Americans pay compliments frequently, probably more frequently than people in most other cultures. T (adv. 因此 ), for people from other cultures and languages who i (v. 交流 ) with Americans, it is important to know when and how to pay compliments and how to respond to them g (adv. 优雅地 ). People from different cultures d (vi. 相异 ) in how and when they pay compliments, whom they may compliment, the meanings that compliments have, and how they respond to compliments. A person from another culture who does not understand these things may have difficulty. For example, my American friends have told me that for a French person, the frequently used English compliment, “You look nice today” is i (adj. 侮辱的 ), because it i (t. 意味 ) that the r (n. 接受者 ) of the compliment does not look nice on other days. An American paying such a compliment, intending to make a French person feel good, would cause o (n. 冒犯 ) and possibly never understand why. For Americans, compliments are used to show friendliness , to s (vt. 加强 ) a relationship, and even simply to g (v. 交流 ), or thank someone. Paying compliments is a way of being friendly and showing interest in another person.