下面的解释来说明西方人为什么会以这种方式来感觉空间。西方的思维和语言主要源于以拉丁语为母语的古罗马文化，而这是一种基于实际和经验的体系。一般来说，西方文化已经采用古罗马人的思维模式，把客观“实体”视为主观或者内在经验的基础。一直到这种在知性上不成熟的古罗马文化受到希腊文化抽象思维的影响的时候，拉丁语才发展出一套意义重大的词汇—抽象的非空间术语。但是空间意识和具体化的古罗马—拉丁成分已经在西方思维和语言模式中保存了下来，尽管也继承了希腊人的抽象思维和表达能力。
2. 然而，有些文化语言系统朝着相反的方向发展，就是从一套抽象、主观的词汇发展到一套更为具体的词汇。例如，沃尔夫告诉我们，在霍皮语中，“心”这个字，是一个具体的术语，可它是在先有了“思维”和“记忆”这种抽象术语之后才形成的。同样地，尽管在西方人，特别是美国人看来，客观的、有形的“实体”一定要先于主观的或者内在经验，但实际上，许多亚洲和非欧洲文化把内在经验看成是对有形的实体感觉的基础。因此，虽然美国人被教导在空间中感知物体的排列和做出反应，会认为除非空间中充满物体，否则就是“被浪费了”，而日本人却被训练为对空间本身赋予意义，对“空旷”的空间赋予价值。例如，在许多日本艺术中，像绘画、园林设计、插花艺术等，布局的主要特性是日本人称之为美的精髓的“素雅(shibumi)”。一幅画包罗万象，而不是留有空间，这体现不出美的精髓。日本艺人常常画笔一刷，就呈现出一片天空；或者用一条简单的轮廓线条绘出远处的一座山峰。然而，在西方人的眼中，画中的大片“空旷”的空间使画显得还缺了点什么东西。
3. 东西方不仅仅是在空间模式上存有差异。当我们观察西方不同文化中城市规划的时候，还体会各种各样跨文化空间的感觉。例如，在美国，城市的布局通常是沿着一个网格展开，轴心一般是南北向和东西向。街道和建筑物按顺序编号。当然这种安排对美国人来说是完美的。当美国人在像巴黎这样的城市漫步时，他们往往会迷路。因为巴黎的街道是从中央辐射开来的。此外，巴黎的街道是命名的而不是按序编号的，而且常常不用经过几个街区，街名就变换了。美国人对当地人如何能够到处行走大为疑惑，而巴黎人却显得行动自如。霍尔在《无声的语言》一书中认为：法国城市空间布局的特点仅仅是反映法国文化特征中中央集权的一个方面。因此巴黎是法国的中心，法国政府和教育系统高度集中。在法国人的办公室里，最重要人物的办公桌就摆在其中央。
4. 空间文化模式的另一个方面涉及到空间的各种功能。在美国的中产阶层，特定的空间是为特定的活动而设计的。任何活动，一旦跨越其特定空间，人们立刻就会觉得不合事宜。相比之下，在日本就不是那么回事了。墙壁可以移动，房间使用的目的白天和晚上是不一样的。在印度，又是另一种空间使用的文化模式。印度的公共和私人场所在功能上均有优劣的概念。在印度的城市、乡村、甚至是家庭里，某些场所因为所从事的活动和使用这些场所的人的缘故而被认定是肮脏或者卑劣的。印度的空间是给隔离开来的，以便社会等级高的和等级低的、男的和女的、世俗的和神圣的活动都分隔开来进行。这种模式沿用了几千年，在印度古城挖掘出来的考古证据就说明了这一点。即便在现代的印度，这种空间模式仍旧相当的清晰和顽固，哪怕是在公交车上也要把妇女使用的空间隔离开来。例如，昌迪加尔是印度的一座由法国建筑师设计的现代化城市。公寓大楼均按欧洲理念建造，但是住在那里的印度人却发现某些方面与他们以前居住的空间模式不一致。在印度工作的人类学家鲁思?弗里德发现，居住在昌迪加尔城的许多印度家庭都改造了他们的公寓，用窗帘把男人和女人的空间隔离开来。只有自家人时，他们就仍然依照传统模式在厨房里吃饭, 而有西方客人光临时他们才启用客厅或是饭厅。传统的印度乡村生活在一周围墙里边进行, 院子给每户人家提供了隐私的空间。然而，昌迪加尔城的公寓大楼, 建有很多宽敞的窗户，从而折射出欧洲人对光线与阳光的重视。而许多昌迪加尔城的家庭却把窗户玻璃上糊满了纸张以便重建传统式院落的隐私空间。弗里德认为这些传统的印度模式也许反映出人们对人口密集型环境的一种适应。
5. 从整体上研究不同文化的人类学家已经察看到了时间观与空间观之间的联系。例如，正
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如我们所察看到的，美国人把没有活动的时间看作是“被浪费了的时间”，把没有物体的空间看作是“被浪费了的空间”。霍皮人再一次提供了有趣的对比。在英语中，任何表示地点或者空间的词都可以单独使用，能呈现出各自的特征而无需任何参照。例如，在英语里，可以说：“这房间很大”或者“美国的北方冬天很寒冷”。我们无需表明“房间”或者“北方”与任何其他表空间或地点的词语有联系。但在霍皮语里，地点或者空间地域的词语本身不能在句子里单独使用。霍皮人不能单独地使用“北方”这个词，他们得说“在北方”、“从北方”或者用另一种方式给“北方”这个词加上一个方向性的后缀。同样地，霍皮语没有一个单词能够被翻译成“房间”。霍皮语中的“房间”是词干，是意思为“房屋”，“房间”或“居室”词的一部分，但是不能单独使用，必须加上后缀才使这个词表示“在房子里”或“从居室”。霍皮语中像“房间”、“居室”或“大厅”这些表示空洞空间的概念只有跟其他空间关联时才具有意义。霍皮人的这种空间感觉模式似乎与他们对时间的感觉模式相似。在西方文化中，各时段被认为是时间延续过程中的独立片段，而在霍皮语中却要将各时段连结成连续统一体。
6. 人类学家不知道为什么一种文化会产生一种时空观，而另一种文化却会产生另一种时空观。空间观也许是对特定环境的适应：人口稠密的程度、耕地的多少、像海与山这样的天然屏障的有无以及一个地区特征性陆标的多少。例如，爱斯基摩人的环境是一片辽阔的雪原，几乎终年见不到什么陆标，于是他们的空间感就得到了极大的发展。他们得学会区分各空间元素之间的细微差别，因为这是他们远离家园外出打猎时赖以生存的技能。
7. 某些文化对于空间感觉的一个重要方面就体现于人们所需的彼此感觉舒适却又不觉拥挤的“私人空间”。例如，北美人彼此感觉舒适所需的空间距离大约是４英尺。而阿拉伯人和拉美人反而是彼此靠近才会感觉舒服。因此，不同文化的人可能会无意间侵犯别人的空间感。正如不同的时间观可能会造成文化上的冲突，不同的空间观也会引发同样的问题。 ＜ 完 ＞ Unit 5 Text
