Part B Reading Practice Culture Shock—A Personal Story When I first arrived in Australia at the age of 16 to go to High School for one year and live with a host family I was completely over the moon with everything—and I mean everything! When the plane finally touched down in Sydney I was so excited and exhilarated that I was finally in Australia, something we had been planning for many months. But, even though all exchange students participated in a one-day preparatory meeting, no kind of preparation could have avoided the inevitable culture shock I was experiencing—and I am glad it didn’t! Many people confuse the term culture shock with the phase of feeling discomfort, confusion, frustration and homesickness before adjusting to a foreign culture. However, culture shock is so much more! It also includes those first weeks or months of the so-called “honeymoon phase” where you are super happy to be in that other culture and everything you experience, from cultural aspects such as ways of living and interacting with others to clothes, music, and food, seems exotic, new and exciting. You are, so-to-speak, wearing your pink-colored culture glasses and cozily float on a cultural cloud nine! However, as I was going to experience soon enough this feeling didn’t last forever. After about two months, things started to feel odd. Differences became more apparent. I started missing my friends and family more and more. Frustrating thoughts increasingly populated my head: “Nobody really understand me, my English is not good enough. I wish people would just be able to speak German for one day! Why is it so impossible to find proper bread (‘proper’ in my opinion referring to bread from Germany)? I wish public transportation would work the same way as at home! These thoughts were of course highly unproductive and unhelpful. However, these are part of the process and herald the “negotiation phase”. Feelings of anxiety would creep up on me from nowhere! Homesickness would dominate most evenings. Of course it was not like this all the time. Initial ‘honeymoon’ feelings of excitement and exhilaration would take turns with feelings of disorientation and frustration. Phases are not clearly marked because each phase overlaps with the next one and sometimes you feel like you take two steps forward and one back. Over the next few months, though, feelings of adjustment and belonging more and more superseded those feelings of displacement and homesickness. I developed my own little routine, learned to adapt to stress through various techniques, and made many new friends. I had slowly and unknowingly entered the “adjustment phase”. I had learned what to expect in most situations, had adapted my own behavior and learned to appreciate new ways of thinking and attitudes. My English had improved dramatically—not only my vocabulary had expanded significantly but I also thought and dreamt exclusively in English! During those months I had developed a very interesting sleeping pattern where I would sleep approximately 14 hours a day straight. My mind needed time to recover after experiencing so many challenges throughout the day—speaking English, dressing differently, attending class at High School, making new friends, observing and processing differences, adjusting my own behavior, analyzing the meaning of what people say and translating it into something I could understand and appropriately respond to etc. Things started to make sense and I understood Australian culture better and better! That was a major breakthrough for me personally. Every day I felt more and more comfortable with my new home. I adopted many new traits while also keeping earlier ones from my home country. I would often refer to myself as “having a second nationality”. This process which occurred over my last few months abroad is called the “mastery phase”. My happiest moment was when my dear friend one day remarked during a conversation: “You are Australian now, Jude! You sound just like us! ” She knew what she was talking about, had she not seen me transform from a silent timid German who could hardly follow a conversation to an almost accent-free bicultural Australian/German? I want to point out that the effects of culture shock are different for everyone and can result in different behaviors and feelings. The timing of the different phases also varies a lot from person to person. One thing’s for sure though: Culture shock is inevitable and acceptance is the first step towards adjusting better to a foreign culture. Here is my 5 cents on what has helped me deal better with culture shock: Try to really put yourself out there and make friends! Talk, even when you make mistakes! Develop a routine! Think about how you dealt with stress at home and apply it in the new culture: Yoga, sports, going for a walk, talking to a dear friend? Try to be positive and see the good aspect in everything. Negative thinking is a vicious circle and can quickly pull you down. Also, laugh about yourself or whatever is frustrating you—humor helps us make light of a situation. Always remember—what can I learn from this? Don’t try to negate the positive aspects of the other culture. Often there is a valid reason behind why things are done that way. Realizing that doesn’t mean you have to give up all you are! It merely widens your horizon and helps you negotiate between different cultures. If you manage to acquire those intercultural skills during a culture shock, the previous feelings of disconnection and anxiety are well worth it. Maybe if we all did an exchange of some sort we would live in a more understanding, peaceful world. New Words, Phrases and Expressions exhilarate /ɪg’zɪləreɪt/ v. to make lively and cheerful; gladden; elate 使快活;使高兴 odd /ɒd/ adj. strange or unusual 古怪的;不寻常的 apparent /ə’pær(ə)nt/ adj. easy to see or understand 显而易见;明白易懂;显然 herald /’her(ə)ld/ v. to be a sign that sth is going to happen 是(某事)的前兆;预示 overlap /əʊvə’læp/ vi.& vt. to occupy the same area in part; to have something in common 与〔某物〕部分重叠,交搭,叠盖 supersede /,suːpə’siːd; ,sjuː-/ v. take the place of (a person or thing previously in authority or use); supplant 取代 displacement /dɪs’pleɪsm(ə)nt / n. the removal of something from its usual place or position by something which then occupies that place or position 替代; the forcing of people away from the area or country where they live 逐出家园 adapt /ə’dæpt/ vi.& vt. to change sth in order to make it suitable for a new use or situation 使适应,使适合(新用途、新情况); to change your behaviour in order to deal more successfully with a new situation 适应(新情况) dramatically /drə’mætɪkəlɪ/ adv. in a dramatic manner; in a very impressive manner 戏剧地;引人注目地 straight /streɪt/ adv. continuously without interruption 连续不断地;一连 valid /’vælɪd / adj. based on what is logical or true 符合逻辑的;合理的;有根据的;确凿的 over the moon in high spirits 兴高采烈;欣喜若狂 preparatory meeting preliminary meeting 筹备会议,预备会议 make sense be reasonable or logical or comprehensible 有意义;讲得通;言之有理 vicious circle a situation in which effort to solve a given problem results in aggravation of the problem or the creation of a worse problem 恶性循环; (in demonstration) the use of each of two propositions to establish the other 循环论证 Notes 1. ...where you are super happy to be in that other culture... super adv. ( informal ) especially; particularly 特别;格外 She has prepared super delicious food. 她已准备了特别美味的食物。 2. You are, so-to-speak, wearing your pink-colored culture glasses and cozily float on a cultural cloud nine! cloud nine (informal) a state of perfect happiness (usually in the phrase on cloud nine ) (非正式)极乐心境;狂喜状态 3. She knew what she was talking about, had she not seen me transform from a silent timid German who could hardly follow a conversation to an almost accent-free bicultural Australian/German? 该部分为 if 引导的对过去进行虚拟的状语从句,省略 if 后,从句部分将助动词 had 提前进行部分倒装。