【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 concept of negative face does not exist in some eastern countries. Westerners pursue not only positive selfimage but also selffreedom. On the basic of equal terms, they hunt for individuality as well as personality. 5 Positive Face and Negative Face Brown and Levinson maintain that “face has two interrelated aspects—positive face and negative face” (Brown and Levinson, 1987:61). Positive face is the positive image one would like to obtain, that is, the want of one’s positive self image to be approved, and the desire of social recognition. Negative face is the wish of one’s actions to be free from imposition as well as one’s privacy to be far from interference. It is a nogoarea one claims for himself. Accordingly, westerners not only pay attention to protecting one’s positive image, but also avoiding constraint and imposition to defend the negative face. However, the concept of negative face does not exist in some eastern countries, because individuals are subject to groups and have weaker concept of private territories. So this leads to disputes in face consideration between Chinese and western cultures. A typical example is the different treatment manner in dining. Western hosts often say “help yourself” to respect the guests’ free choices—whether or not to eat and how much to eat. While in China, hosts usually say “eat more” or pick up food for the guests in order to show their hospitality, which offend the westerners’ negative face. Individualism and personality Ting Toomey highlights “the fact that during negotiation, there are two simultaneous faces processes going on” (Toomey, 1988: 215). They are facethreatening behavior, which centers on one’s own face, but hardly gives consideration to others’ face, and facehonoring process, which attaches more importance to giving and asserting face for the other side. He emphasizes that westerners often pay more attention to facethreatening behavior, while facehonoring process is neglected. In western cultures, people hold the opinion that individual performance and personal character is the top priority. Generally speaking, westerners are quite direct, assertive and ambitious. Most westerners are taught from an early age to be selfconfident, decisive and aggressive. Lack of confidence and personality is often socially unacceptable. Furthermore, the bond between munity and individuals is paratively loose. Individuals assume less responsibility to munal accord and enjoy more 6 freedom. They can and should take every chance to express their own ideas, put forward their own suggestions to assert their personality, originality, and especially, their irreplaceably. And even when a dispute occurs, they will still insist personal opinions rather than promise so as to protect others’ face and maintain harmonious atmosphere. Thus, a hassle is seen very mon and even weled. Undoubtedly, as for face consideration, what westerners seek for is individual freedom, rights and personal character rather than public affirmation and praise. Conception of Equality Westerners equally reckon every individual as a unit of society, whatever his or her age, sex and social rank are. In interrelationships, everyone is equal, everyone can get a chance. Westerners rarely consider emotional factors, instead they are often straightforward and businesslike. That is to say, children can address their parents directly by name, intense argument is allowed between superior and junior, and as to material distribution, westerners also insist on selfinterest, equality, and fair trade principle. They will neither give in to give the other side face nor promise to get in good with others. They act according to law, make a clear distinction between public rules and private relations, and refrain from seeking personal favor at the expense of principle. That business is business has always been their creed. Everyone stands on fair positions, and enjoy equality to express personal viewpoints. It is unnecessary to make concession in order to save others’ face. However, this is not to say that Westerners are indifferent. In fact, they are warm, passionate, and often make many friends. They just not regard relationship as a means of transaction as the Chinese people. Based on equal terms, westerners always act without sparing anyone’s sensibilities. 7 PartⅡ Different Face View in English and Chinese Verbal Communication Rank ideas vs. equality Manifestation in addressing terms In the munication, addressing others is very mon. However, address systems vary from language to language, from culture to culture. As we all know, People have two kinds of personal namesa surname and a given name not only English but Chinese. But there are somewhat difference of the order and the using of these names between these two languages. In the name of a Chinese person, the family name is followed by the given name. While the names of English are written and spoken with the given name first and family name last. In English culture, addressing people by their first names, which was formerly employed to define intimate relationship, has now been used to indicate “friendliness”, and adopted between strangers, people of different ages and occupational status, students and professors, the young and their seniors (Zhang, 2021: 20). This is the cultural value of “equal status” and the sense of “being casual and easygoing”. In the English speaking families, children often address their parents “Daddy and Mommy” while they are in their childhood. As they grow up gradually, they change their addressing form and call their parents “Mum, Dad or Father, Mother”. People from English speaking families often address their relatives who are of the same generation or of the same age