the tapes through mail order and how much I need to pay? Besides, the textbook has only two volumes. Is there supplementary material to accompany them? Can I get both the books and the tapes through mail order?

I am almost thirty years old, but learned only at secondary school. I like it very much and it will be useful for future work. So I want to begin from the beginning and I wonder if the book is right for me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Questions

1) What do you think of the two letters above? What do they have in common

though they are written in different languages?

2) When you are making a request in English, will you do it in the Chinese way or

not?

2. Guess the meanings of the following statements originally intending to convey.

A. Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such a thing is please not to read notice. (from a Tokyo hotel)

B. The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable. (In a Bucharest hotel lobby)

C. The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid. (In a Yugoslavian hotel)

D. Our wines leave you nothing to hope for. (On the menu of a Swiss restaurant) E. Order your summer suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation. (In a Rhodes tailor shop)

F. It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man. (In a Bangkok temple)

G. Ladies are requested not to have children at the bar. (In a Norwegian cocktail lounge)

H. We take your bags and send them in all directions. (In a Copenhagen airline office)

I. It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose. (A sign posted in a German park) J. Specialist in Women and Other Diseases. (A sign outside a doctor’s office in Rome)

K. Take care of the steps. (A sign in a scenic spot in China) 3. What improvement will you make on the above mistranslations?

4. Have you ever found some similar cases of mistranslation in our life? If you have, what are they?

Part Three Comparing Cultural Patterns

一、讨论题

1. We know that there are quite a few questions that you are not supposed to ask in

the United States and some other western countries. It is considered impolite to

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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 that children had to learn to value.

( From W. Ouchi: ―Japanese workers and American Workers: Two Casts of Mind‖)

Questions

1. The above description of the Japanese and American living situations may account for some value differenced between the two cultures. Can you find something in the traditional living situations in China that will help explain certain characteristics of the Chinese culture?

2. Do you think people living in big and people living in small towns will surely be different in some value orientations? Why or why not?

Part Four Comparing Cultural Values

一、讨论题

1. Read the following story (taken from Levire & Adelman, 1982) and think about what happened. Then rank the five characters according to whom you approve of most and whom you approve of .least, and write to explain your first and last choice. Next, think about what made you rank them. Do you think the values that guided your choices were personal or cultural or both? Share your opinions in pairs or in small groups.

Rosemary is a woman of about 21. For several months she has been engaged to a young man named Geoffrey. The problem she faces is that between her and her fiancé there lies a river. No ordinary river, but a deep, wide river filled with hungry alligators.

Rosemary wonders how she can cross the river. She remembers Sinbad, who has the only boat in the area. She then approaches Sinbad, asking him to take her across. He replies, ―Yes, I‘ll take you across if you‘ll spend the night with me.‘‘ Shocked at this offer, she turns to another acquaintance, Frederick, and tells him her story. Frederick responds by saying, ―yes, Rosemary, I understand your problem --- but it‘s your problem, not mine.‖ Rosemary decides to return to Sinbad, spends the night with him, and in the morning he takes her across the river.

Her meeting with Geoffrey is warm. But on the evening before they are to be married, Rosemary feels she must tell Geoffrey how she succeeded in getting across the river. Geoffrey responds by saying, ― I wouldn‘t marry you if you were the last woman on earth.‖

Finally, Rosemary turns to her friend Dennis. Dennis listens to her story and says, ―Well, I don‘t love you … but I will marry you.‖ And that‘s all we know of story.

二、思考题

Can A Chinese Young Lady Become An American Woman?

Environments significantly influence one‘s cognition, effect, and behavior. One feels the impact of the different culture especially when one comes into a foreign country. Shen-Lan, who is from Taiwan, was satisfied for her first twenty-five years of life because she was surrounded by the people who have loved her and whom she

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