Unit 7 Culture新编大学英语第二版第二册课文翻译

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 husband's 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

I'm

not

expected

to

observe

or

even

know

all

the

rules,

as

a

foreigner,

I've

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.

I've

sometimes waited half an hour or more for my husband to return from seeing a guest off,

since he's 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 won't see

you

off,

all

right?”

And

of

course

the

guest

assures

him

that

he

would

never

think

of

putting him to the trouble of seeing him off. “Don't see me off! Don't see me off!”

[6] That's all very well, but when I'm the guest being seen off, my protests are always

useless, and my hostess or host, or both, insists on seeing me down the stairs and well on

my way, with our going through the “Don't bother to see me off” ritual at every landing. If

I try to go fast to discourage them from following, they are simply put to the discomfort of

having to flee after me. Better to accept the inevitable.

[7]

Besides,

that's

going

against

Chinese

custom,

because

haste

is

to

be

avoided.

What do you say when you part

from someone? “Go slowly.” Not farewell or Godspeed,

but “Go slowly.” To the Chinese it means “Take care” or “Watch your step” or some other

such caution, but translated literally it means “Go slow.”

[8] That same “slow” is used in another polite express

ion used by the host at the end

of a particularly large and delicious meal to assure his guests what a poor and inadequate

host he has been.

[9]

American

and

Chinese

cultures

are

at

polar

opposites.

An

American

hostess,

complimented for her cooking skills,

is likely to say, “Oh, I'm so glad that you liked it. I

cooked it especially for you.” Not so a Chinese host or hostess (often the husband does the

fancy cooking), who

will instead

apologize

for

giving

you

“nothing”

even

slightly

edible

and for not showing you enough honor by providing proper dishes.

[10]

The

same

rules

hold

true

with

regard

to

children.

American

parents

speak

proudly of their children's accomplishments, telling how Johnny made the school team or

Jane made the honor roll. Not so Chinese parents, whose children, even if at the top of

their

class

in

school,

are

always

so

“naughty”,

never

studying,

never

listening

to

their

elders, and so forth.

[11]

The

Chinese

take

pride

in

“modesty”;

the

Americans

in

“straightforwardness”.

That

modesty

has

left

many

a

Chinese

hungry

at

an

American

table,

for

Chinese

politeness calls for three refusals before one accepts an offer, and the American hosts take

a “no” to mean “no”, whether it's the first, second, or third time.

[12]

Recently,

a

member

of

a

delegation

sent

to

China

by

a

large

American

corporation complained to me about how the Chinese had asked them three times if they

would

be willing

to modify

some

proposal,

and each

time

the

Americans

had

said

“no”

clearly and definitely. My friend was angry because the Chinese had not taken their word

the first time. I recognized the problem immediately and wondered why the Americans

had not studied up on cultural differences before coming to China. It would have saved

them a lot of confusion and frustration in their negotiations.

[13] Once you've learned the signals and how to respond, life becomes much easier.

When guests come, I know I should immediately ask if they'd like a cup of tea. They will

respond, “Please don't bother,” which is my signal to fetch tea.

从容得体德跨越文化沟壑

1

在外语学习中，

< br>学会一些简单的词组就能让你不知不觉地进入另一种文化，

而丝毫不暴

但你为什么总是学不会呢？每本汉语课本都，

一律从问候语开

始的。

但是作为美国人 ，

每当我要送客出门时，我总是张口结舌说不出话。

唐突的说声 再见

是不行的，然而，这就是我从这些课本里所学到的一切了。因此我只能微笑，点头， 像个日

本人似的鞠躬，

并拼命的想找些话来说，

以缓和离别的气氛，

使他们觉得我确实欢迎他们再

来。 因此，我常常靠我中国丈夫的彬彬有礼来掩饰自己的慌乱。

2

后来，通过听别人说话，我开始学 会一些使客人听了舒服的言辞，感到送客这项重要

的任务，我不仅顺利完成了，而且完成 得很出色。

3

对中国人来讲，

送客需要有一定的礼 仪和很多胜人一筹的本领。

尽管没有人期望我去遵

守甚至了解所 有这些规矩，

但作为一个外国人，

我还得学会那些在送客时必不 可少的表示客

气及推让的话。

4

中国人觉得送客必须送到尽可能远 的地方

——

送下楼梯到马路上，

或者也 许一直送到最

近的汽车站。有时候，我等了半个小时甚至还要长的时间，才等到丈夫送客 人回来，因为他

一直把客人送到汽车站并等到下一班汽车到站。

5

对一 般的或比他年轻的客人，我丈夫也许只是说：

“

我不送你了，行 吗？

”

当然，客人会

让她相信，从没想 过要麻烦主人送他：

“

不要送！不要送！

”

6

这样好倒是好，但当我成为别送的客人时，我的推让总是无效；而且，女主人或男主

人甚至两个人都要送我下楼，并陪我走好一段路，而每下一段楼梯我都照理说一遍

不要麻

烦送我了

”

。如果我是想走得快一点以免让他们跟上来，那只会使他们更不舒服：他们得在

我后面紧追。最好还是接受着不可避免的礼节。

7

而且，那也是违背中国习俗的，因 为

“

匆忙

”

最 要不得。你跟别人分手时说什么呢？

“

慢

走

”

。不说

“

再见

”

或

“

一路顺风

”

，而是

“

< br>慢走

”

。对中国人来讲，她的意思是

“

小心

”

或

“

脚下留

神

”

或是诸如此类关照的话，但其直译是

“

慢走

< br>”

。

8

同一个

“

慢

”

字还被用于另一句客套话中，

那就是在一顿极其丰盛美味的饭后，

主人向客

人（说

“

怠慢了

”

< br>）表示他是一个不称职，招待不周的主人。

9

美国和中国的文化截然不同。美国 的女主人，当别人赞扬他的烹调技术时，很可能会

说：

“

哦，你喜欢，我就高兴。我是特地为你做的。

”

而中国的男女主人就不一样（通常是男

主人做一些高难度的菜）

，

他们会认为

“

没什么好吃的

”

，

以及没有合适的菜不成敬意而道歉。

10

同样的 规则也适用于对待小孩。

美国的父母谈起自己的孩子的成就时十分自豪，

会说约

翰尼是如何成为校队的一员，

简是如何被评为优 秀生上了光荣榜的。

中国父母则不同，

即使

他们的孩子在班上名列前茅，也总是说他们非常顽皮，不肯读书以及

4

从来不听大人的话

等等。

11

中国人谦虚为荣；