阅读理解。
Many people take it for granted that black is a color of bad things while white should always mean
something good. This may be because, in their opinion, black is related to darkness and white to purity.
However, that is not always the case. Did you know that the same one color may mean something
differently in different places of the world?
In the English-speaking world, black is the color of mourning-people wear black at the funeral. Red is
concerned with danger or bloodshed(伤亡). Yellow is the word for fear. If you are afraid, you are yellow. Yet none of these sayings is true outside the English-speaking world. In China and Korea white is the color of mourning. In Russia, China and some other countries, red stands for beauty, life and excellence. In Italy and Germany, you are yellow with anger, not with fear.
Even within the English-speaking area, it is not difficult to find color contradictions(矛盾). A redcap in
the United States is a porter in a railway station. In Britain, however, a redcap is a military policeman. Both names are logical, because both men wear red caps. Similarly, the British term for an American
white-collar worker is sometimes called a black-coated worker.
One does not have to cross an area to find color differences. Would you rather be red-blooded or a
blue-blooded? If we go back to the origin, we find that both terms are logical as both names suggest. The expression "blueblood" comes from Spain, where some noble families proudly told the world that they had "blue blood". Actually they meant that they had no Moorish or Jewish blood. But then why "blue" blood?
Because they were fair-skinned, and it is only natural that their blood vessels (血管) stood out appearing
blue.
1. Yellow is concerned with anger in _____.
A. India
B. Britain
C. China
D. Italy
2. Both Britain and America would probably agree that _____.
A. a redcap is a porter in a station
B. black is the color of mourning
C. red stands for beauty and excellence
D. a black-coated worker is employed in an office
3. In Britain , a redcap is a _____.
A. porter
B. nobleman
C. clerk
D. military policeman
4. The best title for this reading selection is _____.
A. The Origin of Blue Blood
B. Colors that Carry Bad Meanings
C. The Meaning Concerned with Certain Colors
D. The Development of the Symbolic Use of Colors
