The playwright George Bernard Shaw once said humorously, “England and America are two nations divided by a common language. If he were writing today, he might add ‘divided by a common technology--- e-mail’”.
Two completely different styles of e-mail have formed on either side of the Atlantic-Euromail and Amerimail. Americail is informal and chatty. It’s likely to begin with a “Hi” and end with a “Bye”. The chances of Amerimail containing a smiley face or an “xoxo” are disturbingly high. We Americans are unwilling to dive into the meat of an e-mail. We feel we have to first inform recipients (收信人) about our vacation on the island which was really excellent except the jellyfish were biting and the kids caught a cold, so we had to skip the whale watching trip, but about that investors’ meeting in New York. Amerimail is a bundle of contradictions, casual and yet direct, respectful yet over proud. In other words, Amerimail is America.
Euromail is stiff and cold often beginning with a formal “Dear Mr. X” and ending with a “Sincerely”. You won’t find any mention of kids or the weather or jellyfish in Euromail. It’s all business. It’s also slow. Your correspondent might take days even weeks to answer a message. Euromail is exactly like the Europeans themselves.
Recently about 100 managers were asked on both sides of the Atlantic whether they noticed differences in e-mail styles. Most said yes. Here are a few of their observations:
“Americans tend to write (e-mail) exactly as they speak.”
“Why don’t you just call me instead of writing five e-mails back and forth?”
“Europeans are less interested in checking e-mail”.
“In general, Americans are much more responsive to e-mail—they respond faster and provide more information.”
So which is better, Euromail or Amerimail? I realized it’s not popular these days to suggest we have anything to learn from Europeans, but I’m fed up with an inbox filled with casual, barely meaningful e-mails from friends and colleagues. If the alternative is a few earnestly written, carefully worded bits of Euromail, then I say, “Bring it on.”
小题1:What did George Bernard Shaw mean by saying “England and America are two nations divided by a common language”?A．There is not much difference between British English and American English.B．Both England and America speak the common language, so they are much the same.C．Either England or America is a divided nation, though they share a common language.D．There is sharp difference between England and America despite their common language.小题2:Which of the following is most likely to be the “meat” of an Amerimail?A．The jellyfish were biting.B．We had an excellent vacation on the island.C．We had to skip the whale watching trip.D．We were to attend the investors’ meeting in New York.小题3:On receiving an e-mail, Europeans tend to __________.A．respond to it immediately and earnestlyB．take more time than Americans to respond to itC．respond by calling up their correspondentD．never respond to it all小题4:What are characteristics of Amerimail?A．Informal and chattyB．Casual and indirectC．Stiff and coldD．Formal and direc60小题5:We can conclude from the passage that __________.A．the different e-mail styles do much harm to the relationship between the two sides on AtlanticB．Amerimail is more appreciated by the writer for being informative and casually writtenC．Euromail always impresses the writer as something more pleasant to readD．the writer doesn’t favor either e-mail style as both have their own shortcomings