On Language-談?wù)Z言
On Language
Language varies from country to country. It differs not only in written and spoken language but also in gestures.
Once my American teacher, Dr. Joe Johnson, went ont shopping. He was surprlsed to find out that he couldn＇t even count on his fingers proficiently in China. He tried to buy six oranges. The orange seller couldn＇t understand his two handed counting when he showed him five left hand fingers and one right hand finger. He was also confused when a driver said he would pick him up at six o＇clock, and held his right band in a gesture familiar to himself. The gesture was not familiar as a six. It resembled a pipe.
There were no trouble with the numbers one, four, and five. In China, we show the middle and index fingers to mean two, but, for the Americans, it means victory. The Chinese guesture for three, to Americans. means "okay." The Chinese seven is like many people from southern Europe aad the Middle East gesture to mean "money". A Chinese eight is like a symbol for a pistol. A Chinese nine in an American TV studio means that you have thirty seconds left to finish what you are doing. And a Chinese ten, to an American, can be an expression of anger, but not if there is a pleasant Chinese face behind it!
談?wù)Z言
各國(guó)的語(yǔ)言各不相同，不僅書(shū)面語(yǔ)、口語(yǔ)不同，而且手勢(shì)語(yǔ)也不同。
有一次，我的美國(guó)老師Joe Johnson 博士去買(mǎi)東西，他驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)在中國(guó)他連數(shù)手指都不熟練。他要買(mǎi)6個(gè)橘子，當(dāng)他伸出5個(gè)左手和1個(gè)右手指時(shí)，賣(mài)橘子的弄不明白。當(dāng)一個(gè)司機(jī)說(shuō)在6點(diǎn)鐘接他時(shí)，伸出右手做了一個(gè)熟悉的手勢(shì)卻把老師弄糊涂了。這熟悉的手勢(shì)不是六，而像個(gè)煙斗。
至于“一、四、五”那沒(méi)問(wèn)題。在中國(guó)，用中指和食指表示“二”，對(duì)美國(guó)人卻是“勝利”的意思。中國(guó)的手勢(shì)語(yǔ)“三”是美國(guó)的“OK”。中國(guó)的“七”就像許多南歐和中東的國(guó)家用來(lái)表示錢(qián)的手勢(shì)。中國(guó)的“八”是個(gè)手槍的信號(hào)。中國(guó)的“九”在美國(guó)電視演播室的意思是你還剩30秒鐘干完手中的活。中國(guó)的“十”對(duì)美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)表示生氣。但如果在其后有一張愉快的中國(guó)人的面孔，則并非如此。