Americans: Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test

And what about the American (1) _______ of family? Most Americans live in one-storeyed houses with a lawn, two cars in the garage, two television sets and a few telephones. A typical family consists of parents and two children. When the children become (2) _______, they move out and live on their own. Hence, the family (3) _______ in America are not very strong. It is also not customary to live with grandparents. Americans protect in this way their (4) _______ and independence.

Although Americans care a lot about not being (5) _______, they are open and friendly. They are always ready to start a conversation in the street, in a store or subway. However, this is usually a meaningless ‘small talk’ which does not tell you anything about the person you are talking to. Still, Americans are very (6)_______ and always speak their minds. So if you need help or have a problem, you have to tell them directly. Otherwise, they will not react so as not to (7) _______ with your private life.

It is often said that Americans are a nation without roots. Indeed, they do not seem to be (8) _______ either to the house in which they live or the place of their work. Everything that (9) _______ in their lives is today: today’s home, today’s job, today’s friends... Nothing is (10) _______ as constant. Americans are more mobile than any other nation in the world. They are always on the move, (11) _______ looking for better prospects and a better life. In Europe there are people who have lived in the same house and been in the same job for 20, 30, 40 years and who would hate to pull up their roots and change to something new. That’s not the American way of life. They love change, they call it ‘the spirit of adventure’. So they still like to ‘move away’, to change homes and jobs.

Americans are often surprised when others (12) _______ their achievements, values or even their way of life. They are convinced that they are a unique nation which invented almost everything from the telephone to the artificial heart, and created the best of all possible worlds. True or not, they are proud of themselves and their country.

Answers:

1.B; 2.C; 3.D; 4.A; 5.C; 6.A; 7.B; 8.D; 9.C; 10.A; 11.B; 12.D