首页
登录
职称英语
Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language i
Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language i
游客
2024-08-18
6
管理
问题
Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one’s side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell.
Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War Ⅱ and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that "gift" means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm’s length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable.
Our linguistic and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world.
Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual guided tour. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them.
When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives--usually the richer--who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation’s diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters.
For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, American was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.
But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper land. [br] It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably ______.
选项
A、stand still
B、jump aside
C、step forward
D、draw back
答案
D
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3725276.html
相关试题推荐
OurculturehascausedmostAmericanstoassumenotonlythatourlanguagei
OurculturehascausedmostAmericanstoassumenotonlythatourlanguagei
OurculturehascausedmostAmericanstoassumenotonlythatourlanguagei
Alanguageisasystemofsounds,gestures,orcharactersusedbyhumansto
Alanguageisasystemofsounds,gestures,orcharactersusedbyhumansto
Alanguageisasystemofsounds,gestures,orcharactersusedbyhumansto
Mostsorethroatsarecausedbyaninfectionwhichtreatmentwithantibiotic
Mostsorethroatsarecausedbyaninfectionwhichtreatmentwithantibiotic
Itiswellknownthatsomeculturesprefersonstodaughters.Incontrast,s
Itiswellknownthatsomeculturesprefersonstodaughters.Incontrast,s
随机试题
COVERLETTERDearMr.Johnson:I’mapplyingfor
Ihavehadgreatdealoftrouble______(跟得上班上的其他同学).keepingupwiththeresto
Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessayentitledOn
论述陶行知生活教育理论的形成过程及对当今教育理论创新的启示。
下列关于砌体墙、柱高厚比的表述正确的是( )。A、承载力满足要求,高厚比也一定
属于心电图负荷试验禁忌证的是A.心电图ST段水平下降>0.15mV B.稳定型
A.曲直 B.炎上 C.稼穑 D.从革 E.润下"水"的特性是(
统计推断的方法主要包括()。 Ⅰ.参数估计 Ⅱ.假设检验 Ⅲ.线性
慢性浅表性胃炎的主要病变特点是A.胃黏膜变薄 B.胃黏膜水肿 C.可见黏膜下
γ-氨基酸在体内可以转化为γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)的是A.谷氨酸 B.天冬氨酸
最新回复
(
0
)