首页
登录
职称英语
Advance notice is often referred to in America as "lead time," an expression
Advance notice is often referred to in America as "lead time," an expression
游客
2024-08-18
5
管理
问题
Advance notice is often referred to in America as "lead time," an expression which is significant in a culture where schedules are important. While it is learned informally, most of us are familiar with how it works in our own culture, even though we cannot state the rules technically. The rules for lead time in other cultures, however, have rarely been analyzed. At the most they are known by experience to those who lived abroad for some time. Yet think how important it is to know how much time is required to prepare people, or for things to come. Sometimes lead time would seem to be very extended. At other times, in the Middle East, any period longer than a week may be too long.
How troublesome differing ways of handling time can be is well illustrated by the case of an American agriculturalist assigned to duty as an attachê of our embassy in a Latin country, After what seemed to him a suitable period he let it be known that he would like to call on the minister who was his counterpart. For various reasons, the suggested time was not suitable; all sorts of cues came back to the effect that the time was not yet ripe to visit the minister. Our friend, however, persisted and forced an appointment, which was reluctantly granted. Arriving a little before the hour (the American respect pattern), he waited. The hour came and passed; five minutes--ten minutes--fifteen minutes. At this point he suggested to the secretary that perhaps the minister did not know he was waiting in the outer office. This gave him the feeling he had done something concrete and also helped to overcome the great anxiety that was stirring inside him. Twenty minutes--twenty-five minutes--thirty minutes--forty-five minutes (the insult period)!
He jumped up and told the secretary that he had been "cooling his heels" in an outer office for forty-five minutes and he was "damned sick and tired" of this type of treatment. This message was relayed to the minister, who said, in effect, "let him cool his heels." The attachê stay in the country was not a happy one.
The principal source of misunderstanding lay in the fact that in the country in question the five-minute delay interval was not significant. Forty-five minutes, on the other hand, instead of being at the tail end of the waiting scale, was just barely at the beginning. To suggest to an American’s secretary that perhaps her boss didn’t know you were there after waiting sixty seconds would seem absurd, as would raising a storm about "cooling your heels" for five minutes. Yet this is precisely the way the minister registered the complaints of the American in his outer office! He felt, as usual, that Americans were being totally unreasonably.
Throughout this unfortunate episode the attach6 was acting according to the way he had been brought up. At home in the United States his response would have been normal ones and his behavior correct. Yet even if he had been told before he left home that this sort of thing would happen, he would have had difficulty not feeling insulted after he had been kept waiting for forty-five minutes. If, on the other hand, he had been taught the details of the local time system just as he should have been taught the local spoken language, it would have been possible for him to adjust himself accordingly. [br] Which of the following has the same meaning as "cooling his heels"?
选项
A、Standing.
B、Waiting.
C、Sitting.
D、Relaxing.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3725638.html
相关试题推荐
"TheFatherofAmericanLiterature"is______.A、BenjaminFranklinB、MarkTwainC、
WhenEnglishpeoplearefishing,theynoticethatsomefishtakethebaittobe
WhenEnglishpeoplearefishing,theynoticethatsomefishtakethebaittobe
[originaltext]M:Professor,Inoticedonthecampuswebsiteyesterdaythatyou
RareamongAmericanactors,Depphasmadeanameforhimselfeffortlesslysw
RareamongAmericanactors,Depphasmadeanameforhimselfeffortlesslysw
Americansarepeopleobsessedwithchild-rearing.Intheirbooks,magazines,
Americansarepeopleobsessedwithchild-rearing.Intheirbooks,magazines,
Americansarepeopleobsessedwithchild-rearing.Intheirbooks,magazines,
GoingtothebeachismanyAmerican’sfavoriteactivity.IntheareanearNe
随机试题
TheHappinessEffectThenexttimeyougettheflu,
Itisimportanttoprovideanenvironment_____peopleareencouragedtomakesug
设立旅行社是开展旅行社业务的前提,是旅行社经营管理的开始。()
根据我国刑法规定,14周岁以上不满16周岁的自然人属于()。A.相对刑事
患者,女,45岁。反复发作脓血便10余年,此期间有时伴膝关节疼痛,多次大便细菌培
患者女性,59岁,绝经10余年。1月前无明显诱因出现阴道排液,色黄、似米汤水样、
在网络平台上进行项目管理,工作的主要内容是围绕工程项目信息处理进行的一些任务,概
某青年志愿者服务小组经过一周培训后,计划到敬老院举行敬老献爱心的表演活动。社会工
在冠心病易患年龄前(<35岁),导致心脏猝死的原因有( )。A.Brugada
在工程建设的过程中,最为常用的担保方式为()。A.抵押 B.质押 C.保证
最新回复
(
0
)