[originaltext] Good afternoon, class. I want to start my lecture by telling

Good afternoon, class. I want to start my lecture by telling you a story. Once there was a young woman from Mexico named Consuela, who came to New York to learn English. She got a job at a factory owned by a Chinese. One day as Consuela came to work, her Chinese boss handed her a red envelope. Consuela looked inside and saw 20 dollars. She became very upset and threw the envelope back at her boss! Her boss was shocked. Well, he had given her the red envelope and the money because it was Chinese New Year. And on the Chinese New Year, it is traditional to give money to young, single people for good luck. However, from Consuela’s point of view, he was an older man giving her money in an envelope, which meant that he was asking her for sexual favors.
    [23] Now, what does this story show us? It shows that an action can have totally opposite meanings in different cultures. Every culture has its own rules for what is appropriate and what is not appropriate behavior. And to illustrate my point today, I’m going to give examples from four areas.
    OK, let’s start with greeting customs. First of all, [24] I ’m sure you know that in the United States and in most western countries, greetings often involve some sort of touching, such as a handshake, a hug, or a kiss if people know each other very well. On the other hand, people from most Asian countries don’t usually feel as comfortable touching in public.
    Now, another behavior that differs from culture to culture is the use of names. Have you noticed that Americans are quick to use people’s first names even if they have just met. For instance, visitors to the United States are always surprised to hear employees speak to their bosses using first names.
    Now I want to look at eating customs. It’s important to be aware of different dining customs. In some cultures, eating everything on your plate is considered impolite. In Egypt and China, you should leave some food in your dish at the end of the meal. This is to show that your hosts were generous and gave you more than enough to eat. [25] However. Americans generally consider a clean plate as a sign of satisfaction with the food.
    Finally, what I want to mention today is gift giving, which you may think is a universal custom and there is not much variation from culture to culture. However, never give yellow flowers to people from Iran, which means you hate them!
    23. What can we learn from the lecturer’s introductory story?
    24. What is often involved in greetings in most western countries?
    25. What is regarded as a sign of satisfaction with the food for Americans?