A famous doctor Lord Robert Winston took a train from London to Manchester, and he found himself becoming angry. A woman picked up her phone and began a loud conversation, which lasted an unbelievable hour. Furious, Winston took pictures of the woman and post them on the social media.
As the train arrived at its destination, Winston had had enough of the woman’s rudeness. Meanwhile the press were waiting for her on the platform. And when they deliberately showed her the message, she used just one word to describe Winston’s actions: rude.
The story of Winston is something of a microcosm (缩影) of our age of increasing rudeness fueled by the social media. What can we do to fix this?
Studies have shown that rudeness spreads quickly and virally, almost like the common cold. Once infected, we are more aggressive, less creative and worse at our jobs. The only way to end this is to make a conscious decision to deal with it. We must have the courage to point it out, face to face. We must say, “Just stop.” For Winston, that would have meant approaching the woman, telling her that her conversation was disturbing other passengers and politely asking her to speak more quietly or make the call at another time.
The anger and injustice we feel at the rude behaviour of a stranger can drive us to do odd things. In my own research, I surveyed 2,000 adults, and discovered that the acts of revenge people had taken ranged from the ridiculous to the disturbing. Winston put the spotlight on the woman’s behaviour — but in a way that shamed her.
We must fight with rudeness directly. When we see it occur in a store, we must step up and say something. We must defend strangers in the same way we’d defend our best friends. But we can do it with grace, by handling it without any trace of aggression and without being rude ourselves. Because once rude people can see their actions through the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end that rude behaviour themselves.
【小题1】Why did the woman use the word “rude” to describe Winston’s actions?| A．He said rude words to the woman. |
| B．He lost his temper due to other people’s rudeness. |
| C．He behaved improperly and spoke loudly on the train. |
| D．He pointed out the woman’s rude behaviour in a wrong way. |
| A．To draw a conclusion from the above story. |
| B．To form a connecting link between the previous and the following. |
| C．To tell us the ways to deal with rudeness. |
| D．To show us the positive and negative effects of the social media. |
| A．We can deal with rudeness in an indirect way. |
| B．Rudeness and manners can hardly coexist in a civilized society. |
| C．Both strangers and acquaintances deserve our friendly warning. |
| D．Rude people can’t see their rudeness through others’ eyes. |
| A．Don’t Ignore Online Rudeness | B．Civilization Calls for Civility |
| C．How to Handle Rudeness Spread Online | D．Rude Behaviour Makes a Rude Society |
