Visiting
By Rae Huang

Mr. Murray moved to Xiamen from the USA two months ago. Yesterday, he received a dinner-invitation from his Chinese boss. Out of American custom, he bought a bottle of sherry and a box of chocolate as gifts for his first visit.

However, his gifts didn't play any part in the dinner. When he gave them happily to his boss, his boss just smiled with a little embarrassment and quickly took the gifts over to a corner in the living room. Mr. Murray felt a little angry and also puzzled about this. After the dinner, he turned to his Chinese friend Chou: "In my country, we often bring some gifts, such as wine or chocolate when we visit someone. The host will open the gifts immediately. And we enjoy ourselves with those things that we have brought. But my boss, he didn't even take a look at my gifts and he put those gifts over in a corner at once! Then he said nothing of drinking my sherry during the dinner! Were my gifts not good enough for him?"

Chou smiled: "Don't be angry, man. He just did what Chinese people would do in a traditional way. In China, people always deal with the gift-thing in a low-key way, because they don't like to show off, especially those who receive gifts from subordinates. The people who give gifts always wrap them and send them inconspicuously. Of course, the other party accept them inconspicuously also. Thereby when you decorated your gifts so conspicuously and put them so expressively into your boss' arms, he must have felt embarrassed."

In fact, Chinese people have been moralized under the Confucian system, which teaches people to be connotative and restrain themselves, for thousands of years. They always express themselves in an implicit(含蓄的) way while Americans are explicit and passionate. No wonder Mr. Murray was shocked by this culture clash.

 

 

Monica的风光之夜



<老友记>(Friends)是美国热播十年的sitcom(即situational comedy)也就是我们所说的情景喜剧.之所以这么受欢迎,是因为其内容轻松,语言幽默,每每令人捧腹不已.对于英语学习者来说,我们更能从中学到不少地道的口语.现在就请大家和我一起继续感受其中的乐趣吧!Monica对着大街喊:I am engaged! I am engaged! 揭开了这集的序幕.

1. So have you decided on a band for the wedding? Because, you know, I'm kinda＇ musical.
你们决定了婚礼的乐队没有?别忘了我是玩音乐的.

在Monica和Chandler 订婚的晚上,Phoebe不失时宜推荐自己.说自己是玩音乐的,用I'm kinda' musical.那么艺术天分呢?可以用I'm kinda' artistic. 这里的kinda'=kind of.

2. You stole my thunder.
你抢走了我的风头.

We never had a bonus night. 看到Monica和Chandler都订婚了,而自己还没有着落,Rachel不禁想到自己和Ross还没有一个比较浪漫的bonus night,两个人就在走廊上重温旧情,却被Monica撞见.Rachel只能解释说:We did not steal your thunder because we are not getting back together.可是Monica会相信吗?

3. You're on your own.
你想怎么做就怎么做吧!

对于Monica的意见,还有人会说不吗?

4. They(your eyes) give you away There's just-there's just too much wisdom in there.
它们出卖了你!里面有太多的实话了!

这句话就是我们所说的"你的眼睛背叛了你的心".当Monica和Chandler拒绝让Phoebe在婚礼上演唱时,Joey这样安慰Phoebe: Yeah! If you wanna' sing at their wedding, well you sing at their wedding!(如果你想在他们的婚礼上演唱的话,你就可以这么做).Phoebe却意识到:They(your eyes) give you away! 这里Give away是背叛,背弃的意思.

5. There is going to be a wedding. You are going to throw the bouquet, and then there's going to be a honeymoon, maybe in Paris.
将会有一个婚礼,你要抛花球,然后会去度蜜月,也许在巴黎.

说到结婚,我们刚好可以复习一些和结婚有关的英语单词.在婚礼(the wedding ceremony)上, 最引人注目的就是新娘(bride)和新郎(groom),还有伴娘(maid of honor)和伴郎(best man).一般来说,伴娘和伴郎只有一个,可是在有些婚礼上,我们会看到新娘和新郎身旁站着好几位伴娘和伴郎,其中主要的那位就是maid of honor和best man,而其他的几位就被称为 bridesmaid和groomsman.在结婚的前几天,新娘和新郎会把结婚戒指(the wedding ring)交给他们各自的maid of honor和best man保管.

 

 

Stressed out?

Dear Chef,
I have run into a big problem recently. That is no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to concentrate on my work anymore, and I feel pretty stressed out every morning walking into the office. Do you have any advice on stress management? Thanks a lot for your time.
Mr. Stressed-out

Dear Mr. Stressed-out,
Actually, you are not the only one suffering from work stress. More than half of all workers report working under stress according to a recent online survey. Stress and worry on the job can be harmful, causing problems that will damage your health and performance. Signs of work stress can include headaches, loss of morale, lack of concentration, upset stomach, bad temper, etc. Now you know roughly what it is.

The next step is to get rid of it, which is simple:
Here is a list of what characteristics are present in persons who cope effectively with stress:
Keep all these in mind and engage yourself in thinking about how to achieve them whenever you have time, and then, just do it.

"Are more genuine, real, and open in communication and relationships.
/Have more purpose and meaning in life.
/Have values, which are fairly stable and feel right for the person.
/Are optimistic about events and the future.
/Have mostly positive self-statements in anticipating a stressful event.
/Have more rational beliefs regarding: self-worth, the past, needing approval, needing to be perfect.
/Have a sense of control over what happens to them.
/Have a sense of being able to cope.
/Feel less depressed, helpless, or hopeless.
/Have a satisfactory pace of life (do not always feel rushed)
/Have fewer major life changes in a given period of time.
/Are less competitive with others, numbers, and time; have less time urgency, surer of values, less hostility.
/Have a liking for people.
/Have better relationships with co-workers.
/Have at least one confidant who listens, understands, and doesn't judge.
/Have a support group of friends or relatives."

If all these still don't help, then invite your stress out for dinner. During which, have a drinking competition with your stress and try to win.
The Chef

 

Crossword puzzle



Across
5. Urge and help along.
7. A quality deserving praise or approval;
9. The highest point, as of perfection.
10. American.

Down
1. A hard liquor.
2. A place for drinks.
3. Being in physical motion.
4. A month.
6. Something given or paid in addition to what is usual or expected.
8. The state or quality of being equal.

The following people have won free movie tickets:潘瑞琼,柯豫斌,康明建,陈慧,苏俊斌,颜明,王梅,张颖,杜文君,李娉婷,刘庆水. Please go to the Jinying Cinema (世贸金鹰影院) in two weeks. 欲知上期答案,请登录www.common-talk.com.

 

 

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