河海大学研究生英语一 Unit 24 The Cultural Patterning of Time

Unit 24 The Cultural Patterning of Time In his book The Silent language, anthropologist Edawad Hall theorizes that perceptions of time and space are different in different culture and that these perception are culturally patterned. Hall called these dimensions of culture "out of awareness",because people are not conscious of having learned them. It may well be ture that most important aspects of culture,such as our perceptions of physical environment of our food tastes,are learned "out of awareness". And certianly our perceptions of time and space are among the most deeply instilled of our cultural values. For example ,menbers of modern, industrializes Western societies are conditioned to view time space and matter in Newtonian terms. Sir Isaac Newton,the seventeenth-century English scientist ,teansformed mathematics and science to such an extent that even though we may not be able to list or axplain his discoveries ,we are influenced them. Newton formulated several laws of motion that are basic to the Western's understanding of the universe, continues at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by other forces acting upon it . This notion also underlies the concept of time in Western culture,and to Westerners it appears that it should be an intuitive concept of time shered by all people everywhere,But as anthropologists have demonstrated through their studies of other cultures,these Newtonian "laws" are not universal. They are instilled by a specific culture,thought system,and language.

在著作《无声的语言》中，人类学家爱德华霍尔的理论认为不同文化观念的人对时间和空间的看法是不同的。霍尔将这些维度的文化称为“无意识”，因为人们在学习他们的时候是潜移默化的。很可能文化真正的最重要的方面，比如我对食物的味道的生理认知，也来自于“无意识”。我们对时间和空间的看法深深来自我们文化价值观的灌输。例如，现代工业化西方社会的成员习惯于从牛顿的时空物质观来看待世界。17 世纪的英国科学家艾萨克·牛顿爵士将数学和科学发展到如此程度，即使我们可能无法罗列或者解释他的发现，我们也深受其影响。牛顿制定了几个基本的西方人理解宇宙的运动定律，即物体会继续静止或匀速直线运动，除非它因为其他力被迫改变这一状态。这个概念也成了西方文化中时间概念的根基。西方人认为这种时间概念应该被所有地方的所有人所接受。但人类学家已经通过对其他文化的研究认识到这些牛顿“法则”并不是普遍的。他们被一个特定的文化、思想体系和语言所灌输。

"Time is human ,nature knows only change. "In fact ,"telling time"is a strictly human invention. All cultures have some system of measuring duration, or keeping time, but in western industrialized societies, we keep track of time in what seems to other peoples almost an obsessive fashion. We view time as motion on a space, a kind of linear progression measured by the clock and the calendar. Our sense of time leads us to imagine it as a ribbon or a scroll marked off into equal blank spaces,suggesting that each of these spaces can be filled with an entry. This perception contributes to our sense of history and the keeping of records, which are typical aspects of western cultures. In Western industrialized societies,records,annals,diaries,and accouting ledgers play an important role ,We are fascinated by the sequenceing dating ,charting ,and measuring pieces of time. We calculate bot only the seasons but

also the years ,months, weeks,days, hours,minutes,seconds,and even thousandths of seconds. We find it useful to divide the past into named periods such as "the Renaissance" or "the classical age". And our linguistic treatment of time has guided many other aspects of our lives. For example,literature is taught in school by being divided into periods——or framed time slots——rather than by being treated in a thematic fashion that cuts across time boundaries.

“时间是一个人，自然只知道改变。”事实上，“告知时间”严格上来讲是人类的一种创造。所有的文化中都有测量时间或者保存时间的系统，但在西方工业化国家，我们以别人看来几乎是一种令人痴迷的时尚的态度来跟踪时间。我们把时间看作是空间上的移动，一种由时钟和日历衡量的线性增加。我们对时间的感觉引导我们把它想象成一条划分有等间隔空间的缎带或卷轴，告诉我们这些这些空间是可以用条目来填充的。这种感觉有助于我们的历史感和做好记录，这些是西方文化的典型方面。在西方工业化社会，记录、编年史、日记和账目扮演着非常重要的角色。我们沉迷于记录，图画和测量时间的片段。我们不仅仅通过季节，也通过年、月、周、日、小时、分钟、秒甚至是微秒来计算进度。我们发现将过去的时间命名为“文艺复兴”或者“古典时代”这样的有名字的时间段是很有用的。我们对时间的口头描述也会影响我们生活的其他方面。例如，学校的文学教育是按照时间段来分的——或者是按照时间周期来分的——而不是以跨越时间段的专题的方式对待的。

