A
Asking for help is a sign of strength rather than weakness. In American culture, the independent individual is seen as their ideal. As the University of Missouri at St. Louis states on its website under the heading Key American Values, “Americans have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies.” The value also makes them think they can do everything themselves, and makes them feel badly about asking for help when they need it.
And when it comes to work situations, when they think about asking for help there, sometimes they fear that a request for help would make them look inept. While this has always been true for men, many women in the workplace have felt the need to try twice as hard as their male colleagues and do twice as much to get just as far and to prove their worth. Sometimes when we think about asking for help, our inner voices tell us, “See, if you admit you can’t do this on your own, they’ll see you for the imposter(骗子) you really are.”
But the fact is, even though individualism is on the rise, we can’t do everything by ourselves and we shouldn’t try.
Apple founder Steve Jobs once told the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association about the power of asking for help, and how he “never found anybody who didn’t want to help me when I asked them for help”. He said, at the age of 12, he called Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, on the phone after getting his number from the phone book and asking him for spare parts so he could build a frequency counter(计频器). And Hewlett agreed and offered young Jobs a summer job assembling frequency counters.
“If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far,” Jobs said.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. What key American values are.
B. Why Americans refuse to ask for help.
C. Asking for help is a sign of strength.
D. Americans are responsible for their life.
2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “inept” in Paragraph 2?
A. impolite B. identical
C. incompetent D. inappropriate
3. What can be learned from this US cultural phenomenon?
A. Americans suffer a lot from mutual distrust.
B. Americans see weakness as a sign of strength.
C. Americans should learn to build up confidence.
D. Americans lay emphasis on individual values.
4. What can we learn from Jobs’ words in the last paragraph?
A. Don’t hesitate to ask for assistance.
B. Be brave to try whatever you want.
C. Failure is the mother of success.
D. Learn to cooperate with others.
【答案】1. B 2. C 3. D 4. A
【解析】
【分析】
本文是夹叙夹议文。美国文化重视个体和独立。美国人从小就被训练要成为独立的个体，他们对自己的生活状况和命运负责。他们认为自己什么都能做，拒绝寻求帮助，担心寻求帮助会显得自己无能。事实上我们生活在一个需要互相帮助的世界，每一个人不能把一切都做了，如果需要帮助的话，请不要犹豫，因为这不是软弱的表现。
【1题详解】
主旨大意题。第一段主要叙述了在美国文化中，美国人从小就被训练成独立的个体，对自己的生活状况和命运负责。这种价值观也使他们认为自己可以做任何事，在需要帮助的时候寻求帮助会让他们感觉很糟糕。由此可推断出本段叙述了美国人拒绝寻求帮助的原因。分析选项可知B符合题意，故选B。
【2题详解】
猜测词义题。根据第一段“The value also makes them think they can do everything themselves, and makes them feel badly about asking for help when they need it.”可知，美国人认为他们什么都能做。划线部分后面的“ if you admit you can’t do this on your own,…”即“如果你承认自己不能做，…”。根据文中多次出现了“can”和“can’t”。及“when they think about asking for help there, sometimes they fear that a request for help would make them look inept.”可推测出，当他们求助时，他们有时害怕寻求帮助会让他们显得自己“不能做”，即“无能力的”。分析选项（A. impolite不礼貌的；B. identical相同的；C. incompetent无能力的，不称职的；D. inappropriate不合适的），可知C项符合题意，故选C。
【3题详解】
推理判断题。根据第一段“ In American culture, the independent individual is seen as their ideal.”以及“Americans have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies.”可推断出，美国文化中强调个人价值。分析选项可知D符合题意，故选D。
【4题详解】
推理判断题。根据最后一段Job 的话“…about the power of asking for help, and how he‘never found anybody who didn’t want to help me when I asked them for help’.”可知，当向他人求助时，人们都愿意提供帮助。Jobs并以自己为例，来说明向他人求助会得到帮助，对自己是有利的。因此他的意思就是有困难时，可以向他人求助，不要犹豫。分析选项可知A正确。
【点睛】在阅读中我们经常会考查猜测词义题。事实上，阅读材料中的每个词与它前后的词语或句子甚至段落都有联系。运用逻辑推理猜测词义是使用最广考查最多也最易失分的猜词方式，这要求考生具备整合分散、复杂信息的能力，充分利用上下文（各种已知信息）并结合具体的语境推测、判断某些词或短语的词义。根据第一段“The value also makes them think they can do everything themselves, and makes them feel badly about asking for help when they need it.”可知，美国人认为他们什么都能做。以此划线部分后面的“, if you admit you can’t do this on your own,…”如果你承认自己不能做，…根据文中多次出现了“can”和“can’t”。可知“when they think about asking for help there, sometimes they fear that a request for help would make them look inept.”可知，当他们求助时，他们有时害怕寻求帮助会让他们显得自己“不能做”，即“无能力的”。分析选项（A. impolite不礼貌的；B. identical相同的；C. incompetent无能力的，不称职的；D. inappropriate不合适的），可知C项符合题意，故选C。
