The Magic of Waving

It began a year ago, around Christmas.

While driving around the corner of our townhouse sports center, I always noticed an old man sitting by his front yard. He was usually smoking or drinking and looked grumpy (脾气不好).

One day, while I was driving past him with my daughter, I decided to ________ at him with a lot of excitement. At the beginning, when he noticed me waving at him, he looked a bit shocked (惊愕的). Then, I saw his ________ go up and he waved back.

“Why did you wave at him?” my daughter asked.

I told her that it was just an act of kindness that didn’t ________ anything, and it gave both him and me a sense of joy. She responded by saying that she was a bit embarrassed (局促不安) to wave to a ________, but next time she would try it as well.

Lucky for us, we lived close to the old man, so we saw him rather often. Whenever we drove by, both of us would wave at him and, pretty soon, the old man ________ waving at everyone who passed by his house.

One day, my daughter’s friend came to visit and she told my daughter that she saw this strange old man near our home who waved at her very ________. She mentioned that she waved back at him, even though she didn’t know him, and that it felt really good.

Upon hearing this, my daughter told her friend the story of how all the waving began.

Her friend responded, “Tell your mom that’s really ________!”

Other friends made similar comments (评论), and this response taught my daughter just how much an act of kindness can be very natural and effortless, if you really want to do it. It showed us how giving happiness benefited both both the giver and the receiver.

Inspired by all these positive effects, we’re planning to give our elder waving neighbor a thank-you card, to express our thanks for the warmth that he communicated through his enthusiastic waves. And to thank him for ________ this simple joy with all who pass by his house.

Different countries have different customs. When you travel to other countries, please follow their customs, just as the saying goes: “________”.

Very often people who travel to the United States forget to tip. It is usual to tip porters who help carry your bags, taxi drivers and waiters. Waiters expect to get a 15% tip on the cost of your meal. Taxi drivers expect about the same amount.

In England, make sure to stand in line even if there are only two of you. It’s important to respect lines there. It’s a good idea to talk about the weather. It’s a favorite subject of conversation with the British.

In Spain, it’s a good idea to have a light meal in the afternoon if someone invites you for dinner. People have dinner very late, and restaurants do not generally open until after 9 p.m.

In Arabic countries, men kiss one another on the cheek. Your host may welcome you with a kiss on both cheeks. It is polite for you to do the same.

In Japan, people usually give personal or business cards to each other when they meet for the first time. When a person gives you a card, don’t put it into your pocket right away. The person expects you to read it.

Don’t forget to be careful of your body language to express something in a conversation. A kind of body language that is acceptable (可接受的) in one culture may be impolite in another.

Nowadays, the food that you buy comes from many different countries. Have a look in your fridge, cupboard, and fruit bowl and check the origins (来源) of the food. Perhaps there are apples from California, lamb from New Zealand, or potatoes from Egypt? You will probably be surprised how far food travels to get to your plate. This journey, from “field to plate”, is called “food miles”. A food mile is the distance that food travels from the farmer’s field to the person who buys the food. Nowadays, food often travels thousands of miles to get to the consumer (消费者). Why is this, and what is the influence of these long distances?

Traditionally, farmers sold their food in the local market, so the food didn’t have to travel very far. The consumers also did not travel very far because they went to their local market to buy the food. This was a good system for farmers and consumers. However, there were some disadvantages. For example, consumers could only buy food that farmers produced locally. Besides, they could only get food that was in season. Now, because of modern technology, food comes from all over the world. We do not have to wait for spring or summer to buy strawberries or tomatoes. They are available in winter if we want.

Some countries have to import (进口) most of their food. This is because they have difficult climates. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, gets 85% of its food from other countries. Even food made in the UAE often uses imported materials.

What’s wrong with “food miles”? Is this not a good way of increasing international trade? I believe these miles are worrying for a number of reasons. First of all, because food travels such long distances, we need more planes, lorries, and ships to move the food. This means we use more oil or petrol, so there is more pollution and more global (全球的) warming. In addition, food that travels a long way is not fresh and usually not very tasty. Tomatoes, for example, are picked early and stored for their long journey. For this reason, they are usually tasteless when they get to the consumer. Local food has a better taste, and it also reduces the amount of global pollution. We need to buy more local food.

