Unit 6 A Glimpse of English Culture
Broadly speaking, the Englishman is a quiet, shy, reserved person who is fully relaxed only among people he knows well. When he encounters strangers or foreigners he often seems uneasy, even embarrassed. You have only to witness a commuter train any morning or evening to see the truth of this. Serious-looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or dozing in a corner; no one speaks. In fact, to do so would seem most unusual. An Englishman, pretending to be giving advice to overseas visitors, once suggested, “On entering a railway carriage shake hands with all the passengers.” Needless to say, he was not being serious. There is an unwritten but clearly understood code of behaviour which, if broken, makes the person immediately suspect.
In many parts of the world it is quite normal to know openly extremes of enthusiasm, emotion, excitement, etc. The Englishman is somewhat different. Of course, an Englishman feels no less deeply than any other nationality, but he tends to display his feelings far less. This is reflected in his use of language. Imagine a man commenting on the great beauty of a young girl. Whereas a ore emotional man might describe her as “an excellent jewel”, “extremely beautiful”, “precious”, the Englishman will flatly state “Um, she is all right”. An Englishman who has seen a highly successful and enjoyable film recommends it to a friend by commenting, “It?s not bad, you know”, or on seeing very unusual scenery he might convey his pleasure by saying, “Nice, yes, very nice.” The overseas visitor must not be disappointed by this apparent lack of interest and involvement; he must realise that “all right”, “not bad”, and “nice”, very often have the sense of “first-class”, “excellent”, “beautiful”. This special use of language, particularly common in England, is known as “restrained statement”.
To other Europeans, the best-known quality of the British, and in particular of the English, is “reserve”. A reserved person is one who does not talk very mu ch to strangers, does not show much emotion, and seldom gets excited. It is difficult to get to know a reserved person: he never tells you anything about himself, and you may work with him for years without ever knowing where he lives, how many children he has, and what his interests are. English people tend to be like that. If they are making a journey by bus, they will do their best to find an empty seat; if by train, an empty compartment. If they have to share the compartment with a stranger, they may travel many miles without starting a conversation. If a conversation does start, personal questions like “How old are you?” or even “What is your name?” are not easily asked, and it is quite possible for two people to know each other casually for years witho ut ever knowing each other?s name. Questions like “Where did you buy your watch?” or “What is your salary?” are almost impossible. Similarly, conversation in Britain is in general much more quiet and restrained than, say, in Africa, and loud speech is considered ill-bred. (from A Background to English by P. S. Tregidgo, 1971)
This reluctance to communicate with others is an unfortunate quality in some ways, since it tends to give the impression of coldness, and it is true that the English (except perhaps in the North) are not noted for their generosity and hospitality. On the other hand, they are perfectly human behind their barrier of reserve, and may be quite pleased when a friendly stranger or foreigner succeeds for a time in breaking the barrier down. We may also mention at this point that the people of the North and West, especially the Welsh, are much less reserved than those of the South and East. (Ibid.)
Closely related to English reserve is English modesty. Within their hearts, the English
value at least a show of modesty. Self-praise is felt to be ill-bred. If a person is, let us say, very good at tennis, and someone asks him if he is a good player, he will seldom reply “yes”, because people will think him conceited. He will probably give an answer like, “I?m not bad”, or “I think I?m quite good”, or “Well, I?m very keen on tennis” (i.e., I?m very fond of it), or “Well, I managed to reach the finals in last year?s local championships.” Even a definite achievement like the last-mentioned will often be stated in such a manner as to suggest that it was only due to an incomprehensible piece of good luck. This self-deprecation is typically English, and mixed with their reserve, it often produces a sort of general air of indifference which appears to foreigners as a pose, difficult to understand and even irritating. (Ibid.)
The famous English sense of humour is similar. Its starting point is self-deprecation, and its great enemy is conceit. Its ideal is the ability to laugh at oneself—at one?s own faults, one?s own failures and embarrassments, even at one?s own ideals. Here perhaps we are departing somewhat from the world of everyday people and straying into realms of literature and philosophy, but the quality is observable in individuals, and the criticism, “He has no sense of humour” is very commonly heard in Britain, where humour is so highly prized. Prince Philip, during a visit to Ghana in 1959, both praised it and illustrated it when he talked of “God?s greatest gift to mankind—a sense of humour”. It is an attitude to life rather than the mere ability to laugh at jokes. This attitude is never cruel or disrespectful or malicious. The English do not laugh at a cripple or a madman, a tragedy or an honourable failure. Sympathy or admiration for artistic skill are felt to be stronger than laughter. (Ibid.)
