Close contacts between Japan and the rest of the world were created in the twentieth century. In the last forty years, business contacts between Japan and the West have become very important. Many foreign companies now have offices in Japan and Japanese businessmen do business around the world. Differences between Japanese and Western ways of doing business, however, often
bewilder foreign businessmen and make doing business in Japan difficult for foreigners.
The American businessman, for example, wants to start talking business immediately. He does not want to wait. The Japanese businessman, on the other hand, likes to arrive at decisions after giving them serious thought. Another thing foreign businessmen have difficulty in understanding is when a Japanese means “Yes” or “No”. This is because of cultural differences between Japanese and Western society(社会), Which make it difficult for a Japanese to say “No” directly.
In the USA, it is easy to say “No” to something one does not want to do. But in Japan, it is very difficult to say “No”. To refuse an invitation or a request(请求) with “No” is felt to be impolite. It is thought to be selfish and unfriendly. So instead of saying “No” directly, the Japanese have developed many ways to avoid(避免) saying “No”. These can help them avoid hurting other people’s feelings. However, this often makes their ways of doing business rather difficult for foreigners to understand and follow.
小题1:What often makes foreigners feel difficult to do business in Japan?
| A．Their different ways of doing business. |
| B．Their different lifestyles. |
| C．The fact that the Japanese never say “No”. |
| D．The fact that the Japanese are slow to take action. |
小题2:Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined expression “bewilder foreign businessmen” in Paragraph One?
| A．cause foreign businessmen to change their minds. |
| B．give a feeling of surprise to foreign businessmen. |
| C．attract foreign businessmen’s attention. |
| D．make foreign businessmen think wrongly. |
小题3:What fact does the passage lead you to believe?
| A．American businessmen do things more slowly than Japanese ones. |
| B．American businessmen like to say “Yes” and “No”. |
| C．Americans usually say what they are thinking. |
| D．Americans do not say what they think or feel clearly. |
小题4: From the passage we can infer(推断) that __________.
| A．Japanese businessmen are good at business |
| B．foreign businessmen should try to know Japanese ways of doing business |
| C．foreign businessmen must be more polite |
| D．you must learn from Japanese businessmen if you want to succeed |
