美国时间文化

1、Time-Conscious Americans美国人的时间观念Individualism (个人主义)Equality (平等) Informality (不拘礼节)FriendshipsTime ConsciousnessIndividualism (个人主义)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 (约束). 大多数美国人认为自己首先是个人，然后作为一个社区的成员，家人或其他团体。一些来自其他国家的人认为这是“自私”。其他的认为这是自由的约束。2. Equality (平等) and Informality (不拘礼节) 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 (礼仪). 大多数美国人以非正式的方式对待彼此，即使在存在的年龄或社会地位的差异。一些人认为这是“缺乏尊重”。另一些人认为它是健康的但缺乏社会礼仪。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. 友谊和那些来自许多文化的人相比通常不是那么热情和短暂。美国人通常看起来很友好，甚至当你第一次见到他们。这种友谊通常不意味着美国人正在寻找更深层的关系。 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. 有这样一种说法，即：美国人是钟表的奴隶。对他们干说，好像时间就是一个几乎看得见的通道。在他们的语言中，就有一些同时间有联系的词：时间可以安排、节省、浪费、侵占、消磨和节减等。美国人还对时间收费。他们认为时间是一项珍贵商品。许多美国人对一生时间的短促相当敏感。一个人的沙漏计时器中的沙子一旦流走了，那是无法弥补的。他们要让每分钟都有价值。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. 由于人们非常珍惜时间，他们很讨厌那些不知趣地浪费别人时间的人。这影响到耐心这个问题。在美国人的价值体系中，耐心并不很重要。许多美国人可以说是脾气急躁的。如果他们感到时间在悄悄流失而一无所得时（这里的所得是就快乐、工作价值或休息而言），他们便开始说话激动，坐卧不宁。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.通常情况下，美国人不会在轻松随意的气氛中通过长时间地闲谈来评估他们的来访者；更不会饭馆宴请客人来建立一种洽淡事务前的信任感和友好关系。对大多数人来说，友好关系比不上实际表现重要。他们注重过去的工作成绩记录，而不是通过社交礼仪去评估一个同行。他们一般是从职业角度而不是从社交活动上去评价和探讨事情的，所以他们很快就开始谈正事。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