At a psychology conference in England years ago, a woman said to me: “I’ll knock you up in

At a psychology conference in England years ago, a woman said to me: “I’ll knock you up in the morning.” I was taken aback by her strange suggestion, but it occurred to me that I might not have understood what she really meant. As it turned out, what she had meant was, “I’ll knock on your door in the morning so that we can meet for breakfast to discuss the panel we’re on.”
This example of the difference in the meaning of “knock you up” in British and American English shows the complicated situations that can result from cultural misunderstandings. A cultural misunderstanding occurs when something — a word, gesture, object, social context, or almost anything you can think of — has a different meaning in two cultures. Sometimes the misunderstandings get resolved, sometimes they lead nowhere, and sometimes they can become the starting point of something much more extreme, from love to war.
Race is one area where cultural misunderstandings are common. We Americans tend to assume that racial categories are biological rather than social, so it may not occur to us that people from other cultures have a different set of racial concepts and classify themselves and us differently. Some African Americans complain that certain immigrants from other countries, such as Haiti or Jamaica, “act as if they aren’t black.” The cultural misunderstanding is that, in the immigrants’ countries of origin, they would never describe themselves as “black”. This doesn’t mean that they think they are white. It just means that their cultures have more categories, like marabou or grimaud in Haiti, or fair or brown in Jamaica, than are used in the United States. Meanwhile, white people in America, unaware of this cultural diversity, sometimes refer to all darker-skinned people as “black” without realizing that an issue exists.
Resolving cultural misunderstandings can clear the air or even lead to laughter. Sometimes, though, when it comes to race, unidentified cultural misunderstandings can create tension, unhappiness and distrust.
【小题1】The main purpose of the first paragraph is to .A．show that language misunderstandings would cause big problemsB．show the differences between British and American EnglishC．explain in general what cultural misunderstandings areD．introduce the idea of cultural misunderstandings with a story【小题2】The underlined word “resolved” probably means .A．complicatedB．settled C．acceptedD．noticed【小题3】We can learn from the passage that cultural misunderstandings .A．mostly come from body languageB．are the most serious social problem in the USC．can cause negative feelings among peopleD．can be cleared up with laughter【小题4】What is the author’s opinion about cultural misunderstandings?A．There’s no need to notice racial differences.B．Haitians prefer to be described as fair or brown.C．Cultural misunderstandings based on racial categories may be difficult to spot.D．Americans are especially likely to misunderstand people from other cultures.D

(答案→)D 解析：这篇文章介绍了文化的误解有时候会闹笑话，有时候在种族间会造成不开心和紧张的气氛。【小题1】根据As it turned out, what she had meant was, “I’ll knock on your door in the morning so that we can meet for breakfast to discuss the panel we’re on.”故选D。【小题2】根据sometimes they lead nowhere, and sometimes they can become the starting point of something much more extreme, from love to war.可猜出“resolved”意思是坚决的，故选B。【小题3】根据Sometimes, though, when it comes to race, unidentified cultural misunderstandings can create tension, unhappiness and distrust.所以答案为C。【小题4】根据Resolving cultural misunderstandings can clear the air or even lead to laughter. Sometimes, though, when it comes to race, unidentified cultural misunderstandings can create tension, unhappiness and distrust.因此选C。

我学会了