2.  How much do you make?
A Chinese businessman is visiting a government trade official in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital.
Wong:  Thank you for showing me your offices, Mr. Becker.  I can see why Washington bureaucrats3 enjoy their jobs.
Becker:  Why do you say that?
Wong:  The city is beautiful, the off ..., the offices are modern and comfortable, and the work is so interesting.
Becker:  Many people work for the federal4 government their entire adult lives.  Government service can be a rewarding and secure career.
Wong:  Do you mean financially rewarding?
Becker:  Well, many positions pay salaries that are comparable to5 those in private industries. 
Wong:  I've always thought that most bureaucrats are lazy. 
Becker:  Sometimes that's true, but not usually.  Most feds are honest, hard-working professionals.  It’s hard to keep highly trained people, so the pay and working conditions have to be attractive.
Wong:  How much do you make?
Becker:  I'm a GS-15.  That's high on the scale of workers, but even a GS-1 is paid a living wage.

Helpful Information：
Often, government workers are paid according to a salary scale.  Their salaries increase with years of service, education, or promotion.  A new employee might be a “G-1”, and an older employee might be a “G-13”.
政府員工拿薪水往往是根據(jù)一個工資表。他們的薪水隨著工作的年數(shù)、受教育程度和晉級而增加。一個新員工可能是“G-1”級，而一個老員工可能就是“G-13”級。

【譯文】
——貝克先生，謝謝你帶我參觀你們的辦公室。我能看出為什么華盛頓政府人員會喜歡他們的工作。
——你為什么這么說呢？
——城市很漂亮，辦……，辦公室既現(xiàn)代化又舒適，而且工作又是這么有趣。
——許多人的成年生活都在聯(lián)邦政府度過。政府部門的工作可以很有回報(bào)，很有保障。
——你是說經(jīng)濟(jì)回報(bào)嗎？
——很多工作付的薪水和那些在私人企業(yè)工作的能媲美。
——我一直以為多數(shù)政府人員很懶惰。
——有時候是真的，但不是通常這樣。大部分聯(lián)邦官員都很專業(yè)，誠實(shí)又努力工作。很難留住這些受過高水平培訓(xùn)的人，所以工資和工作環(huán)境必須要具有吸引力。
——你賺多少錢？
——我是GS-15。在員工當(dāng)中，算是高的，但是連GS – 1 的人，起碼的生活薪水還是有的。

3.  Compliments.
Cindy, a Chinese girl, is visiting an American woman’s apartment with other two foreigners.
Bruce:  Hey, look at these paintings on the wall!  Aren’t they beautiful?  Linda bought some good paintings.
Gilbert:  Yeah, very impressive6.  Oh, this one’s marvelous!
Cindy:   Sure, they’re very colorful.
Linda:   Thank you.  You are very generous with your compliments7.
Bruce:  You know the first thing most Chinese students would ask is “how much did this painting cost?”
Gilbert:  Right.  I’ve noticed that too.  They always ask that question before they say anything else.
Cindy:   That’s true.  Most Chinese do that.  I don’t know why.  It’s just a habit.  I’ve noticed that foreigners often make compliments soon after they see a product someone has bought - even if they don’t really mean it.
Bruce:  Yeah, we’re just different.  We can’t figure out why many Chinese people don’t give big hugs to their own parents after they grow up.
Cindy:   No, we don’t do that.  At least very few people I know do that.
Gilbert:  And as far as I know, it’s not common for a Chinese to say, “I love you” to anyone including his or her soul mate8.
Linda:   Cindy, please don’t misunderstand.  We’re not saying that one way is better than another.  They’re just different, that’s all.
Cindy:  I know.  Americans say those three words a lot, especially in movies.  I wonder if they really mean it.
Gilbert:  We do, most of the time.  Sometimes we tell our loved ones that we’re proud of them too.  Words are important.
【譯文】
——喂，看墻上這些畫！它們難道不漂亮嗎？琳達(dá)買的油畫真不錯。
——是啊，很令人欽佩。噢，這幅畫很了不起哦!
——當(dāng)然，它們很鮮艷。
——謝謝你們。你們真樂于夸獎別人。
——你知道大部分中國學(xué)生第一件會問的事便是“這畫多少錢？”
——是啊。我也注意到了。在他們說其它話之前，他們老喜歡問那個問題。
——的確是這樣。許多中國人都這樣做。我不知道為什么。只是個習(xí)慣。我注意到了外國人看見別人買的東西常常會馬上稱贊一番——即使他們并不真正發(fā)自內(nèi)心。
——是啊，我們就是不一樣。我們不明白為什么許多中國人成年以后就不再擁抱他們自己的父母親。
——不，我們不這么做。至少我認(rèn)識的人中很少人會這樣。
——而且據(jù)我所知，對于一個中國人來說，說聲“我愛你”是很不常見的，即使對他們的心上人。
——辛迪，你不要誤會。我們不是在說哪一個比另一個好。它們只是不同，就這樣。
——我知道。美國人說這三個字說得特別多，尤其在電影里。我想知道他們是否是說真的。
——大部分時間，我們是說真的。有時候我們也告訴我們愛著的人我們很為他們自豪。言語是重要的。

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