首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Advance notice is often referred to in America as "lead time," an expression which is significant in a culture where schedules a
Advance notice is often referred to in America as "lead time," an expression which is significant in a culture where schedules a
admin
2011-01-05
10
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.
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://kaotiyun.com/show/KFVK777K
本试题收录于:
C类竞赛(非英语专业本科)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
C类竞赛(非英语专业本科)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
Intheearly1800’s,over80percentoftheUnitedStateslaborforcewasengagedinagriculture.Machineryand【C1】________tech
The"standardofliving"ofanycountrymeanstheaverageperson’s【C1】________ofthegoodsandservicesthecountryproduces.
Itisnotsurprising,【C1】________thelackoffitbetweengiftedstudentsandtheirschools,thatsuchstudentsoftenhavelittl
Vibrationsinthegroundareapoorlyunderstoodbutprobablywidespreadmeansofcommunicationbetweenanimals.Itseems【C1
Targetyesterday【C1】________WallStreetexpectationswhenit【C2】________a21.1percentriseinquarterlyearnings.GainsinT
Inthepasttwentyyears,therehasbeenanincreasingtendencyforworkerstomovefromonecountrytoanother.Whilesomenewl
(1)KnowingthatMrsMallardwassufferingfromahearttrouble,greatcarewastakentobreaktoherasgentlyaspossiblethe
Weighingtoomuchcandamageone’shealth,andobesityisagrowingproblemforbothkidsandadultsaroundtheworld.【T1】______
俗话说“民以食为天”。【T1】饮食文化,即围绕着人们日常工作中的食物、饮料及其食用方法所形成的文化现象。(centeron)从半坡村文化遗址中发现,早在五六千年前,中国北方的黄河流域已普遍种植粟这种农作物。同样,在距今7,000年前的河姆渡文化
Manyaperson______atthegateofthedepartmentstore.
随机试题
计算机的外围设备是指()。
中国城市教育管理体制改革的目标是什么?
试述补偿贸易的特征及方式。
干酪性肺炎的典型CT表现
A、羌活B、独活C、木瓜D、防已E、五加皮善治湿痹、筋脉拘挛、吐泻转筋的药物是
《劳动法》中对女工特殊保护的规定有不得安排女职工在经期从事、国家规定的( )体力劳动强度的劳动和其他禁忌从事的劳动。
会计报告方法是通过( )方式将财务会计信息提供给会计信息使用者的。
“夏日校,殷日序,周日庠,学则三代共之,皆所以明人伦也。”此语出自【】
安娜要么向泰克公司请假并在一年以后回来,要么辞去她现在的工作,除非她收到了一名牌大学的为期一年的助教奖学金,否则她不会这样做。如果泰克公司没有发现她收到奖学金的话,那么将准许她请假,否则将不给予批准。因此,如果安娜将辞去在泰克公司的工作,那么泰克公司必定发
A.disgracefulB.imperfectC.holdD.considerationE.approvedF.accordinglyG.nakedH.wanderingI.incorrectJ.ignora
最新回复
(
0
)