It’s time people stopped using the word “Dear...” to start work e-mails. That’s according to Giselle Barry, a woman who works in the United States Congress (国会). She surprised lots of people by starting an email to a group of journalists (记者) with the words “Hey, folks.”

Ms Barry thinks “Dear” is too intimate and makes it sound like you have a personal relationship with the person you are writing to.

It seems she’s not alone. E-mail and the Internet have changed the rules about how to write. In the past, there was no choice, but now you can see e-mails from people starting with “hello”, “hi” and even “hey”.

The American newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, wrote “Across the Internet, the use of ‘dear’ is going...”

But not everyone agrees with Ms Barry. Etiquette(礼仪) expert Jean Broke-Smith says, “I’m fed up with people writing ‘Hi Jean’ when they’ve never met me.”

“If you’re sending a business e-mail you should begin ‘Dear…’—like a letter. Politeness and etiquette are important.”

1.Ms Barry works in ________.

A China

B Japan

C the UK

D the US

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据第一段第二句That’s according to Giselle Barry, a woman who works in the United States Congress (国会).可知Ms Barry 在美国国会工作。故选D。

2.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “intimate”?

A Private.

B Stupid.

C Easy.

D Old.

解析：选A。A 词义猜测题。根据第二段“sound like you have a personal relationship with the person you are writing to”（听起来好像和你写邮件的对象有私人关系）可知划线单词intimate与private同义。故选A。

3.Who believes that emails should start with “Dear…”?

A Giselle Barry.

B Jean Broke-Smith.

C No one.

D Everyone.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据第五段意思可知，礼仪专家Jean Broke-Smith不赞同Ms Barry；根据最后一段意思可知Jean Broke-Smith认为邮件应该以“Dear…”开始。故选B。

4.A formal letter usually starts with “________”.

A Hey

B Dear

C Hello

D Hi

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据最后一段第一句If you’re sending a business e-mail you should begin ‘Dear...’ —like a letter.（商务邮件应该像信件一样以Dear开头）可知，正式的信件通常以Dear开头。故选B。

5.The best title for the passage is ________.

A How to write a letter?

B Should we use emails or letters?

C Should e-mails open with “Dear” or “Hi”?

D How to be polite?

解析：选C。C 文章标题题。根据全文可知，本文主要讨论邮件开头问候语的使用。以Ms Barry为代表的一些人认为应该用hello、hi或者hey开头，而以Jean Broke-Smith为代表的人则坚持认为要用Dear开头。故选C。