If Confucius(孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has bee a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
【小题1】The opening paragraph is mainly intended to .A．provide some key facts about ConfuciusB．attract the readers’ interest in the subjectC．show great respect for the ancient thinkerD．prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations【小题2】We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students .A．have a great interest in studying ChineseB．take an active part in Chinese petitionsC．try to get high scores in Chinese examsD．fight for a chance to learn Chinese【小题3】What is the best title for the passage?A．Forgotten Wisdom in AmericaB．Huge Fans of the Chinese LanguageC．Chinese Culture for WesternersD．Old Thinker with a Big Future【小题4】The passage is likely to appear in . A．a biographyB．a history paperC．a newspaperD．a philosophy textbookB
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(答案→)B
解析：这篇文章主要介绍了孔子的思想对外国的学生非常的感兴趣，说明中国的文化越来越受到西方的关注，很多人都非常喜欢学习中国的文化以此来了解中国。
【小题1】推断题。从文章第一段可知，作者用很幽默的笔法来说明如果孔子要到现在过生日，那蜡烛是很多的，需要用风扇才能够吹灭，所以作者在吸引读者的注意力，故选B
【小题2】细节题。从文章Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. 可知，美国的学生对中国文化也特别的感兴趣，都竞相学习中文，故选A
【小题3】主旨题。从文章So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well. 及As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is. 可知最好的标题应该是D
【小题4】推断题。这篇文章主要介绍了孔子的思想对外国的学生非常的感兴趣，说明中国的文化越来越受到西方的关注，很多人都非常喜欢学习中国的文化以此来了解中国。故本文应该出现在报纸上故选C