Question

I was brought up in the British, stiff upper lip style. Strong feelings aren’t something you display in public. So, you can imagine that I was unprepared for the outpouring of public grief(悲傷) at a Chinese funeral.

My editorial team leader died recently after a short illness. He was 31. The news was so unexpected that it left us all shocked and upset. A female colleague burst into tears and cried piteously at her desk. Somehow we got through the day's work. The next day was the funeral.

Our big boss stepped forward to deliver a eulogy(悼詞) and was soon in tears. She carried on, in Chinese of course, but at the end said in English: "There will be no more deadlines for you in heaven." Next came a long-term colleague who also dissolved in tears but carried on with her speech despite being almost overcome by emotion. Then a close friend of the dead man paid tribute(哀悼), weeping openly as he spoke. Sorrow is spreading. Me and women were now sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, the man's mother, supported between two women, addressed her son in his coffin. At one point, the mother almost collapsed and had to be held up. We were invited to step forward to each lay a white rose on the casket. Our dead colleague looked as if he was taking a nap. At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion.

In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral. Here in China it would seem that grieving is a public affair. It strikes me that it is more cathartic to cry your eyes out than try to keep it bottled up for fear of embarrassment, which is what many of us do in the West.

Afterwards, a Chinese colleague told me that the lamenting at the funeral had been restrained(克制) by Chinese standards. In some rural areas, she said, people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens. But we have all seen on TV scenes of grief-stricken people in Gaza and the West Bank, in Afghanistan, Iraq and the relatives of victims of terrorist bombings around the world. Chinese grief is no different. I realized that it's the reserved British way of mourning that is out of step with the rest of the world.

It was our newspaper's production day. We were bussed back to the office to resume work. No more deadlines for our former colleague, but we had to pull together to put the newspaper to print. The boss invited the team to go out for dinner after work. We relaxed, smiled, joked. There was no mention of the funeral or our poor colleague. Enough sorrow had been shed already. We needed a break.

1.The underlined words “stiff upper lip style” in Paragraph 1 mean “________”.

A．cold-blooded      B．warm-hearted  C．light-hearted   D．self-controlled                 

2.At the funeral, ________.      

A. five individuals made speeches

B. the boss’s speech was best thought of

C. the writer was astonished by the scene

D. everyone was crying out loudly

3.According to the writer, people in the West ________.     

A. are not willing to be sad for the dead

B. cry their eyes out at the public funeral

C. prefer to control their sadness in public

D. have better way to express sadness

4.It is implied that ________.  

A. Chinese express their sadness quite unlike other peoples

B. the English might cry noisily for the dead in Dickens’ time

C. victims of terrorist bombings should be greatly honored

D. English funeral culture is more civilized than the others

5.This passage talks mainly about________.       

A. an editor’s death            B. bad funeral customs

C. cultural differences          D. western ways of grief               

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.A

5.D

【解析】

試題分析：文章大意為：本文主要敘述了作者通過舉了同事去世，中國人和亞洲一些國家一樣總是為死去的人哭得很悲傷，而英國人不很會為死者哭得很悲傷，他們更喜歡控制他們的情緒，隱藏悲傷。

1.C細節(jié)理解題：根據(jù)第一段最后一句I was unprepared for the outpouring of public grief(悲傷) at a Chinese funeral.作者說她在中國的葬禮上的悲傷傾瀉而出，連她自己都沒有準備。說明作者是善良的。故C正確。

2.D 推理判斷題：根據(jù)第三段“Our big boss stepped forward to deliver a eulogy”“ came a long-term colleague”“ Then a close friend of the dead man paid tribute(哀悼)”共有三個人made a speech 所以A排除；B項沒提到；C項第三段第五行“Me and women were now sobbing uncontrollably.”可知并不是所有人都大哭；D項從第三段最后一句“At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion. ”可知作者被那場景震驚；故D正確。

3.B 推理判斷題根據(jù)第四段可知：西方人不是不為死者悲傷，他們會在公共場合控制自己的悲傷，因此A錯；C也錯；本文也沒有說西方人有更好的辦法去表達悲傷，說到他們會  把悲傷藏在心底。故D錯；根據(jù)第四段第一句“In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral.”可知B項正確。

4.A 推斷題 根據(jù)第五段“people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens.”可知A項正確。

5.D 主旨大意題 本文主要敘述了作者通過舉了同事去世，中國人和亞洲一些國家一樣總是為死去的人哭得很悲傷，而英國人不很會為死者哭得很悲傷，他們更喜歡控制他們的情緒，隱藏悲傷。旨在強調(diào)文化差異。故D正確。

考點：考察文化類短文閱讀