Since reserve, a sense of modesty, and a sense of humour are part of his own nature, the typical Englishman tends to expect them in others. He secretly looks down on more excitable nations, and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they. He distrusts exaggerated promises and shows of affection, especially if they are expressed in flowery language. He is even more distrustful of any kind of self-praise. This applies not only to what other people may tell him about themselves orally, but to the letters they may write to him. To those who are fond of these kinds of exaggeration, therefore, the Englishman may appear disconcertingly cold and skeptical, and they may be bewildered when his sense of humour is aroused by airs of dignity and importance. (Ibid.)
Finally, sportsmanship. Like a sense of humour, this is an English ideal which not all Englishmen live up to. It must be realized that sport in its modern form is almost entirely a British invention. Boxing, rugby, association football, hockey, tennis and cricket were all first organized and given rules in Britain. Rules are the essence of sport, and sportsmanship is the ability to practise a sport in obedience to its rules, while also showing generosity to one?s opponent and good temper in defeat. The high pressure of modern international sport makes these ideals difficult to maintain, but they are at least highly valued in Britain, and are certainly achieved there more commonly than among more hot-blooded races. Moreover, sportsmanship as an ideal is applied to life in general. This is proved by the number of sporting terms used in ordinary speech. To take boxing alone, a well-aimed and vigorous criticism is said to be “straight from the shoulder”, while an unfair one is “below the belt”. One of the most elementary rules of life is “never hit a man when he?s down”—in other words, never take advantage of another?s misfortune. English schoolboys often show this sense of sportsmanship to a surprisingly high degree in their relations with each other. And of course everybody talks of “fair play” and “playing the game”, or “playing fair”. (Ibid.)
greetings, for instance: a simple …good morning? or a cheery wave of the hand across the street is quite satisfactory. Handshakes are only exchanged on a first introduction, or on special occasions, or as a token of agreement or congratulation. All politeness is based on the elementary rule of showing consideration for others, and fitly acknowledged the consideration they show to you. …Excuse me? is used as an advance apology for troubling somebody, as when passing in front of him or interrupting his conversation, or when putting a question to a stranger. …Sorry? expresses regret for an accidental disturbance or breach of manners. It also takes the place of …no? when you cannot accede to a request or an implied request like …May I borrow your pen?? or …Do you know the time?? or …Have you any size seven shoes?? …Pardon?? is the polite way of asking somebody to repeat what he has said. In Britain, except at school, …please? is no longer used in asking permission to speak, and the phrase …No, please?, so common abroad, would sound most unusual in Britain itself. …Yes, please? is the commonest use of the word, and is the opposite of …No, thank you? when replying to an offer. A bare yes or no sounds very rude in this case. Similarly, a polite request does not begin with …I want? or …I think?, but with a phrase like …Will (or would, can, could) you please…?? or …Would you mind…?? When the request is granted, and at any time when you are receiving something, however obviously you are entitled to it, you are always expected to say …Thank you?. (Ibid.) British people do not readily ask each other to do anything which would involve real inconvenience: they prefer to wait for such service to be offered, rather than ask for it. If they do ask, then the request is accompanied by an implied apology like, …I don?t really like asking you, but…? or, …I know the trouble I?m causing you, but would you mind…??and so on. Similarly it is often polite to refuse an offer of service by means of such a reply as, …Oh! p lease don?t bother?, followed by an explanation of why you can do without it. In fact, without being conscious of it, British people sometimes make offers purely out of politeness, not really expecting them to be accepted, and offers of this kind are automatically refused with corresponding politeness. (Ibid.)
