时间:2019-02-25 作者:英语课 分类:英语畅谈中国文化


英语课

  22. Personal Privacy vs. Hospitality

A: I don’t like my Chinese friends calling me ‘Lao Wai’. It makes me feel that I am not one of them.

B: Actually, Chinese people want to treat you as one of us. The word ‘lao’ always implies respect and closeness when used to address someone. For example, senior people are often addressed as ‘lao Wang’ or ‘lao Li’.

A: I see. Many people are learning English nowadays because of the Olympics. But it’s a bit weird 1 to hear people say hello to me in the street. That’s the word you use to answer phone. So it feels like everybody in the street is on the phone.

A: Chinese people are friendly. We are also curious about people from afar. What you’ve just said is an example of such a feeling.

B: But occasionally, some people tend to be over-enthusiastic. I was reading in a subway one hot summer day when a young man looked at my arm and asked, “Don’t you feel hot with so much hair on your arm?”I have a five-year-old son. And sometimes people like to touch his face or even hold him up in the arms. He doesn’t like that. So I have to explain to him that is the Chinese way of showing affection. Another time, I was reading a newspaper in a subway, and a person suddenly put his head on my shoulder and helped himself to my paper.

A: That’s just like what we read in “A neighbor is more dependable than a distant relative.”Today’s China has evolved from its agricultural origins, where there was limited mobility 2. Those old traditions have given rise to a unique level of human relationship, which doesn’t accommodate personal privacy. People treat each other like one big family. The level of closeness is easily visible in everyday greetings such as “Have you eaten?”and “Where are you going?”Even during first encounters, Chinese people may still ask such questions as “Are you married?”、“How old are you?”or other questions which may be very personal to westerner.

B: Or you should learn to appreciate it rather than feeling offended.

A: You’ve got it. This is Chinese hospitality just like the person who shared your newspaper. I remember some of my western friends telling me that sometimes they will either charge less or offer more when doing the grocery shopping. Again this is all about Chinese hospitality.

B: Well, it seems I am an unlucky person because I’ve never been in a situation where people are willing to charge me less.



adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
n.可动性,变动性,情感不定
  • The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
  • Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。
学英语单词
acceptable viscosity of fuel
active account
adjustable submerged orifice
advanced line of position
adyebo
Aedes pseudoscutellaris
arsonium compound
Arzano
asbestos wart
banderillero
biohazardous
blacke santus
bleeding iron
blurring highlight test 3
Bradford County
bus rapid transit
carbon refractory block
cathydrus nitidulus
continuous program
control tank
cornu inferius cartilaginis thyroideae
corroded condition
Corvus
counter-flowered
cross flame
crushing mill
Cyathea medullaris
cyberwar
Cymbidium lianpan
dejectory
den mother
direct-current output
drive axle mass
electron overflow
endemic diseases
excess planting
fair-trade acts
field of lines
fine-grained soil filler
fire stations
foresightlessness
Forster's photometer
frequency modulation generator
giant motor unit action potential
give the bum's rush
glue-spread
goatman
greenlet
homogeneous boundary condition
house hold electrical appliance
hypapophysial
infant scale
interfacial agent
iso 8805
Itula
jig by jowl
local improvement funds
mahubarana fat
Maimachen
Mansell
melagranodiorite
mercy chair
Mistassini R.
Morschen
mound bird
myxobolus episquamalis
necrogenic wart
onlive
p.nt
platform independence
positive throat nozzle
preparation of working plans
prest money
prodis
product market expansion grid
proxima cause
Real Time Computing Complex
reciprocal compressor
red rags
regression prediction equation
renthouse
reversal zone
salvelin
scattered
signal oscillator
Six-Day War
Slavo-
soongs
Soultz-Haut-Rhin
sportsmedicine
trachomedusan
trachychromatic erythroblast
tunabilities
twentytwoes
uniformity of space-time
usha
vacuolizations
valley sink
Value Line Index
Wharton L.
win sb to consent
xylloma