(1)People who grow up in a particular culture share certain values and assumptions. That doesn t mean they all share exactly the same values, to exactly the same extent It does mean that most of them, most of the lime, mostly agree with each other's ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, and so on. They also agree, mostly, with each other's assumptions about human nature, social relationships, and so on.
(2)One of the most important things to understand about Americans is how devoted they are to “individualism”. They have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies. They have not been trained to see themselves as members of a close- knit, tightly interdependent family, religious group, tribe or nation.
(3)You can see this in the way Americans treat their children. Even very young children are given opportunities to make their own choices and express their opinions. A parent will ask a one-year-old child what color balloon she wants, which dessert she prefers,or where she wants to sit. 【The child's preference will normally be accommodated】. Through this process. Americans come to see themselves as separate human beings who have their own opinions and who are responsible for their own decisions.
(4)【Indeed, American child-rearing manuals state that the parents' objective is for the child to move out of the parents' house and make his or her own way in life】. Americans take this advice very seriously, so much so that someone who remains dependent on their parents longer than the norm may be thought to be “ immature", “lied to the mother's apron strings", or otherwise unable to lead a normal independent life.
(5)Americans are trained to conceive of themselves as separate individuals, and they assume everyone else in the world is so， too. When they encounter a person from abroad who seems to them excessively concerned with the opinions of parent，following traditions, or fulfilling obligations to others, they assume that the person feels trapped, or is weak and "too dependent".
(6)Americans, then, consider the ideal person to be an individualistic, self-reliant,independent person. They assume, incorrectly, that people from elsewhere share this value and this self-concept. 【In the degree to which they glorify "the individual" who stands alone】 and makes his or her own decisions. Americans aredistinctive.
(7)The American version of the "ideal individual" prefers an alniosphere of freedom, where neither the government nor any other external force or agency dictates what the individual does. For Americans, the ideal of individual freedom is strongly positive. By contrast .people from many other cultures regard some of the behaviors Americans justify as "individual freedom'* to be self-centered and lack in consideration for others.
(8)Foreigners who understand the degree io which Americans are imbued with the notion that the free, self-reliant individual is the ideal kind of human being will be able to understand many aspects of .American behavior and thinking that otherwise might not make sense. A very few of the many possible examples：
(9)Americans see those individuals as heroes who "stand out from the crowd" by doing something first. longest. most often, or otherwise "best", Examples are aviators Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhari.
(10)Americans admire people who have overcome adverse circumstances (for example, poverty or a physical handicap) and "succeeded** in life. Black educator Booker T. Washington is one example： the blind and deaf author and lecturer Helen Keller is another one.
(11)Many Americans do not display the degree of respect for their parents that people in more traditional or family-oriented societies commonly display. They have the conception that it was a sort of historical or biological accident that put them in the hands of particular parents, that the parents fulfilled their responsibilities to the children while the children were young, and now that the children have reached "the age of independence" the close childparent ties are loosened, if not broken.
(12)It isn't unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of about 22 and who are still living with their parents to pay their parents for room and board. Elderly parents living with their grown children may do likewise. Paying for room and board is a way of showing inde pendence. self-reliance, and responsibility for oneself.
(13)Certain phrases one commonly hears among Americans which capture their devotion to individualism include：
(14)"Do your own thing."
(15)"I did it in my own way."
(16)"You'll have to decide that for yourself."
(17)"You made your bed, now lie in it."
(18)"God helps those who help themselves."
(19)"Look out for number one."
(20)Closely associated with the value they place on individualism is the importance Americans assign to privacy. Americans assume that people "need some time for themselves" or "some time alone" to think about things or to recover their spent psychological energy. Americans have great difficulty understanding someone who always wants to be with another person and dislikes being alone.
(21 )If the parents can afford it. each child will have his or her own bedroom. Having one's own bedroom. even as an infant. imbues people with the notion that they're entitled lo a place of their own where they can be by themselves and keep their possessions. They have their own clothes. toys, books and so on. These things are theirs and no one else's.
(22)Americans assume that people have their "private ihoughts" that might never be shared with anyone else. Doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists, and others have rules governing "confidentialily" that are intended to prevent information about their clients personal situations from becoming known to others.
(23)Americans' attitudes about privacy can be difficult for foreigners to understand.Americans' houses, yards, and even their offices can seem open and inviting, yet, in the Americans minds, there are boundaries that other people are simply not supposed to cross. When the boundaries are crossed. Americans will visibly stiffen and their manner will become cool.
5.The author notes that ______.