March 23
【Text】
On Time
"At 10 a.m." means different things around the world.
March 23
An office meeting starts at 10 a.m. Hans, a German colleague, is already waiting at 9:55. Nathan, an American, arrives on the dot at 10. In the next five minutes a few other hurry in. But trying everyone's patience is the visitor from Brazil, Raul, who walks in at 10:30. He doesn't even think he's late.
How people perceive time varies around the world. Germans like arriving early. Americans plan to arrive just on time. Brazilians aren't bothered by being a half hour late. And many don't know exactly what time it is .
In 1884, a clock in Greenwich, England, set the standard time around the world. But it couldn't standardize when people will arrive for a 10 a.m. meeting.
While culture attitudes about time differ greatly, all cultures can be put into one of two groups: time-oriented and event-oriented. Schedules take precedence in time-oriented cultures. In event-oriented cultures, what happens is more important than when. Such cultural knowledge is important for today's world travelers. Understanding how people perceive time can help travelers get along better in foreign cultures.
【Word Bank】
on the dot (idiom)
准时地
Our French club meetings always start at 4 o'clock on the dot.
perceive (v.)
看待
Stanley always perceives problems to be worse than they acturally are.
standardize (v.)
统一；使标准化
The school standardized its English tests. Now every English class takes the same tests.
precedence (n.)
优先次序；优先地位
Doing your homework should take precedence over watching TV.
【More Information】
-oriented (suffix)
以…为导向的；以…为目的的
Tim is very family-oriented. He likes to spend a lot of time with them.
【译文】
准时
「十点钟时」在世界各地的意义不同
March 23
一场公司会议在十点开始。德国同事汉斯九点五十五分就已经在等了。美国人纳森在十点准时到达。接下来的五分钟，其他几位匆忙进入办公室。但是最考验众人耐心的一位是巴西来的客人拉乌尔，他在十点半出现。他甚至不觉得自己迟到了。
世界各地的人对时间的观点大为不同。德国人喜欢提早到，美国人则计划准时出现；巴西人不把迟到半小时当回事，更别提许多人根本不知道确切的时间。
一八八四年，英国格林威治的一个时钟成为世界各地的标准时间。然而，它却无法统一人们抵达早上十点会议的时间。
虽然面对时间的文化态度迥异，但所有文化还是可归类为两种：「以时间为导向」和「以事件」为导向。在以时间为导向的文化中，行程表占有优先地位。在以事件为导向的文化中，发生「什么事」则比「何时」更要紧。对今日的世界旅人来说，这样的文化知识十分重要。了解人们如何看待时间，有助旅客在国外文化中更悠游自在。