Improving Your Cross-cultural Competence

"Make enthusiasm your daily habit"

"Think positive and pleasing thoughts"

In the inventory of American national characteristics, enthusiasm and positive thinking are much practiced attitudes. Americans are world famous for their incurable optimism. Their "can-do", "make-it-happen" spirit stems from the conviction that every problem has a solution. Whether they set out to conquer polio or land a man on the moon, Americans' initiative, intelligent planning and hard work will bring about the desired result sooner or later. This accounts for their motto "Be positive, think positively".

Assignments to chapter 3

Pre-reading Instructions

Vocabulary.

Difficult and unfamiliar words and expressions

counterfeit (v) — to imitate in order to deceive;

sponge (n) — a piece of absorbent material used in surgery;

preliminary (adj.)— coming first and preparing for what follows, leading up to the main part;

eliminated herself from the competition — refused to take part in the competition on her own will;

to be in short supply — to be not enough to meet the demand;

scarce (adj.) — seldom seen;

expediency (n) — advantage gained by sacrificing (giving up) principles;

ingenious methods — clever methods;

Corrupt (adj.) — dishonest;

vicious (adj.) — corrupt, cruel;

no good — not smart, stupid;

toddler (n) — a child who just starts to walk;

self-sufficient (adj.) — independent, needing no help from others;

reward (n),— something given in return for service, work, merit, etc.

shoddy workmanship — work of poor quality;

shoddy — poorly made;

rampant (adj.) — growing in large proportions; found everywhere and spreading rapidly;

Ten Commandments — ten Laws given by God to Moses who led the Israelites from Egypt;

virtue (n) — moral excellence (also a particular good moral quality, like kindness, etc);

fidelity (n) — faithfulness;

adultery (n) — sexual betrayal in marriage;

spouse (n) — one's husband or wife;

supersede (v) — to displace.

From Chapter 3 character can't be counterfeited

In the operating room of a large, well-known hospital, a young nurse was completing her first day of full responsibility. "You've only removed 11 sponges, "Doctor," she said to the surgeon. "We used 12."

"I removed them all," the doctor declared. "We'll close the incision now."

"No," the nurse objected. "We used 12 sponges."

"I'll take the responsibility," the surgeon said grimly.

"You can't do that!" blazed the nurse. "Think of the patient."

The surgeon smiled, lifting his foot, and showed the nurse the twelfth sponge.

"You'll do," he said.

* * *

A young woman, walking along the street of a large city, stopped a stranger to ask directions to a museum. The stranger said, "Go two blocks to the right and then turn left".

The woman continued on her way, but soon she heard the stranger calling to her. She turned round as the stranger caught up, panting for breath. "I'm glad I caught you," he said. "After you started off, I realized that I had given you the wrong directions, and I didn't want you to get lost".

* * *

A junior-high-school student had gone through all the preliminary rounds of a national spelling contest, but in the final round, she misspelled a word. The judges, however, didn't hear her correctly, and they gave her a nod. The contestant, realizing that she had misspelled the word, eliminated herself from the competition.

* * *

What do these three glimpses of life have in common? They all speak of a quality that is in short supply, and it's getting scarcer. But without this quality there is no way to be the best you can be. This rare quality is integrity – having a standard of personal morality and ethics that does not sell out to expediency and that is not relative to the situation.