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1、Importance of contextWHENconversationgetsconfusing,NorthAmericanssay,"Iknowyouthinkyouunderstandwhatyouthoughtyouheardmesay,butI'mnotsureifwhatyouheardwaswhatIreallymeant."Wecanlearnhowtofindoutwhatisgoingonaroundusinoureverydaylives.Butputintoanewenvironment,we
2、don'tknowwhatcluestolookfor.Thiscanbedisastrousorfunny—butitisalwaysembarrassing.Nobodywantstofeel"leftout"or"clueless."AsIadapttoChina,Ilearnwhyteachingcultureisharderthanteachinglanguage.Languagehasrules.Contextdoesn't.Everywordneedsacontexttogiveitmeaning.Ify
3、oudon'tknowthecontext,thewordisnonsense.Youhaveno"clue"whatitmeans.The"clue"isthethreadthatleadsyousafelythroughdanger.IntheGreekmyth,aprincessgavethehero,Theseus,aballofthread.Hetiedittoapillarbeforedescendingintothedepths.Ashewentdownheunwoundthe"clue."Atthebo
4、ttomhekilledthemonsterthenfollowedthe"clue"backtothelightwheretheprincessawaitedhim.Aword'scontextisits"clue."AbigEnglishdictionarygivesasentenceforeachmeaningawordhas.Athesaurusgivessimilarwordsfordifferent"shades"ofmeaning.However,that'susuallynotenough.Twoofm
5、ystudentfriendswerearguinginmyhomebeforeourFridayeveningmovie."Thecountrysideisnotthecity,soisn'tatownorvillageeither.Howcanyousayyou'refromthecountrywhenI'vevisitedyourvillage?"onestudentaskedtheother."Ifit'snotcityit'scountry,"theotherinsisted.Finallytheyasked
6、me:"Whatdoes'country'mean?"Myfavouritewaytoanswerstarts:"Well,itdepends..."Toacityperson,it'struethatanythingnotinthecityisrural,"country."Tome,"country"meanswild,natural,uncultivated,sinceIgrewupnearthat.Toa19thcenturywriterlikeHardy,"countryside"meantsmallvill
7、agefarminglife."Country"alsomeansanationgeographically.Sobothwerepartiallyright.Itdependsonwhatyoumean.Contextdecides.Thebestwaytolearncontextisfrompeopleinthelanguage'sculture.Sure,liketheheroyou'llstilltripinthedark.ButwithforeignersinalmosteveryChineseunivers
8、ityandcommercialcommunity,you'llmakefriendswhocangiveyou"clues"aboutcontext.You'llsoonslaythemonsterofignoranceandwintheprize.Anotherwayto"getaclue"whenpeopleareusing
