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  3. A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To

A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To

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问题 A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair, this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. Small-minded officials, rude waiters, and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.
For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside world.
The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling a-lone , if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life: if you didnt take in the stranger and take care of him, there was no one else who would. And someday, remember, you might be in the same situation.
Today there are many charitable organizations which specialize in helping the weary traveler. Yet, the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the US, especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. " I was just traveling through, got talking with this American, and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner—amazing. " Such observations reported by visitors to the US are not uncommon, but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.
As is true of any developed society, in America a complex set of cultural signals, assumptions, and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And, of course, speaking a language does not necessarily mean that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail to "translate" cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example, when an American uses the word " friend" , the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor’ s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet, being friendly is a virtue that man-y Americans value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.
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答案 去美国的参观者不断提出一种说法：美国人对他们是多么的友好，热情，并且乐于助人。公平而言，这种现象描述对加拿大和加拿大人也是存在的。并且可以认为在北美都存在。当然也有例外，小心眼的公务员，粗鲁的服务员，不礼貌的出租车司机在美国也不是不存在的。但是这种说法如此普遍，因此值得深究。 很长一段时间以来在这个国家的很多部分，一个旅行者都是一个受欢迎的“闯入者”，枯燥和孤独沉闷的生活，是那些彼此居住很遥远的家庭的通常难题。陌生人和旅行者是生活多样性的来源，并且带来外面世界的消息。边境的艰苦现实也形成了热情好客的传统。一个人单独旅行，如果饥饿受伤或者患病，除了向最近的小屋或者居民寻求帮助以外，没有别的地方可以去。对旅行者来说这不是一个可以选择的问题，对定居者也不是一时的慈善冲动。这仅仅是反映了日常生活的艰苦，如果不收留这个陌生人并照顾他，那么就没有其他人可以这样做。而且要记住，也许有一天你也会遇到同样情况。 今天有很多慈善组织专门帮助那些有困难的旅行者。但是在美国对陌生人热情好客的老传统仍然存在，特别是在远离繁忙旅行路线的小城镇。我只是旅行经过这里，和这个美国人随便聊了聊，他竟然很快的邀请我去他家里吃晚饭——真是令人惊奇。这种说法常常被到美国的参观者提到，但是不能被正确地理解。许多美国人的友谊不应该被理解为表面的或者是虚伪的，而是文化传统历史性发展的结果。 就像在很多发达的社会一样，美国在所有社会关系下也有一套复杂的文化标识，假设和习俗。当然会讲一门语言并不意味着他就理解了这种语言所在的社会和文化模式。那些不能正确理解文化含义的参观者就会得出错误的结论。例如一个美国人使用“朋友”这个词的时候，这词的文化含义也许和参观者的语言和文化中的含义十分不同。在公交车上的短暂相遇远远不能分辨出是出于礼貌还是真正的兴趣。但是友善是一种美德，许多美国人都很看重这个美德，并希望他们的朋友和邻居也看重这种美德。
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