If you are invited into a person?s home, there are other questions to consider. For instance, what time should you arrive? If it is a social occasion, not a business one, it is not polite to arrive early. Your hostess will be preparing for you, and will be most embarrassed if you arrive before she is quite ready. Ten minutes late is excellent. Half an hour late is excessive, and requires apologies. Then too, the British are rather particular about table manners. The main thing is to sit up straight, copy everyone else, gaily asking what to do if you are not sure, and keep the conversation going. What time should you leave? There are no rules, but it is most impolite to stay too late, as it implies a lack of consideration for your hosts. If it is simply an invitation to an evening meal and conversation, you will probably take your leave between ten and eleven o?clock. If you have been asked to stay for several days, you will conform as far as possible to the routine of the house, and your hostess will be very pleased if you give her a bunch of flowers, specially purchased, before you leave. If the invitation has been made purely to give you pleasure, a gift of money would be refused with some embarrassment. (Ibid.) Gifts are not the same as …tips?. The tipping system is an evil in most European countries, and consists of a small extra payment made to certain employees. In Britain it is confined chiefly to waiters and taxi-drivers, to whom you give an extra tenth or eighth of the price of the meal or fare. Hotel servants and railway porters, too, expects a small tip if they are of service to you. Apart from these special cases, gifts of money are given only cautiously. This is because the offer of money makes an act of kindness seem like a mean desire for gain. If a kindly act has actually involved expense, it is only right to offer
gratitude, not with money. Thus, you do not offer money to a driver who gives you a lift, or to someone who stops to help you to mend a puncture or to give you first aid, though if you felt sufficiently grateful you might buy the person some cigarettes of a drink or some other small gift. As for a more important act like finding somebody a job or saving him from drowning—to expect money for doing something like that is almost unthinkable. (Ibid.)
Politeness towards women is less observed today than it used to be. It is still considered polite to give up one?s seat to a woman who is standing, to open doors for her, help her alight from the bus, carry things for her, to protect her from the traffic, and so on, and the maxim …Ladies first? is well known; but now that women are the equals of men in having the vote, taking paid employment and receiving higher education, they receive much less consideration than formerly, for the whole basis of politeness towards women is the feeling that they need protection. (Ibid.)
The same principle applies to old people. If they are respected in Britain, it is because they are felt to be in need of protection and support. Old age and seniority alone do not command authority among the British: in fact modern life has been developing so fast that old people often appear tiresome and out of date. Thus, …We need some young blood? is often heard in organisations where the energy and modern methods of younger men are felt to be more likely to succeed than the long but partly irrelevant experience of older ones. The wisest of the older generation realise this. They either make an effort to remain young in heart and keep pace with the times, or else they let younger men take their place. (Ibid.)
It follows that mature Europeans have no desire to grow old or to look older than they are. Women especially, for reasons of sexual attraction, long to …stay young?, and there is no greater compliment to a mature woman than to be told …How young you look!? On the other hand, if a woman?s h airstyle, make-up and clothes reveal an obvious effort to look artificially young, she is said to …look common?, and is regarded with disapproval. (Ibid.)
15. The Potential of Misunderstanding
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The potential for misunderstanding increases with people who speak English as a second language. The English that they learn in the classroom as children is not the same colloquial language that native speakers use. International English has a simple vocabulary and a standard pronunciation. Native English speakers have a variety of accents, colloquialisms, and slang that foreigners find as difficult to understand as a Cockney does Glaswegian. At international meetings and conferences in English it is most often the native English speakers who are criticized for being unintelligible.
It is not an exaggeration that native English speakers should make a conscious effort to learn international English, perhaps by listening hard to their foreign colleagues. A first step is deliberately to try to avoid slang, jargon, and figures of speech like “what?s the bottom line” and “it?s well above board.” Phrases like “I wonder if you wouldn?t mind…” and “it?s not worth…” can be mystifying. The result may be a bland Eurospeak, but at least everyone will understand it. (902from Mind Your Manners by John Mole, 2003 p.14)
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Changes in Britain Since 1945
The picture of Britain as a declining world power is common. In 1950 Britain?s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita ranked the seventh highest in the world. By 1970 its position had slumped to eighteenth, by 1981 to twenty-first. Yet it would be misleading to think that this meant that the British people were getting poorer in absolute terms. In fact the years since 1945 have seen a great improvement in the material standard of living for the majority of the population. The number of people who define themselves as middle-class has significantly increased over the period 1972-1985.
Women are now increasing their numbers in higher education, the professions and white-collar jobs, but they still have great difficulty progressing to the senior ranks. They also continue to face problems in being selected as parliamentary candidates, or winning seats in the House of Commons, despite forming a 52% majority in the country.
