26.

  1. The importance of time.
  2. The American manager's story.
  3. The cultural difference.
  4. Different meanings of parts of the day in different cultures.

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27.

  1. Very impolite.
  2. Not customary.
  3. Very urgent.
  4. Not necessary.

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28.

  1. 7 a.m.
  2. 11 a.m.
  3. 8 p.m.
  4. 3 a.m.

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29.

  1. To have a talk with him.
  2. To inform him of their decision.
  3. To discuss a problem with him.
  4. To tell him a problem they met with.

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30.

  1. He thought the natives were mad.
  2. He didn't take it seriously.
  3. He called in a policeman to talk with the natives.
  4. He believed there was a fight and called out the police at once.

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Time talks. It speaks more clearly than words. Time communicates in many ways.

Consider the different parts of the day, for example. The time of the day when something is done can give a special meaning to the event. Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon that takes everyone away from his work. Whenever they want to make an important announcement, they ask: "When shall we let them know?"

In the United States, you don't usually telephone someone very early in the morning. If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call shows that the matter is very important and requires immediate attention. The same meaning is given to telephone calls made after 11:00 p.m. If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, he assumes it is a matter of life and death. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.

Imagine the excitement and fear caused by a crowd of people arriving at the door at 2:00 a.m. on an island in the South Pacific. A factory manager from the United States had just such an experience. The natives met one night to discuss a problem. When they arrived at a solution, they went to see the factory manager and woke him up to tell him what had been decided. Unfortunately, it was after two o'clock in the morning. They did not know that it is a serious matter to wake up Americans at this hour. The factory manager did not understand the local culture, though there was a fight and he called the police. It never occurred to him (or to the local police) that parts of the day have different meanings in different cultures.