Although our perceptions of time seem natural to us, we must not assume that other cultures operate on the same time system. For instance, why should we assume that a Hopi raised in the Hopi culture would have the same intuitions about time that we have? In Hopi history, if records had been written, we would find a different set of cultural and environmental influences working together. The Hopi people are a peaceful agricultural society isolated by geographic features and nomad enemies in a land of little rainfall. Their agriculture is successful only by the greatest perseverance. Extensive preparations are needed to ensure crop growth. Thus the Hopi value persistence and repetition in activity. They have a sense of the cumulative value of numerous, small, repeated movements, for to them such movements are not wasted but are stored up to make changes in later events. The Hopi have no intuition of time as motion, as a smooth flowing line on which everything in the universe proceeds at an equal rate away from a past, through a present, into a foreseeable future. Long and careful study of the Hopi language has revealed that it contains no words, grammatical forms, constructions, or expressions that refer to what we call time - the past, present, or future - or to the duration or lasting aspect of time. To the Hopi, "time" is a "getting later" of everything that has been done, so that past and present merge together. The Hopi do not speak, as we do in English, of a "new day" or "another day" coming every twenty-four hours; among the Hopi, the return of the day is like the return of a person, a little older but with all the characteristics of yesterday. This Hopi conception, with its emphasis on the repetitive aspect of time rather than its onward flow, may be clearly seen in their ritual dances for rain and good crops, in which the basic step is a short, quick stamping of the foot repeated thousands of times, hour after hour.

虽然我们的时间观念对我们来说是很自然的，我们不能假定其他文化和我们基于同样的时间系统。例如，为什么我们要假设在霍皮语文化下成长的霍皮人和我们有相同的时间观念？如果记录被写在霍皮人的历史上，我们会发现一组完全不同的文化和环境影响一同运作。霍皮人生活在和平的农业社会，因为孤立的地理特性和游牧的敌人在少雨的土地被孤立。他们只有靠不懈的努力才能获得农业上的成功。他们需要大量的准备工作来确保作物生长。因此，霍皮人重视活动的持久性和重复性。他们对大量的、小的、重复的活动的累计价值有很强的感觉，对他们而言这些活动不是浪费时间而是为了以后的改变做好储备。霍皮人没有对时间运动的直觉，就好像一个光滑的流线。在这根流线上宇宙万物从过去，通过现在，到可见的未来以相同的速率越来越远。对霍皮人语言的长久和仔细的研究反映，这种语言没有单词、语法、结构或者表达指代我们所称的时间—过去，现在，或者是将来—或者指代时间持续的时间。对霍皮人而言，“时间”是所有做完事情的“后面”，所以过去和现在混合在一起。霍皮人不会讲我们英语中每24 个小时会来临的“新的一天”或者“另一天”；在霍皮人眼中，一天的来临就像是一个人的回归，有点老但保留昨天所有的特点。霍皮人的这种观念，强调时间的重复性而不是向前流动性，可以在他们祈雨和丰收的舞蹈中清楚看到，它的基本舞步是不断重复、持续不断的短、快的踮脚。

Of course, the American conception of time is significantly different from that of the Hopi. Americans' understanding of time is typical of Western cultures in general and industrialized societies in particular. Americans view time as a commodity, as a "thing" that can be saved, spent, or wasted. We budget our time as we budget our money. We even say, "Time is money. " We are concerned in America with being "on time"; we don't like to "waste" time by waiting for someone who is late or by repeating information; and we like to "spend" time wisely by keeping busy. These statements all sound natural to a North American. In fact, we think, how could it be otherwise? It is difficult for us not to be irritated by the apparent carelessness about time in other cultures. For example, individuals in other countries frequently turn up an hour or more late for an appointment - although "being late" is at least within our cultural framework. For instance, how can we begin to enter the cultural world of the Sioux, in which there is no word for "late" or "waiting. " Of course, the fact is that we have not had to enter the Sioux culture; the Sioux have had to enter ours. It is only when we participate in other cultures on their terms that we can begin to see the cultural patterning of time.