Do you know that humans aren’t the only species (物种) that use language? Bees communicate by dancing. Whales talk to each other by singing. And some apes (类人猿) talk to humans by using American Sign Language.

A female gorilla (大猩猩), Koko, was born at the San Francisco Zoo on July 4th, 1971. Koko learned sign language from her trainer, Dr. Penny Patterson. Patterson began teaching sign language to Koko in 1972, when Koko was one year old. Koko must have been a good student, because two years later she moved onto the Stanford University campus with Dr. Patterson. Koko continued to learn on the campus until 1976. That’s when she began living full-time with Patterson’s group, the Gorilla Foundation. Patterson and Koko’s relationship has blossomed ever since.

Dr. Patterson says that Koko has mastered sign language and known over 1,000 words, and that Koko makes up new words. For example, Koko didn’t know the sign for ring, so she signed the words finger and bracelet. Dr. Patterson thinks that this shows meaningful and constructive use of language.

Not everyone agrees with Dr. Patterson. Some argue that apes like Koko do not understand the meaning of what they are doing. Some people who don’t believe that say that these apes are just performing complex tricks（戏法）. For example, if Koko points to an apple and signs red or apple, Dr. Patterson will give her an apple. They argue that Koko does not really know what the sign apple means. She only knows that that if she makes the right motion, which Dr. Patterson has shown her, then she gets an apple. The debate is unresolved, but one thing is for certain: Koko is an extraordinary ape.

It seems like Patterson and Koko have a good relationship, but not everyone agrees with it. Some people believe that Patterson is humanizing the ape. They think that apes should be left in the most natural state possible. Even Dr. Patterson struggles with these feelings. When she was asked if her findings could be duplicated by another group of scientists, she said, “We don’t think that it would be ethical (道德的) to do again.” She went on to argue that animals should not be kept in such unnatural circumstances.

As for the future, Dr. Patterson and the Gorilla Foundation would love to get Koko to an ape preserve (保护区) in Maui, but they are having trouble getting the land. So unless you have a few million dollars to spare, Koko’s going to be spending her time in Woodland, California with Dr. Patterson. Koko probably doesn’t mind that. If she moved to Hawaii, she’d have to give up her Facebook page and Twitter feed, and she’s got like 50 thousand “likes”. Some may deny (否认) that she knows sign language, but nobody says that she doesn’t know social networking.

Huihua, a Chinese girl, and Mary, an American student who was studying Chinese in China, were on their way to a bookstore. As they got to the bookstore, they saw a young man walking down the stairs. In his hurry, he missed the last two steps, and fell to the ground. He tried hard to get back to his feet while people around him laughed. Luckily, he seemed to be OK.

Mary was worried. She found Huihua smiling a little and was not comfortable about it. “Tell me, Huihua, how could people laugh when someone fell like that? Do they care at all? Shouldn’t they go up and ask the young man whether he was hurt?”

“They knew he wasn’t hurt too much.” Huihua said.

“But I still don’t understand. A fall is a fall. In my culture, people would do anything but laugh!”

Chinese Perspective (观点)

This is an example in which the Chinese and the westerners explain a smile differently. Very often, the Chinese people would also laugh or make a joke to ease the embarrassment (缓解尴尬) when they are caught in the embarrassing situation. However, if someone gets hurt seriously, it will not be a laughing matter any more. People will help him instead.

North American Perspective

A westerner would explain laughter in such a situation as a sign of either insensitivity (不关心) or, worse, pleasure that the person falling had hurt himself because that person was disliked. A westerner’s reaction would have been to rush over, help the person up, and to ask him, “Are you OK?” If a westerner fell, he, like a Chinese person, might probably make a joke out of the incident (事件) if he was not hurt. If two close friends are walking together, and one trips but clearly isn’t hurt, a common joke is to say “Have a nice trip”. However, this joke would be made only between two people who knew each other well.