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When Captain Cook asked the chiefs in Tahiti why they always ate apart and alone, they replied, “Because it is right.”
當庫克船長問大溪地的廚師為什么他們總是分開獨自吃飯時，他們回答：“因為這符合常理。”
If we ask Americans why they eat with knives and forks, or why their men wear pants instead of skirts or why they may be married to only one person at a time, we are likely to get similar and very uninformative answers because it's right, because that's the way it's done, because it's the custom or even I don't know.
如果我們問美國人為什么他們用刀叉吃飯，為什么他們那兒的男人穿褲子而不是穿裙子，或者為什么他們一次只能跟一個人結婚，我們可能得到同樣沒有信息量的回答，因為這符合常理、因為就該這么做、因為這是風俗或者我不知道。
The reason for these and countless other patterns of social behavior is that they are controlled by social norms shared rules or guide lines which prescribe the behavior that is appropriate in a given situation.
人們做這種或無數其他這類事情的原因是他們受控于一種社會行為準則，即在一種特定的情況下，怎么做才是恰當的。
Norms define how people ought to behave under particular circumstances in a particular society.
常規限定人們在特定的社會，特定的環境中應該怎么做。
We conform to norms so readily that we are hardly aware they exist. In fact we are much more likely to notice departures from norms than conformity to them.
我們極易認同這些常規，以至于我們都沒有意識到它們的存在。事實上，相比符合常規，我們更容易注意到背離常規的事。
You will not be surprised if a stranger tried to shake hands when you were introduced, but you might be a little startled if they bowed, started to stroke you or kissed you on both cheeks.
當一個陌生人與你初次見面想跟你握手時，你不會感到吃驚，但是如果他們點頭哈腰、輕撫或親吻你的雙頰時，你可能會感到一點驚訝。
Yet each of these other forms of greeting is appropriate in other parts of the world. When we visit another society whose norms are different, we quickly become aware that things we do this way, they do that way.
在世界上的其他地方，每一種這樣的問候都是恰當的。當我們到訪一個與自己的社會常規不同的地區時，我們很快能意識到某些事情我們這么做，而他們的做法卻與我們不同。