当然，美国的时间概念明显不同于霍皮人。美国人对时间的理解是一种典型的西方文化，特别是工业化社会的西方文化。美国人认为时间是一种商品，是一种可以保存、花或者浪费的“东西”。我们像预算我们的钱一样预算我们的时间。我们甚至说:“时间就是金钱。”在美国我们会关心做到“准时”；我们不喜欢因为等待迟到的人或者因为重复的信息“浪费”时间；我们喜欢通过保持忙碌来合理的“花”时间。这些语句在北美听起来是很自然的。事实上，我们认为，否则会是如何呢？在其他文化环境下，我们很难因为对方明显没有时间观念而不被激怒。例如，其他国家的人经常出现一个小时或超过一个小时的约会迟到——尽管“迟到”至少是在我们的文化框架内的。例如，我们如何开始进入没有“迟到”或者“等待”的苏族文化？当然，事实上，我们并不是一定要进入苏族文化；但

苏族不得不进入我们的文化。只有当我们参与其他文化的时候，我们才开始看到时间的文化观念。

Americans have a sence of time that is oriented toward the future, not an infinitely extending future,but the foreseeable future. We look back at the past only to measure how far we have come in the present , and we look at the present as a stepping stone to foreseeable future accomplishments. We project ourselves into the future b producing calendars,programs,schedules,and budgets for upcoming periods of time . Other cultures do not share such a future orientation. Navajos, for instance,look skeptically at the promise of benefits in even the foreseeable future; whereas the future among Hindus is conceived of in terms of more than a lifetime ,as extending infinitely through many rebirths and lifetimes.

美国人有一种面向未来的时间观念，不是一个无限延伸的未来，而是可预见的未来。我们回顾过去只测量我们已经走了多远，我们只是把现在看作在可见的未来取得成功的垫脚石。我们通过制定日历，计划，时间表和预算将自己投射到未来。其他文化不会采用这样一个未来取向。例如，纳瓦霍人怀疑地看待福利的承诺，即使在可预见的未来；而未来在印度教徒看来不仅仅是今世今生，是一种无限扩展的轮回。

Just as other cultures' concepts of time may irritate Americans when we come up against them in our activities,so our concept of time may evoke amusement or even disdain from people in other cultures. For example , many foreigners must have been puzzled by an article in the New York Time business section that desctibed a man who defined himself as a "time consultant". This expret suggested that one way to use time more efficiently was to program the subconscious to consider a plan of action for the following day while falling asleep. In this way , he said,one's sleeping time would be well spend , not wasted. Such a notion is considered perfectly rational in the American business community. But in an agricultural community,where one cannot control the elements governing corp growth,or in a nonindustrialized nation,where the speed of walking animal or human hand controls production,such a perception of time would be valueless,With these different ,culturally patterned views of time that exist all over the world,it is no wonder some American businesspeople come into conflict with businesspeople from other cultures, wher sociability in more important than using every minute of one's time for business.

就像当我们在生活中和其他文化中时间概念相冲突时，它们可能会激怒美国人一样，我们的时间观念同样可能引起其他文化中的人的嘲笑甚至蔑视。例如，许多外国人一定会对《纽约时报》商业版面上的一篇将自己定义为一个“时间顾问”的文章感到难以理解。这位专家建议在每天入睡前在潜意识中为明天的行动做好规划，这能有效的提高时间利用的效率。他说通过这种方式，一个人的睡眠时间可以得到更有效的利用，不会被浪费。这种观念在美国商业社会会被认为是完全理性的。但在一个无法控制庄稼生长的因素的农业社会，或者在一个由牲畜的行走速度和人类手工的速度控制生产的的未工业化国家，这种时间观念是没有价值的。因为这些不同，受文化影响的时间观念存在于世界各地，所以一些美国商人和其他地区的比起利用好每一分钟更看重人际关系的商人产生冲突也就不奇怪了。