公司開會前，經(jīng)理Jeff說，總裁John Henderson的母親去世了。

Jeff (manager): Folks...before we begin our workday, I'm afraid I have some sad news. Our CEO John Henderson's mother passed away late last night. As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for the Henderson family.

Frank: Oh, that is sad news. I met his mother once...she was a very nice woman.

Penny: Was she sick?

J: Yes, I believe she was suffering from some illnesses; but she was also 91 years old.

F: Wow! Ninety-one years old! That's a pretty good run.

P: Yeah...very impressive.

Frank說，他見過Henderson的母親，老太太人很好。She was a very nice woman. Penny問，她是不是病死的。得知老太太91歲高齡后，F(xiàn)rank說，That's a pretty good run，意思是“夠長壽的”。

George: You know, I'm from China and in some places in my homeland if you live past 80, they used to celebrate your death instead of mourning.

J: That's kind of a nice tradition. A long, full life is something to celebrate.

G: Um, seeing as I'm not that familiar with Western culture, I'm wondering...what's the protocol here? What can we do for the Henderson family? What should I say?

George是從中國來的。他說，在中國年過八旬就是喜喪，是值得慶祝的。他想知道，西方有些什么習(xí)俗，能為死者家屬做些什么。

J: In the West, people usually just say something like, "I'm sorry."

G: Yeah...I've heard people say "sorry" before and I always wondered why.

P: I guess it's because we mean that we feel sorry that they must endure this difficult time of sorrow. Or maybe we mean we are sorry the person died.

J: I think Penny's first guess is right. People mean to say, "I sympathize with or am sorry for, the pain you and your family are feeling." But somehow along the way it just sort of got shortened to, "I'm sorry."

Penny解釋說，一種可能是說，對你悲慟的心情深表同情。另外一種可能是對此人去世感到惋惜。Jeff認(rèn)為，第一種解釋最說得通，說sorry是對死者家屬的悲傷表示同情。

F: But George makes a good point. I think we do struggle to find the right words to say when someone dies. I mean, what can you say that's really going to be helpful?

P: That's true. It's always a bit hard to know what to say. But usually the person understands that we're just trying to offer condolences. I think they still appreciate the effort.

Frank承認(rèn)，George makes a good point. George的話有道理，面對死者親屬，人們往往不知道說些什么好。但是Penny認(rèn)為，死者親屬其實(shí)明白，別人就是在向他們表示慰問。