时间:2019-01-07 作者:英语课 分类:2005年NPR美国国家公共电台


英语课
The playwright 1 George Bernard Shaw once quipped England and America are 2 nations divided by a common language. If he were writing today, he might add "divided by a common technology, E-mail." Here is Day to Day's Eric Weiner with observations on the great E-mail divide.

Two distinct styles of email have emerged on either side of the Atlantic. Euromail and Amerimail. Amerimail is informal and chatty. It's likely to begin with a breezy "Hi" and end with a "bye". The chances of Amerimail containing a smiley face or an "xoxo" are disturbingly high. We Americans are reluctant to dive into the meat of an email. We feel compelled to first inform hapless recipients 2 about our vacation on the cape 3 which was really excellent except the jellyfish were biting and the kids caught this nasty bug 4, so we had to skip the whale watching trip; but about that investors 5' meeting in New York. Amerimail is a bundle of contradictions, rambling 6 and yet direct, deferential 7 yet arrogant 8. In other words, Amerimail is America.

Euromail is stiff and cold often beginning with a formal "Deal Mr.X"and ending with a brusque "Sincerely". You won't find any mention of kids or the weather or jellyfish in Euromail. It's all business. It's also slow. Your correspondent might take days even weeks to answer a message. Euromail is also less confrontational 9 in tone, rarely filled with the kind of over nastiness that sometimes characterizes American email disagreements.

The fact is Europeans and Americans approach email in a fundamentally different way. For Europeans, email has replaced the business letter. For Americans, it has replaced the telephone. All of this can probably be explained by deep cultural differences. Americans tend to be impulsive 10 and crave 11 instant gratification, so we send emails rapid-fire and get antsy if we don't receive a reply quickly. Europeans tend to be more methodical and plodding 12. They send and reply to emails only after great deliberation.

So which is better, Euromail or Amerimail? Personally I'm a convert or a defector if you like to Euromail. I realize it's not popular these days to suggest we have anything to learn from Europeans, but I'm fed up with an inbox cluttered 13 with rambling barely cogent 14 missives from friends and colleagues. If the alternative is a few stiffly written ,politely worded bits of Euromail, then I say :"Bring it on." Eric Weiner, NPR news.


n.剧作家,编写剧本的人
  • Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
  • The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器
  • The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
n.虫子;故障;窃听器;vt.纠缠;装窃听器
  • There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
  • The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
adj.[建]凌乱的,杂乱的
  • We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
  • It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。
adj. 敬意的,恭敬的
  • They like five-star hotels and deferential treatment.他们喜欢五星级的宾馆和毕恭毕敬的接待。
  • I am deferential and respectful in the presence of artists.我一向恭敬、尊重艺术家。
adj.傲慢的,自大的
  • You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
  • People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。
adj.挑衅的;对抗的
  • Fans love rappers partly because they strike such a confrontational pose. 乐迷热爱这些饶舌艺人一定程度上是因为他们所采取的那种战斗姿态。 来自互联网
  • You prefer a non confrontational approach when it comes to resolving disputes. 面对争端,你不喜欢采用对抗性的手段来解决。 来自互联网
adj.冲动的,刺激的;有推动力的
  • She is impulsive in her actions.她的行为常出于冲动。
  • He was neither an impulsive nor an emotional man,but a very honest and sincere one.他不是个一冲动就鲁莽行事的人,也不多愁善感.他为人十分正直、诚恳。
vt.渴望得到,迫切需要,恳求,请求
  • Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
  • You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。
a.proceeding in a slow or dull way
  • They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
  • He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。
v.杂物,零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 );乱糟糟地堆满,把…弄得很乱;(以…) 塞满…
  • The room is cluttered up with all kinds of things. 零七八碎的东西放满了一屋子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The desk is cluttered with books and papers. 桌上乱糟糟地堆满了书报。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
adj.强有力的,有说服力的
  • The result is a cogent explanation of inflation.结果令人信服地解释了通货膨胀问题。
  • He produced cogent reasons for the change of policy.他对改变政策提出了充分的理由。
学英语单词
acidimetres
Aconitum monanthum
amercia
ankle-block
answer only
antimigrant
ardelia
arrendondo
beatuss
bird-liker
brachialis m.
Brignemont
bumper book
cantaloupe
carry off the bell
case for defendant
cash and carry system
Chlorothenylpyramine
clamps down
coaching job
combatted
corpore
crustal subsidence
cucurbitin
cyberspace representation
data rearrangement
descriers
desir'd
dewire
digital information display system
dip of the knees
dipropyl-ethyl-phenyl-silicane
direct coal-fired mhd generator
dormancies
dust bins
ease of access
EE (electrical engineer)
eight-member
elementary and secondary school
elevated spur track
end-of-message code
essential part of mark
fasciectomy
fifty seconds per sample
forest land
G.M.T.
gamma loop
gennels
hatfield-mccoy feud
Heepsters
high-energy electron diffraction
high-intensity separation
history of international relations
indivisibles
infrared intensity
invitest
junk-bottle
Khārdu
kolob
leucone
man hour bases
median carina
menispermum canadenses
middle-range
neatlines
NHE1
non-conforming shape
open plant
parabasal filament
participatory management
pathoglycemia
phonon liberation
point of vertical curve(pvc)
pondre
Potamophila
purchaser order
remotecontrolled
reprioritising
retention curve
reversing bar
revision date
rubus caesiuss
rummily
sand dredger
scare-devil
scent marks
senecio scandens incisus
serik
space-operatic
spindle stay bolt tap
subgelatinous
target or management points
Teodramine
the new kid on the block
thermal aureole
Trisol
twattery
two-way interleaving
ulcerans
vowelhood