Can You Raise a Polite Kid in this Rude World? Suzanne Chazin
Mention ill-mannered children and most people roll their eyes at the memory of a little hellion and his boorish parents. I still get angry about an incident that happened last summer.
1. We were staying at a country inn that had a small movie theater. Before every evening?s presentation, my husband and I instructed our three-year-old son to sit quietly. Except for an occasional whispered question, he sat in rapt attention.
2. The soundtrack, however, was impossible to hear. That?s because two children bounced on their seats, talked loudly and raced up and down the aisles. Never once did I see a parent. After several evenings of this, I followed the children to the dining room. There sat a man and woman enjoying a relaxed meal.
3. “My family is having a hard time watching the film with your children running all over the theater,” I said. “Do you think that if they?re not interested in the movie, you could keep them out here?” The father regarded me coolly. “We?ve paid for the use of the inn?s facilities,” he said. “Our children can go anywhere they please!”
4. I was dumbfounded. What could make a seemingly rational couple condone behavior that was so obviously rude? Have we as a society become so consumed with our own needs and the impulses of our children that everyone else?s rights are ignored?
5. “Take a look at television these days, and it?s becoming almost commonplace to be arrogant and crude,” notes psychologist Thomas Achenbach of the University of Vermont.
6. While teenagers laugh at the vulgar antics of “Beavis and Butthead,” their parents yuk it up
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with the acerbic “Married With Children” and the brash “Roseanne.” The assault on manners doesn?t just come in the form of comic relief. Witness the abominable display last September of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Roberto Alomar, who spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck before millions of fans.
7. All of this seems to have a profound effect on kids. Comparing assessments of American children in the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, Achenbach found that children in the latter group were, on average, more impulsive and disobedient than their counterparts a decade and a half earlier. The fraying of the nuclear family and the demands on working parents, many experts believe, have produced a generation of children who can program a computer but don?t know how to write a thank-you note.
