A.Translate the following idioms into Chinese:
1.egghead:
2.brain trust :
3.brain storming:
B.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?1.The word“egghead”first became popular during the American presidential campaign in 1952.
2.After Roosevelt won the election,he ceases to ask experts from outside the government to give him advice.
3.The expression“brain storming”is used to describe a group of intellectual advisers.
4.“Egghead” comes from what was believed to be the common shape of an intellectual s head, because all the thinking he does causes his hair to fall out.
Ⅲ.Reading Tasks
A.Pre-reading activity
What do you think of“ intercultural differences”? Give examples to illustrate your point.
B.Reading
Intercultural Differences
A few stereotypes of how the French and Americans often see each other :
The Americans see the French as people who don t speak English.They live in a bureaucratic socialist system and are totally dependent on the State; they do not use soap, and are arrogant and conceited, distant and difficult to meet, especially rude to tourists and anti-American.While the French see the Americans as de grands enfants (i.e., people who are naive and have no, or a too short, history); they have free access to guns and use them to shoot each other when things go wrong; they are arch-capitalists and only think about money; their press never addresses international issues; and they do not take criticism.
A psycho-analytical view:
Pascal Baudry is a Frenchman who lives in California where he runs an organization,WDHB, that holds seminars on international management.His cyberbook gives fascinating explanations of intercultural differences between the French and the Americans.For him, the key factor is in infancy: the fact that Americans are weaned early and toilet trained late when the French are weaned much later and toilet trained much earlier.Later, education develops major differences: schools help American kids become independent and autonomous ( their mother says:“have fun” ) whereas French kids learn the principle of authority (the mother says: “be good” ).
Here are the major differences:
Tell an American from a Frenchman from their body languages.
Make him count 1, 2, 3, 4...: the American will start with the little finger and end with the thumb, the Frenchman just the opposite.
Make him walk : the American will move his arms and take a lot of space, the Frenchman will be much stiffer.
Put him in an elevator: the American will talk,the French will try to avoid any eye contact.
Make him say“everything is OK” : the American will form a circle joining thumb and index (in French, this gesture means: “zero” ).
Enjoy a meal with him : the American will put his bread on his plate ( the French put it on the table) and his hands on his thighs (the French put them on the table).
Notes on language and culture.
1.stereotype: a belief or idea of what a particular type of person or thing is like.Stereotypes are often unfair or untrue.
2.bureaucratic: involving a lot of complicated official rules and processes 3.arrogant: behaving in an unpleasant or rude way because you think you are more important than other people.
4.conceited: someone who is conceited thinks they are very clever, skilful,beautiful etc.
5.nave: not having much experience of how complicated life is, so that you trust people too much and believe that good things will always happen 6.have access to: the right to enter a place, use something, see someone etc.
7.arch-: belonging to the highest class or rank.
8.cyber-: relating to computers, especially to messages and information on the Internet.
9.wean: to gradually stop feeding a baby or young animal on its mother s milk and start giving it ordinary food.
10.explicit : expressed in a way that is very clear and direct.
11.it depends: used to say that you cannot give a definite answer to something because your answer will be affected by something else.
12.nuances: a very slight,hardly noticeable difference in manner, colour,meaning etc.
13.win-win: a win-win situation, solution etc.is one that will end well for everyone involved in it.
14.obnoxious: very offensive, unpleasant,or rude.
15.the little finger : the smallest finger on your hand.
16.index: = index finger, the finger next to your thumb.
C.Post-reading activity.
Think and answer the following questions:
1.Name a few stereotypes of how the French and Americans often see each other.
2.Summarize Pascal Baudry s explanations of intercultural differences between the French and the Americans.
3.What is body language, and explain how to distinguish an American from a Frenchman from their body languages.
4.What is“win-win deal”? What do you think of it?Ⅳ.Fast Reading
In this part,you are required to read three passages and choose the best answers to the questions after each passage, using the skill you have just learned where necessary.
A Carrot a Day May Keep Cancer Away
Among all the malignancies, lung cancer is the biggest killer: more than 100,000 Americans every year die of the disease.Giving up smoking is one of the obvious ways to reduce the risk, but another answer may lie in the kitchen.
According to a new report,even heavy smokers may be protected from developing lung cancer by a simple dietary measure: a daily portion of carrots,spinach or any other vegetable or fruit containing a form of vitamin A called carotene.
The finding, published in the British medical journal The Lancet,is part of a long-range investigation of diet and disease.Since 1957 a team of American researchers has monitored the dietary habits and medical histories of 2, 000 middle-aged men employed by the Western Electric Co.in Chicago.Led by Dr.
Richard Shekelle of Chicago s Rush-Presbyterian-St.Luke s Medical Center,the researchers recently began to sort out the links between the subjects dietary patterns and cancer.Other studies of animals and humans have suggested that vitamin A offers some protection against lung cancer.The correlation seemed logical, explains Shekelle, since vitamin A is essential for the growth of the epithelial tissue that lines the airways of the lungs.
