这两年国际交流比过去活跃些。去年去了白俄罗斯、美国和土耳其，今年去了美国、意大利和新西兰，明年计划去英国、希腊和加拿大。时间都不长，连走马观花都算不上。 尽管时间很短，仍有点比较强烈的感受。在国外，几乎人人都努力对别人显得 nice 。人人，包括有合作关系的同行，或者只是会议上的同行和工作人员，或者饭店和宾馆的服务生，或者没有任何关系的路人。只看现象，不管本质。是不是真 nice 我存而不论。这样社会确实比较和谐，至少游客颇愉快。 这种显得 nice 只是种笼统的感受。或许用个有名的例子能说清楚些。记得当年读罗素《中国问题》时，说到中国人的性格，作者写道， I remember one hot day when a party of us were crossing the hills in chairs—the way was rough and very steep, the work for the coolies very severe. At the highest point of our journey, we stopped for ten minutes to let the men rest. Instantly they all sat in arow, brought out their pipes, and began to laugh among themselves as if they had not acare in the world. 鲁迅 先生在《坟·灯下漫笔》中对此不以为然， 轿夫如果能对坐轿的人不含笑，中国也早不是现在似的中国了。 其实罗素并没有说轿夫对客人含笑，而只是他们自己笑了起来。轿夫自己笑起来，可以算是独善其身；轿夫对客人笑，就是我所谓显得 nice 了。当然， stopped for ten minutes to let the men rest 也显得 nice 从鲁迅的语气推断，我们中国人的 nice 也是通例。不过，严格而来，只有地位平等或者更高的人表现出不是必须的善意，才是 nice 。警察帮游客指路，实在是他的职责。路人看见游客对着地图纠结，主动询问是否需要帮助，就是 nice 了。
Palaeobotany of Natural History Museum in London https://twitter.com/NHMPalaeobotany ===================== However, palaeoboany is NOT welcome in New York City and Shanghai for some reasons. 古植物学的故事 358 期 Story of Paleobotany Series (No.358) 为何纽约和上海都不青睐古植物学？ Why are New York City and Shanghai NOT interested in paleobotany? http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-225931-893633.html 2015-5-28 04:52
A re-retired co-worker came to town to have dim sum with us. We went in her car, and took an on-street parking that has one-hour limit. Good time went by fast. As we walked towards her parked car, a uniformed police woman was looking at the parking meter for her car We waved to the police, and she waved back, gesturing: Is this your car? We all nodded from a distance, and she walked away without giving us a ticket for expired meter. This is not the first time I have encountered a nice police(wo)man in Honolulu. As we say here, Lucky, we live in Hawaii!
标签: Nice