Some things, like divorce or abortion, have become easier now, if still controversial. Others, like racial discrimination, polluting the environment and drunken driving, have become less acceptable. Whether there have been any fundamental changes in the extent to which British people are equal, free, tolerant or caring is still a matter of much debated. (258 words, from Contemporary British Culture and Society, edited by Xiao Huiyun)
Unit 7 American Culture and Values (1)
美国的文化和价值观
1. American Culture Is a Rich Mix
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It is more difficult to describe American culture than German or French because the United States is not just another country; it spans a continent, and has a population of over 250,000,000 people whose ancestors came from virtually every country in the world. American culture is a rich mix of Anglo-Saxon, French, German, Scandinavian, Spanish, Italian, Latin American, Native American, African, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Arab influences, just to name a few. In its early days the country was strongly influenced by the British and other people from northern Europe; its laws are based on British common law and American English has absorbed many northern European words. (111from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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Despite its ethnic diversity, the U.S. has managed to absorb bits and pieces of many cultures and weave them into a unique culture that is strikingly consistent and distinct. You can pick out Americans any place in the world, often very quickly, because of their behavior. Among their most observable traits are openness, friendliness, informality, optimism, creativity, loudness, and vitality. In common with others, Americans tend to be ethnocentric, in part because of the great size and economic power of the United States. Unlike the Germans and the French, Americans do not have close foreign neighbors with whom they interact constantly. The country shares borders with Canada and Mexico, but relatively few Americans have dealings with or know much about either country. While the United States has absorbed millions of people from countries around the globe, the core culture of the United States has its roots in northern European or Anglo-Saxon culture. (152from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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3. A Sense of Expansiveness
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The size and scale of the United States and the feeling of open spaces are overpowering to visitors who are accustomed to the smaller scale of Europe. There is an expansiveness to the American character that is undoubtedly related to the geographical size of the country and to the lively frontier spirit that runs through American history. Many Europeans comment on how large American apartments and homes are. The separate bedrooms Americans provide for each of their children and the other special rooms set aside for adult use often surprise Europeans and attest to the values Americans place on individuality and personal privacy. Americans are proud of the amount and kind of living space they have and will show visitors around the entire house, something unheard of in France and Germany. (131from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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4. Most Americans Are Monochronic
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The majority of Americans are monochronic, especially in business. This means that for them time is scheduled and compartmentalized so that people can concentrate on one thing at a time. Schedules are sacred and time commitments are taken very seriously. There are polychronic Americans, usually from families with origins in Latin America, the Mediterranean countries, or the Middle East. They handle time differently and neither prompt nor necessarily scrupulous in observing deadlines. There are also regional variations in the handling of time. In the Northwest, South, and Southwest, for instance, the rules governing punctuality are more relaxed. In their business and professional lives, however, most Americans adhere to the monochronic norms of Anglo-Saxon culture. Promptness is sacred, especially where business appointments are concerned. Being five minutes late calls for a brief apology; ten or fifteen minutes
needs a more elaborate apology, or, if possible, a telephone call warning of the delay. (151from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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5. Americans Avoid Close Physical Contact
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Like Germans, Americans avoid close physical contact and keep their distance when conversing, automatically adjusting their chairs to a comfortable range. French conversational distance is closer than either the German or the American, which causes discomfort to the latter two. During conversation Americans maintain eye contact while listening but shift their eyes away and back when they speak; this level of contact is much less intense than that of the French. Americans gesture only moderately with their hands and arms, but their faces tend to be quite animated. Americans smile a lot in greetings and during formal introductions; except in large cities, they occasionally even smile at strangers they pass in the street. A strong handshake is the norm among American men and is associated with masculinity. Although some American business executives have an “open door” policy to encourage the idea of accessibility, they do prefer private offices to working together in large open spaces, which they find distracting. Remember that monochronic, low-context Americans are vulnerable to interruptions. (168from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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6. High Mobility and Surface Friendship
