My name is Nick. I ’m f rom Canada. In 1998, I was on the island of Pohnpei in the Pacific Ocean . I went to teach at a school there. On my first day on the island, something unusualhappened.

It was very hot, and I was thirsty. I went into a small store. I spoke to the woman behind the counter. “Do you have any cold drinks?” I asked.

The woman looked at me, but she didn’t say anything. I thought she didn’t understand me, so I tried easier words, “Do you have Coke?”

Again, the woman was silent. She didn’t answer, so I thought that she didn’t have any Coke. I spoke louder and more slowly. “Do you have anything else?”

The woman walked over to a refrigerator . She opened the door and pointed to many different kinds of soda . She didn’t say anything, but she removed a Coke and put it on the counter. Speaking slowly and clearly, I asked, “How much does it cost?”

In perfect English, she answered, “Fifty cents.”

On Pohnpei, people say yes by raising their eyebrows a little. The woman raised her eyebrows when Nick asked questions. Nick did not see her gesture because it had no meaning for him. InCanada, raised eyebrows do not answer questions. Canadian people speak or move their heads up and down to say yes.

Later, Nick found out that all of the people on Pohnpei raise their eyebrows to say yes.

我叫尼克，是加拿大人。1998年的时候，我在位于太平洋的波纳佩岛上教书。我刚到这座岛屿的第一天就有不同寻常的事情发生了。

当时天气很热，我口渴极了。我走进一家小商店，对柜台后面的女店主说：“你这儿有什么冷饮吗？”

那个女人看了我一眼，但什么也没说。我以为她没听懂我的话，于是便试着用更简单的词问道：“你这儿有可乐吗？”

她还不出声，我就以为她这里没有可乐。我提高了嗓音，而且说得更慢一些，“你有别的什么可以喝的吗？”

女店主走到一台冰箱前，打开门，指着里面各种各样的饮料。还是什么也没说，但她却拿出一罐可乐，放在柜台上。我缓慢而清楚地说：“多少钱？”

“五十美分。”她用标准的英语回答道。

在波纳佩岛，人们轻轻地扬一下眉头，以此来表示肯定的回答。这位女店主在尼克问她问题时就是这样回答的，但尼克没有注意到她的动作，因为对他来说这样没什么含义。在加拿大，动眉头不是用来回答问题的方法，人们用言语或点头来表示肯定回答。

后来，尼克发现波纳佩岛上所有人都是用扬眉来表示“是”的。