Question

“When an American asks me this question, it’s like a wall of ice crashing down between us.” my Moscow-born friend Galina said. The question is “How are you?”.

The answer Americans give, of course is, “Fine.” But when Russians hear this they think one of two things: you are experiencing a rare moment of fineness or you are lying.

Ask a Russian, “How are you?” and you will hear, for better or worse, the truth. I have experienced many painful minutes of silence after my grandmother made her stock response: “Terrible,” to which she might add, “Why? Because being old is terrible and I am very old.”

“‘Fine’ makes Russians think that Americans have no soul,” I explained recently to an American-born friend. “That they just want to go home, eat a frozen dinner in front of the TV, and wait out the hours before going to work to make money again.” He laughed, “You know, there’s something to that.”

The thing most Russians don’t realize is that, in English, “How are you?” isn’t a question at all, but a form of “hi”, like the Russian “privyet!”

Psychologists at the University of Michigan have shown that, while Russians are, indeed, easier to be depressed than Americans, their open acceptance of bad experiences might be healthier.

Recently, when I looked through a few American guides on traveling to Russia, I was disappointed to find that they all suggested that tourists adopt the American approach to “How are you”.

1.When you ask a Russian “how are you” the Russian will ________.

A. answer “fine” B. tell you the truth

C. make no answer D. get angry and walk away

2.If an American answers “fine” to the question “how are you”, the Russian will think ______.

A. he is not honest B. he will go home

C. he likes watching TV D. he is living a bad life

3.We can infer Russians’ answer to “how are you” can make Americans feel ________.

A. happy B. angry

C. puzzled D. touched

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.C

【解析】

试题分析：文章介绍了美国人和俄罗斯人对“How are you?”的不同理解。在英语中，“How are you?”是问好的一种方式，而在俄罗斯人看来，“How are you?”是一个问题。

1.Ask a Russian, “How are you?” and you will hear, for better or worse, the truth.”可知，俄罗斯人会实话实说，故选B。

2.But when Russians hear this they think one of two things: you are experiencing a rare moment of fineness or you are lying.”可知，当美国人回答“很好”时，俄罗斯人会认为那个人在撒谎，故选A。

3.The thing most Russians don’t realize is that, in English, “How are you?” isn’t a question at all, but a form of “hi””可知，俄罗斯人把“How are you?”看作是一个问题，而在英语里，“How are you?”不是问题，而是一种问好的方式，故选C。

考点：文化类短文阅读