8. Even parents who strive to teach their children manners are appalled at how easily those lessons can be undone by what takes place beyond their homes. Leann Aykut of Scottsdale, Ariz., knows this well. One day her 11-year-old son found his sister using his telephone in his room. “Get off my phone,” he yelled, calling her an obscene name. Aykut raced to her son?s room. “You?ve no right to talk to your sister like that,” she scolded. The boy shrugged. He explained that a friend had been arguing with his mother and called her by that term. “We never talk that way in this house,” Aykut said firmly.
9. While you can?t protect your children from what goes on outside your home, experts believe that with patience and persistence, parents can do a lot to make their children beauties in our world full of beasts. Be a Model.
10. When a 16-year-old Florida high-schooler came home from volleyball practice one day, she appeared troubled. “What?s wrong?” her mother asked. The teen explained that her coach chose another girl over her best friend for the varsity team. Her friend?s mother was livid. Driving the girls home, she flew into a rage, cursing and calling the coach all sorts of names.
11. Many parents seem to have adopted the attitude “My child, right or wrong”—with devastating results. “Being a parent means being mature enough to help a child adapt to disappointment,” Achenbach says. “Parents who can?t accept when their child isn?t No. 1 send the message that when you?re frustrated, you blame the source of frustration instead of looking for a way to cope.” Instead of urging a child to study harder for better grades, some parents blame the teacher. Instead of punishing a child for violating a school policy, they battle the policy.
12. A better message, experts say, is to teach children that while they cannot always control the outcome of every situation, they can control how they respond. “Children must learn to behave more gallantly than they feel,” says “Miss Manners” columnist and author Judith Martin. Being gallant, says Martin, is about more than simply saying “please” and “thank you.” It?s about not boasting or calling someone names behind their back, about winning fairly and losing graciously, and treating everyone with respect.
13. Of course, all the training in the world won?t persuade a child to behave gallantly if his parents become aggressive, demanding and rude at the slightest provocation. That?s why experts agree the best way for parents to improve a child?s manners is to improve their own first.
14. Parents need to be especially vigilant not to say something casually that they may be alarmed to hear later in the mouths of their children. A wife who tells her husband to shut up and a father who calls a neighbor a jerk are likely to hear their children speak the same way to them.
15. “If we aren?t practicing good manners, how can we expect our children to?” notes etiquette
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author and “Ms. Demeanor” columnist Mary Mitchell. Prompt and Praise.
16. “You?re such a mess; you never clean up your room.” “You?d better write that thank-you note or you?re not watching TV.” “Don?t you raise your voice to me.” Most parents have said these things to their children. They?re meant to correct behavior. Why, then, do they fail so miserably? 17. Because rude behavior in children is more often the result of thoughtlessness than of deliberate aggression. Criticism, name-calling and orders only make a child angry and defensive. They reinforce the notion that the child is incapable of good behavior without coercion.
18. A better approach is something Alan Kazdin, a psychologist at Yale University, calls prompt and praise. Before an event the parent explains the expected behavior in a noncritical way: “When we visit Aunt Mary today, I?d be so proud if you could shake her hand and pull out her chair at dinner.” Afterward, praise the child: “I really liked the way you shook Aunt Mary?s hand and offered a chair.” Says Kazdin, “The idea is to do this often enough so you can eventually move away from the prompt and just give the praise.”
19. But what about the times when a child has already committed an offending act? “Correct the child by blaming it on the house rules,” advises etiquette consultant Joan Hopper. Every family should have some basic rules that everyone agrees on and will follow.
20. So rather than saying “You?re such a slob. Get your elbows off the table,” a parent can simply state, “Our family rule is that elbows don?t go on the table.” By correcting the behavior rather than the child, you defuse a child?s defensiveness and keep the correction from sounding like an order. 21. A criticism delivered this way does tend to get results, as Ellen Weeks, 15, of West Hartford, Conn., will attest. Every morning, Ellen?s parents or one of her friends? parents would drive a group of students to school. When the car pulled up, Ellen used to wordlessly plunk herself in the back seat, sit silently, then rush out of the car at the school curb.
22. One morning after Ellen had hopped into the car, the driver, a father of one of the girls, turned around and asked, “How come no-one says ?good-morning? to me?” “I?d never thought about it from his perspective before,” Ellen admits. “I?m glad he told us how he felt.” Now she and the others say “good-morning” when they get into the car. Have Dinner Together.
