Time to Relax （放松）

I attend Boston University. One-third of the students who attend this school are international
students. They come from all over the world, many of them from Latin America. There is a large,
comfortable dining hall on campus. I go there every day during school with my friends. Many of
them are from Latin America and Spain. For the most part, the American students eat lunch in the
dining hall between noon and two o'clock. I rarely see any of them stay for more than an hour.
They get their food and eat as quickly as they can. When they leave, the dining hall is still full of
Latinos （ 拉 丁 美 洲 人 ). The Latinos stay for several hours talking, laughing, smoking, and
drinking soda and coffee. Sometimes their lunch goes until four o'clock. They stay as long as their
friends stay. They don't leave because they have to do something else. I think there are also a lot
of Arab (阿拉伯的) students there. They seem to take more time to eat and talk as well.
I think the Latinos stay longer for three reasons. First, they are used to eating their breakfast,
lunch, and dinner later in the day than Americans eat theirs. Second, they are used to taking more
time at each meal, eating slowly and leisurely. They don’t eat more food; they just take more time.
Third, I think that family and friends are more important to Spanish speakers than school or
work. They would rather relax and talk to their friends during a meal than rush off to study or
work. Maybe this is not true everywhere, but I think it is true here at Boston University.
1. From the passage, we may guess that the writer comes from

A. the United States

B. South America
C. Arab
D. Spain
2. The Latinos spend most of their lunchtime.
A. eating delicious food
B. talking about their studies
C. waiting for their orders
D. chatting with friends
3. When the American students end their meal, they usually_____.
A. leave in a hurry
B. look worried
C. have some drinks
D. stay a little longer
4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The dining hall usually closes at 4 o'clock.
B. Americans are not friendly with people.
C. Arab students take longer lunchtime.
D. Latinos are not busier than Americans.
5. One of the reasons that Latinos have longer lunchtime is that______.
A. they get up late in the morning
B. lunch is the major meal of the day
C. talking is more important than eating
D. they consider meals as a time to rest
Something’s Fishy Here
Steve and Mark were good friends. They decided to spend their vacation in Haiti. Since they 1 no
French, they took a French word book with them and hoped it would help them in difficult
situations.
The flight was 2 , and the hotel was very comfortable. Each day after breakfast, Steve and
Mark 3 a picnic lunch and dinner and went off to visit interesting places. After a while, the boys
became tired of 4 picnic meals and decided to eat a big fish dinner in a good restaurant.
Unfortunately, they 5 their word book in the hotel.
They 6 the menu carefully. After ten minutes, Steve said to Mark: I don't understand this
menu.”
"Neither do I," said Mark, I see poison （毒药）on this menu. Are they 7 here?"
"Maybe. They even spelled poison 8 . They spelled it p-o-i-s-s-o-n instead of p-o-i-s-o-n, But it
must mean the same thing. Maybe we should go to _9_ restaurant. I don't want to eat something
that will kill me”
But Mark was tired, 10 he said： "There is no other restaurant near here, and I'm tired of
walking around the city. Let's order something else instead. It's 11 here, so the food must be
good.”
The boys looked at the menu again. They finally decided to order steak （牛排）， 12 they
really wanted fish. The boys just pointed to the word steak, and the waiter understood.
As they were eating, they heard some tourists speaking English. "This 13 is delicious.”
"We’re lucky we picked a restaurant that's famous for its fish.”
Steve and Mark wondered about what they discovered.
“Famous for its fish? There was no fish on 14 ” said Mark.
Finally, Steve decided to find out what all this was about.
Excuse me, how did you order fish when it wasn't on the menu?"
"Sure it's on the menu. It’s right here. Poisson.”
The boys shouted:
"Poisson. That's poison! We were wondering 15 a restaurant like this could have poison on the
menu."
The tourists laughed. One of them said:"No. Poisson is French for fish."
1. [A] talked [B] spoke [C] said [D] told
2. [A] terrible [B] easy [C] excellent [D] hard
3. [A] packed [B] ordered [C] carried [D] covered
4. [A] buying [B] suffering [C] eating [D] enjoying
5. [A] reviewed [B] kept [C] lost [D] left
6. [A] checked [B] studied [C] compared [D] turned
7. [A] crazy [B] stupid [C] cruel [D] funny
8. [A] foolish [B] terrible [C] careless [D] wrong
9. [A] another [B] the other [C] other [D] others
10. [A] so [B] then [C]as [D] now
11. [A] modern [B] crowded [C] convenient [D] comfortable
12. [A] since [B] because [C] and [D] although
13. [A] steak [B] meal [C] fish [DI food
14. A. the table B. show C. the menu D. sale
15. why B. how C. what D. whether