Ideasabout polite behavior are different from one culture to another. Somesocieties, such asAmericaandAustralia,for example, are mobile and very open. People here change jobs and move housequite often. As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last onlya short time, and they need to get to know people quickly. So it’s normal tohave friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you cantalk about things that other cultures would regard as personal.
On the other hand there are morecrowded and less mobile societies where long – term relationships are moreimportant. A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want toget to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business. Butwhen you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper thanit would in a mobile society.
To Americans, both Europeans andAsians seem cool and formal at first. On the other hand, as a passenger from aless mobile society puts it, it’s no fun spending several hours next to astranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sortsof questions that you don’t want to answer.
Cross-culturaldifferences aren’t just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights thatcarry them. All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about goodservice are different from place to place. This can be seen most clearly in theway that problems are dealt with.
Some societies have ‘universalist’ cultures.These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person andsituation in basically the same way.
‘Particularist’ societies, onthe other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society’sunwritten ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or aparticular person. So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of thesituation or the importance of the person.
This difference cancause problems. A traveler from a particularist society,India, is checking in for a flight inGermany,a country which has a universalist culture. The Indian traveler has two muchluggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time andthe suitcases are full of presents for his family. He expects that the check –in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him. Thecheck – in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage,it wouldn’t be fair to the other passengers. But the traveler thinks this isunfair, because the other passengers don’t have his problem.
1．Often moving from oneplace to another makes people like Americans and Australians _________ .
A．like traveling better
B．easy to communicate with
C．difficult to make realfriends
D．have a long – termrelationship with their neighbors
2．People like Malaysians preferto associate with those___________ .
A．who will tell themeverything of their own
B．who want to do businesswith them
C．they know quite well
D．who are good at talking
3．A person from a lessmobile society will feel it ______when a stranger keeps talking to him or her,and asking him or her questions.
A．boring
B．friendly
C．normal
D．rough
4. In which country do people not change the rule easily and treat othersin the same way？
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