IwasbornandraisedinEnglandinaculturewhereprivacyand"keepingyourselftoyourself"werevaluedtraditions．Speakingtostrangerswasnotencouraged．Peopleweremosthospitable（好客的）andfriendly．

However，IhavebeenluckyenoughtospendsometimeinbothItalyandtheUS，whereIfoundtraditionsofhospitalityandpolitenesstobeverydifferent．

IexperiencedItalianhospitalityfirst-handonacrowdedrailwaycarriagetravelling，oneafternoon，fromGenoatoFlorence．Sinkinggratefullyintoanemptyseat，IwasscoldedinrapidItalianbyagentlemanwhowasreturningtothisseat-ithadnotbeen"spare"afterall．IapologizedinEnglish，andgotuptoallowhimbackintotheseat．ThegentlemanobviouslyhadnounderstandingoftheEnglishlanguage，buthe，too，realizedmygenuine（真诚的） mistake．Hesmiledandgesturedformetoremainintheseat，andhehimselfremainedstandinginthecorridorfortheremainderofthejourney．Theotheroccupantsofthecarriagesmiledandnoddedatmeandmademefeelquitewelcomeamongstthem．IfeelthatifthishadbeeninEngland，aforeignerwhomadeamistakewouldnotalwaysbesokindlytreated．

TransportalsofeaturedinthedifferencesInoticedbetweenEnglishandAmericanculture．IflewtoNewYorkonaplanewithmainlyEnglishpassengers．Wesattogetherinnearsilence．Nobodyspoketomenor，asIexpected，toanyoneelsetheydidnotknow．Theyfeltitwasnotpolitetointerruptsomeoneelse'sprivacy．However，whenItravelledacrosstheUnitedStates，whetherbyplaneorGreyhoundbus，Iwasnevershortofconversation．Conversationwasgoingonallaroundmeandwhoeversatnexttomewashappytointroducethemselvesandaskmeaboutmyself．Theyobviouslyfeltitwouldhavebeenrudenottospeaktoanotherperson，whethertheywerestrangersornot．

25．WhatdoweknowabouttheoccupantswhentheauthorwastravellinginItaly？___

A．Theywereallonthesideofthegentleman．

B．Theyalllaughedattheauthorforhismistake．

C．Theywouldnotbearamistakeliketheauthor'sinpublic．

D．Theyallshowedtheirunderstandingoftheauthor'smistake．

26．HowdoestheauthorfinallybelievestheItalianpeopleare？___

A．Cold B．Ru