A Did you go to the bank to withdraw money?

你去银行取钱了吗？

B Today is so hot, besides I had so much housework to do. My friend came for a visit and stayed for two hours. I didn’t forget, but I had no time at all.

今天很热，而且我有很多家务要做。我的朋友来玩，还呆了两个小时。我是没忘记，但我根本就没有时间。

A So you didn’t. Is that right?

那么你没有去。是不是？

B Yes. I’m sorry.

是啊。我很抱歉。

A Why didn’t you just answer my question directly? Why would Chinese answer questions this way? I simply asked if you did it or not. It’s a very simple question. And Chinese often give the reason before they would give a direct answer.

你为什么不就直接回答我的问题？为什么中国人会这么回答呢？我只是简单地问你有没有去。这个问题很简单。而中国人常常先说明理由再给答案。

B Yes, I’m sorry. I know it bothers you very much. But I don’t know why Chinese sometimes would do this.

是，对不起。我知道你很烦这一点。但是我不知道为什么中国人有时候会这么做。

A You know, today I asked a student if he brought his dictionary with him. It’s a rule I made for the class that everyone brings a bilingual dictionary with them because sometimes they don’t understand me. The funniest thing is that this student gave me a lot of reasons and no direct answer.

你知道吗，今天我问一个学生他有没有带字典来。因为有时候班上的人听不懂我说的，所以我跟他们定了一个规定，那就是每个人带一本英汉字典。最可笑的事是这个学生给了我很多理由，没有一个直接的答案。

B But you know if he brought it or not, right?

但是你知道他有没有带，是不是？

A Yeah, after all the explanations like, it’s too heavy, I was in a hurry…whatever.

是，在所有的解释之后，比如太重了，我出门时很急……等等。