the ar t of bowing

　　the degree to which a bowing or lowering of the body is emphasized varies from one culture to another . in many cultures today the full bow or other dramatic lowering of the body is generally reserved for formal occasions such as greeting a head of state or monarch. for example, british commoners standing before the queen or being honored by royalty in a ceremony of knighthood would be expected to bow, curtsey, or kneel. as part of their religious practices some christians kneel, catholics genuflect, and muslims kowtow3 , an extreme form of body lowering in which the forehead is brought to the ground. although bowing, as a worldwide phenomenon, has been on the decrease in recent decades, it has survived in german culture and exists to an even greater degree in modern japan, where bows are an integral part of everyday social interaction . in the united states, however, bowing or any type of submissive body posture is particularly irritating, for it tends to connote undue formality, aristocracy, and a nonverbal denial of egalitarianism. nowhere is bowing more important to the process of communication today than in japanese society. as an indication of how pervasive bowing is in present-day japan, some experts point out that“ some female department store employees have the sole function of bowing to customers at department store escalators and that many japanese bow repeatedly to invisible partners at the other end of a telephone line”. bowing initiates interaction between two japanese , it enhances and embellishes many parts of the ensuing conversation, and it is used to signal the end of a conversation. although westerners, in a very general sense, understand the meaning attached to bowing, appropriate bowing in japan is an intricate and complex process. reciprocal bowing is determined largely by rank. in fact, it is possible to tell the relative social status of the two communicators by the depth of their bows ( the deeper the bow, the lower the status) . when bowing deeply, it is conventional to lean slightly to the right to avoid bumping heads. the person of lower status is expected to initiate the bow, and the person of higher status determines when the bow is completed. people of equivalent status are expected to bow at the same depth while starting and finishing at the same time .

　　閱讀自測(cè)

　　Ⅰ. are these statements true or false a ccording to the article ?

　　1. nowadays the full bow or other dramatic lowering of the body is still widely acceptedaround the world.

　　2. bowing is prevalent in japan while the situation is quite different in america.

　　3. it is customary to lean slightly to the left to avoid bumping heads when bowing deeply.

　�、�. complete the sentence s with the proper forms of the words given in parentheses :

　　1. there is a __________( tend) that more and more people will move from cities to the countryside.

　　2. he __________( repeat) fails to pass the exam.

　　3. a spirit of hopelessness__________ ( pervasive ) the country.

　　4. he is such a chauvinist that he expects his wife to be meek and __________( submit).

　　5. the government has__________ ( initial) a new house-building program.

　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. f 2. t 3 . f

　�、�. 1. tendency 2. repeatedly 3 . pervaded 4 . submissive 5. initiated

　　參考譯文

　　鞠躬的藝術(shù)

　　文化不同, 鞠躬或彎腰的角度也大不相同。在今天的許多文化里, 深深鞠一躬或大幅度彎腰通常只有在正式場(chǎng)合中才會(huì)出現(xiàn), 比如向國(guó)家元首或君主致意。舉例來(lái)說(shuō), 英國(guó)平民站在女王面前或被王室加封為爵士時(shí)應(yīng)該鞠躬, 或行屈膝禮, 抑或屈膝下跪。在一些宗教儀式里, 基督教徒會(huì)下跪, 天主教徒會(huì)行屈膝禮, 而穆斯林則會(huì)跪拜叩頭, 即將身體彎曲到極 限, 直到前額貼地為止。作為一種世界性的文化現(xiàn)象, 近幾十年使用鞠躬這種禮節(jié)的人卻越來(lái)越少, 但鞠躬卻在德國(guó)文化中保存下來(lái), 在現(xiàn)代日本社會(huì)更是大為盛行, 在那里鞠躬已成為日常社會(huì)交往不可缺少的一部分。然而, 在美國(guó), 鞠躬或任何一種謙恭的身體姿勢(shì)都讓美國(guó)人極其反感, 因?yàn)檫@些舉動(dòng)往往意味著不必要的繁文縟節(jié)、貴族習(xí)氣, 以及對(duì)平等主義的一種非語(yǔ)言性否定。當(dāng)今, 沒(méi)有哪一個(gè)社會(huì)像日本社會(huì)一樣, 鞠躬在人際交往過(guò)程中如此重要。為了顯示鞠躬在當(dāng)今日本社會(huì)根深蒂固的程度, 一些專家指出,“ 在日本百貨商店里, 一些女雇員的工作就是在商店的自動(dòng)扶梯邊向顧客鞠躬, 而且有許多日本人會(huì)向電話線另一端看不見(jiàn)的人 不停地鞠躬。”鞠躬是兩個(gè)日本人交往的開(kāi)端, 在隨后的對(duì)話里鞠躬還起到推波助瀾和錦上添花的作用, 它還被用來(lái)暗示對(duì)話的結(jié)束。盡管西方人大致明白鞠躬所包含的意思, 但在日本, 恰到好處的鞠躬是非常復(fù)雜、很難把握的過(guò)程。互相鞠躬主要是由社會(huì)等級(jí)決定的。事實(shí)上, 我們可以通過(guò)兩個(gè)人鞠躬的幅度來(lái)判斷他們相對(duì)的社會(huì)地位( 鞠躬幅度越大,社會(huì)地位就越低) 。當(dāng)兩個(gè)人互相深鞠一躬的時(shí)候, 按照常規(guī)他們會(huì)把頭微微斜向右邊, 以避免碰到對(duì)方的腦袋。兩個(gè)人中社會(huì)地位低的那個(gè)人應(yīng)該首先開(kāi)始鞠躬, 而地位高的人決定鞠躬結(jié)束的時(shí)間。地位相同的人互相鞠躬的時(shí)候, 鞠躬的幅度相同, 并且同時(shí)開(kāi)始, 同時(shí)結(jié)束。

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