One day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying “You don’t say!” I was puzzled, and I thought , “Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about.” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?”
“Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful!” “Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come to visit it.” As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, “You don’t say!”
I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it? ”
“Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised.
“Did you say ‘You don’t say!’?” I asked again.
Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain, “‘You don’t say!’ means ‘Really’. Perhaps you know little about English idioms(慣用語).”
Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.
小題1:The writer was puzzled because .
| A．the foreigner has some difficulty in understanding him. |
| B．the writer himself didn’t understand the meaning of “You don’t say!” |
| C．the foreigner was not polite. |
| D．the writer was very clever |
小題2:What made the foreigner laugh?
| A．The English idioms | B．The writer’s talking about the Great Wall |
| C．The writer’s explanation | D．The writer’s question |
小題3:The story probably happened in .
| A．China | B．America | C．England | D．Canada |
小題4:The writer was puzzled in the passage.
| A．once | B．twice | C．three times | D．four times |
小題5:The English idiom “You don’t say!” means “ ”
| A．Thank you | B．OK | C．Really | D． Sorry |
f their careers faster and more easily than they did in the past. Many men, on the other hand, like the idea of staying at home and looking after the children. “My children see a lot more of me than I saw of my father when I was young, and I think it’s better for them, especially for the boys,” says Da
vid. “It works just as well for Laura.”