【正文】 ver consider those used household items given to Keiko as gifts. No wonder they felt very unfortable when they received valuable gifts in return.Case 8As the Chinese girl Amy fell in love with an American boy at that time, it seems that she preferred to celebrate Christmas in the American way, for she wanted very much to appear the same as other American girl. She did not like to see her boyfriend feel disappointed at the ―shabby‖Chinese Christmas. That’s why she cried when she found out her parents had invited the minister ‘s family over for the Christmas Eve dinner. She thought the menu for the Christmas meal created by her mother a strange one because there were no roast turkey and sweet potatoes but only Chinese food. How could she notice then the foods chosen by her mother were all her favorites?From this case, we can find a lot of differences between the Chinese and Western cultures in what is appropriate food for a banquet, what are good table manners, and how one should behave to be hospitable. However, one should never feel shameful just because one‘s culture is different from others‘. As Amy‘s mother told her, you must be proud to be different, and your only shame is to have shame.Case 9Hierarchy is significant in the Japanese culture. This structure is reflected everywhere in Japanese life, at home, school, munity, organizations, and traditional institutions such as martial arts or flower arrangements. In this case, the young chairman must have had his own ideas about how to manage the pany。 however, when encountered with his grandfather‘s dissenting opinions, he dared not to take a stand against him. This may manifest the rigid hierarchical structure in the Japanese society. In the Japanese society, how hierarchy is formed depends mainly on seniority, social roles, and gender. As a respectable senior member of the family and the former leader of the pany, the grandfather obviously overpowered the inexperienced young chairman. In other words, the grandfather seemed to be an absolute authority for the young chairman. In Japanese culture, challenging or disagreeing with elders‘ opinions would be deemed as being disrespectful and is often condemned. People in lower positions are expected to be loyal and obedient to authority. That‘s why the young chairman didn‘t say anything but just nodded and agreed with his grandfather. But Phil seemed to know little about the Japanese culture in this aspect. In many Western cultures, particularly American culture, seniority seldom matters very much in such situations, and young people are usually encouraged to challenge authority and voice their own opinions. Unfortunately, his outspoken protest could easily offend the grandfather and he might be regarded as a rude and illbred person by other Japanese.Case 10In Japan, a pany is often very much like a big family, in which the manger(s) will take good care of the employees and the employees are expected to devote themselves to the development of the pany and, if it is necessary, to sacrifice their own individual interests for the interests of the pany, from which, in the long run, the employees will benefit greatly. But for the French, a pany is just a loosely knit social organization wherein individuals are supposed to take care of themselves and their families. Moreover, the way the French make decisions in the family might also be different from the typical Japanese one, which may not often involve females and the power to decide usually lies with the dominating male. As there are such cultural differences between the Japanese and the French, Mr. Legrand‘s decision made Mr. Tanaka feel dumbfounded.Case 11Incidents such as these can point to possible cultural differences in socalled ―polite behavior, and at the same time highlight the tendency for people to react emotionally to unexpected behavior. People in most cultures would probably agree that an apology is needed when an offence or violation of social norms has taken place. However, there may be differing opinions as to when we should apologize (what situations call for an apology) and how we should apologize. To many Westerners, Japanese apologize more frequently and an apology in Japanese does not necessarily mean that the person is acknowledging a fault. To many Japanese, Westerners may seem to be rude just because they do not apologize as often as the Japanese would do. In this case, for instance, the attitude of the Australian student‘s parents is shocking to the Japanese but will be acceptable in an Englishspeaking society, for the student is already an adult and can be responsible for her own deeds.Case 12In this case, it seems that the Chinese expectations were not fulfilled. First, having two people sharing host responsibilities could be somewhat confusing to the hierarchically minded Chinese. Second, because age is often viewed as an indication of seniority, the Chinese might have considered the youth of their Canadian hosts as slight to their own status. Third, in China, it is traditional for the host to offer a wele toast at the beginning of the meal, which is the reciprocated by the guests。 by not doing so, the Canadian might be thought rude. The abrupt departure of the Chinese following the banquet was probably an indication that they were not pleased with the way they were treated. The Canadians‘ lack of understanding of the Chinese culture and the Chinese ways of munication clearly cost them in their business dealings with the visiting delegation.Case 13This example vividly illustrates that failures in intercultural translation may probably lead to very serious consequence, or even disasters to human beings. Definitely, translation is not such a simple process as rendering a word, a sentence or a text literally, but rather a far more plex one than most people assumed. For example, once a Chinese cosmetic manufacturer wanted to promote their products into the international market. The slogan