B.
      Japanese people love to give gifts to their sibling or close friends. You may want to give a birthday present to your Japanese friend but feel confused about what to give. In fact, there are some things that people will see as impolite gifts in Japan. It sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Let’s learn some more about those things and the reason why they cannot be given as a gift.
     At first, all of things displaying the number 4 and 9 should be    prohibited    to give as a gift. The number 4 is read as shi in Japanese. Also there is another word read as shi, and the word means death.
     The other number that should be avoid is the number 9. Number 9 is read as ku in Japanese, and there is another word read as ku which means suffering. A comb is also an item that should avoid being gifted. Why? A comb is read as “kushi” in Japanese. As we have mentioned that “ku” means suffering and “shi” means death. Giving a comb as a gift means “suffering and death”. As a result, gifts should bring good luck for people, not bad luck such as suffering and death.
      What is more, Japanese people believe that giving a clock as a gift means the symbol of time running out. Giving scissors or knives means breaking the relationship between each other.
      From the information above, we can make sense of the cultural differences in Japan and also learn not to be rude to people from other countries. Choose gifts more carefully and make the gift a blessing for thoses we love.
                                                                                                                     Adapted from Taiken Japan

sibling 兄弟姊妹 display 顯示 avoid 避免 suffering 苦難 mention 提及 confuse 使困擾 relationship 關係 rude 魯莽的

【題組】6.What does “   prohibited   ” probably mean in the reading？
(A) Take something away.
(B) Make something happen.
(C)Get something done.
(D) Stop something from being done.