocating the business is business the world around

　　B. is different from the model of McDonald’s

　　C. shows the reverse of globalization

　　D. has converged cultural differences

　　3. The two schools of thought .

　　A. both propose that companies should tailor business approaches to individual cultures

　　B. both advocate that different policies be set up in different countries C. admit the existence of cultural diversity in business world

　　D. Both A and B

　　4. This article is supposed to be most useful for those .

　　A. who are interested in researching the topic of cultural diversity

　　B. who have connections to more than one type of culture

　　C. who want to travel abroad

　　D. who want to run business on International Scale

　　5. According to Fortune, successful international companies .

　　A. earn 20 percent or more of their revenue overseas

　　B. all have the quality of patience

　　C. will follow the overseas local cultures

　　D. adopt the policy of internationalization

　　Vocabulary

　　1. dynamic adj. 动态的 2. variable n. 变量

　　aesthetics n. 美学 　4. factual adj. 事实的

　　5. interpretative adj. 解释的 6. converge v. 聚合

　　7. transplant v. 移植 　8. myopia n. 近视 9. adversary n. 对手

　　长难句解析

　　①【解析】此句虽然很长，但考生只要认清它的主干，就很容易了解本句的意思。这个句子为一个简单句，主语为：“this system”，谓语为“is shaped”。

　　【译文】特定社会成员特点构成的行为方式体系不断地被一系列动态变量所左右：如语言、信仰、价值与态度、礼仪与风俗、审美、技术、教育及社会体制。

　　答案与详解

　　【短文大意】本文主要讲述文化背景对商业运作的影响，文中列举了商界中存在的对于文化多样性的两种观点。

　　C推断题。意为“对在商业中怎样对待文化有着不同意见”。 文化在商业中是一个很具挑战性的因素。不同的国家与地区可能会有不同的文化体系。在商业中，应该怎样对待不同的文化，商业界存在着不同的看法。

　　2. A细节题。意为“……与同意世界商业一体化的派别的主张是一致的”。 Pepsi采纳的是国际化的商业风格，这与那些主张国际化的派别的意见是相一致的。

　　3. C推断题。意为“承认商业世界中文化的多元性”。两个派别都承认商业世界中文化的多元性。他们的不同在于，应该对待不同的文化，应该搞国际化还是对不同的文化采取不同的策略。

　　4. D主旨题。由文中的例子可以知道，作者主要关心的并不是研究多种文化形态，而是文化背景对商业运作的影响。所以D是正确答案。

　　5. B细节题。意为“都具有耐心这一素质”。并非所有成功的国际公司的海外收入都占总收入的20%或以上。它们也不一定全都接纳海外的当地文化，或是采纳国际化策略。