1、Time-Conscious Americans美國人的時間觀念Individualism (個人主義)Equality (平等) Informality (不拘禮節)FriendshipsTime ConsciousnessIndividualism (個人主義)Most Americans see themselves first as individuals and then as a member of a community, family or other groups. Some people from other countries view this as being “se

2、lfish”. Others view it as freedom from constraints (約束). 大多數美國人認為自己首先是個人，然后作為一個社區的成員，家人或其他團體。一些來自其他國家的人認為這是“自私”。其他的認為這是自由的約束。2. Equality (平等) and Informality (不拘禮節) Most Americans treat each other in informal ways, even in the presence of great differences in age or social standing. Some see this as

3、 a “lack of respect”. Others see it as a healthy lack of concern for social ritual (禮儀). 大多數美國人以非正式的方式對待彼此，即使在存在的年齡或社會地位的差異。一些人認為這是“缺乏尊重”。另一些人認為它是健康的但缺乏社會禮儀。3.FriendshipFriendships are often less intense and shorter than those among people from many cultures. Americans often seem very friendly at fi

4、rst, even when you first meet them. This friendliness does not usually mean that the American is looking for a deeper relationship. 友誼和那些來自許多文化的人相比通常不是那么熱情和短暫。美國人通常看起來很友好，甚至當你第一次見到他們。這種友誼通常不意味著美國人正在尋找更深層的關系。 4.Time ConsciousnessAmericans are slaves to nothing but the clock it has been said. Time is

5、treated as if it were an almost tangible entry. In their language, there are words associated with it: time can be budgeted, saved, wasted, stolen, killed, and cut. Americans also charge for time. It is a precious commodity to them. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each life

6、time. Once the sands have run out of a persons hourglass, they can not be replaced. They want every minute to count. 有這樣一種說法，即：美國人是鐘表的奴隸。對他們干說，好像時間就是一個幾乎看得見的通道。在他們的語言中，就有一些同時間有聯系的詞：時間可以安排、節省、浪費、侵占、消磨和節減等。美國人還對時間收費。他們認為時間是一項珍貴商品。許多美國人對一生時間的短促相當敏感。一個人的沙漏計時器中的沙子一旦流走了，那是無法彌補的。他們要讓每分鐘都有價值。Since people va

7、lue time highly, they resent someone else wasting it beyond a certain courtesy point. This affects the matter of patience. In the American system of values, patience is not a high priority. Many of them have what might be called a short fuse. They begin to splutter and move restlessly about if they

8、feel time is slipping away without some return - be this in terms of pleasure, work value or rest. 由于人們非常珍惜時間，他們很討厭那些不知趣地浪費別人時間的人。這影響到耐心這個問題。在美國人的價值體系中，耐心并不很重要。許多美國人可以說是脾氣急躁的。如果他們感到時間在悄悄流失而一無所得時（這里的所得是就快樂、工作價值或休息而言），他們便開始說話激動，坐臥不寧。Normally Americans do not assess their visitors in relaxed surroundin

9、gs over prolonged small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, while they develop a pre-business sense of trust and rapport. Rapport to most of them is less important than performance. They seek out credentials of past performance rather than evaluating a business colleague through social

10、 courtesies. Since they generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, they start talking business very quickly.通常情況下，美國人不會在輕松隨意的氣氛中通過長時間地閑談來評估他們的來訪者；更不會飯館宴請客人來建立一種洽淡事務前的信任感和友好關系。對大多數人來說，友好關系比不上實際表現重要。他們注重過去的工作成績記錄，而不是通過社交禮儀去評估一個同行。他們一般是從職業角度而不是從社交活動上去評價和探討事情的，所以他們很快就開始談正事。Most Amer

11、icans live in time segments by engagement calendars. These calendars may be divided into intervals as short as fifteen minutes. They often give a person two or three (or more) segments of their calendar, but in the business world they almost always have other appointments following hard on the heels of whatever they are doing. Time i