學(xué)術(shù)英語原文4單元

學(xué)術(shù)英語原文4單元學(xué)術(shù)英語原文4單元學(xué)術(shù)英語原文4單元資料僅供參考文件編號(hào)：2022年4月學(xué)術(shù)英語原文4單元版本號(hào)：A修改號(hào)：1頁次：1.0審核：批準(zhǔn):發(fā)布日期：HisPolitenessIsHerPowerlessnessDeborahTannenTherearemanydifferentkindsofevidencethatwomenandmenarejudgeddifferentlyeveniftheytalkthesameway.Thistendencymakesmischiefindiscussionsofwomen,menandpower.Ifalinguisticstrategyisusedbyawoman,itisseenaspowerless;ifitisusedbyaman,itisseenaspowerful.Often,thelabelingof“women’slanguage”as“powerlesslanguage”reflectstheviewofwomen’sbehaviorthroughthelensofmen’s.Becausetheyarenotstrugglingtobeone-up,womenoftenfindthemselvesframedasone-down.Anysituationisripeformisinterpretation.Thisambiguityaccountsformuchmisinterpretationbyexpertsaswellasnonexperts,bywhichwomen’swaysofthinking,utteredinaspiritofrapport,arebrandedpowerless.Nowhereisthisinherentambiguityclearerthaninabriefcommentinanewspaperarticleinwhichacouple,bothpsychologists,werejointlyinterviewed.Thejournalistaskedthemthemeaningof“beingverypolite.”Thetwoexpertsrespondedsimultaneously,givingdifferentanswers.Themansaid,“Subservience.”Thewomansaid,“Sensitivity.”Bothexpertswereright,buteachwasdescribingtheviewofadifferentgender.Expertsandnonexpertsaliketendtoseeanythingwomendoasevidenceofpowerlessness.Thesamenewspaperarticlequotesanotherpsychologistassaying,“Amanmightaskawoman,‘Willyoupleasegotothestore’whereawomanmightsay,‘Gee,Ireallyneedafewthingsfromthestore,butI’msotired.’”Thewoman’sstyleiscalled“covert,”atermsuggestingnegativequalitieslikebeing“sneaky”and“underhanded.”Thereasonofferedforthisispower.Thewomandoesn’tfeelshehastherighttoaskdirectly.Granted,womenhavelowerstatusthanmeninourAmericansociety.Butthisisnotnecessarilywhytheyprefernottomakeoutrightdemands.Theexplanationforawoman’sindirectnesscouldjustaswellbeherseekingconnection.Ifyougetyourwayasaresultofhavingdemandedit,thepayoffissatisfyingintermsofstatus:You’reone-upbecauseothersaredoingasyoutoldthem.Butifyougetyourwaybecauseothershappenedtowantthesamething,orbecausetheyofferedfreely,thepayoffisrapport.You’reneitherone-upnorone-downbybeinghappilyconnectedtootherswhosewantsarethesameasyours.Furthermore,ifindirectnessisunderstoodbybothparties,thenthereisnothingcovertaboutit:Thatarequestisbeingmadeisclear.Callinganindirectcommunicationcovertreflectstheviewofsomeoneforwhomthedirectstyleseems“natural”and“l(fā)ogical”－aviewmorecommonamongmen.Indirectnessitselfdoesnotreflectpowerlessness.It’seasytothinkofsituationswhereindirectnessistheprerogativeofothersinpower.Forexample,awealthycouplewhoknowsthattheirservantswilldotheirbiddingneednotgivedirectorders,butsimplystatewishes:Thewomanofthehousesays,“It’schillyinhere,”andtheservantsetsaboutraisingthetemperature.Themanofthehousesays,“It’sdinnertime,”andtheservantseesabouthavingdinnerserved.Perhapstheultimateindirectnessisgettingsomeonetodosomethingwithoutsayinganythingatall:Thehostessringsabellandamaidbringsthenextcourse;oraparententerstheroomwherechildrenaremisbehavingandstandswithhandsonhips,andthechildrenimmediatelystopwhatthey’redoing. Entireculturesoperateonelaboratesystemsofindirectness.Forexample,IdiscoveredinasmallresearchprojectthatmostGreeksassumedawifewhoasked,“Wouldyouliketogototheparty”

washintingthatshewantedtogo.Theyfeltthatshewouldn’tbringitupifshedidn’twanttogo.Furthermore,theyfelt,shewouldnotstateherepreferenceoutrightbecausethatwouldsoundlikeademand.Indirectnesswastheappropriatemeansforcommunicatingherpreference.

