阅读理解。
Like most English children, I learned foreign languages at school. When I made my first visit to the
United States, I was sure I could have a nice and easy holiday without any language problem. But how
wrong I was!
At the American airport, I was looking for a public telephone to tell my friend Danny that I had arrived.
An American asked if he could help me. "Yes," I said, "I want to give my friend a ring."
"Well, that's nice. Are you getting married?" he asked. "No," I replied, "I just want to tell him I have
arrived." "Oh," he said, "there is a phone downstairs on the first floor." "But we're on the first floor now,"
I said.
"Well, I don't know what you are talking about Maybe you aren't feeling too well after your journey,"
he said."Just go and wash up, and you will feel a lot better." And he went off, leaving me wondering where
on earth I was: At home we wash up after a meal to get the cups and plates clean. How can I wash up at an
airport?
At last we did meet. Danny explained the misunderstanding: Americans say "to give someone a call", but
we English say "to give somebody a ring". When we say "to wash your hands", they say "to wash up". And
Englishmen start numbering from the ground floor so the first floor is the second for Americans.
1. The writer went to America by ______.
A. plane
B. ship
C. bus
D. train
2. The writer went to America for ______.
A. education
B. business
C. holiday
D. friendship
3. The American thought "a ring" should be a ______.
A. phone call
B. present
C. person
D. letter
4. Englishmen usually wash up ______.
A. after dinner
B. after a journey
C. when they are tired
D. before they telephone someone
5. The third floor in England is the ______ floor in America.
A. first
B. second
C. third
D. Fourth
