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PASSAGE 10 How Men Face the Fat Problem It is a pleasure to see men of a certain age worrying about their weight. Listening to them is not such a pleasure. Because the men are new at the game， they don't hesitate to discuss the fat problem incessantly1. However， women of the sae age do not discuss the fat problem， especially not in mixed company. They prefer to face the problem with quiet dignity. Discussing the problem might only draw attention to some stray body part that may be successfully tucked away under an article of clothing. The age at which a man begins to explore the fat problem can vary. The actual problem can manifest itself in the early 30's， but broad-range discussion usually starts later. There are early nonverbal symptoms. I've watched the rugged3 journalist who shares my apartment sneak4 by with a Diet Coke. His shirts are no longer neatly5 tucked in to display a trim waist. Recently he has begun to verbalize his anxiety. He tells me， with a sheepish grin， that he is taking his suits to Chinatown to have them “tailored.” Still-older men have lost their dignity and rattle6 on unabashedly. Often， wives and children play important roles in their fat-inspection rituals. Take my oldest brother， a former college football player. His daughter says that several times a day he will stand at attention and call out， “Fat， medium or thin？” She knows the correct answer： medium. Thin would be an obvious stretch， and fat may not get her that new video. According to his wife， he stands in front of the mirror in the morning （before the day's meals take their toll7）， puts his hands behind his head and lurches into a side bend， then clutches the roll that has developed and says， “Am I getting fatter？” His wife is expected to answer， “You look like you may have lost a few pounds.” And then there are the ex-husbands， a pitiful group. They are extremely vocal8. When I go to the movies with one， he confides9 that he is suffering from great hunger because he is dieting. He hasn't eaten since the pancakes and sausages he wolfed down that morning. He pauses in his monologue10 while he buys his popcorn11. After the movie， we sprint12 to a restaurant， where he again pauses to devour13 a basket of bread. Before he orders his chaste14 salad and soup， he grows plaintive15. Do I think he's fat？ 1. Men of a certain age are always ready to talk about their fat problem. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 2. Women of a certain age donot discuss the fat problem， especially in the presence of men. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 3. Men usually begin to worry about their weight when they are nearly 40. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 4. The journalist used to drink Diet Coke and tuck his shirts in order to keep trim. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 5. Men older than the journalist never hesitate to talk about their fat problem yet would be displeased16 if their family members tell them the truth. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 6. My oldest brother's daughter would not tell her father he is fat because she loves him so much that she cannot bear to upset him. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 7. The ex-husbands are pitiful because they have got no wives to sympathize with their fat problem. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned KEY： AABBABC PASSAGE 11 Too polite for Words ?A Japanese colleague the other day was talking about a meeting with a man whom she abruptly17 described using the English word “jerk”。 I thought she was toning down her Japanese for my benefit， so I asked her how to say “jerk” in Japanese. “There's no such word.” she answered helplessly. “we have to use 'jerk' ”。 Heaven knows it's not as if there are no jerks in Japan. But the Japanese language is just not made for sniping at people. At first， I thought maybe my Japanese teachers had been too polite to teach me the real lingo18， so watched to see what Japanese drivers would say to each other after a accident. It turned out that they say： “I'm sorry.” Gradually I came to realize that there is perhaps no language so ill suited to invective19 as Japanese. Linguistically21， these guys are wimps22. Take the vicious Japanese insult “kisama，” which is deeply offensive. It means “your honorable self.” That's right. Instead of using all kinds of dirty words， the Japanese insult each other by frowning and growing： “Your honorable self.” Likewise， a nasty expression for a woman is “ana，” another term not to try with the nice woman at the sushi restaurant. But literally23 it means “nun24”ure， sarcasm25 may be intended， but still most women would probably prefer to be characterized as a nun than as a female dog. Since people are least inhibited26 when they are shaking their fists at each other， insults offer a window into a culture. I've been interested in such terms ever since I arrived in Cairo a dozen years ago to study Arabic and discovered that my name was a curse. “Nick” sounds very much like the imperative27 of an extremely vulgar for sex. I would introduce myself in Arabic， and my new acquaintance would flee in horror. There's no such danger in Japanese. There are explicit28 terms for sex and for body parts， crude as well as clinical， but they are descriptive rather than insulting. There is one exception. One of the meanest things one Japanese child can say to another is： “Omaeno kaachan debeso.” That means： “ Your mom's belly29 button sticks out.” This has no deep Freudian meaning； it simply means that your mother is rude and ugly. 1. The Japanese woman used the English word “jerk” so as to make it easier for me to understand her A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 2. The Japanese people cannot fully2 demonstrate their anger because their language is not suitable for sniping at people. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 3. From the linguistic20 perspective， Japanese drivers are cowards， A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 4. The Japanese insult each other by showing their respect in an ironic30 way. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 5. People in other languages may insult a woman with an expression meaning， literally， “a female dog”。 A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 6. The word “Nick” in the Arabic language is a curse. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 7. “Omaeno kaachan debeso ” is different from other nasty expressions in Japanese in that it is insulting both in its literal meaning and in its practical use. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned Key： BCACABA 点击  收听单词发音
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