The article review(文章导读):
Unit 2 Text A Listening First Listening Before listening to the tape, have a quick look at the following words. conversation 谈话 comment on 评论 bowling 保龄球 lane 球道 connect 联系 converse 交谈
Text(正文):
Unit 2
Text A
Listening
First Listening
Before listening to the tape, have a quick look at the following words.
conversation
谈话
comment on
评论
bowling
保龄球
lane
球道
connect
联系
converse
交谈
switch
转换
Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then, choose the best answer to each of the following questions.
1. What was the main cause of the problem discussed in the listening?
A) She was using a Western style in conversations among the Japanese.
B) She insisted on speaking English even though she was in Japan.
C) She spoke the Japanese language poorly.
D) She was an American woman married to a Japanese man.
2. Which of the following comparisons does the listening make about Japanese and Western conversational styles?
A) The Japanese style is like tennis and the Western style is like volleyball.
B) The Western style is more athletic than the Japanese style.
C) The Japanese style is like bowling and the Western style is like tennis.
D) The Japanese style is like singles tennis and the Western style is like doubles.
3. The author considers the Western conversational style to be ____________.
A) more interactive (互动的)
B) louder
C) more personal
D) better
4.The author considers the Japanese conversational style to be ____________.
A) easier to adjust to（适应）
B) more strictly (严谨地) organized
C) more traditional
D) better
5.The author concludes that ____________.
A) once you know the differences, it is easy to adjust to them
B) because she is American, she will never really understand Japan
C) life will be much easier for her students than it was for her
D) it remains difficult to switch from one style to another
Pre-reading Questions
1.Look at the title and guess what this passage is about.
2. Go over the first paragraph quickly and find out who the author is. Is she a Japanese born and educated in the United States or an American married to a Japanese?
3. Have you ever talked with a native speaker of English? What problems have you encountered in talking with a foreigner?
Conversational Ballgames
Nancy Masterson Sakamoto
After I was married and had lived in Japan for a while, my Japanese gradually improved to the point where I could take part in simple conversations with my husband, his friends, and family. And I began to notice that often, when I joined in, the others would look startled, and the conversation would come to a halt. After this happened several times, it became clear to me that I was doing something wrong. But for a long time, I didn't know what it was.
Finally, after listening carefully to many Japanese conversations, I discovered what my problem was. Even though I was speaking Japanese, I was handling the conversation in a Western way.
Japanese-style conversations develop quite differently from western-style conversations. And the difference isn't only in the languages. I realized that just as I kept trying to hold western-style conversations even when I was speaking Japanese, so were my English students trying to hold Japanese-style conversations even when they were speaking English. We were unconsciously playing entirely different conversational ballgames. |
