高考◆英语◆安徽省題庫下載題庫

Meeting people from another culture can be difficult.From the beginning, people may send the wrongsignal (信号). Or they may pay no attention to signalsfrom another person who is trying to develop arelationship.

Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance ofrelationship building to a greater or lesser degree.For example, business in some countries is notpossible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spenda lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries -- like the UK or France -- people find it easier to build up a lasting workingrelationship at restaurants or caf6s rather than at the office.

Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I hadexpected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was anuncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to knowtheir ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, weexpress meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words areunnecessary.

Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, Englishand German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to businessmore quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture startsdiscussions and makes decisions more quickly.

People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values arequite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multiculturalenvironment (多元文化环境) will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.