[A] An Irish woman was visiting tourist places in a Latin American city when she got a terrible headache. She knew that medicine she needed, so she stepped into a local pharmacy. The pharmacist was waiting on another customer when she came in. The Irish women patiently waited her turn. While she was standing there, two other customers came in, then another, and then three more. Each time, the pharmacist turned his attention to the new people. He did not greet the Irish woman; he never said, “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
  After about twenty minutes, the woman couldn’t stand the pain in her head any longer. “Hey, I’ve been here a long time,” she said loudly, very annoyed and insulted. “Why is everyone ignoring me? I need service too!” she shouted rudely (impolitely).

[B] A Middle-Eastern businessman and his brother invited an American guest to their family home for dinner. The American got there on time and enjoyed the interesting conversation, the coffee, and the attention. But as time passed, he got very, very hungry. Finally he asked in an impatient voice, “So when do we eat?”

“Finally you are hungry!” answered one of his hosts. “We were waiting for you to say you were ready to eat.”

At the dinner table everything was delicious, and the American guest ate quickly. He emptied his plate, and his hosts’ wives put more food on it. As soon as he cleaned his plate a second time, the woman served him more. After several plates of food, he could eat no more: he was going to burst! “Please, please, please—don’t give me any more food,” he begged them. “I can’t eat another bite!”

“Then why didn’t you leave any food on the plate?” asked the other host, surprised. “We were amazed at how much you were eating!”

[C] A group of international students were attending college in Europe. They had a long time between semesters for travel, so they decided to hitchhike as far as they could in other countries. In many places, they were successful: they put their thumbs out or pointed them backwards and smiled; friendly drivers stopped. As soon as the first traveler got a “yes” answer from a driver, he motioned with his hand or fingers for his friends to come—or he held both thumbs up in an “O.K.” sign or made a circle with the thumb and the next finger of one hand. The young tourists saved money, saw a lot of the countryside, and had interesting conversations and experiences.

On the other hand, in Greece and Turkey, the visitors were not so lucky. Few drivers stopped to give them rides; instead, most people ignored them. Others gave them mean looks from their cars: they seemed almost insulted that the visitors were begging for rides. A few drivers shouted terrible words at the travelers; two even got out of their truck and started a fight. The students felt confused, afraid and unwelcome; after a few days they took the bus back to the countries where they were studying.

Notes to the Text

1.Irish: an island in northern Atlantic Ocean.

2.Latin American city: a city in Latin America, west of Atlantic Ocean. As the two places are so distant from each other, people customs must be different in a lot of ways. Then, it is not so strange that the Irish woman meets this problem.

3.waiting on: serve 服侍, 招待

4.turned his attention to: pay attention to.

5.annoyed: 讨厌的，烦恼的

6.insulted: offended. 侮辱的

7.wives: The word wife here is in plural form suggesting the male host has more than one wife. As the man is a Middle-Eastern businessman, it is quite easy to explain. The dominant religion in today’s Middle East is Islam, in which Allah Almighty first allowed polygamy to protect the orphans. Prophet Mohammad practiced polygamy in his life.

8.burst: to explode.爆炸

9.I can’t eat another bite! I’m already full. I’ve had enough, so I cannot manage more. 一口都吃不了了。

10.amazed: surprised吃惊的, 惊奇的

11.semesters: academic terms 学期

12.hitchhike: to get a free ride or life沿途免费搭他人的便车旅行.

13.they put their thumbs out or pointed them backwards and smiled; friendly drivers stopped. This is a typical western gesture to signal drivers to stop so that the traveler can take a free ride in his car. Whenever they want to get a ride, they put their thumbs up to the drivers. So there is a phrase in English for this “to thumb a ride”.

14.motion: to make a gesture 做手势

15.mean looks: 鄙夷的表情

 

Vocabulary

Nouns

pharmacy: a place where drugs are sold; a drugstore.药房，药店

pharmacist: a person trained in pharmacy; a druggist. 制药者，药剂师

semesters: academic terms 学期

Verbs

burst: to explode.爆炸

ignore: to refuse to pay attention to; disregard.不顾

hitchhike: to travel by asking for free rides along roads.沿途免费搭他人的便车旅行

Adjectives

insulted: offended. 侮辱的

unwelcome: (客人等)不受欢迎的; (消息等)不愉快的

amazed: surprised吃惊的, 惊奇的

Adverbs

backwards: to or toward the back 向后地

Phrases

stand in line: wait in line for one’s turn 排队

thumbs up: erect the thumbs 竖起大拇指

Cultural Note

1.Ireland's culture comprises elements of the culture of ancient peoples, later immigrant and broadcast cultural influences (chiefly Gaelic culture, Anglicisation, Americanisation and aspects of broader European culture). In broad terms, Ireland is regarded as one of the Celtic nations of Europe, alongside Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man and Brittany. This combination of cultural influences is visible in the intricate designs termed Irish interlace or Celtic knotwork. These can be seen in the ornamentation of medieval religious and secular works. The style is still popular today in jewellery and graphic art, as is the distinctive style of traditional Irish music and dance, and has become indicative of modern "Celtic" culture in general. Religion has played a significant role in the cultural life of the island since ancient times (and since the 17th centuryplantations, has been the focus of political identity and divisions on the island). Ireland's pre-Christian heritage fused with the Celtic Church following the missions of Saint Patrick in the 5th century. The Hiberno-Scottish missions, begun by the Irish monk Saint Columba, spread the Irish vision of Christianity to pagan England and the Frankish Empire. These missions brought written language to an illiterate population of Europe during the Dark Ages that followed the fall of Rome, earning Ireland the sobriquet, "the island of saints and scholars". Since the 20th century the Irish pubs worldwide have become, especially those with a full range of cultural and gastronomic offerings, outposts of Irish culture.

2.Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea. Language, literature, gastronomy, art, architecture, music, spirituality, philosophy, mysticism are all part of the cultural heritage of the Arabs. The Arab world stretches across 22 countries and consists of over 200 million people. Arab is a term used to be only for people of the Arabian Peninsula who are Semitic but now, with the expansion of Arab caliphates in the past, it’s used to describe the people whose native tongue is Arabic. Arab now is a cultural term, not a racial term, and Arabic people come from various ethnic and religious backgrounds. The 22 Arab countries are: Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.