跨文化交际英语思考题目(3)

inquire a person‘s age, marriage status, income, religious belief, choice in voting, property, and others. If one of your American friends shows you something that he has just bought, you will, of course, say ―What a nice skirt. It looks fabulous‖, or something like that but not inquire about the price. Of all the aspects, one‘s income is the top secret. People earns, except the boss. How would you account for this phenomenon? What concept is behind this? Discuss in small groups. 2. ―Face‖ is a very important concept in China. See how many phrases you can

think that contain the term ―face‖. How important is ―face‖ to you? Give some situations in which ―face‖ is concerned. What do you think ―face‖ means? Why is ―face‖ important in China? Do other nations have such concept? Discuss in small groups these answers.

二、分析、解答题

1. Read the cases and answers the questions following each one.

During the American Civil War, a very hungry young man fell down in front of a farm gate. The farmer gave him food but in return he asked the young man to move a pile of wood in his yard—in fact it was not at all necessary to move the wood back to its original place. Seeing all this, farmer‘s son was confused. Questions:

1) Why did the farmer do that?

2) What values are reflected in this story?

2. A letter to a columnist: Dear Mary,

We work in the typing pool of a large London store and are very concerned for the welfare of one of our young colleagues.

She is only 19, unmarried, and has become very friendly with a young man who works in one of the departments of the store. He pops into the typing pool to see her and there. We know that he is engaged to a girl who lives near him.

We feel for the protection of the girl, that we should complain to the general manager. But we wouldn‘t like anybody to get the sack.

Four Worried Typists The answer from the columnist:

My advice is simple: Mind your own business. The girl is old enough to know what she is doing.

Question:

What value can we see behind the letter and answer?

3. Read the following and answer the questions.

As a foreign student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Keiko Ihara was on a strict budget. She had all her tuition and books paid for by scholarships and grants and until recently was comfortably housed in the dormitory, she found a small apartment to share with a friend. Her college friends, knowing of her situation, offered

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to round up some of the necessary items for apartment living. Keiko politely declined, saying she could manage. Wanting to help out her friends found some old but still usable household appliances and furniture. Mary had an old desk that was in her garage. Ed had some chairs from his uncle, and Joe and Marion had a few extra dishes. They cheerfully brought them over one day. Keiko seemed very embarrassed, but gracefully accepted them, sincerely and profusely thanked them.

The following week they were each presented with a gift from Keiko. Mary got an ornate jewelry box, Ed a volume of woodcuts by a famous Japanese artist, and Joe and Marion a beautiful Japanese case, all of which were of considerable worth and value, much more than the old things they had donated to her. They all protested that she could not afford to give such elaborate gifts; they really expected nothing as the household items were not really being used and they would rather have her use them. Keiko, however, insisted that they take the gifts. In the end, they accepted the gifts, although they all felt uncomfortable as they knew she was really sacrificing to give them.

Questions

1) What do you think of Keiko insisting on giving valuable gifts to her college friends?

2) How would you feel if Keiko presented you with a gift for your help?

三、思考题

Identifying difference: Living situations

The Shinkansen or ―blue train‖ speeds across the rural areas of Japan giving a quick view of cluster after cluster of farmhouses surrounded by rice paddies. This particular pattern did not develop purely by chance, but as a consequence of the technology peculiar to the growing of rice, the staple of the Japanese diet. The growing of rice requires construction and maintenance of an irrigation system, something that takes many hands to build. More importantly, the planting and harvesting of rice can only be done efficiently with the cooperation of twenty or more people. The ―bottom line‖ is that a single family working alone cannot produce enough rice to survive, but a dozen families working together can produce a surplus. Thus the Japanese have had to develop the capacity to work together in harmony, no matter what the forces of disagreement or social disintegration, in order to survive.

For centuries and generations these people have lived in the same village next door to the same neighbors. Living in close proximity and in dwellings, which gave very little privacy, the Japanese survived through their capacity to work together in harmony. In this situation, it was inevitable that the one most central social value, which emerged, the one value without which the society could not continue, was that an individual does not matter.

Consider a flight over the United States. Looking out of the window high over the state of Kansas, we see a pattern of a single farmhouse surrounded by fields, followed by another single homestead surrounded by fields. In the early 1800s in the state of Kansas there were no automobiles. Your nearest neighbor was perhaps two miles distant; the winters were long, and the snow was deep. Inevitably, the central

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social values were self-reliance and independence. Those were the realities of that place and age t …… 此处隐藏：5739字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……