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Americans are highly mobile. Statistics indicate that the average American family moves every four to five years; many American business firms transfer employees every two years. This frequency of moving means that Americans are forced to meet and interact with strangers and learn to make new friends easily. It also helps explain why many Americans form superficial relationships more often than deeper and more lasting ones. Sometimes the surface friendliness of Americans creates expectations among non-Americans that close friendships will develop, but more often than not, these expectations are disappointed. In the suburbs and in small towns, being a good neighbor means maintaining your property; lending tools, supplies and assistance; visiting across the fence; working together on projects; and sometimes trading invitations for coffee or dinner. Newcomers are generally welcomed with gifts of food, offers of assistance, and invitations to meet other neighbors. (143from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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7. American Executives Are Workaholic
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Many Americans are still motivated by a strong work ethic which the early settlers from northern Europe brought with them when they came to the American continent. Europeans often observe that Americans schedule everything except time for relaxation. This is particularly true of American executives, who drive themselves hard, often at the expense of their families and their health. Americans have fewer holidays and take shorter vacations than do Europeans. Senior American executives often work fifty-six hours a week and take only fourteen days of vacation per year. In the opinion of many German and French executives, American executives are obsessed with work; “they?re workaholics” was a comment we heard often. Like most Europeans who do not accept working on weekends or holidays, the Germans and the French reserve these times for themselves and their families. (136from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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8. Bragging and Boastfulness
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Bragging and boastfulness are common among Americans, and there?s a lot of informal jockeying for position in American groups. They tend to exaggerate, much to the distress of the Germans, and they enjoy writers wh o tell “tall tales.” In manner, Americans are not as serious as Germans and often use humor to diffuse tensions on the job and in social situations. Jokes are relished and a good sense of humor is much admired. Most Americans keep their social conversations light, rather than engaging in serious, intellectual or philosophical discussions, a trait which especially bothers Europeans. Generally, Americans have little interest in discussing philosophy—either traditional philosophy or political philosophy. They consider philosophy too theoretical or abstract. (116from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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9. Attitudes toward Politics and Power
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Many Americans have little actual faith in political ideologies beyond the basic tenets of democracy. Nevertheless, they are patriotic, proud of their country, and believe strongly in democracy. Too much power and authority is considered unwise or even dangerous by Americans. Politicians who appear to seek power for its own sake are even more suspect than those seeking office for economic gain. As a result, politicians are especially adept at presenting an image of a “good old boy”—a submissive posture that diffuses the voter?s hostility toward anyone with power an d influence. For the same reason, Americans like to poke fun at symbols of power, and they tell jokes about their political leaders incessantly. (114from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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10. A Distrust of Authority
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Government is viewed as a necessary evil and is generally disliked and disparaged. Most Americans think their government is too large and that control over people is immoral; they like to quote Lord Acton: “All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This distrust of authority leads to a certain ambivalence since Americans also admire decisive leaders. Given their attitude toward government, it is not surprising that many Americans take a dim view of politics and politicians. In fact, many Americans want nothing to do with political life, the result being a kind of apathy on the part of the American electorate. In a 1984 article, columnist Flora Lewis pointed out that in West Germany?s last election, 89.1 percent of voters cast ballots; in France, 85.8 percent; in Britain, 72.7 percent; in Spain, 79.6 percent; in Italy, 89 percent. In the American presidential election of 1984, however, only 52.9 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots; and in 1988, only 50.16 percent voted. (163from Understanding Cultural Differences by Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1990)
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Unit 8 American Culture and Values (2)
