Question

[Lê Quỳnh Anh]

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

           In most discussions of cultural diversity, attention has focused on visible, explicit aspects of culture, such as language, dress, food, religion, music, and social rituals. Although they are important, these visible expressions of culture, which are taught deliberately and learned consciously, are only the tip of the iceberg of culture. Much of culture is taught and learned implicitly, or outside awareness. Thus, neither cultural insiders nor cultural outsiders are aware that certain “invisible” aspects of their culture exist.

          Invisible elements of culture are important to us. For example, how long we can be late before being impolite, what topics we should avoid in a conversation, how we show interest or attention through listening behaviour, what we consider beautiful or ugly- these are all aspects of culture that we learn and use without being aware of it. When we meet other people whose invisible cultural assumptions differ from those we have learned implicitly, we usually do not recognize their behaviour as cultural in origin.

           Differences in invisible culture can cause problems in cross-cultural relations. Conflicts may arise when we are unable to recognize others’ behavioural differences as cultural rather than personal. We tend to misinterpret other people’s behaviour, blame them, or judge their intentions or competence without realizing that we are experiencing cultural rather than individual differences.

           Formal organizations and institutions, such as schools, hospitals, workplaces, governments, and the legal system are collection sites for invisible cultural differences. If the differences were more visible, we might have less misunderstanding. For example, if we met a man in a courthouse who was wearing exotic clothes, speaking a language other than ours, and carrying food that looked strange, we would not assume that we understood his thoughts and feelings or that he understood ours. Yet when such a man is dressed similarly to us, speaks our language, and does not differ from us in other obvious ways, we may fail to recognize the invisible cultural differences between us. As a result, mutual misunderstanding may arise.

The phrase “the tip of the iceberg” in paragraph 1 means that ___________.

A. most aspects of culture cannot be seen

B. we usually focus on the highest forms of culture

C. other cultures seem cold to us

D. visible aspects of culture are learned in formal institutions

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Đáp án A

Cụm “the tip of the iceberg” trong đoạn 1 có nghĩa ______

A. phần lớn khía cạnh văn hoá không thể nhìn thấy

B. chúng ta thường chỉ chú trọng hình thức tối cao của văn hoá

C. các văn hoá khác có vẻ xa cách, lạnh lung với chúng ta

D. các khía cạnh bề nổi được tiếp thu qua các cơ quan chính quy

The tip of the iceberg: phần nổi tảng băng trôi.

Nguyên lý này nói đến những thứ ta dễ nhận thấy được chỉ là phần nổi của một sự vật, sự việc. Còn phần lớn hơn, quan trọng hơn lại là phần chìm, không nhận thấy được.

Tác giả có ý muốn nói phần lớn khía cạnh văn hoá là phần chìm mà ta không nhận thấy được.