yybm的部落格

Chinese: Mr. Brown, you’ll be leaving for home tomorrow. As I won’t be able to see you off, I’ll say goodbye to you now. I hope you enjoyed your stay here.

Foreigner: Oh thank you. I certainly did enjoy my stay here, and I can’t thank you enough for making my trip such a success.

Chinese: Not at all. I enjoyed being with you. You were such a wonderful traveler, so happy and easygoing, and so appreciative, not at all like some others who whine and complain all the time. Nothing we do can satisfy that kind of people, it seems.

Foreigner: I know only too well that kind of people. I used to wonder why they come out to travel at all since everything foreign seems to make them so miserable. There are bound to be people like that in every tourist group, and even as an ordinary member of tourist groups, my experiences with them were most unpleasant. They not only make unreasonable demands on the guides, but also quarrel with their fellow travelers. How do you deal with people like that?

Chinese: Well, it depends on in what capacity I meet with such people. If I am working as an official guide I’ll have to be very patient and make as much allowance for them as possible, but even then there is a limit to what we can allow. Of course we have to watch our attitude all the time and try to stand our ground without quarreling with them. But as a private individual, I just ignore such people.

Foreigner: Well, I can’t blame you, and I too try to avoid such people ordinarily, but once I was landed with such people when I joined a tourist group set out for China. It was going to be my first trip to China, and it was almost spoilt by those people even before the trip started. When the group first gathered together they started to spread very damaging and insulting stories about China. Actually they had never been to China themselves either, so what they told us was what they gathered from heresy, or even from their own imagination.

Chinese: Well, how did the trip turn out in the end, with such people in your group?

Foreigner: As I said, they nearly spoilt the trip, but not quite. I just took no more notice and stayed clear of them in the course of the whole trip. But the trouble was they did not stop at complaining and grumbling, but sowed discord and formed factions in the group. As can be imagined, the whole otherwise most enjoyable trip suffered. I really admired our Chinese guides who on the one hand had to use all their wits and tact to deal with those unreasonable people, but at the same time they never forgot their main duty of looking after the needs and interest of the whole group.

Chinese: You know I never could understand those people. If they don’t enjoy traveling in foreign countries, why do they spend money to make life miserable for themselves as well as for others?

Foreigner: That’s what puzzled me too at first. Now after observing those people in so many trips, I’ve come to the conclusion that they don’t feel miserable at all. In fact I think they really enjoy complaining and grumbling and making trouble for other people. Another important reason is these people have an ingrained superiority complex in them. They regard anything foreign as inferior, and it’s sheer ignorance and narrow minded bigotry that make them so smug and intolerant.

中國人：布朗先生，你明天就要回國了。我恐怕沒法送你了，就現在跟你道別吧。希望你在這兒過得還滿意。

外國人：謝謝你。我確實玩兒得不錯。我這次旅行很愉快，真不知怎么感謝你。

中：別客氣，陪同你旅游我感到很愉快。你這樣的旅游者最好了，愉快、隨和、通情達理。一點不像有些人，總是在那兒發牢騷、抱怨。不管我們如何努力，好像都不能使他們滿意似的。

外：這種人我太了解了。我常常奇怪，既然一切外國的事物都使他們難受，他們為什么要出國旅游呢？每個旅游團里總會有這樣的人。即使我這樣一個普通的旅游者，和他們在一起都感到很不愉快。他們不僅對導游提出種種不合理的要求，還跟同團的游伴吵嘴。你們都是怎樣對付這些人的？

中：這要看我是以什么身份接待他們了。如果我是官方的導游，那我就得非常耐心，盡可能地滿足他們的要求。但即便如此，總還是有個容忍限度。當然我們要隨時注意自己的態度，堅持原則，同時盡量避免同他們爭吵。但如果我是作為個人，對這種人我就根本不予理睬。

外：哎，這不能怪你，我一般也是盡量避開這些人。但是有一次，我參加了一個來中國的旅游團，不得不和這樣的一伙人同行。那是我第一次來中國，旅游還沒開始就差一點被這些人給搞砸了。旅游團的人剛聚到一起，他們就開始講一些強烈攻擊和侮辱中國的話。其實，他們也從來沒到過中國。因此，他們給我們講的就都是些道聽途說的東西，甚至是他們自己胡編出來的。

中：你們團里有了這么些人，那次旅游最后怎么樣了呢？

外：我剛才說過，他們差一點就把那次旅游給搞砸了。我干脆不理他們，整個旅途中都離他們遠遠的。討厭的是他們就是不停地抱怨啊，發牢騷啊，還在團里挑撥離間，拉幫結派。可想而知，本來應該是很愉快的旅行，結果變得令人難受了。我真佩服我們的那些中國導游。他們一方面要很技巧、很藝術地跟那些不講理的人周旋，同時，他們一刻也沒忘記他們的主要任務是照顧整團人的需求和興趣。

中：我真不明白這種人是怎么回事。如果他們不喜歡出國旅游，那他們干嗎花錢給自己找罪受，還讓別人受罪呢？

外：起初我也弄不懂。經過多次旅游，仔細觀察之后，我已經得出結論了。他們自己其實一點也不難受。實際上我覺得他們真的很喜歡抱怨，喜歡發牢騷，喜歡給別人制造點麻煩。還有很重要的一點，就是這些人有一種根深蒂固的優越感。他們認為一切外國的東西都是差的。這種徹頭徹尾的無知、狹隘和偏執使得他們如此沾沾自喜、如此缺乏寬容之心。