365個英語小故事 第354期：Impolite to His Brother

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“Why were you so rude to your brother?” Gladys asked. “He drove all the way over here to deliver that package to you. But you didn’t invite him inside your apartment. You didn’t offer him anything to drink or eat. Then, when he was talking to me, you kept telling him to speak faster. He was speaking slowly because he knows my English isn’t that good—he was just being polite. Finally, when he and I sat down in the living room, you just went to your computer and started typing away.”

William tried to explain to Gladys that what she saw between him and his brother was their normal interaction. Roland was simply delivering a package; there was nothing for the two of them to chat about. Further, Roland felt that William's apartment had an odor; he usually didn’t even come inside the apartment when he visited. In addition, Roland was very picky about what he drank and ate—he wasn’t interested in eating William’s “junk food.”

Finally, William argued, he had told Roland many times not to “talk down” to Gladys. “He talks to you like you’re a two-year-old,” William said.

She said she didn’t mind; Roland was just trying to communicate. She just wished that William would be more polite to him. “When my sister visits me,” she said, “I hug her, I invite her inside, we eat and drink and talk, and we just have a good time with each other.”

Well, William told her, he and his brother were different. “No,” she corrected him, “maybe you and I are different.”