3。1。1Chinese’s round-type time outlook 

     Chinese, a farm-based country,that insists on exchanging material with nature has been reigning in the whole economic life of all society。 Such a rural civilization regards people and nature as interrelated, and regards the world as an organic whole。 The result is the Oriental Society’s “Man and Nature” round-type time concept, which means that time is the constant motion circle, and whose change coordinates with natural state, presenting as the timeless periodic circular screw type movement。 This manifests that time changes stay the same with natural rhythm, in harmony with alternation of day and night, seasons’ reciprocation, month’s rotating, age’s changing, plant’s growth period, which are all self-movement reverting in cycles。 For example, there is no tense change in Chinese grammar。 The traditional calendar method is recorded by the title of an emperor’s reign。 It is fuzzy and difficult for those who do not thoroughly understand Chinese history to make certain the time sequence。 The reincarnation thought of Buddhism generate a profound impact to the Chinese concept of time, whose characteristic is more obvious in the Journey to the West, Ghost Story, Jing Shi Heng Yan and some other fiction stories。 论文网

3。1。2 Americans’ line-type time outlook

     The Americans’ line-type time in the west is a stark contrast to the Chinese round-type time concept。 The western culture with the Jewish Christian as the tradition usually regards time as a straight line, which is a kind of linear continuous movement in one direction。 In American view, time seems like a river which flows straight from the source to the sea。 Once gone, it can never be redeemed。 In their opinion, time is not infinite, and can be measured by a clock or calendar。 A specified moment is one point on the line, while the space between two points is a period of time。 They split the time into three sections, as the past, present and future。 Americans cherish time and budget on time。 They treat time precisely and handle affairs to every minute, or even milliseconds, such as the phrases: to the minute, in a second and so on。 With the rapid pace of life, they always have a consciousness of shortage of time。 In the western society ,time is almost a commodity, because it is real and valuable。 You can buy and sell。 You can save and waste。 You can borrow and lose。 You can manufacture and measure。 Western countries, especially America, often publish related articles in popular magazines with advice that how people can save time and use time efficiently in shopping, cooking, doing housework, etc。 "Time is money" seems to have become the their life creed。

     The American hero Benjamin Franklin said “Do you love life? If love, don’t waste your time, because life is made up of time。”

     The following savings reflect people’s time concept。

     “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today。”

     “Time and tide wait for no man。”

     “Tomorrow never comes。”

3。2 Mono-chronic time and poly-chronic time 

     Shakespeare wrote the inaudible and noiseless foot of time, which indicates the word ‘Time’ what we take it for granted but often neglected。 Although time is invisible it can control our lives all the time。 Since time is such a personal phenomenon, all of us perceive it in a manner that shows our characteristics。 Each of the culture perceives time differently; hence a culture’s attitude towards time can provide much valuable information to how people of that culture value and respond to time。 

     Hall, an American anthropologist, has pided the use of time into two terms according to his observation。 One is mono-chronic time, and the other is poly-chronic time (Edward 17)。 Those who hold the former view assumes that time is linear and can be cut, so they keep a watchful eyes on timetables and pre-arrangements。 The latter just pays attention to deal with several things meanwhile, not relying on the timetable