原文
To better understand how people express gratitude in normal life, anthropologist (人类学家) Simcon Floyd, at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (心理语言学) in Netherlands and his colleagues organised a large, cross-cultural study covering five continents and eight languages.
That 1 (include) English, Italian, Polish, Russian and Lao, as well as unwritten languages such as Cha’palaa, spoken in Ecuador, Murrinh-Patha, used in northern Australia, and Siwu, spoken in Ghana.
Both verbal and non-verbal expressions of gratitude, such as a smile or a nod, 2 (regard) as interactions.
Floyd’s team left cameras in household and community settings and captured more than 1,500 instances of social interactions 3 one person asked for something and another responded.
They found that in every culture, people fulfilled requests, but expressions of gratitude, such as saying “thanks” or nodding in appreciation, were remarkably rare, 4 (occur) just 5.5 percent of the time.
English and Italian speakers had slightly 5 (high) rates of gratitude expression — 14.5 percent and 13.5 percent of the time respectively.
However, that’s still surprisingly low considering 6 polite Western people think they are, says Floyd.
“English speakers are not so different from other people, and often prefer not to express gratitude in informal contexts,” he says.
Cha’palaa speakers had the lowest frequency of expressed gratitude, 7 zero examples in 96 recorded interactions.
But this starts to make sense 8 you learn that the language has no easy way to say “thank you”.
Also surprised by the findings was David Peterson, linguist (语言学家) who developed the 9 (construct) language Dothraki for the TV show Game of Thrones.
It too, has no word for thank you, something Peterson initially considered unlikely. “I thought that you had to have a word 10 (express) gratitude,” he says.
解析
1 that指代study，作主语，需要谓语动词，描述过去的研究，用一般过去时，故填 included
2 expressions被看作是互动，描述的是已发生的事，用一般过去时，且主语是复数，be动词应用were。故填were regarded
3 interactions（抽象地点），从句主谓宾完整，故填 where
4 现在分词作状语，表示自然而然的结果，故填occurring
5 据句意和后面"14.5 percent and 13.5 percent"可知是比较高，故填higher
6 此处是一个宾语从句，从句是主系表结构，修饰形容词polite，应用连接how引导宾语从句，表示“西方人认为自己多么有礼貌”。故填how
7 表示伴随状态，故填 with
8 空处前后为两个句子，所以空处应填连词，结合前后内容可知，此处表达“一旦”之意，应用once引导条件状语从句。故填once
9 非谓语动词作定语，修饰language，且language和construct之间是被动关系，所以用过去分词作定语。故填constructed
10 本句已有谓语，所以express用非谓语形式，此处表word的功能，用不定式作定语，表示“一个用来表达感激之情的词”。故填to express
逐句翻译
1 To better understand how people express gratitude in normal life, anthropologist (人类学家) Simcon Floyd, at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (心理语言学) in Netherlands and his colleagues organised a large, cross-cultural study covering five continents and eight languages.
为了更好地了解人们在日常生活中如何表达感谢，荷兰马克斯·普朗克心理语言学研究所的人类学家Simcon Floyd和他的同事组织了一项涵盖五大洲八种语言的大型跨文化研究。
2 That (included) English, Italian, Polish, Russian and Lao, as well as unwritten languages such as Cha’palaa, spoken in Ecuador, Murrinh-Patha, used in northern Australia, and Siwu, spoken in Ghana.
这包括英语、意大利语、波兰语、俄语和老挝语，以及未书写的语言，如在厄瓜多尔使用的Cha'palaa语、在澳大利亚北部使用的Murrinh-Patha语和在加纳使用的Siwu语。
3 Both verbal and non-verbal expressions of gratitude, such as a smile or a nod, (were regarded) as interactions.
口头和非口头的感谢表达，如微笑或点头，被看作是互动。
4 Floyd's team left cameras in household and community settings and captured more than 1,500 instances of social interactions (where) one person asked for something and another responded.
Floyd的团队在家庭和社区环境中放置摄像机，捕捉了超过1500个社交互动实例，在这些互动中一个人请求某物，另一个人回应。
5 They found that in every culture, people fulfilled requests, but expressions of gratitude, such as saying "thanks" or nodding in appreciation, were remarkably rare, (occurring) just 5.5 percent of the time.
他们发现，在每种文化中，人们都会满足请求，但感谢表达，如说"谢谢"或点头表示感谢，却出奇地罕见，发生率仅为5.5%。
6 English and Italian speakers had slightly (higher) rates of gratitude expression — 14.5 percent and 13.5 percent of the time respectively.
英语和意大利语使用者的更高感谢表达率分别为14.5%和13.5%。
7 However, that's still surprisingly low considering (how) polite Western people think they are, says Floyd.
然而，Floyd说，考虑到西方人认为自己多么有礼貌，这仍然令人惊讶地低。
8 "English speakers are not so different from other people, and often prefer not to express gratitude in informal contexts," he says.
"英语使用者与其他人群并没有太大不同，通常在非正式场合中更喜欢不表达感谢，"他说。
9 Cha'palaa speakers had the lowest frequency of expressed gratitude, (with) zero examples in 96 recorded interactions.
Cha'palaa语使用者的感谢表达频率最低，在96次记录互动中零例。
10 But this starts to make sense (once) you learn that the language has no easy way to say "thank you".
但一旦你了解到这种语言没有简单的"谢谢"表达方式，这就有意义了。
11 Also surprised by the findings was David Peterson, linguist (语言学家) who developed the (constructed) language Dothraki for the TV show Game of Thrones.
语言学家David Peterson也对这些发现感到惊讶，他为电视剧《权力的游戏》开发了构建的语言Dothraki。
12 It too, has no word for thank you, something Peterson initially considered unlikely. "I thought that you had to have a word (to express) gratitude," he says.
它也没有"谢谢"一词，Peterson最初认为这不太可能。"我以为你必须有一个词来表达感谢，"他说。
