When I first set foot on Mexican soil, I spoke relatively good Spanish. I was by no means fluent, but I could hold a conversation. So when I asked a local ice-cream seller in downtown Guadalajara when he expected a new delivery of chocolate ice cream, and he said “aborita," which directly translates to “right now," I took him at his word, believing that its arrival was imminent. I sat near his shop and waited, my Englishness making me feel it would be rude to leave. Half an hour passed and still no ice-cream arrived, so I timidly wandered back to the shop and asked again about the chocolate ice cream.“Ahorita,” he told me again, dragging out the ‘I’ sound in “Ahorita." His face was a mix of confusion and maybe even embarrassment. I was torn. Waiting longer wasn't appealing, but I felt it was impolite to walk away, especially if the ice cream was now being delivered especially for me. But finally, after waiting so long that I'd built up an appetite for dinner, dark clouds appeared overhead and I made a rush for the nearest bus to take me home. As I left, I signaled up at the sky to the ice cream seller to let him know that I obviously couldn't wait any longer and it really wasn't my fault. His face was, once again, one of total confusion. As I sat on the bus, rain pattering on the windows, I replayed the conversation in my head and decided indignantly that the ice cream seller was a liar. This incident faded from my memory until years later when I came back to live in Mexico. I discovered that cracking what I came to call the “ahorita code" took not a fluency in the language, but rather a fluency in the culture. When someone from Mexico says “ahorita," they should almost never be taken literally; its definition changes dramatically with context. As Dr. Concepci6n Company, linguist and emeritus researcher at the Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, told me, “When a Mexican says 'ahorita,' it could mean tomorrow, in an hour, within five years or never." “Ahorita llego,” which directly translates to “I am arriving right now,” in fact means “I will be there in an indeterminate amount of time," while "ahorita regreso" (“I will be right back”) means “I will be back at some point but who knows exactly when."“Ahorita” is even used as a polite way of saying “no, thank you” when refusing an offer. Even after almost seven years in Mexico, this response can still catch me off guard when I'm hosting friends; I find myself hovering, unsure if l should get my guest what I offered them or not.
1. How did the author understand the ice-cream seller's “ahorita” in Paragraph 1?
A.He should wait outside the ice cream shop. B.He could have the ice cream at a low price. C.The ice cream would be available immediately. D.The ice cream was coming at an indefinite point of time.正确答案C
