One day, I heard an American boy say to a Chinese girl student, “You speak very good English.” But the girl answered, “No, no. My English is very poor.” The foreigner was quite   1   at the answer. Thinking he had not made    2   understood or the girl had not   3   him clearly, he said, “Yes, indeed, you speak very well.”   4   the girl still kept saying, “No.” In the end the American boy could not understand and didn’t know   5   to say.
What’s wrong with the girl’s answer? She didn’t   6  a compliment (恭維) in the same way as the American people do. She should answer, “Thank you” instead of “No”. She   7  understood what the American boy had said, but she thought she should be modest. In the   8  , people will feel proud and 9   when they are praised . So if someone says the   10   you have cooked are very delicious, you should say, “Thank you.”
In our country we think being modest is a virtue (美德) and being proud is a bad thing , but in my opinion, being confident does not   11  being proud, so sometimes you should be confident   12  being modest.
   13  you are modest and say, “No, I’m afraid I can’t do it well”, while working in a western country, the others may think that you really cannot do it. If you often say “No”, you will certainly be looked down upon by  14 . When asking for a job, if one says something like “Yes, I can certainly do it” instead of “Let me have a try”, he or she will   15   get it. So in the west, you should be brave to show your self-confidence.

One day, I heard an American boy say to a Chinese girl student, “You speak very good English.” But the girl answered, “No, no. My English is very poor.” The foreigner was quite   16    at the answer. Thinking he had not made    17    understood or the girl had not   18    him clearly, he said, “Yes, indeed, you speak very well.”   19    the girl still kept saying, “No.” In the end the American boy could not understand and didn’t know   20    to say.

What’s wrong with the girl’s answer? She didn’t   21   a compliment (恭維) in the same way as the American people do. She should answer, “Thank you” instead of “No”. She   22   understood what the American boy had said, but she thought she should be modest. In the   23   , people will feel proud and  24    when they are praised . So if someone says the   25    you have cooked are very delicious, you should say, “Thank you.”

In our country we think being modest is a virtue (美德) and being proud is a bad thing , but in my opinion, being confident does not   26   being proud, so sometimes you should be confident   27   being modest.

   28   you are modest and say, “No, I’m afraid I can’t do it well”, while working in a western country, the others may think that you really cannot do it. If you often say “No”, you will certainly be looked down upon by   29  . When asking for a job, if one says something like “Yes, I can certainly do it” instead of “Let me have a try”, he or she will   30    get it. So in the west, you should be brave to show your self-confidence.

1.A. excited        B. surprised    C. relaxed          D. frightened

2.A. itself     B. herself      C. himself          D. themselves

3.A. heard      B. watched      C. listened to      D. looked at

4.A. Though     B. Although     C. Or               D. But

5.A. when       B. which        C. what             D. how

6.A. receive        B. accept       C. refuse           D. disagree

7.A. hardly     B. really       C. rarely           D. badly

8.A. east       B. south        C. west             D. north

9.A. dutiful        B. modest       C. shameful         D. confident

10.A. dishes        B. cups         C. glasses          D. bowls

11.A. think     B. say          C. ask              D. mean

12.A. as soon as    B. as well as   C. instead of       D. in spite of

13.A. Unless        B. Until        C. Whether          D. If

14.A. another       B. the other    C. the others       D. others

15.A. fail to   B. expect to    C. succeed in       D. believe in

“You speak very good English”

The other day I heard an American say to a Chinese student of English. “You  41  very good English.” But the student answered, “ No, my English is very poor.” The foreigner was quite

  42  at the answer. Thinking he had not made himself  43  or the student had not heard him clearly, he said, “Yes, indeed, you speak it very well.” But the Chinese student still  44  saying  “No”.  45  the foreigner gave up and didn’t know what to say.

What’s wrong with the student’s answer? It is because he didn’t accept a compliment as the American people  46  . He should have said “Thank you” instead of “No”. He actually understood what the American had said. But he thought he should be modest. If someone says to a woman, “ You look  47  beautiful with the new clothes  48  .” she should be very happy and answer, “Thank you.” In our country we think  49  modest is a virtue and showing off is a bad behavior. But in the West, if you are modest and say, “ No,   50  I can’t do it well,” then the others will take it for granted (理所當(dāng)然)that you  51  can not do it. If you often say,“No”, you will certainly be looked down upon by  52  . When  53  for a job, if one says something like “Yes, I can certainly do it” instead of “ Let me have a try on the job”, he or she can expect to get it. So in the West, one should always be confident.  54  self-confidence, he can’t go anywhere. Confidence is of great  55  to one in a country where competition is quite keen.(激烈)

1.A. say     B. talk        C. speak    D. tell

2.A. surprising  B. surprised       C. laughed         D. laughing

3.A. understood        B. understand   C. to understand        D. understanding

4.A. keep  B. keeping         C. keeps    D. kept

5.A. At first        B. By the way    C. In the end     D. First of all

6.A. did     B. done     C. to do     D. do

7.A. such  B. such a   C. so D. so a

8.A. for     B. on          C. in  D. into

9.A. being B. be          C. having   D. have

10.A. I’m afraid B. I’m not sure  C. I don’t mind  D. I don’t know

11.A. hardly      B. really    C. badly     D. luckily

12.A. another   B. other    C. the other       D. others

13.A. asking       B. ask         C. provide          D. providing

14.A. With         B. Without         C. by D. under

15.A. importantly      B. unimportant C. important      D. importance