如何和美国人保持“距离”？

Body distance varies from culture to culture. In some cultures, it is quite normal for people to stand close together. While Americans talk about invasion of their space.

　　身体的接触距离，预示着人与人关系的亲近度，及人和人之间亲近到了什么程度。美国人很注重这种身体上的接触距离，如果站得距离不得当，美国人会认为你侵犯了他们的隐私空间范围。下图揭示了四种距离，这些距离在老美眼里代表什么呢？

　　1 intimate distance: ranging from direct contact to about 45 cm, which applies to the closest relationships such as husband and wife

　　2 personal distance: ranging from 45 to 80 cm, which is usually maintained for conversations between friends and relatives

　　3 social distance: ranging from 1.3 to 2 metres, which covers people who work together or are meeting at social gatherings

　　4 public distance: which is beyond social distance, such as that kept between a lecturer and his audience

　　可见，老美把人与人间的距离划归为四类： intimate, personal, social and public。

　　Body distance varies from culture to culture. 典型的例子就是美国人和阿拉伯人之间的差异。Arabs tend to maintain a closer physical distance between individuals than Americans.

　　The desert conditions have driven the Arabs into cities where they get used to living in crowds. Because of the high population density, pushing and shoving is unavoidable in public places and people have already grown accustomed to it. Public is public: no one has the right to demand a private zone around himself as a European or American does . So it is quite natural that people do not have any concept of a private zone outside the body . The emotional closeness of the Arabs means people are deeply involved with each other and do not like to be alone. As for face-to-face communication, the distance between two persons can be so close that both can smell eahand in handch other. This is not something unpleasant, but a way of showing involvement .地理环境潜移默化地影响着阿拉伯国家的文化。 恶劣的生存环境致使大批阿拉伯人涌入城市。习惯了拥挤喧嚣，人与人的亲密无间令他们感到踏实舒心，这一点上阿拉伯文化同欧美文化是截然相反的。

　　有趣的是， 即便是同一个国家，不同年代的人身体接触的距离也是有差别的。比如英国的年轻人就比老人拥抱朋友的次数多。

　　许多英语说法都和"arm", "hand" and "finger" 有关，下面就为大家介绍一些。其中有些用法一看就能明白它们的意思，比如 "keep somebody at arm\'s length" 和 "hand in hand"。然而，有些说法却可能是你想不通的。没关系，我们会告诉你答案。