A
America is a mobile society.Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change.Neither side feels hurt by this.Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while － then no more.If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship.This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life.They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don't show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time.This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous_with_our_time.
Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at the airport even in the middle of the night to meet a friend.We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends.The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine.They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus.And they expect that we will phone them from there.Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real.We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters.So accept their hospitality at home!
语篇解读：文章主要介绍了美国人和中国人对待友谊、朋友的不同观点和做法。
1．The writer of this passage must be a(n)________．
A．American B．Chinese
C．professor D．student
解析：选B 细节理解题。从第一段 “This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand ...” 可知本文的作者是一名中国人。
2．The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean “________”．
A．strict with time B．serious with time
C．careful with time D．willing to spend time
解析：选D 推理判断题。从下文 “...we, as hosts, will appear at the airport ...to our foreign friends.”可推知。
3．A suitable title for this passage would probably be “________”．
A．Friendships between Chinese
B．Friendships between Americans
C．Americans' hospitality
D．Americans' and Chinese's views of friendships
解析：选D 标题归纳题。文章主要讲美国人和中国人对待友情的不同观点。
