【正文】 class of oral English when I was a freshman at university, westudents habitually addressed our amiable foreign teacher as ―teacher‖ as we did to the otherChinese teachers. But he asked us to call him by his first name instead. Since he seemed morethan fifty years old we were embarrassed but gradually we learned that was the suitable way toaddress a teacher in the United States, for teachers in the United States generally prefer to beseen as equal and like a friend to their students. However, when I was already a junior, to ourgreat surprise, one of our foreign teachers who taught us intensive reading told us that hepreferred to be called by us as ―Professor White‖ or ―Doctor White‖. The reason was simply13Making requestsChinese people tend to makerequests in indirect ways,especially when the peopleinvolved are not on intimateterms with one another.People from Englishspeakingcountries tend to makerequests directly and openly.Expressing gratitudeChinese people often expresstheir gratitude not just by whatthey say, but also by what they doand what they give to others whohave done them a favor.People from Englishspeakingcountries tend to show theirgratitude more verbally toothers who have helped them.Expressing disapprovalChinese people are reluctant toexpress their disproval openly forfear of making others lose face. Ifthey have to express disapproval,they often prefer to do it in a veryindirect way.People from Englishspeakingcountries are more likely toexpress their disapprovalfreely and directly.LeavetakingChinese people tend to excusethemselves by claiming that theothers must be tired or busy, etc,using the expressions that imputethe motive of tiredness orbusiness to the other party whenparting.People from Englishspeakingcountries would usually findreasons to part related tothemselves rather than toothers.that he wanted to be properly respected in China.Translation縱觀歷史，我們可以清楚地看到，人們由于彼此所處地域、意識形態(tài)、容貌服飾和行為舉止上存在的差異，而長久無法互相理解、無法和睦相處。在這種情況下，跨文化交際作為一個特定的研究領(lǐng)域得以形成和發(fā)展。值得注意的是，人類文明在發(fā)展過程中所遭受的許多挫折，既是個人的，又是全球性的；人類歷史進(jìn)程總是充滿了個人間的直接沖突和民族間的誤解——從罵罵咧咧到孤立主義直至到武裝沖突，大大小小爭端不絕。很顯然，文化間以及亞文化間的交往比以前多了，這迫切要求我們共同努力，去理解有著不同信仰和文化背景的人們，并與之和睦相處。通過加深認(rèn)識和理解，我們能夠與生活方式、價值觀念不同的人們和平共處；這不但有益于我們周遭環(huán)境的安定，也是維護(hù)世界和平的決定性因素。Case StudyCase 1In this case, there seemed to be problems in municating with people of different cultures inspite of the efforts made to achieve understanding.We should know that in Egypt as in many cultures, the human relationship is valued so highlythat it is not expressed in an objective and impersonal way. While Americans certainly value humanrelationships, they are more likely to speak of them in less personal, more objective terms. In thiscase, Richard‘s mistake might be that he chose to praise the food itself rather than the total evening,for which the food was simply the setting or excuse. For his host and hostess it was as if he hadattended an art exhibit and plimented the artist by saying, ―What beautiful frames your picturesare in.‖In Japan the situation may be more plicated. Japanese people value order and harmonyamong persons in a group, and that the organization itself－be it a family or a vast corporation－ismore valued than the characteristics of any particular member. In contrast, Americans stressindividuality as a value and are apt to assert individual differences when they seem justifiably inconflict with the goals or values of the group. In this case: Richard‘s mistake was in making greatefforts to defend himself. Let the others assume that the errors were not intentional, but it is not rightto defend yourself, even when your unstated intent is to assist the group by warning others of similarmistakes. A simple apology and acceptance of the blame would have been appropriate. But for poorRichard to have merely apologized would have seemed to him to be subservient, unmanly.When it es to England, we expect fewer problems between Americans and Englishmenthan between Americans and almost any other group. In this case we might look beyond the gestureof taking sugar or cream to the values expressed in this gesture: for Americans, ―Help yourself‖。 forthe English counterpart, ―Be my guest.‖ American and English people equally enjoy entertaining and14being entertained but they differ somewhat in the value of the distinction. Typically, the ideal guestat an American party is one who ―makes himself at home,‖ even to the point of answering the dooror fixing his own drink. For persons in many other societies, including at least this hypotheticalEnglish host, such guest behavior is presumptuous or rude.Case 2A mon cultural misunderstanding in classes involves conflicts between what is said to bedirect munication style and indirect munication style. In American culture, people tend tosay what is on their minds and to mean what they say. Therefore, students in class are expected toask questions when they need clarification. Mexican culture shares this preference of style withAmerican culture in some situations, and that‘s why the students from Mexico readily adopted thetechniques of asking questions in class. However, Korean people generally prefer indirectmunication style, and therefore they tend to not say what is on their minds and to rely more onimplications and inference, so as to be polite and respectful and avoid losing face through anyimproper verbal behavior. As is mentioned in the case, to many Koreans, numerous questions wouldshow a disrespect for the teacher, and would also reflect that the student has not studied hard enough.Case 3The conflict here is a difference in cultural values and beliefs. In the beginning, Mary didn‘trealize that her Dominican sister saw her as a member of the family, literally. In the