contiluo
Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2010
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
Please help me correct the errors of the essay. Thanks!
Next, let me talk about a story of my personal experience.
Ten years ago, I took a break travel to the US with my three-year-old son. We lodged at a relative’s house. He gave me a brand-new child safety seat and said, “Demanded by the traffic laws here, a child must be seated in the child safety seat in a car. This one is for you. Please try not to smear it as much as possible because it was borrowed from somebody and I shall give it back to its owner.”
Two weeks later, I no longer needed to drive. He returned the half-new child safety seat back to the hypermarket to get his money back in full. He smugly said, “In the US, stores take goods back if customers can produce the receipt. If goods are returned within two weeks, customers will get their money back in full. So we often come here to ‘borrow’ something in this way. More than this, some mainlanders (from China) even ‘borrow’ TV sets in this way. You see? Aren’t Americans stupid? The loophole of unconditional refund is so big that it allows people to easily exploit the system. It’s unbelievable that management seems to be unaware of this loophole.”
The next year, I went to Japan on business. A Taiwanese friend working in Tokyo received me and he drove me to go around. I asked him, “Isn’t it hard to find a parking space in such a populous and crowded city as Tokyo, a metropolis?”
"Why so serious? The city government requires drivers to provide proof of private parking space before buying a vehicle. The measure would relieve congestion on streets and offer more space for pedestrians. Therefore, here in Tokyo there are not that extraordinary number of cars as you imagine," he answered.
“Wow! You have a private parking space? It must be awfully expensive, mustn’t it?” I asked.
“You are such a dork. How can you be so rigid as Japanese? Rent a parking space first, then get the car registered, and next terminate the tenancy of parking space. Wasn’t the problem solved? It was not insurmountable,” he replied.
Several days later, it turned to a Japanese friend hosting to me. The treatment was reduced to two legs and Tokyo Metro. He politely said, “Here in Tokyo, it’s much easier to keep a car than to buy a parking space. I’m sorry to have you travel by packing into the subway car.”
I imparted him a finesse crack method that my Taiwanese friend revealed to me. Unexpectedly, he didn’t have the ecstasy of enlightenment, but just indifferently said, “If I really want to exploit loopholes in the law, there will be full of loopholes. For example, my mother lives in the country. As long as I had reported to the local authorities for change of domicile to my mother’s residence, it would be fine for me to buy a car. However, I am actually living in Tokyo. If I bought a car without a parking space, how would my neighbors rate me? If I drove a car to work, how should I face my colleagues and boss? A decent, upright, honest person will never do so.”
The operating mechanism of unconditional refund in the U.S. stores and ubiquitous legal loopholes in Japan are both set up on the basis of trust. Trust is the easiest thing in the world to lose, and the hardest thing in the world to get back. When trust breaks down, society will collapse. Therefore, they can tolerate politicians doing something wrong, but they can’t forgive politicians for telling lies.
Next, let me talk about a story of my personal experience.
Ten years ago, I took a break travel to the US with my three-year-old son. We lodged at a relative’s house. He gave me a brand-new child safety seat and said, “Demanded by the traffic laws here, a child must be seated in the child safety seat in a car. This one is for you. Please try not to smear it as much as possible because it was borrowed from somebody and I shall give it back to its owner.”
Two weeks later, I no longer needed to drive. He returned the half-new child safety seat back to the hypermarket to get his money back in full. He smugly said, “In the US, stores take goods back if customers can produce the receipt. If goods are returned within two weeks, customers will get their money back in full. So we often come here to ‘borrow’ something in this way. More than this, some mainlanders (from China) even ‘borrow’ TV sets in this way. You see? Aren’t Americans stupid? The loophole of unconditional refund is so big that it allows people to easily exploit the system. It’s unbelievable that management seems to be unaware of this loophole.”
The next year, I went to Japan on business. A Taiwanese friend working in Tokyo received me and he drove me to go around. I asked him, “Isn’t it hard to find a parking space in such a populous and crowded city as Tokyo, a metropolis?”
"Why so serious? The city government requires drivers to provide proof of private parking space before buying a vehicle. The measure would relieve congestion on streets and offer more space for pedestrians. Therefore, here in Tokyo there are not that extraordinary number of cars as you imagine," he answered.
“Wow! You have a private parking space? It must be awfully expensive, mustn’t it?” I asked.
“You are such a dork. How can you be so rigid as Japanese? Rent a parking space first, then get the car registered, and next terminate the tenancy of parking space. Wasn’t the problem solved? It was not insurmountable,” he replied.
Several days later, it turned to a Japanese friend hosting to me. The treatment was reduced to two legs and Tokyo Metro. He politely said, “Here in Tokyo, it’s much easier to keep a car than to buy a parking space. I’m sorry to have you travel by packing into the subway car.”
I imparted him a finesse crack method that my Taiwanese friend revealed to me. Unexpectedly, he didn’t have the ecstasy of enlightenment, but just indifferently said, “If I really want to exploit loopholes in the law, there will be full of loopholes. For example, my mother lives in the country. As long as I had reported to the local authorities for change of domicile to my mother’s residence, it would be fine for me to buy a car. However, I am actually living in Tokyo. If I bought a car without a parking space, how would my neighbors rate me? If I drove a car to work, how should I face my colleagues and boss? A decent, upright, honest person will never do so.”
The operating mechanism of unconditional refund in the U.S. stores and ubiquitous legal loopholes in Japan are both set up on the basis of trust. Trust is the easiest thing in the world to lose, and the hardest thing in the world to get back. When trust breaks down, society will collapse. Therefore, they can tolerate politicians doing something wrong, but they can’t forgive politicians for telling lies.
