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, '1 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.
小題1:The writer went to America by ______.
| A．plane | B．ship | C．bus | D．train |
小題2:The writer went to America for______ .
| A．education | B．business | C．holiday | D．friendship |
小題3:The American thought "a ring" should be a________ .
| A．phone call | B．present | C．person | D．letter |
小題4:Englishmen usually wash up________ .
| A．after dinner | B．after a journey |
| C．when they are tired | D．before they telephone someone |
小題5:The third floor in England is the ______floor in America.
| A．first | B．second | C．third | D．Fourth |