Japaneseculturehasdevelopedindirectnesstoafineart.Forexample,aJapaneseanthropologist,HarumiBefu,explainsthedelicateexchangeoftendedtheinvitation,Befufirsthadtodeterminewhetheritwasmeantliterallyorjustproforma,muchasanAmericanmightsay,“We’llhavetohaveyouoverfordinnersometime”butwouldnotexpectyoutoturnupatthedoor.Havingdecidedtheinvitationwasmeantliterallyandhavingaccepted,Befuwasthenaskedwhathewouldliketoeat.Followingcustom,hesaidanythingwoulddo,buthisfriend,alsofollowingcustom,pressedhimtospecify.Hostandguestrepeatedthisexchangeanappropriatenumberoftimes,untilBefudeemeditpolitetoanswerthequestion－politely－bysayingteaoverrice－asthelastcourseofasumptuousmeal.Befuwasnotsurprisedbythefeastbecauseheknewthatprotocolrequiredit.Hadhebeengivenwhatheaskedfor,hewouldhavebeeninsulted.Butprotocolalsorequiredthathemakeagreatshowofbeingsurprised. ThisaccountofmutualindirectnessinalunchinvitationmaystrikeAmericansasexcessive.Butfarmoreculturesintheworlduseelaboratesystemsofindirectnessthanvaluedirectness.OnlymodernWesternsocietiesplaceapriorityondirectcommunication,andevenforusitismoreavaluethanapractice.Evidencefromotherculturesalsomakesitclearthatindirectnessdoesnotitselfreflectlowstatus.Rather,ourassumptionsaboutthestatusofwomencompelustointerpretanythingtheydoasreflectinglowstatus.AnthropologistElinorKeenan,forexample,foundthatinaMalagasy-speakingvillageontheislandofMadagascar,itiswomenwhoaredirectandmenwhoareindirect.Andthevillagersseethemen’sindirectwayofspeaking,usingmetaphorsandproverbs,asthebetterway.Forthem,indirectness,likethemenwhouseit,hashighstatus.Theyregardwomen’sdirectstyleasclumsyandcrude,debasingthebeautifulsubtletyofmen’slanguage.Whetherwomenormenaredirectorindirectdiffers;whatremainsconstantisthatwomen’sstyleisnegativelyvaluated－seenaslowerinstatusthanthemen’s.

各種各樣的證據(jù)表明：即使女性和男性說話方式相同，人們對(duì)他們的看法還是不同。這種傾向?qū)е掠嘘P(guān)女性、男性和無能耐的討論紛爭(zhēng)不斷。女性說話講究方式方法被認(rèn)為是低微無能，而換成男性則被認(rèn)為是有能力的表現(xiàn)。視女性的語言為低微無能者的語言常常反映出男性看女性行為的視覺角度。女性不為高人一等而拼搏，往往就被認(rèn)為是低人一等。在任何情況下都極容易發(fā)生誤會(huì)。這也說明了為什么專家和非專家常常把女性以友善語言表述出來的思維方式曲解成低微無能的表現(xiàn)。沒有什么能比一家報(bào)社刊登的采訪片段更能清楚地說明這種根深蒂固的歧義。采訪對(duì)象是一對(duì)心理學(xué)家夫婦，當(dāng)記者問他們“表現(xiàn)得非常有禮貌”的含義時(shí)，這兩位專家同時(shí)給出不同的答案。男性回答說：“服從”。女性回答說：“敏感”。兩位專家都是正確的，只不過每個(gè)人描述的是不同性別的觀點(diǎn)。專家和非專家都習(xí)慣把女性的任何行為看為低微無能的表現(xiàn)。以上同一篇報(bào)刊文章援引另一位心理學(xué)家的話說：“一個(gè)男人會(huì)這樣問一個(gè)女人：‘請(qǐng)你去一趟商店好嗎’同樣的情況下女人會(huì)說：‘哎，我真的需要從商店買點(diǎn)東西，但是我實(shí)在太累了?！迸缘倪@種表達(dá)方式被稱為“隱蔽的”，該詞含有“鬼祟”和“秘密”等貶義，而這樣表達(dá)的原因歸咎于一個(gè)“權(quán)”字，女人覺得她沒有權(quán)利直接提出要求。的確，在我們（美國(guó)）社會(huì)里，女性的地位比男性低，但這不等于說她們不愿意提出直截了當(dāng)?shù)囊?。女性的這種間接方式很可能是因?yàn)樗齻冊(cè)谂ふ夷撤N關(guān)系。如果愿意在自己的要求下得到滿足，結(jié)果就是社會(huì)地位的勝利：你高人一等，因?yàn)閯e人按你的意志行事。而如果你的愿望得到滿足是因?yàn)樗说脑竿『煤湍愕囊恢拢蛘呤且驗(yàn)閷?duì)方心甘情愿，結(jié)果就是融洽和諧。當(dāng)你和對(duì)方的需求一致而一拍即合時(shí)，你既不高人一等，也不低人一等。而且如果雙方都了解這種間接方式，那就不存在什么隱蔽：提出的要求很明確。稱間接的溝通方式為隱蔽反映出那些青睞直接溝通方式的人的觀點(diǎn)，即直接的方式才是“自然的”、“合乎邏輯的”，這種觀點(diǎn)在男性中更普遍。間接方式本身并不反映低微無能。我們不難想象出權(quán)勢(shì)者中有特權(quán)的人是怎樣使用間接方式的。例如，一位有錢的夫婦用不著直接向聽命于他們的用人發(fā)號(hào)施令，而只須簡(jiǎn)單地說明其愿望，房子的女主人說：“這兒冷，”用人就會(huì)去調(diào)高室溫；房子的男主人說：“是晚飯的時(shí)間，”用人就會(huì)擺桌上菜?；蛟S終極的間接是什么都不用說就能使某人做某事：女主人按一下鈴，女仆端上下一道菜；家長(zhǎng)走進(jìn)有孩子正在嬉鬧的房間，雙手叉腰一站，他們就會(huì)戛然而止。所有文化都靠以“間接”二字所形成的復(fù)雜而精巧的體制去運(yùn)作。例如，我在做一個(gè)小規(guī)模的研究項(xiàng)目時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)：當(dāng)妻子問“你想去參加那個(gè)聚會(huì)嗎”，大多數(shù)希臘人認(rèn)為他們的妻子