when i was in china, i carried an english dictionary wherever i went, from
bedroom (with the dictionary being my pillow of course), to bathroom, to
classroom, to office, to shops, and to everywhere. one day our company had
an exhibition in shandong. the area assigned to us was enclosed by a rope.
before we opened our booth, many people were already standing there waiting
to see our products. since i finished all the preparations already, i did
not have much to do. i then sat in a chair and started to recite my dictionary.
at the time, one lady pushed herself through the crowd and was jumping
over the rope. she wanted to have a first glimpse of the products. i was
thrilled that many people came to see our products, but i was not amused
by this sudden act. right after one of her feet touched our enclosed ground,
i quickly stood up and said to her '你应是 beyond 这。。。' while pointing
my finger at where the rope and her body met. before i finished my sentence,
i heard one thumping sound. '谁是B yangde?’ she shouted, while landing
one big smack on on my face. '谁是B yangde?', another one on the other
side of my face, this time, it was an even louder thump. by now my face
had become a red flower. having seen all this, my coworker from shandong
rushed in and said to her: ’ 他是我们公司的翻译, 刚从英语系毕业, 他在
和你讲英语'. '什么'? the lady was now in a shock. '是, B yangde 在英语里
是到那边的意思。 他是让你不要到这边来‘。 the lady was embarrassed and became
speechless. tears brimmed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. i felt
sorry for her. with my burning face, i comforted her in english: 'don't
worry about it, though it was not good for you to be beyond yourself. it
was clear that you could not control it'. she then apologized and thanked
me. after that the show started.
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