中级口译教程左右版式

Misinterpretation in Cross-Cultural Communication

（跨文化交际中的误解）

In cross-cultural communication the

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of misinterpretation is greatest among people who speak different native tongues or come from different cultural backgrounds, because cultural difference

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necessarily different assumptions about natural and obvious ways to be polite.

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Anthropologist Thomas Kochman gives the example of a white office worker who appeared with a bandaged arm and felt rejected because her black fellow worker didn’t mention it. The worker assumed that her silent colleague didn’t notice or didn’t care. But the co-worker was purposely not calling attention to something her colleague might no want to talk about. She let her decide whether or not to

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mention it, being considerate by not Kochman says, based on his research, that these differences reflect recognizable black and white styles.

An American woman visiting England was repeatedly offended when the British they should pay attention. For example, she

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was sitting at a booth in a railway-station cafeteria. A couple began to settle into the opposite seat in the same booth. They unload their luggage; they laid their coats on the seat; he asked what she would like to eat and went off to get it; she slid into the booth facing the American. And throughout all this, of having noticed that someone was already sitting in the booth.

When the British woman lit up a cigarette,

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the American began ostentatiously looking

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在跨文化交际中，说不同语言或来自不同文化背景的人们互相之间发生误解的可能性最大，因为文化差异在看待什么是合乎常情的、显而易见的礼貌之举上必然隐含不同的假设。

① cross-cultural：a.跨文化的 ② misinterpretation：n.误解 ③ assumption：n.假设

人类学家托马斯·科赫曼举出一个白人办事员的例子。她上班时一只手臂上绑着绷带，因为她的黑人同事看见他手臂上的绑带却只字不提，对此她感到不快。这位身心受到双重伤害的白人自以为她的同事不提此事，要么是没有注意到她手臂上有伤，要么是对她漠不关心。而她那位黑人同事则是有意不提起她本人不想谈的事情。这位同事让她自己决定是不是要提及她的伤痛，因为她不想主动提起对方不愿意开口的事情是为对方着想。科赫曼说，根据他的研究，这些想法上的不同反映出黑人和白人各有各的可人同的为人处事方式。

① anthropologist：n.人类学家

② considerate：a.替人着想的，考虑周到的；being

considerate是现在分词短语作原因状语，翻译时，可用“因为”另起一句来表示它与主句的逻辑关系。

一个在英国游览的美国妇女一再恼怒不已，因为英国人在她认为应该留意他人的场合却对她视而不见。例如，有一次她正坐在火车站自助餐馆的一个火车座里，一对夫妇走上前来，要占用她所在的火车座对面的座位。他们卸下行李，又把各自的上衣放在座位上；他问她要吃什么，然后就去买东西；她坐进火车座，面对着这个美国人。自始至终，看不出夫妇两人曾经注意到有人早就坐在这个火车座里。

① booth：n.（隔开的）小房间，（餐馆的）火车

座，电话亭

当那个英国女人点燃一支香烟时，美国人便故意让英国女人知道她在四周张望想