二次元学姐
B. My Sister Jan C. What Is the Meaningful Life like
D. Every Day Is a Gift
B
After the work was finally finished, the repairman politely told me, “No charge. Professor Pan! We’re friends.” “I’d rather pay.” I replied. “If it’s free I can’t afford it!”
Chinese often refuse payment for professional services, insisting, “We’re friends now!” But then they show up later to ask me to tutor them in English, or get them into an American university, and I wish I’d have just paid the 30 Yuan. I owed them in the first place!
According to the American “There’s no free lunch”, there’s a price for everything, and I’m always looking around to Many of our neighbors have given us fruit or flowers or costly teas, never asking anything in return. For years, a bicycle repairman has repeatedly refused to let me pay him. “Wait until you have something major to fix!” he insists.
I mentioned to a peasant friend that I wished I had a stone mill(磨) to grind flour for bread. A month later he showed up with a beautiful mill that he’d had his uncle in the countryside carve from a solid block of granite(花岗岩).
Chinese generosity is a real education for Americans like me, who would rather avoid social entanglements(纠缠) and just hand over the money. But cash can’t compensate (补偿) for the greatest gift — friendship.
When an American saw some of my friends sitting on bamboo chairs under the trees, drinking tea, he said, “They must have nothing better to do.” “Actually,” I said, “they are professors, with plenty to do. But probably you’re right in saying that, at this moment, they have nothing better to do. And neither do I!”
And I joined the group. We talked about tea and Chinese cooking and how much my boys have grown since we arrived. One man said, “They were pocket-sized when you came here. Now they’re taller than you. How time flies!”
How life flies. And Chinese are smart enough to share what they know. They cannot keep. They freely give off their time, never too busy to help a friend. And they
