These days while I live in my apartment, I pay close attention to the daily life of people here. I have drawed a conclusion: Americans are lazy.
In fact, Lazy here is not used in a derogatory sense. You know, only the lazy people can invent and design a comfortable life. Americans are such kind of designers who are persueing simple but comfortable life. Let me give you some examples.
I live in a house department. In China, the parking area is often underground or a little far from the appartment. But in USA, the parking lot is jut in front of the hourse near the door. You can imagine when you get back from work, get out of your car, and then enter your door, it is so convinent.
After you get in, you can find a kitchen, a sitting room, a laundry room and a bath room. If you take a look at the kitchen, you will find a dish washer there and microwave oven. In China, most people just wash by hands, you can hardly found a dish washer, expecially in a student’s department.
As to food, most food can be cooked just by heatting, like milk and bread. If sauces are needed, they are already mixed up and ready for use. You can find all this kind of mixed up sauces or semi-manufactured food everywhere in a food supermaket. Cooking become easy here, athough the taste may becoming a little dull. Most Chinese will not buy the mixed sauces, they may want to make their own although they will spent a lot of time on cooking.
One day, a ceaseless noise of machinery wake me up. I look out through the window, I found a man is using a grass cutter in front of the door. In China, people also use this kind of grass cutter, which is belted to the waist. But lawn mower like a car is hardly found in China. I often saw an american sitting on it and drive it on the lawn, it is fun. I also found people here clean the street in a differnt way, they use a air blower to blow the leaves away and make the road clean. If you walk on street in the early morning in Beijing, you will see a cleaner clean street with broom. You will never found a man with a blowing machine walk here and there.
And almost everyone have a car here. Once I ask a black man for directions, after telling my the way, he said don’t you have a car, I sait not yet. He then added while it will be 20 to 30 minutes’ walk. I follow his directions, after 10 minutes I got there. It is not that far, I said in my mind. May be they drive too much, and then have no idea how long it will take by walking.
So there are so many differences between the two countries. It also stand for different culture. The Americans are taking every advantage of modern science and technology to make their lives simple and comfortable. Labor is much more expensive in USA than in China. The Chinese culture advocate deligent, hard-working and Obedience. The American culture advocate Science & Technolgy, comfortable life and freedom. You can not say which one is better, but they can learn from each other. Athough the American life is easy and comfortable, but it exhausted much more energy. Athough, Chinese food is delicious, but it is time cousuming, I think Chinese really should spend more time on inovation in S&T and social system.
by chunlei 08/02/13 07:30AM
