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
48
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.
In that particular Latin American country, letting people wait for 45 minutes is considered ______.
选项
A、unreasonable
B、impolite
C、objectionable
D、quite normal
答案
D
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/OFVK777K
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
Vibrationsinthegroundareapoorlyunderstoodbutprobablywidespreadmeansofcommunicationbetweenanimals.Itseems【C1
Almosteverynewinnovationgoesthroughthreephases.When【C1】________introducedintothemarket,theprocessof【C2】________i
Manytheoriesconcerningthecausesofjuveniledelinquency(crimescommittedbyyoungpeople)focuseitherontheindividualor
(1)Inspiteof"endlesstalkofdifference,"Americansocietyisanamazingmachineforhomogenizingpeople.Thereis"thedemo
PASSAGEONEWhichtwocountriesinvestedthemostinAustralia?(Pleaseanswerinadescendingorder.)
Her________totheexecutivemanagerisanacknowledgmentofherhardworkandunusualtalent.
Steam________intowaterwhenittouchesacoldsurface.
CarshavebecomehouseholdinChina.Itbringsconvenienceandpollutionatthesametime.Writeacompositionofnofewerthan
【B1】______Whentheydryup,theyleaveuglyscarsontheskin.Forcenturiesitkilledtherichandpooralike,spreadingfastw
看来,别人是怎么看待他的行为的,他一点也不在乎。(Itseemsthat)
随机试题
我国现存最早记载大量医学史料的著作是()。
中共十七大报告指出,马克思主义中国化的最新理论成果是
患者28岁,结婚3年未孕,半年来低热、盗汗、食欲缺乏。妇科检查:子宫后位,略小于正常,活动差,双附件区扪及直径4cm的肿块,活动受限。红细胞沉降率45mm/lh。为明确诊断应进行下列何种检查
缺铁原发表现如消化性溃疡可导致缺铁对造血系统的影响,发生
关于腺垂体功能减退症患者的治疗,下列哪些项是正确的?()
某企业基本生产车间本月新投产甲产品500件,月末完工400件,假设月初在产品余额为0,期末在产品完工率为50%。本月甲产品生产费用为:直接材料186000元,直接人工72000元,制造费用90000元。甲产品生产所耗原材料系投入时一次性投入。月末,该企业完
根据企业所得税法律制度的规定,企业缴纳的下列税金中,在计算企业所得税应纳税所得额时准予扣除的有()。
用于对某一项行政工作做比较具体规定的规范性文件,称作()。
()是国际上最早应用于电子商务的一种网络安全协议。
Readthearticlebelowaboutfinancialmanagement.Choosethebestsentencefromtheoppositepagetofilleachofthegaps.
最新回复
(
0
)