customs and manners风俗习惯与礼节 customs and manners do as the romans do. try to follow the custom and you’ll get used to it. making yourself clear is a polite thing to do. it’s always a bit difficult to get things started. once you get started you’ll find it much easier to do. the safe way to do things is to watch what people do and do the same. you just have be westernized, but you’ve got to learn to enjoy our things while you’re here. you’ll appreciate our views more when you get to know us better. you’ve got to make friends if you want to get better acquainted with things here. living in a strange land is always hard at the beginning, but you’ll get over it. you don’t have to go with it, but what you need to do is to understand it. that’s what makes us americans by our custom it’s not acceptable. i think you’ll have to change your habit a little bit. stick to it ,no matter what people say. you’ll overcome the culture shock in no time. it’ll help you broaden your viewpoints that you live with people from different backgrounds. this is what a lot people thought of us americans when they first come here. i found people here seem always on the run. people have always mistakenly thought we chinese people lack a sense of time and are slow in response to the outside world. but it’s just not true any more. although they’ve tried in every way to make friends with me, it still doesn’t work. i think part of the problem is the language, and part of it the cultural differences. it’ll help us to understand the problem better. we seldom eat our vegetables raw back home. is that a chinese custom? i found your eating habits a bit strange. for example, it amazed me when i first saw you drink milk cold. we still try to keep chinese customs. we chinese are friendly, generally speaking. it’s too much americanized, i’m afraid. we eat a lot of fast food nowadays. you don’t have to be very formal when you come to me place. you really don’t have to bring gifts every time you got to a friend’s house. the western people do not ask about the ages and salaries of others. ages, salaries and so on are privacy. if you ask an american about his religion or marriage, usually won’t get an answer. keep in mind you should be in time when you’re invited to dinner. you may go with a gift or not. remember to make an appointment any time you want to call on somebody. don’t try to shake hand with a woman unless she puts out her hand first. you can talk about weather to anybody at any time. weather is a good topic to begin a conversation. americans consider it more friendly to invite a person to one’s home than to take him to a restaurant. you should arrive at the time you were invited for, or within five or ten minutes after that time. if you are unable to thank the hostess before you leave, it’s a good idea to write her a note of thanks or telephone her the next day. if you’re going to be an overnight or weekend guest, it is customary to bring the hostess a small present. men usually open doors for women, and women generally walk ahead of men into a room or restaurant. usually, if a man asks a woman out to dinner, he will pay for the dinner. although there is much informality in the united states, it is important not to create a false impression regarding your feelings for another person. 风俗习惯与礼节 入乡随俗。 入乡随俗慢慢会习惯的。 有话直说是礼貌的举动。 万事开头难。 什么事一旦开了头，就会比较容易多了。 最好的方法是，别人怎么做。您也怎么做。 您不必西化，但是在这儿就得学会这儿的生活方式。 等了解我们以后，您就会更加欣赏我们的观点了。 想要更好的了解这儿的事物，您必须多交朋友。 在一个陌生的环境里，开始时免不了会不习惯，慢慢就会适应的。 有些事情您不必都学，只须理解就可以了。 这正是我们美国人的特色。 按照我们的习惯，这是不能接受的。 我觉得您得改一改您的习惯才行。 您干您的，甭管别人怎么说您。 您会很快克服文化冲击的。 与不同经历的人相处会有助于开阔您的视野。 许多刚来美国时就是这么看我们美国人的。 我发现这儿的人好像。 人们常常错误地认为我们中国人缺乏时间观念，对外部世界反应慢。现在已不是那么回事了。 尽管他们千方百计地对我们友好，可我总觉得跟他们合不来。我想这里既有语言问题，也有文化方面的差异。 它将有助于我们更好地理解这个问题。 不同的国家和民族，由于不同的历史，文化，宗教等因素，各有特殊的风俗习惯和礼节。例如，伊斯兰教徒不吃猪肉，在斋月里日出之后，日落之前不能吃喝；有些佛教徒不吃荤；印度教徒不吃牛肉；某些国家如印度，印尼，马里，阿拉伯国家等，不能用左手与他人接触或用左手传递东西；在佛教国家不能随便摸小孩头顶；天主教徒忌讳十三这个数字。尤其是十三日星期五，遇上这种日子，一般不举行宴请活动；使用筷子进食的东方国家，用餐时不可用一双筷子来回传递，也不能把筷子插在饭碗中间；东南亚一些国家忌讳坐着跷大腿；伊朗称好不伸大拇指；保加利亚、尼泊尔等一些国家摇头表示称赞，点头表示不同意，等等。阿拉伯国家妇女比较守旧，到人家家里作客不要问女主人身体如何；对日本人送礼要注意花式，绿色被视为不吉祥，荷花是祭奠用的，礼品上不要有狐狸的图案，因为这种动物狡猾，贪婪。不要把菜汤和饭拌在一起吃，因为这是喂猫的方式。在婚礼上忌用离开、重复、多次等字眼，在喜庆场合忌用去、旧、坏了、完了等字眼。若不注意这些风俗，会使人误认为对他们不尊重或闹出笑话。新到一个国家或初次参加活动，应多了解，多观察，不懂或不会做的事，可仿效别人。 different countries and peoples, as various historical, cultural and religious factors have special customs and courtesy. for example, muslims do not eat pork, in ramadan after sunrise, sunset before meals can; some buddhists not everybody eats meat; hindus do not eat beef; certain countries, such as india, indonesia, mali, the arab states, can not use the left hand with other people or things left transmission; in buddhist countries not to be confused child's head; catholics taboo 13 this figure. especially on the 13th friday, the days to come, not normally held banquets; using chopsticks to eat oriental country, meals must not return with a pair of chopsticks transmission, could not chopsticks inserted in the middle jobs; in some southeast asian countries, the who taboo sitting thigh; iran asserts brightening sun thumbs; bulgaria, some countries, such as nepal praised shook his head, nodded do not agree, and so on. arab women were relatively conservative state, home to people not to ask a guest how good hostess; japanese right gifts to the attention of heineken, green is deemed as not auspicious, the lotus is awakened to use, gifts do not have to hide the logo, which animal cunning and greed. not to mix soup and rice to eat together, because this is the cat. the wedding jiyong leave, repeat the word several times, the happy occasions jiyong, and the old, bad, the end of the word. if attention to these customs, people would mistakenly believe that they do not respect or become a farce. move to a new country or participate in the initial activities, learn more about, observe, understand or will not do, others may follow suit.