Close contacts between Japan and the rest of the world were created in the twentieth century. In the last forty years, business contacts between Japan and the West have become very important. Many foreign companies now have offices in Japan and Japanese businessmen do business around the world. Differences between Japanese and Western ways of doing business, however, often bewilder foreign businessmen and make doing business in Japan difficult for foreigners.

    The American businessman, for example, wants to start talking business immediately. He does not want to wait. The Japanese businessman, on the other hand, likes to arrive at decisions after giving them serious thought. Another thing foreign businessmen have difficulty in understanding is when a Japanese means "Yes" or "No". This is because of cultural differences between Japanese and Western society, which make it difficult for a Japanese to say "No" directly.

    In the USA, it is easy to say "No" to something one does not want to do. But in Japan, it is very difficult to say "No". To refuse an invitation or a request with "No" is felt to be impolite. It is thought to be selfish and unfriendly. So instead of saying "No" directly, the Japanese have developed many ways to avoid saying "No". These can help them avoid hurting other people's feelings. However, this often makes their ways of doing business rather difficult for foreigners to understand and follow.

    In Britain, people usually begin their talks with weather. For example, they will say “It's a fine day, isn't it?” “Do you think it will rain?”

    Many people believe that they are able to tell what the weather will be like. But they never agree with each other. One man may say, “How cloudy (阴的) it is now! It's going to rain.” Another man will say, “No, it's going to be fine later.”

    People always hope the weather they want. For example, when a farmer needs water, he looks for something to tell him it's going to rain. When a man wants to travel, he is sure the weather will be fine quickly.

    Now almost everyone listens to the weather report. It doesn't always tell us the weather we want, it only tells us what the weather will be like. But sometimes it makes mistakes(错误).

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    Hundreds of years ago, no dandelions grew in North America. Then people came from Europe with dandelion seeds on their clothes. The seeds fell from their clothes onto the ground. Since then, dandelions have spread all over.

    Most people believe that dandelions are weeds. They do not want them in their gardens. But some people think that dandelion flowers are pretty. And others think that dandelions taste good. They cook dandelion leaves or put them into a fresh salad. The leaves must be picked before the flowers come out or they will not taste good. Some people make dandelion flowers into wine.

    Dandelions don't die easily. If the winter is not very cold, their leaves may stay green. When the spring arrives, their flowers come out. Each night their bright yellow flowers close up. When the sun shines the next day, they open up again. Dandelion flowers are very unusual. They don' t have to get pollen (花粉) from another dandelion flower in order to form seeds. So after several days, the yellow flower turns white and soft. A tiny brown seed forms at the bottom of each white petal (花瓣). When the wind blows, the petals float away. Each white petal carries a seed away. This lets the dandelions spread their seeds all over. New dandelions grow where the seeds land.