Americans usually consider themselves a friendly people. Their friendships, however, tend to be shorter and more casual than friendships among people from other cultures. It is not uncommon for Americans to have only one close friend during their lifetime, and consider other "friends" to be just social acquaintances. This attitude probably has something to do with American mobility and the fact that Americans do not like to be dependent on other people. They tend to "compartmentalize" (劃分) friendships, having "friends at work", "friends on the softball team", "family friends", etc..

美國人通常認為自己是友好的民族。然而他們的友誼往往比來自其他文化的人們更短暫，更隨意。生活中只有一個親密的朋友，對美國人來說這很常見，他們認為其它的“朋友”只是社會上的泛泛之交。這種看法或許跟美國人的流動性和美國人不喜歡依靠別人的實際情況有關。他們往往將朋友關系劃分為“工作朋友”、“運動朋友”、“家庭朋友”等。

　Because the United States is a highly active society, full of movement and change, people always seem to be on the go. In this highly charged atmosphere, Americans can sometimes seem brusque (無禮的) or impatient. They want to get to know you as quickly as possible and then move on to something else. Sometimes, early on, they will ask you questions that you may feel are very personal. No insult is intended; the questions usually grow out of their genuine interest or curiosity, and their impatience to get to the heart of the matter. And the same goes for you. If you do not understand certain American behavior or you want to know more about them, do not hesitate to ask them questions about themselves. Americans are usually eager to explain all about their country or anything "American" in which you may be interested. So much so in fact that you may become tired of listening. It doesn't matter because Americans tend to be uncomfortable with silence during a conversation. They would rather talk about the weather or the latest sports scores, for example, than deal with silence.

因為美國是一個高度活躍、充滿運動和變化的社會，人們看起來一直在路上。在這種高度緊張的氛圍里，美國人有時看似無禮或缺少耐心。他們想要盡快了解你，然后轉身去做別的事。在交往初期，他們有時會問你一些你感覺很私人的問題。這不是有意的冒犯；問這些問題通常是出于他們真正的興趣和好奇心或者他們沒有耐心去得到事情的實質。換成你也一樣，如果你不理解某些美國人的行為或你想知道他們更多的東西，就毫不猶豫地去問他們。美國人通常會熱心地介紹有關他們國家或者你可能感興趣的美國的任何事情。實際上他們如此地介紹這個東西可能使你聽得很累。這無所謂，因為美國人往往會對交往中的沉默感到不安。例如，他們寧愿去談天氣或者最新的賽況，也不愿去對付沉默。

　On the other hand, don't expect Americans to be knowledgeable about international geography or world affairs, unless those subjects directly involve the United States. Because the United States is not surrounded by many other nations, some Americans tend to ignore the rest of the world.

　另外，別指望美國人熟知世界地理或國際事務，除非這些事情直接涉及到美國。因為美國并不與許多國家接壤。一些美國人往往忽略了世界其他地方。