Unit7Culture新编大学英语第二版第二册课文翻译.pdfVIP

实用标准文案 Unit 7 Culture Bridging Cultural Gaps Gracefully [1] Why is it that when you study a foreign language, you never learn the little phrases that let you slip into a culture without all your foreignness exposed? Every Chinese-language textbook starts out with the standard phrase for greeting people; but as an American, I constantly found myself tongue-tied when it came to seeing guests off at the door. An abrupt goodbye would not do, yet that was all I had ever learned from these books. So I would smile and nod, bowing like a Japanese and trying to find words that would smooth over the visitors leaving and make them feel they would be welcome to come again. In my fluster, I often hid behind my Chinese husbands graciousness. [2] Then finally, listening to others, I began to pick up the phrases that eased relations and sent people off with a feeling of mission not only accomplished but surpassed. [3] Partings for the Chinese involve a certain amount of ritual and a great deal of one-upmanship. Although Im not expected to observe or even know all the rules, as a foreigner, Ive had to learn the expressions of politeness and protest that accompany a leave-taking. [4] The Chinese feel they must see a guest off to the farthest feasible point —down a flight of stairs to the street below or perhaps all the way to the nearest bus stop. Ive sometimes waited half an hour or more for my husband to return from seeing a guest off, since hes gone to the bus stop and waited for the next bus to arrive. [5] For a less import ant or perhaps a younger guest, he may simply say, “I wont see you off, all right