學術(shù)英語原文4單元

1、HisPolitenessIsHerPowerlessnessDeborahTannenTherearemanydifferentkindsofevidencethatwomenandmenarejudgeddifferentlyeveniftheytalkthesameway.Thistendencymakesmischiefindiscussionsofwomen,menandpower.Ifalinguisticstrategyisusedbyawoman,itisseenaspowerless;ifitisusedbyaman,itisseenaspowerful.Often,thel

2、abelingof“women?slanguage"as"poreflectstheviewofwomen?sbehaviorthroughthelensofmen?s.Becausetheyarenotstrugglingtobeone-up,womenoftenfindthemselvesframedasone-down.Anysituationisripeformisinterpretation.Thisambiguityaccountsformuchmisinterpretationbyexpertsaswellasnonexperts,bywhichwomen?s

3、waysofthinking,utteredinaspiritofrapport,arebrandedpowerless.Nowhereisthisinherentambiguityclearerthaninabriefcommentinanewspaperarticleinwhichacouple,bothpsychologists,werejointlyinterviewed.Thejournalistaskedthemthemeaningof“being/erypolite.Thetwoexpertsrespondedsimultaneously,givingdifferentanswe

4、rs.Themansaid,“Subservience.”Thewomansaid,“Sensitivity.expeBothwereright,buteachwasdescribingtheviewofadifferentgender.Expertsandnonexpertsaliketendtoseeanythingwomendoasevidenceofpowerlessness.Thesamenewspaperarticlequotesanotherpsychologistassaying,“Amanmightaskawoman,W川youpleasegotothe1store?wher

5、eawomanmightsay,Gee,Ireallyneedafewthingsfromthestore,butI?msotired.?Thewoman?sstyleiscalled“covert,atSrmsuggestingnegativequalitieslikebeing“sneakyand“underhanded.Thereasonofferedforthisispower.Thewomandoesn?tfeelshehastherighttoaskdirectly.Granted,womenhavelowerstatusthanmeninourAmericansociety.Bu

6、tthisisnotnecessarilywhytheyprefernottomakeoutrightdemands.Theexplanationforawoman?sindirectnesscouldjustaswellbeherseekingconnection.Ifyougetyourwayasaresultofhavingdemandedit,thepayoffissatisfyingintermsofstatus:You?reone-upbecauseothersaredoingasyoutoldthem.Butifyougetyourwaybecauseothershappened

7、towantthesamething,orbecausetheyofferedfreely,thepayoffisrapport.You?reneitherone-upnorone-downbybeinghappilyconnectedtootherswhosewantsarethesameasyours.Furthermore,ifindirectnessisunderstoodbybothparties,thenthereisnothingcovertaboutit:Thatarequestisbeingmadeisclear.Callinganindirectcommunicationc

8、overtreflectstheviewofsomeoneforwhomthedirectstyleseems“natural”andaviewkogjirsacommonamongmen.Indirectnessitselfdoesnotreflectpowerlessness.It?seasytothinkofsituationswhereindirectnessistheprerogativeofothersinpower.Forexample,awealthycouplewhoknowsthattheirservantswilldotheirbiddingneednotgivedire

9、ctorders,butsimplystatewishes:Thewomanofthehousesays,It?schillyinhere,andtheservantsetsaboutraisingtemperature.Themanofthehousesays,"It?sdinnertime,andtheservantseesabouthavingdinnerserved.Perhapstheultimateindirectnessisgettingsomeonetodosomethingwithoutsayinganythingatall:Thehostessringsabell

10、andamaidbringsthenextcourse;oraparententerstheroomwherechildrenaremisbehavingandstandswithhandsonhips,andthechildrenimmediatelystopwhatthey?redoing.Entireculturesoperateonelaboratesystemsofindirectness.Forexample,IdiscoveredinasmallresearchprojectthatmostGreeksassumedawifewhoasked,“Wouldyouliketogot

11、otheparty?thatshewantedtogo.Theyfeltthatshewouldn?tbringitupifshedidn?twanttogo.Furthermore,theyfelt,shewouldnotstateherepreferenceoutrightbecausethatwouldsoundlikeademand.Indirectnesswastheappropriatemeansforcommunicatingherpreference.Japaneseculturehasdevelopedindirectnesstoafineart.Forexample,aJa

12、paneseanthropologist,HarumiBefu,explainsthedelicateexchangeoftendedtheinvitation,Befufirsthadtodeterminewhetheritwasmeantliterallyorjustproforma,muchasanAmericanmightsay,“We?llhavetohaveyouoverfordinnersometime"butwouldnotyoutoturnupatthedoor.Havingdecidedtheinvitationwasmeantliterallyandhaving

