午餐时间，我坐在一家星巴克里。旁边是个五岁左右的亚裔小女孩儿，一头栗色长卷发，大眼睛，皮肤很白。她妈妈就坐在她对面，和她扯着幼儿园里的琐事儿。突然我听到了如下这段对话。
小女孩 （G）：I like Mr.*** (幼儿园老师名）.He is very nice.
妈妈 （M）：Yes.
G: I like Ms. &&& too. She's been nice to me.
M: She seems nice. Yeah, Mr.*** and Ms &&& are nice persons. But Ms. Anderson is a bit hard on you kids, right? (both G and M laughed)
G: Yes! That's why Alice (G's friend) doesn't like Ms. Anderson. She talked bad things about her.
M: That's not good. You don't do that to people.
G: Well, Ms. Anderson looks old.
M: You don't say things like that to people. It is not right.
G: Why? She IS old.
M: But you shouldn't say that to her. She won't like it. People, especially old people, don't like to hear that they are old. You can say it to young people, but not to old ones.
G: Oh...So I say, "Alice is old " will be good?
M: Yes. Alice is old.
G: So I say "Alice is old. Ms. Anderson is young."
M (smile) : Yes. That's right. They will like to hear it.
Ms. Anderson is old. Children speak the truth. There is a truth about it. But they are educated to say "Ms. Anderson is young." Maybe this is why so many of us can't see and say the truth and have to cover it up with something else, something pretentious and horribly ugly.
Another issue would be--Why can't people get old but remain elegant?
3 comments:
well, there is etiquette... Just learned from my intro course on language: one thing differentiating human language system from animal calling system is that humans can use language to lie, but animals can't.
Right. I was thinking about the etiquette culture too.
Something else that stroke me is the taboo of senility in the States.
Here many old people refuse to get old while young and middle-age people fear getting old,don't you think so?
And the American society is one which admire juvenility as well as the energy, power, and contribution accompanying youth. Old people? They are invisible.
I agree. I think Daisy's research should be interesting - "Grow Old in China", but not sure how she approached this topic.
Post a Comment