In Africa, listening is a guiding principle .It’s a principle that’ been lost in the constant chat of the Western world .From my own past experience , I noticed how much faster I had to answer a question during a TV interview .It is as if we have pletely lost the ability to listen .We talk and talk , and we end up frightened by silence .
Everywhere, people on the African continent write and tell stories. Even the nomads(流浪者)who still live in the Kalahari Desert are said to tell one another stories on their daylong wanderings, during which they search for roots and animals to hunt.
A number of years ago I sat down on a stone bench outside the Teatro Avenida in Maputo, Mozambique, where I worked as an artistic consultant. It was a hot day, and we were taking a break, hoping that a cool gentle wind would move past. Two old African men were sitting on that bench, but there was room for me, too. In Africa people share more than just water. Even when it es to shade, people are generous.
I heard the two men talking about a third old man who had recently died. One of them said, “I was visiting him at his home. He started to tell me an amazing story about something that had happened to him when he was young. But it was a long story. Night came, and I decided that I should e back the next day to hear the rest. But when I arrived, he was dead.”
The man fell silent. I decided not to leave that bench until I heard how the other man would respond to what he’d heard. Finally he, too, spoke. “That’s not a good way to die—before you’ve told the end of your story.”
What separates us from animals is the fact that we are storytelling creatures and we can listen to other people’s dreams, fears, joys, sorrows, desires and defeats—and they in turn can listen to ours.
Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge. They are not the same thing. Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening.
Many words will be written on the wind and the sand, or end up in store. But the storytelling will go on until the last human being stops listening. Then we can send the great record of human out into the endless universe.
Who knows? Maybe someone is out there, willing to listen…
【小题1】From the very beginning of the passage, we can know Europeans .A．actually lose the ability to listenB．seldom chat constantly with each otherC．feel frightened when they are alone and silentD．tend to talk more and listen less【小题2】 It can be inferred from the passage that if you are in Africa, you will .A．suffer hot weather and lack of waterB．be certainly helped when in trouble C．often hear the stories told by strangersD．have no choice but to listen during a talk【小题3】According to the last three paragraphs, we can know .A．no one knows exactly why Africans are willing to listenB．information is hard to understand without interpretationC．listening makes the difference between information and knowledgeD．the existence of humans’ recordings totally depends on the way of storytelling【小题4】The passage mainly talks about .A．the experience of the authorB．the art of listening in Africa C．the importance of storytellingD．the life styles of AfricansD
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(答案→)D
解析：人和动物的本质区别就是我们能够倾听其他人的梦想、恐惧、快乐、忧伤、追求和成败，反过来，其他人也会倾听我们。在非洲，学会倾听是一个人处世的基本品质。在文中作者通过讲述自己的经历介绍了非洲人的倾听艺术。
【小题1】D细节理解题。根据文章首段listening is a guiding principle .It’s a principle that’ been lost in the constant chat of the Western world . It is as if we have pletely lost the ability to listen .We talk and talk可知倾听这种行为准则似乎在西方世界消失了，人们往往听的少而说的多，故答案选D。
【小题2】C推理判断题。文章第二段提到在非洲大陆上甚至连流浪者都会彼此讲故事听，再根据下文作者的经历可以判断非洲人非常友好，不仅可以和陌生人分享水，也可以分享阴凉，当然也可以分享他们的故事，故答案选C。
【小题3】C推理判断题。作者在文章倒数第二段提出Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge…Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening，由此判断信息不包含倾听的艺术，而知识却包含倾听在内，故答案选C。
【小题4】B主旨大意题。文章开头提出In Africa, listening is a guiding principle .然后作者通过讲述自己的经历来证明了这一点，文章最后又通过But the storytelling will go on until the last human being stops listening.进一步深化主题，由此判断文章中心是关于非洲人的倾听艺术，答案选B。