13、accepted,Befuwasthenaskedwhathewouldliketoeat.Followingcustom,hesaidanythingwoulddo,buthisfriend,alsofollowingcustom,pressedhimtospecify.Hostandguestrepeatedthisexchangeanappropriatenumberoftimes,untilBefudeemeditpolitetoanswerthequestionpolitelybysayingteaoverriceasthelastcourseofasumptuousmeal.Bef

14、uwasnotsurprisedbythefeastbecauseheknewthatprotocolrequiredit.Hadhebeengivenwhatheaskedfor,hewouldhavebeeninsulted.Butprotocolalsorequiredthathemakeagreatshowofbeingsurprised.ThisaccountofmutualindirectnessinalunchinvitationmaystrikeAmericansasexcessive.Butfarmoreculturesintheworlduseelaboratesystem

15、sofindirectnessthanvaluedirectness.OnlymodernWesternsocietiesplaceapriorityondirectcommunication,andevenforusitismoreavaluethanapractice.Evidencefromotherculturesalsomakesitclearthatindirectnessdoesnotitselfreflectlowstatus.Rather,ourassumptionsaboutthestatusofwomencompelustointerpretanythingtheydoa

16、sreflectinglowstatus.AnthropologistElinorKeenan,forexample,foundthatinaMalagasy-speakingvillageontheislandofMadagascar,itiswomenwhoaredirectandmenwhoareindirect.Andthevillagersseethemen?sindirectwayofspeaking,usingmetaphorsandproverbs,asthebetterway.Forthem,indirectness,likethemenwhouseit,hashighsta

17、tus.Theyregardwomen?sdirectstyleasclumsyandcrude,debasingthebeautifulsubtletyofmen?slanguage.Whetherwomenormenaredirectorindirectdiffers;seenwhatremainsconstantisthatwomen?sstyleisnegativelyvaluatedaslowerinstatusthanthemen?s.各種各樣的證據(jù)表明：即使女性和男性說話方式相同，人們對他們的看法還是不同。這種傾向?qū)е掠嘘P女性、男性和無能耐的討論紛爭不斷。女性說話講究方式方法被認

18、為是低微無能，而換成男性則被認為是有能力的表現(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，往往就被認為是低人一等。在任何情況下都極容易發(fā)生誤會。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。采訪對象是一對心理學家夫婦，當記者問他們“表現(xiàn)得非常有禮貌”的含義時，這兩位專家同時給出不同的答案。男性回答說：“服從”。女性回答說：“敏感”。兩位專家都是正確的，只不過每個人描述的是不同性別的觀點。專家和非專家都習慣把女性的任何行為看為低微無能的表現(xiàn)

19、。以上同一篇報刊文章援引另一位心理學家的話說：“一個男人會這樣問一個女人：請你去一趟商店好嗎？同樣的情況下女人會說：哎，我真的需要從商店買點東西，但是我實在太累了。女性的這種表達方式被稱為“隱蔽的”，該詞含有“鬼祟”和“秘密”等貶義，而這樣表達的原因歸咎于一個“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）社會里，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?shù)囊蟆Ｅ缘倪@種間接方式很可能是因為她們在努力尋找某種關系。如果愿意在自己的要求下得到滿足，結(jié)果就是社會地位的勝利：你高人一等，因為別人按你的意志行事。而如果你的愿望得到滿足是因為他人的愿望恰好和你的一致，或者是因

20、為對方心甘情愿，結(jié)果就是融洽和諧。當你和對方的需求一致而一拍即合時，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，即直接的方式才是“自然的”、“合乎邏輯的”，這種觀點在男性中更普遍。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)號施令，而只須簡單地說明其愿望，房子的女主人說：“這兒冷，”用人就會去調(diào)高室溫；房子的男主人說：“是晚飯的時間，”用人就會擺桌上菜?；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；家長走進有孩子正在嬉鬧的房間，雙手叉腰一站，他們就會戛然而止。所有文化都靠以“間接”二字所形成的復雜而精巧的體制去運作。例如，我在做一個小規(guī)模的研究項目時發(fā)現(xiàn)：當妻子問“你想去參加那個聚會嗎？”，大多數(shù)希臘人認為他們的妻子是在暗示她想去。他們認為如果妻子不想去，她就不會提出這個問題。而且他們覺得之所以不直截了當提出，是因為她不想使她的愿望聽上去像是要求。間接是傳達她的意愿的最好方式。日本文化把間接溝通方式發(fā)展成為精美的藝術(shù)。例如，一位名叫別府春海的日本人類學家這樣描述