学生说:
Xuéshēng shuō:
The student says:
老师, 我听说美国人和中国人想的方式不一样.
Lǎoshī, wǒ tīng shuō měiguó rén hé zhōngguó rén xiǎng de fāngshì bù yīyàng.
Teacher, I have heard that American people and Chinese people think differently.
据研究，当两人看到鱼缸里鱼的照片时，美国人看鱼，中国人看鱼缸。
Jù yánjiū, dāng liǎng rén kàn dào yúgāng lǐ yú de zhàopiàn shí, měiguó rén kàn yú, zhōngguó rén kàn yúgāng.
According to research, when both people see a photo of a fish tank with fish, American people see the fish and Chinese people see the fish tank.
如果我们看见 的不一样，我们怎么能 建立有意义的联系?
Rúguǒ wǒmen kànjiàn de bù yīyàng, wǒmen zěnme néng jiànlì yǒu yìyì de liánxì?
If we don’t see the same, how can we make meaningful connections?
老师说:
Lǎoshī shuō:
The teacher says:
我们既要看见鱼也要看见鱼缸。
Wǒmen jì yào kànjiàn yú yě yào kànjiàn yúgāng.
We need to see not only the fish but also the fish tank.
我们要看见每个人的情况而不是只看见一个群体.
Wǒmen yào kànjiàn měi gèrén de qíngkuàng ér bùshì zhǐ kànjiàn yīgè qúntǐ.
Rather than only see a group, we need to see each person’s situation.
Authors: Depeng and Anne Giles
Research on seeing fish and fish tanks, thanks to Sofia Zhang-Midkoff:
This post includes 想 xiǎng, a meaningful word on our list of universal human concepts. The word 想 xiǎng is also featured here.
If you are a user of Mandarin Blueprint, the content may be helpful in learning these characters:
Phase 3 Level 13 Character #117 想 xiǎng
Phase 4 Level 25 Character #368 鱼 yú
This post is part of our Meaningful Words 有意义的词 yǒu yìyì de cí series. The series features dialogues about universal human concepts in Mandarin Chinese and in English. Posts in the Meaningful Words series are here and posts related to Mandarin Chinese are here. If you are interested in writing for the Meaningful Words series, please see these submission requirements.
Image: iStock
Anne Giles, M.A., M.S., L.P.C., is a student of Mandarin Chinese and also a mental health counselor, able to provide counseling services only to residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, U.S.A. This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical or professional advice. Consult a qualified health care professional for personalized medical and professional advice.