Question

When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at “bed and breakfast” houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.

     “We didn’t stay at bed and breakfast houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”

      I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for ‘holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign(標牌) outside said ‘VACANCLES’, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said ‘NO VACANCLES’, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!

      We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word ‘DIVERSION’ means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word ‘DIVERSION’ on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole（洞）.

      English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris when someone offered me some more coffee, I said ‘Thank you’ in French. I meant that I would like some more.  However, to my surprise,  the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that ‘Thank you’ in French means ‘No, thank you.’

1.My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.

A. learning English

B. finding places to stay in England

C. driving their car on English roads

D. going to England by car

2.I suggested that they stay at bed and breakfast houses because ______.

A. they would be able to practise their English

B. it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels

C. it would be convenient for them to have dinner

D. there would be no problem about finding accommodation there

3. “NO VACANCIES” in English means ______.

A. no free rooms          B. free rooms      C. not away on holiday    D. Holidays

4.If you see a road sign that says ‘Diversion’, you will ______.

A. fall into a hole

B. have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself

C. find that the road is blocked by crowds of people

D. have to take a different road

5.When someone offered me more coffee and I said ‘Thank you’ in French, I ______.

A didn’t really want any more coffee

B. wanted them to take the coffee pot away

C. really wanted some more coffee

D. wanted to express my politeness

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.B

2.A

3.A

4.D

5.C

【解析】

試題分析：

【文章大意】本文是一篇故事。文章講述了由于語言的含義不同所導致的一些笑話，從而告訴我們不同的文化背景有些詞有不同的意思。

1.B考查細節理解。根據文章第一段中的 they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所)可知，西班牙朋友是在向我詢問在英國住宿的問題。故選B。

2.A考查細節理解。根據文章第一段中的because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. 可知，這種家庭能給我們提供學習英語口語的機會。故選A。

3.A考查細節理解。根據文章第三段中的Then my friends went to house where the sign said ‘NO VACANCLES’, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. 可知，在英語中‘NO VACANCLES’是：沒有空閑的房間。故選A。

4.D考查細節理解。根據文章第四段中的In Spanish, the word ‘DIVERSION’ means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. 可知，在英語中‘DIVERSION’的意思是：走不同的路。故選D。

5.C考查細節理解。根據文章最后一段中的I said ‘Thank you’ in French. I meant that I would like some more.可知，在法語中的“謝謝你”意為：我想再多喝些咖啡。故選C。

考點：考查記敘文的閱讀理解。