【正文】 omebody by first name, you can address him or her by first name the next time you meet.. Compliments and ResponseEnglish and Chinese cultures are at polar opposites about pliment. In Chinese culture, the Chinese people regard modesty as a traditional virtue. So they will always accept others pliments with modest attitude. However, The Englishspeaking people are more active to praise others and to be praise than Chinese people。 they express their feeling frankly and directly. If an Englishspeaking hostess is plimented for her cooking skill, she likely to say: “I am so glad that you liked it.” But to a Chinese hostess, she likely to say: “oh, no! Where, where… I just made some dishes casually and they are not very tasty.” which made his foreign friend embarrassed. Appropriate pliments can serve as effective supplementary means in interpersonal munication. So when we meet our friends, we’d better accept their pliments directly.. Apologies and ResponsesApologies are a necessary part of daily life, as to how to offer apologies, both English and Chinese people may say: “I am sorry…”, “I apologize for…” and so on. But the ways to respond to apologies are different. When a person expresses apology: “Oh, I am sorry, I forget it.”, Englishspeaking people likely to respond “That’s all right!” And a Chinese people will say “it doesn’t matter” instead. “It doesn’t matter” is a mon pattern in china to respond to apologies, but to Englishspeaking people, he maybe will think the Chinese people is a sharp person who simply cannot forgive a very little wrong thing.. Thanks and ResponsesThank you is widely used in English to show gratitude in such cases as being invited, helped, given a gift and so on. Cultural differences exist between Chinese and western in how to express thanks and responses. In fact, Thank you is expressed in English for more than acknowledging favor or gratitude, and it is often a means to show politeness. On many occasions, the English use Thank you while the Chinese may do not say a word at all but just smile or nod. As a matter of fact, Thank you is used more widely by westerners than Chinese for minor favors like borrowing pencil , asking directions, requesting someone to pass on a message, receiving a telephone and so on. Thank you not only shows politeness but also carries a person39。s grateful feeling for those who offer help. Without using expressions of gratitude, misunderstandings may arise because the help seems to be taken for granted and is mot appreciated, For westerners, each person is an equal individual, whether he is a family member of not. In Chinese, Thank you is not frequently used between intimate friends and family members because it may imply a certain distance between the addresser and the addressee. Think of the situations below. Your mother is busy in the kitchen. She suddenly asks you to fetch a bowl for her. You do so. What’ll your mother’s response be? Probably she’ll just continue doing the cooking. After a while, the dinner is ready. Your mother hands you your bowl of rice. What’s your response? Probably just begin to eat. That’s what I want to say. In Chinese families, we rarely say “Thank you” to other family members for receiving help or service. Neither will we say so between good friends. It’s such an unpopular response that if you say it, the counterpart will think you are treating him as a stranger, otherwise you are lacking of intimacy. But in the West, thank you is one of the most frequently used sentences. Teachers will thank a student for answering a question。 husbands will thank his wife for making a coffee. Englishspeaker speakers may respond to Thank you” by saying: You are wele /It39。s a /my pleasure/ Not at all/ Don39。t mention it/That39。s all right. While Chinese people may say: “this is I should do”， which may convey to westerners the message that the Chinese did not really want to do it, or that he /she did it only because it wall his/her duty. This message is quite different from what the Chinese speaker intended to express. . PrivacyAmerican places a high vale on privacy, such as their salary, age, marriage or family background. While in China, we do not regard age or salary as privacy. So when we talk to the Englishspeaking people, we must avoid asking some questions like this unless the Americans indicate clearly that they do not mind: How old are you?、Are you married？、How many children do you have？、How much do you make？、What39。s your weight?、Do you go to the church？. Invitation and Saying GoodBye In the culture of English , it is very important to consult a time before you invite somebody to attend a party or take part in social activities. Especially. in America, invite somebody means you are borrow times of others. So they respect time very much. While in China, people are preferred to an uninvi