Even today, when air and road travel has made Africa so readily accessible to Europeans and Americans, there are innumerable aspects of African life which tend to take one by surprise. The unfamiliar lies hidden everywhere, and the presence of Western culture seems merely to emphasize this unfamiliarity. Basically, the essence of our reac¬tion to the strange, the unfamiliar, is a sense of fear. Every country contains landscapes that arouse unease—whether it be some remote Alpine valley, the wild lavender fields of Upper Province, or a lonely Norwegian fjord at twilight. But in my own experience West Africa contains more weird and eerie regions—rain-forest, mangroveswamp, parched plains of red earth—than any other place that I have seen. It is not only in the foreigner that these landscapes evoke fear. A large part of all old African religions is devoted to soothing the unknown and the unseen—evil spirits which live in a particular tree or a particular rock, a thousand varieties of ghosts and witches, the ever-present spirits of dead ancestors or relatives. I have myself been kept awake at night in Calabar by a friend from Lagos who was con¬vinced that the witches of the east were out to get him, or that he was about to be kidnapped and eaten. During four and a half hours in a canoe along the creeks of the Niger della, gliding over the still and colorless water beneath an equally still and colorless but burning sky, I, too, have experienced a sense of fear, or at least a sense of awe. Ex¬cept for the ticking of the little outboard engine the silence was complete. On either hand stretched the silver-white swamps of mangrove, seeming, with their awkward exposed roots, to be standing knee-deep in the water. Where the creek narrowed you could peer deep into these thickets of mangroves—vistas secret, interminable and somehow meaningless. There was no sign of life except for the shrill screech of some unseen bird.I was on my way to the ancient slaving port of Bonny, which we reached in late afternoon. Scrambling up some derelict stone steps (slithery with slime and which had managed to detach themselves from the landing-stage so that you had to jump a two-foot gap to reach wet land), 1 found myself in an area of black mud and tumbled blocks of stone.1.There are features of Western culture which are present in West Africa（ ）.2.A lot of the old African religion has to do with （ ）3.The author was kept awake by（ ）.4.“ Mangrove” means（ ）
A.This fact makes it easier to accept the unfamiliarity of West Africa, B.This fact makes West Africa seem even stranger. C.This fact makes no difference to our reaction to West Africa. D.This fact has been greatly overemphasized.
问题2：
A.kidnapping people B.keeping the spirits awake C.human sacrifice D.keeping the spirits happy
问题3：
A.a ghost B.his friend C.the witches D.eerie feelings
问题4：
A.a sort of bird B.a sort of man C.a sort of tree D.a sort of animal
相关问题推荐
-
This ticket （ ）you to a free meal in our new restaurant.
A.permits B.entitles C.grants D.credits -
My eldest sister went on with the story and young children around her（ ） with wonderful!” from time to time.
A.broke out B.broke off C.broke in D.broke up -
Some sociologists are worried about the （ ） throughout the whole society.
A.fraudulent B.generous C.dynamic D.compulsive -
As the world’s largest grain exporter, the United States has （ ） power over the world food distribution system.
A.assorted B.unrivaled C.compounded D.intrigued -
s="" diplomacy,="" are="" conducted="" through="" interpreters.For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are, slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand.1.It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably（ ） .2.The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their（ ） .3.American people ignore cultural differences in other countries because （ ）.4.According to the author, Americans culture blindness and linguistic ignorance will （ ）.5.The author’s intention in writing this article is to make Americans realize that（ ） .'>
Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one’s side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell.Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War II and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that "Gift" means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm’s length away from others, Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable.Our linguistic and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world.Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public: buildings or monuments, we do not have multilingual waiters bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them.When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The, attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives-usually the richer-who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation's diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters.For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are, slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand.1.It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably（ ） .2.The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their（ ） .3.American people ignore cultural differences in other countries because （ ）.4.According to the author, Americans culture blindness and linguistic ignorance will （ ）.5.The author’s intention in writing this article is to make Americans realize that（ ） .
A.stand still B.step forward C.jump aside D.draw back
问题2：
A.cultural self-centeredness B.indifference towards foreign affairs C.casual manners D.arrogance towards other cultures
问题3：
A.they can afford it with powerful economy and great wealth B.they are aggressive