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北外钱青教授：无视文化差异害死美国女孩(2007-10-23 10:46:11)
风华正茂的美国女孩去罗马旅游，却为何客死他乡？北外钱青教授在给我们讲述一段故事的同时，也告诉我们出门在外，一定要尊重地方文化，否则只能自酿苦果。希望钱教授的讲座能让那些想出国或者已经身在海外的朋友们警醒。
讲座中，钱教授提到了美国著名小说家亨利·詹姆斯（Henry
James）。亨利在他的小说《戴西·米勒》（DAISY
MILLER）中为我们讲述了天真，妩媚，聪慧，对生活充满激情的美国少女戴西的短暂一生。
戴西生于美国小乡镇的一个富裕家庭。虽然家境富裕，但是爹娘没啥文化，不知道该如何教育子女。戴西游历欧洲的时候，身上还是一副美国乡下人作派，于是总显得与住在欧洲的美国人有些格格不入。那些人尤其对戴西和男人相处时候的随意作风看不上眼。在罗马，戴西和男人外出遛弯的时候拒绝老妈子跟随其后，这就等于拒绝接受当时罗马的地方文化习俗。 结果，所有住在罗马的美国人都cut
her dead。什么是“cut somebody dead”?
就是说所有人都把戴西当作透明人，对她不闻不问。
然后有一次，戴西在黄昏独自和一个当地的意大利男人散步。她被一只小蚊子咬了之后，不幸感染了疟疾。没过多久，年轻的美国女孩便凄惨地离开了人世。
戴西貌似死于疟疾，疟疾只是个外因，那么她真正的死因究竟是什么？戴西是当时世风严肃的欧洲价值观下的殉道者，她为自己无知并且无力地同地方文化相抗争付出了生命的代价。最初，不是没人提醒过戴西要入乡随俗，但是戴西的固执己见最终葬送了自己的生命。
有一句名谚，说的是： In Rome,
do as the Romans do.
在人家的地盘，如果戴西尊重当地文化，甚或仅仅是模仿跟他一样的外来人口的言谈举止，那么，戴西·米勒的人生就不会这般草草收场了。
亨利·詹姆斯的这部作品揭示了一个“国际主题”（THE
INTERNATIONAL
THEME），即美国和欧洲这两种不同文化和价值体系间的冲突。事实上，不仅欧美文化间存在着冲突，中美、中欧间同样存在着不容忽视的文化碰撞。接下来，北外钱青教授会告诉我们该如何适应并缓和这种文化差异，开开心心地在异国的土壤下生根发芽。
视频讲稿：
This story should show us the importance of being
sensitive to the customs and habits of the people around
us. If a Chinese woman is going to visit a Muslim country,
就是伊斯兰教的国家，穆斯林，伊斯兰教的国家，like Iran or Yemen, she
can’t expose her arms and legs, the way people do in Chinese
cities. She has to follow the customs of that country, and cover
her arms to her wrists, and her legs to her ankles and she has to
cover her hair and also her neck, she can only leave her face out,
otherwise, she will offend the local people.
（深处伊斯兰教国家，我们就要入乡随俗，尊重她们的着装习惯，这样才能和当地人友好相处。）
We mainland Chinese going abroad must learn to line up排队, when we are paying for things, or waiting to get onto a train, bus or into a lift, and to let ladies get on first. We don’t have that habit yet. We also need to correct such habits as spitting. Many people still spit. （国人到了国外要养成排队和不随地吐痰的习惯。）
When we are
starting a conversation with foreign friends, we need to learn how
to make small talk. Small talk就是闲谈，闲聊。As we know, there is
a wide gap between Chinese and Western culture. The typical way to
start a Chinese conversation is to ask about food. “Have you eaten
yet?” is the usual way we start a conversation, which is quite
astonishing to English people, who are used to start the
conversation with remarks about the weather, such as “Lovely day,
isn’t it?” no matter how obvious the remark may be. In fact, in
the 18th century, Johnson once observed “when two Englishmen meet,
their first talk is of the weather”. So that’s their habit, you
see, just as we talk about whether we’ve eaten yet, we talk about
food, they talk about the weather.
（中国人闲聊时习惯问人家吃没吃饭，老外则习惯谈论天气，而这些都是由来已久的习俗了。）
And if a Chinese is praised, say, for his good English, his habit is to say, “哪里，哪里”，in protest, something like “No, No.” in protest. While in American custom, it is usually to say “Thank you”. If you thank a Chinese for being helpful, he will simply smile, while the American custom is to reply and say something such as “You’re welcome” or “It’s my pleasure”, depending on what this person is thanked for. I’m not saying that one custom is better than the other, only that one’s remark or reply should fit in with the custom that goes with the language one is speaking.（中西方面对赞扬和感谢的反应也是截然不同。我们要留意按照文化出牌。）
In The Portrait of a Lady, also by Henry James, this is another novel by Henry James, we have another example of the importance of noting cultural habits. Here the main character Isabel Archer notices her husband chatting with a woman friend who is also their match-maker. Something in their behavior is odd. Her husband is sitting while the woman is standing. In the 19th century society, a man could never allow a woman guest to stand while he was seated. Since only family members could be so casual with each other, she guesses correctly that they were formerly lovers. （在亨利·詹姆斯德另一步作品《淑女本色》The Portrait of a Lady 中，作者再次强调了留心文化习惯的用处。书中的主人公伊莎贝尔就是通过男女的相处模式准确地判断出了二人之间的关系。）
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