午后咖啡unit09 The Voices of Time 時(shí)間的聲音

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Time talks. It speaks more plainly than words. Time communicates in many ways.

Consider the different parts of the day, for example. The time of the day when something is done can give a special meaning to the event. Managers in the US fully realize the importance of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon that takes every away from his work.

In the US, it is not customary to call someone very early in the morning. If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call shows that the matter is urgent and requires immediate attention. The same meaning is attached to phone calls made after 11:00 pm. If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, he assumes it is a matter of life and death. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.

Imagine the excitement and fear caused by a crowd of people arriving at the door at 2:00 am. On an island in the South Pacific, a plant manager from the US has just such an experience. The natives of the island met one night to discuss a problem, when they arrived at a solution, they went to see the manager and woke him up to tell him what had been decided. Unfortunately, it was after 2 o’clock in the morning. They did not know that it is a very serious matter to wake up Americans at this hour. The manager, who did not understand the local culture, thought there was a fight and called out the military troops. It never occurred to him or to the natives that parts of a day have different meaning in different cultures.

In social life, time plays an important part. In the US, guests tend to feel they are not highly regarded if the invitation to a dinner party is extended only 3 or 4 days before the party date. But in other areas of the world, it may be considered foolish to make an appointment too far in advance because it tends to be forgotten.

Americans look ahead and are concerned with the future. The American idea of future is limited, however. It is the foreseeable future and not the future of the South Asians, which may involve centuries.

Promptness is also value highly in American life. People who are not prompt may be regarded as impolite or not fully responsible. A person who is 5 minutes late is expected to make a short apology. If he is less than 5 minutes late, he will say a few words of explanation, though perhaps he will not complete the sentence. To an American, being half an hour late is the beginning of the “insult period”. No matter what is said in apology, there is little that can remove the damage done by a 30-minute wait.

Since time has such different meanings in different cultures, communication is sometimes difficult. We will understand each other a little better if we keep this fact in mind.