礼节美语 055 Ins and Outs and Ups and Downs

陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作，他跟美国同事Amy一起在北京的一间酒店开会。

(Office ambience)

A：Chen Hao, did you pay attention to what you did when you went through that door?

C：你是说刚才那个旋转门吗？

A：There was an elderly man approaching just as we arrived. You stood back to let him go first.

C：没错！应该让年长的人先走呀。这有什么不对吗？

A：Not when it comes to revolving doors. If the door had been moving and someone else had been ahead of him pushing, you should have waited. However, the door was not moving, which means that you needed to have gone ahead and set the door in motion for him.

C： 你的意思是，如果旋转门已经在转动了，那就应该让老人先走，如果门停在那里，我就应该先去推门了？

A：You could say something like, "Please, allow me to get this door." He would most likely have appreciated your consideration and understood what you were doing.

C：那我刚才让你先走肯定是没错的吧？

A：That was the appropriate thing to do since the door was already moving.

C：Amy, 男士和女士在一起的时候，有哪些规矩呢？

A：Well, I am considered the less-able bodied of the two of us, you know, the weaker sex, so you were right to let me precede you. Then your job was to assist me by pushing the revolving door behind me.

C：我没做错吧？

A：To be perfectly honest, I didn't feel that you did. Every able-bodied person needs to do their share, but being carefully not to send those in front on a wild ride.

C：真糟糕，过个旋转门原来还有这么多规矩。开完会我们还是别走旋转门了。

A：I'll agree, but you ought to practice doing the correct thing when you use revolving doors.

******

陈豪和Amy开完会一起往回走。

C：Amy, 我来开门。

A：Thank you. That was very nice, but did you notice the woman who was coming up behind us.

C：好像是有个人，我没太注意，怎么了？

A：You practically let the door slam in her face.

C：哎哟，我光顾着给你开门了。

A：You ought to give a glance over your shoulder to see if anyone else is approaching from behind and hold the door for that person.

C：原来还要给后面的人开门！这我真没想到。还有其他什么要注意的吗？

A：When people are heading for the same doorway at the same time but are approaching from opposite directions, the people who are exiting the building or room should be allowed to leave before those who are on their way in attempt to enter.

C：这个我知道，要讲究先上后下，先出后入。谢谢你，Amy.