ItissometimessaidthattheEnglisharepolitepeople.Thiscanmakelifedifficultforforeigners.SupposeaforeignboyasksanEnglishgirltogooutwithhimandshesays,“IfIfinishmywork,I’llmeetyouinthecafeat7o’clock.”Isshesaying“yes”or“no”tohisinvitation?

Ingrammaticalterms,sheisusingtheconditionalstructure(表示条件的句式).Byusingtheconditional,speakersofEnglishcanavoidgivinga“yes”or“no”answertoaquestion.Itenablespeopletobediplomatic(婉转的).Ifthegirldoesn’twanttogooutwiththeboy,shewon’tturnupatthecafe.Shewilllethimunderstandsheisstillworking.Ifshewantstogooutwithhim,butdoesn’twanttoappeartooeasytocatch,shehasachievedthatwithherreply.Butinthiscase,assheusesthefirstconditionalwhichshowsprobability,sheisquitelikelytoturnupatthecafe.Beingpolitecanmakelifeverydifficult!

Theconditionalisoftenusedbypeopleinthenews--politicians,forexample--whowishtoavoidspeakingouttheirideas.Thisisveryimportantiftheyareontheirwaytodiscussanagreement.Noonewantstogiveawayhisorherpointsbeforeheorshestarts.Agovernmentspokesmanmightsaytoagroupofworkers,“Ifwecouldpayyoumore,wewould.”Theuseoftheconditionalheremakesroomforargumentalthoughthespeakerisusingthesecondconditionalform,whichshowsimprobability.Soitisunlikelytheworkerswillgettheirrise.

“If”isasmallword,whichappearsoftenintheEnglishlanguage.Itcanshowpoliteness,reportedspeechandconditionalssuchastheFirst--probability--ifIcancometoyourparty,Iwill;theSecond--improbability--ifIsawyoutomorrow,I’dgiveyouthebook;andtheThird--impossibility(meaningitistoolatetochangesomethingthathashappened)--ifyouhavetoldme,Iwouldhavehelpedyou.

60.Theusingoftheconditionalcanmakeaspeech_________.

A.clearer B.quicker C.morepolite D.moreexciting

61.Whichofthefollowingistrueaccordingtothepassage?

A.Languageusedinthenewsshouldmakeroomtoargue.

B.UsuallyEnglishgirlsarenoteasytocatch.

C.Englishp