4 Just Call Me Mister
1 On cold days people in Manhattan like to take their children to PlaySpace, an indoor playground full of wonderful climbing and sliding contraptions. There s just one irritating detail: when you pay your money, the cashier pulls out a felt-trip marker and an adhesive lapel tag and asks you your name.
Frum, I say.
No, your first name.
What do you need my first name for?
To write on the tag, so all the children and the staff will know what to call you.
In that case, write Mr. Frum.
2 At which I am shot a look as if I had asked to be called to Duke of Plaza Toro.
3 In encouraging five-year-olds to address grownups by their first names, PlaySpace is only slightly ahead of the times. As a journalist, I faithfully report that the custom of addressing strangers formally is as dead as the practice of leaving a visiting card.
4 There s hardly a secretary left who does not reply, when I give a message fro her boss, I ll tell him you called, David. Or a public relations agent, whether in Bangor or Bangkok, who does not begin his telephonic spiel with a cheerful Hello, David!
5 You don t have to be a journalist to collect amazing first-name stories. Place a collect call, and the operator first-names you. The teenager behind the counter at a fast-food restaurant asks a 70-year-old customer for his first name before taking his order.
6 Habitual first-names claim they are motivated by nothing worse than uncontrollably high-spirited friendliness. I don t believe it. I f I asked the fast-food order-takers to lend me $50, their friendliness would vanish in a whoosh. The PR man drops all his cheerfulness the moment he hears I won t go along with his story idea. No, it s not friendliness that drives first-namers; it s aggression. The PR agents who call me David uninvited would never, if they could somehow get him on the phone, address press baron Rupert Murdoch that way. The woman at the bank who called me David would never first-name the bank s chairman. Like the mock-cheery staff at PlaySpace, they are engaged in a smiley-faced act of belittlement, an assertion of power disguised as good cheer.
Notes
1 contraptions:mechanical devices;gadgets
2 felt-tip marker:软笔尖的颜色笔
3 adhesive lapel tag:不干胶标牌
4 Duke of Plaza Toro: Duke is a nobleman with the highest hereditary rank, especially in Britain. Plaza Tora is Spanish, something like Bull Fighting Ring in English
5 Bangor:City of South central Maine
6 Bangkok:Captical of Thailand,曼谷
7 spiel a lengthy, usually extravagant, speech or argument intended to be persuasive
8 collect call:a telephone call with payment to be made by the receiver
9 press baron:Baron is the lowest male rank of nobility, but here it stands for a man with great power in press
10 mock: simulated
11 cheery:cheerful
体坛英语资讯:Italy upset Austria 4-3 to stay among ice hockey elites
国内英语资讯:U.S. tariff impact on Chinas foreign investment inflow controllable: MOC
国内英语资讯:Chinese defense official calls for efforts to avoid conflict at sea
国际英语资讯:Families of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims file suit against Boeing in Chicago
国内英语资讯:Xi Focus: Xi leads green development as worlds largest horticultural expo opens
娱乐英语资讯:NCPA to restage Turandot in June
国际英语资讯:Indian defense ministry signs contract for building 8 anti-submarine warfare shallow water c
关于睡眠的8个流言
国际英语资讯:U.S., Turkey conduct joint naval exercise in Black Sea
睡前看手机对身体不好吗?最新研究:影响不大
体坛英语资讯:Nadal continues quest for 12th title, Djokovic stunned at ATP Monte-Carlo Masters
国际英语资讯:Indian navy ships arrive at Busan to participate in ADMM-Plus exercise
国际英语资讯:Libyan govt forces progress against east-based army in southern Tripoli
什么颜色最让人放松?
国际英语资讯:Trump, Erdogan discuss Turkeys purchase of S-400 missile defense system
体坛英语资讯:Chinese table tennis chief sees World Championships as great test for Olympics
国际英语资讯:Greek PM welcomes outcome of Spanish elections as message of hope against far-Right
国际英语资讯:U.S. police identify Virginia Beach shooter as city employee, recover more weapons
体坛英语资讯:Africa to stage first ever women 15s rugby World Cup qualifiers in Johannesburg
国际英语资讯:News Analysis: New Israeli elections will put Israeli-Palestinian relations at stake again
国内英语资讯:Xi holds talks with Nepalese president
国内英语资讯:China outlines factors for consideration in listing unreliable foreign entities
体坛英语资讯:Sabalenka gives Belarus early lead with Fed Cup semifinal opener win
国内英语资讯:Development plans of Xiongan New Area open for public opinions
体坛英语资讯:China, Japan ready for face-to-face in ITTF World Championships womens singles quarterfina
国际英语资讯:Russian warplanes strike rebel-held area in Syrias Idlib
体坛英语资讯:Maradona reveals plans to remain Dorados boss
体坛英语资讯:Irans Mehrdad Mohammadi joins Portuguese Aves
国际英语资讯:South Korea, Japan, EU upbeat about Korean Peninsula denuclearization
体坛英语资讯:Brazils tennis player Souza banned again by anti-corruption body
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |