Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They found that miscommunication was always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.

On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks？” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛), which in Micronesia means “yes”.

Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today？” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.

Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”．

Well, it’s time for Words and Their Stories. We present more expressions about food from Elnir Scardueli, a listener in Brazil.

My father’s a good and honest person. People say he’s the salt of the earth. He’d never pour salt on a wound, or make someone feel worse about something. However, sometimes he tells us a story that seems bigger than life. So we have to take it with a grain of salt.

My husband makes enough money to support our family. So we say he brings home the bacon. He can cut the mustard(芥末), or do what is expected of him at work. Besides, he stands almost two meters tall, so it’s easy to find my husband in a crowd. He is a tall drink of water.

I take the train to work. It is not a pleasant ride because the train is so crowded that we are packed like sardines(沙丁鱼).

When we fail to see problems at work, my boss tells us to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to pay more attention and fix the problem.

I once made a big mistake at the office and felt foolish. I had egg on my face.

Over the weekend, my friend invited me to watch a football game on television. But I do not like football. It is not my cup of tea.

We hope this has given you food for thought and stay with us next time. Thank you.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies’ responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. 【小题1】

At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. 【小题2】 Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies’ emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior. And so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

【小题3】 One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. 【小题4】