first segment

Pre-reading activities

Listen for the first time

Please listen carefully to a short passage and prepare to answer some questions.

Listen for the second time

Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions based on your own experience.

1) What precious resources do Americans cherish and save?

2) What are the three behaviors that Americans think waste time?

3) What are the different ways Americans handle time in business relationships?

Time-conscious Americans

Americans believe that no one will stand still. If you don't advance, you will fall behind. This attitude has created a nation devoted to research, experiment and exploration. Time is one of the two factors that Americans carefully save, and the other is labor.

"We are nothing but clocks," someone once said. Time is treated as something almost real. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it and explain it; We also charge. This is a valuable resource. Many people have a keen sense of the brevity of each life. Once the sand flows out of a person's hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to be valuable.

A foreigner's first impression of America may be that everyone is in a hurry-often under pressure. City dwellers always seem to be in a hurry to go where they want to go, anxiously seeking attention in shops, or elbowing others when they try to finish shopping. Eating in a hurry during the day is part of the rhythm of life in this country. Working hours are considered precious. Other people in the public restaurant are waiting for you to finish eating, so that they can get service and go back to work within the allowed time. You will also find that drivers will be rude and people will push past you. You will miss smiles, short conversations and small conversations with strangers. Don't take it personally. This is because people attach great importance to time, and they hate that others "waste" time beyond a certain point.

For example, many newcomers to the United States will miss the opening remarks of a business call. They will miss the ritual interaction with a welcome cup of tea or coffee, which may be a custom in their own country. They may miss a leisurely business chat in a restaurant or coffee shop. Usually, Americans don't evaluate their guests by chatting for a long time in this relaxed environment; Not to mention taking them out to dinner, or hanging out on the golf course, and cultivating their trust. Since we usually evaluate and investigate from a professional perspective rather than a social perspective, we soon began to talk about business. Therefore, time is always ticking in our hearts.

Therefore, we try to save time. We produce stable labor-saving equipment; We communicate quickly by fax, telephone or e-mail, instead of personal contact. Although it is pleasant, it takes longer-especially in our congested streets. Therefore, we leave most private visits to social gatherings after work or on weekends.

For us, the impersonality of electronic communication has nothing to do with the importance of the matter at hand. In some countries, there is no major business activity without eye contact, and face-to-face conversation is needed. In America, the final agreement is usually signed in person. However, more and more people meet on TV screens and have "teleconferences" to solve problems, not only in this country, but also internationally through satellites.

America is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to do business, chat with friends, arrange or cancel social appointments, say "thank you", shop and get all kinds of information. Telephone saves feet and endless time. Part of the reason is that the telephone service here is very good, while the postal service is inefficient.

Some newcomers come from a culture where working too fast is considered impolite. Unless a certain period of time passes, in their view, the task under consideration seems insignificant and does not deserve proper respect. Therefore, with the passage of time, homework is given extra weight. However, in the United States, it is regarded as a sign of proficiency or ability to solve problems quickly or successfully complete work. Generally speaking, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy and attention will be invested in order to "make it move".

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