If Confucius(孔子）were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be many 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 include 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：本文阐述了西方学生学习中国的文化的现象，并告诉我们中国古代伟大的思想家—孔子的思想仍然受到人们的追捧。
【小题1】推断题：第一段选说如果孔子仍然活着并能庆祝生日的话，将会有很多的蜡烛，他需要一个扇子或很大的风才能吹灭，是为了吸引读者的注意力，让读者继续读下去。故选B。
【小题2】推断题：根据第四段第一句“In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities.”和第四句中的“are racing to learn Chinese可知，美国学生对中国文化很感兴趣，故选A。
【小题3】推理题：本文主要向我们介绍了孔子思想对西方的影响，以用将来可能产生的影响，故选D。
【小题4】推断题：本文向我们介绍了孔子思想对西方的影响，以用将来可能产生的影响，应该是出自报纸，所以选C。