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Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, “Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us.” That “quite” saddened me. I thought he was saying “we’re kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.” Then I discovered that in American English “quite” sometimes means “very”, while in British English it means “fairly”.
So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don’t just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures （文化）.
Some of these differences may be only on the surface—dress, food and hours of work—while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate （气候）, while getting on with business.
Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality（准时）. If you invite people to a party at 7 o’clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word “late” because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.
1. The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought ______.
A. the American bank didn’t think much of him
B. the American bank might hire another person
C. it’s difficult to get used to American culture
D. it’s easy to misunderstand Americans
2. The word “highlights” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
A. encourages
B. helps to narrow
C. increases
D. draws attention to
3. According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?
A. Ask the native people for help.
B. Understand and accept them.
C. Do things in our own way.
D. Do in-depth research.
4. When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are ______.
A. Italians
B. Germans
C. Greeks
D. the British
pleased adj . 高兴的
sadden v . 使悲伤
discover v . 发现
highlight v . 强调，突显
improvement n . 提高，改善
punctuality n . 准时
turn up 出现
prefer v . 选择，倾向于
1. I thought he was saying “we’re kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.”
although I wish we had hired someone else是让步状语从句，表示转折。而且，wish后用的是虚拟语气。
（参考译文） 我认为他是说“尽管我们原本希望雇用别人，但是你决定加入我们，我们也是高兴的。”
2. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate, while getting on with business.
accepting them与getting used to the differences并列，做介词of的宾语。
（参考译文） 更多时候，这就是一个适应并接受这些不同（如气候的差异），同时继续做自己的事情的问题。