中西文化鉴赏

1.How many stages are typically experienced by people in adapting to a new culture situation？What are the main features for each stage?

Euphoria (excitement—thehoneymoonstage)Depression (crisis)AdjustmentAcceptance (recovery)

2.Make a list of the main types of body language

3.Give examples to show the functions of nonverbal communication

案例1

Ma Dan (马丹) and Michael are classmates in the States. It is only one week before the submission date for a term paper for their class. Unfortunately, Ma’s computer br oke down at this critical time. In order to hand in the paper on time, Ma Dan decided to borrow Michael’s computer for only one day to finish her typing. In order to get an easy “yes” from him, Ma Dan treated Michael to a pizza lunch at Pizza Hut, an expensive eating-place for students like them. At the end of the lunch, Ma Dan asked Michael for a favor: “Michael, my computer broke down recently. But you know we have to hand in our term paper on time. I wonder if I could borrow your computer this weekend. W e are friends, aren’t we?” To her astonishment, Michael replied, “Yes, we are friends, Dan. But I’m afraid I’ve got a lot of things I need to type up every day during these days. I cannot afford to let it go even for a day. I hope I could help you in other ways.” Ma Dan was puzzled and thought: “are we really friends?”

分析Ma Dan comes from a collectivist culture which emphasizes relations with in-group members. Michael comes from an individualistic culture which values independence and equality. Ma Dan comes from a country where people form into different relations and the axioms （[’æksi:əm] 格言）of “a friend in need is a friend indeed”(This is also a valued belief in the West!) are highly cherished. In Ma Dan’s view, she was desperate for a computer and Michael should offer her a hand in lending her the computer since they are good friends. In order to better secure this borrowing, she offered to give Michael a treat, which better positioned her to open her mouth to request the help.

Michael was brought up in a culture valuing individualism where the personal interest always comes first. Since personal computer is the private property of a person and he was really in need of it, he thinks it proper to cater（[’ketɚ] 满足需要）to his own needs first. That explains why Michael chose to reject Ma Dan’s proposal, which hurt Ma Dan’s feeling.

解决方案

If Ma Dan wants to finish her work on time I suggest she turn to other classmates for help by raising her request directly or go to the library to solve this problem. If someone offers to lend her the computer, she can treat the lender afterwards to express her gratitude.

案例2

Shan Zhou is a well-established Chinese scholar in civil engineering. He had been cooperating with Paul, an American engineer on a large project. Paul had been to China twice for the project. Shan Zhou took great care of him on each visit, arranging everything from accommodation to making sure that one or more of his students would go with him whenever he needed to do something. Frequently Shan Zhou invited Paul to home for meals or went to restaurants with him. He also made arrangements with some of his students to travel around the city with Paul, to help him with shopping, and to socialize with him. Paul was very grateful, but repeatedly told Shan Zhou that he could take care of himself. Yet Shan Zhou continued to be very attentive（周到的）.

Eventually, Shan Zhou went to the United States to work with Paul for half a year. Paul picked him up at the airport and took him directly to his temporary accommodations. Paul