23. Coretta Jefferson?s household is like many across America. The mother of two in Weston, W. Va., often doesn?t have the energy to coordinate everyone?s schedule around a sit-down dinner. Her eight-year-old son plays baseball and soccer, and her husband has a pool tournament two nights a week. “Gathering together for dinner is important,” she says, “but I can?t see it happening in my lifetime.”
24. Experts say that a half-hour to an hour of sit-down family time each day may be the most important thing parents can do for their children. “Co-operation, punctuality, conversation skills and respect are all learned around the dining table,” says etiquette teacher Tiffany Francis.
25. Even if a family can?t eat together every night, they should strive to get together at least once or twice a week. That means switching on the telephone answering machine and shutting off the television. “Dinnertime is not simply about eating but about sharing your day as a family,” says Mary Mitchell. It?s a time when parents can gently impart their values and morals without sounding as if they?re lecturing. Develop Rituals.
26. Attitudes of respect, modesty and fair play can grow only out of slowly acquired skills that
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parents teach their children over many years through shared experience and memory. If a child reaches adulthood with recollections only of television, Little League and birthday parties, then that child has little to draw on when a true test of character comes up—say, in a prickly business situation. “Unless that child feels grounded in who he is and where he comes from, everything else is an act,” says etiquette expert Betty Jo Trakimas.
27. The Dickmeyers of Carmel. Ind., reserve every Friday night as “family night” with their three children. Often the family plays board games or hide-and-seek. “My children love it,” says Theresa, their mother.
28. Can playing hide-and-seek really teach a child about manners? Yes, say Trakimas and others, because it tells children that their parents care enough to spend time with him, he is loved and can learn to love others. “Manners aren?t about using the right fork, agrees etiquette instructor Patricia Gilbert-Hinz. “Manners are about being kind—giving compliments, team-playing, making sacrifices. Children learn that through their parents.”
29. While children don?t automatically warm to the idea of learning to be polite, there?s no reason for them to see manners as a bunch of stuffy restrictions either. They?re the building blocks of a child?s education. “Once a rule becomes second nature, it frees us,” Mitchell says. “How well could Michael Jordan play basketball if he had to keep reminding himself of the rules?”
30. Judith Martin concurs. “A polite child grows up to get the friends and the dates and the job interviews,” she says, “because people respond to good manners. It?s the language of all human behavior.”
你能在这样粗鲁的世界里培养出彬彬有礼的孩子吗? 苏珊娜?查津
一提到无礼的孩子, 大多数人都会因回想起惹是生非的小孩以及其粗鄙的父母而皱起眉头。对去年夏天发生的一件事至今我还余怒未消。
1. 我们住在一间带有小电影院的乡村客栈。每天晚上电影放映之前，我和丈夫都教育三岁大的儿子坐好别说话。除了偶尔小声问问题外，他都全神贯注地坐着。 2. 然而，我们却没有办法听到电影的声音，因为有两个小孩在座位上蹦蹦跳跳、大声嚷嚷、还在过道上跑来跑去。我从来没有见到过他们的家长在场。就这样过了几个晚上, 有一次，我就跟踪这两个孩子到了餐厅。在那里有一男一女正清闲地吃着饭。
3. “你们的孩子在影院里到处乱跑，我们一家人无法看电影，”我说，“如果他们没有兴趣看电影的话，你可以叫他们离开吗？”那位父亲冷冷地看着我。“我们对使用客栈的设施付过钱了，”他说，“我们的孩子想去哪里就去哪里。”
4. 我顿时目瞪口呆。这对夫妻看上去挺讲道理的，是什么让他们能够容忍如此明显的不礼貌行为呢？作为社会的一份子，我们是否已经变得一心只想着自己的需求和满足孩子的欲望从而忽视了他人的权利呢？
5. “看看如今的电视节目，傲慢和粗鲁几乎是家常便饭，”佛蒙特州立大学的心理学家托马斯?奥肯博杰注意到。
6． 当孩子们被漫画人物《比维斯和巴特里德》的低俗、滑稽动作逗得大笑的时候，他们的父母也因辛辣的情景喜剧《有孩子的家室》和粗鲁的情景喜剧《罗斯娜》而哈哈大笑。其实，粗俗的行为不仅仅以喜剧性调剂的形式出现。人们不妨看看去年巴尔的摩“黄鹂”棒球队的第二守垒员罗伯多?阿洛马的恶心表现，他居然在几百万球迷面前，朝裁判约翰?赫什伯克的脸上吐口水。
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新世纪研究生公共英语教材阅读B 课文原文及翻译
