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(gè)工資表。他們的薪水隨著工作的年數(shù)、受教育程度和晉級(jí)而增加。一個(gè)新員工可能是“G-1”級(jí)，而一個(gè)老員工可能就是“G-13”級(jí)。

【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(huì)喜歡他們的工作。
——你為什么這么說(shuō)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(guò)。政府部門(mén)的工作可以很有回報(bào)，很有保障。
——你是說(shuō)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(shí)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(chéng)實(shí)又努力工作。很難留住這些受過(guò)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(qián)？
——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(huà)！它們難道不漂亮嗎？琳達(dá)買(mǎi)的油畫(huà)真不錯(cuò)。
——是啊，很令人欽佩。噢，這幅畫(huà)很了不起哦!
——當(dāng)然，它們很鮮艷。
——謝謝你們。你們真樂(lè)于夸獎(jiǎng)別人。
——你知道大部分中國(guó)學(xué)生第一件會(huì)問(wèn)的事便是“這畫(huà)多少錢(qián)？”
——是啊。我也注意到了。在他們說(shuō)其它話之前，他們老喜歡問(wèn)那個(gè)問(wèn)題。
——的確是這樣。許多中國(guó)人都這樣做。我不知道為什么。只是個(gè)習(xí)慣。我注意到了外國(guó)人看見(jiàn)別人買(mǎi)的東西常常會(huì)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(guó)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(shí)的人中很少人會(huì)這樣。
——而且據(jù)我所知，對(duì)于一個(gè)中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，說(shuō)聲“我愛(ài)你”是很不常見(jiàn)的，即使對(duì)他們的心上人。
——辛迪，你不要誤會(huì)。我們不是在說(shuō)哪一個(gè)比另一個(gè)好。它們只是不同，就這樣。
——我知道。美國(guó)人說(shuō)這三個(gè)字說(shuō)得特別多，尤其在電影里。我想知道他們是否是說(shuō)真的。
——大部分時(shí)間，我們是說(shuō)真的。有時(shí)候我們也告訴我們愛(ài)著的人我們很為他們自豪。言語(yǔ)是重要的。

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