My name is Ed. I manage a college bookstore. Once a year, students can bring their oldtextbooks to the bookstore. We buy the used books from the students. Later, we sell them again for a very low price.

This year I asked my student aide, Jim, to help me. Jim sat at a table and took the students’ books. The students had to sign their names on a form. Then they took the form to the cashier. The cashier gave them money.

Most of the students signed the forms and got their money. But some students just stood at the table. They looked upset. They didn’t sign the forms. Jim was puzzled. He asked me what was wrong

Jim put some pens on the table for the students to use. They were red pens. Some of the students were KoreanBuddhists. These students were upset. In their culture, they write a person’s name in red when the person dies. These students did not want to sign their names in red. Signing their names in red was like asking for death.

Ed explained the students’ problem to Jim. Immediately, Jim removed the red pens. He put blue pens on the table. The students were relieved. They signed their names in blue and got their money.

我的名字叫埃德，是一家大学书店的经理。学生们每年有一次机会可以把他们的旧书拿到店里来，我们把这些用过的书买下，然后再以较低的价格卖出去。

今年我让我的学生助理吉姆来帮忙。吉姆坐在一张桌子后面收取学生拿来的书，他们要在一张表格上签上自己的名字，再拿着表格去收款员那里，由收款员把钱付给他们。

大多数学生都签完名字，然后去领钱，但也有一些学生只是站在桌子前面。他们看上去有些不高兴，没有人签名。吉姆很迷惑不解，他问我这是为什么。

吉姆在桌子上放了几支笔让学生们用，而这些笔是红色的。有些学生是来自韩国的佛教徒，正是这些人感到不高兴。因为在他们的文化中，只有当一个人死后人们才会用红色来写他的名字。这些学生不愿意用红笔来写自己的名字，那样做就像是在寻死一样。

 埃德把学生们的问题对吉姆做了解释。吉姆立即把红笔撤掉，换成蓝色的。那些学生如释重负。他们用蓝笔签好名字并拿到了钱。