美国的文化和价值观
1. The “Greatest” Country in the World?
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Americans generally believe that theirs is a superior country, probably the “greatest” country in the world. It is economically and militarily powerful; its influence extends to all parts of the globe. Americans generally believe their “democratic” political system is the best possible one, since it gives all citizens the right and opportunity to try to influence government policy, and since it protects citizens from arbitrary government actions. They also believe the system is superior because it gives them the freedom to complain about anything they consider wrong with it. Americans generally believe their country?s “free enterprise” economic system h as enabled them to enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the history of the world. (116from American Ways: a guide for foreigners in the United States by Gary Althen, 1988)
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2. Heroes in the Eyes of Americans
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Americans see as he roes those individuals who “stand out from the crowd” by doing something first, longest, most often, and otherwise “best.” Examples are aviators Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart. Americans admire people who have overcome adverse circumstances (for examp le, poverty or a physical handicap) and “succeeded” in
le cturer Helen Keller is another…Certain phrases one commonly hears among Americans capture their devotion to ind ividualism: “Do your own thing.” “I did it my way.” “You?ll have to decide that for yourself.” “You made your bed, now lie in it.” “If you don?t look out for yourself, no one else will.” “Look out for number one.” (119from American Ways: a guide for foreigners in the United States by Gary Althen, 1988)
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3. Parent-Child Relationship in America
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Many Americans do not display the degree of respect for their parents that people in more traditional or family-oriented societies commonly display. They have the conception that it was a sort of historical or biological accident that put them in the hands of particular parents, that the parents fulfilled their responsibilities to the children while the children were young, and now that the children have reached “the age of independence” the close chil d-parent tie is loosened, if not broken. It is not unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of about 22 and who are still living with their parents to pay their parents for room and board. Elderly parents living with their grown children may do likewise. Paying for room and board is a way of showing independence, self-reliance, and responsibility for oneself. (135from American Ways: a guide for foreigners in the United States by Gary Althen, 1988)
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4. The “American Dream”
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In the United States there is a belief that people are rewarded for working, producing, and achieving. Many people believe that there is equality of opportunity that allows anyone to become successful. This belief is illustrated by stories written by a nineteenth-centur y American novelist, Horatio Alger, who wrote about the “American Dream.” In his stories he described poor people who became rich because of their hard work, honesty, and luck. The stories reinforced the idea that all individuals, no matter how poor, were capable of becoming wealthy as long as they were diligent and virtuous. For many Americans, however, Horatio Alger?s “rags-to-riches” stories do not represent the reality of opportunity. Many poor immigrants who came to the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were able to rise on the social and economic scales. Today, however, the poor generally do not rise to the middle and upper classes. The “American Dream” is now described as a myth; it is still difficult for several million American s to “get ahead.” (169from Beyond Language by Deena R. Levine and Mara B. Adelman, 1982 p.132)
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5. Freedom as Seen by Americans
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Individual freedom is probably the most basic of all the American values. Scholars and outside observers often call this value “individualism”, but many Americans use the word freedom.Perhaps the word is one of the most respected popular words in the United States today. By freedom, Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority. The desire to be free of controls was a basic value of the new nation in 1776, and it has continued to attract immigrants to this country. (105from American Ways: an introduction to American culture by Maryanne K. Datesman et al, 2005)
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6. What Do Americans Mean by “Equality”?
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It is important to understand what most Americans mean when they say they believe in equality of opportunity. They do not mean that every one is—or should be—equal. However, they do mean that each individual should have an equal chance for success. Americans see much of life as a race for success. For them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity may be thought of as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into a wealth y family, or lose because of race or religion. This American concept of “fair play” is an important aspect of the belief in equality of opportunity. (139from American Ways: an introduction to American culture by Maryanne K. Datesman et al, 2005)
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7. America’s Reliance on Foreign Sources
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People think of the United States as a rich and plentiful nation. It is, but it is not self-sufficient. Its reliance on foreign sources is made clear every day in the year. Topping the list is oil. Most oil is imported from the Middle Eastern countries of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Or take sugar: cane sugar ranks high in value among imported foodstuffs. Or consider coffee. Coffee drinking could not be an American habit if imports from Venezuela and Brazil were cut off. Morning readers would not have their newspapers without printing ink. Much of that comes from Canada. The chief source of raw silk is Japan. Japan is another major china-producer in the world. A wristwatch may or may not be a Swiss watch, but the inner movements are probably imported. Ninety percent of them are. (137from From Sentence to Paragraph by Robert G. Bander, 1980 p.156)
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8. What Are Americans?
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Americans have a warmth and friendliness which is less superficial than many foreigners think. They are considered sentimental. When on ceremonial occasions they see a flag, or attend parades celebrating America?s glorious past, tears may come to their eyes. Reunions with family or friends tend to be emotional too. They like to dress c orrectly, even if “correctly” means flamboyantly. They love to boast, though often with tongue in cheek. They can laugh at themselves and their country, and they can be very self-critical, while remaining always intensely patriotic. They have a wide knowledge of everyday things, and a keen interest in their particular city and State. Foreigners sometimes complain, however, that they have little interest in or knowledge of the outside world. (122from Background to the USA by Richard Musman, 1982)
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9. Wealth and Poverty in America
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Is the sole aim of most Americans to make money and possess luxuries which could be called excessive? The majority of Americans would certainly deny this, though most feel proud to amass wealth and possessions through hard work. In the USA, about 90% of the population is well enough off to expect a brighter future. The USA still has one of the highest standards of living in the world, although, at the present time, 10% are below what the Government considers to be the “poverty level.” While these underpriviledged people receive help from the Government, they have no high hopes for their future. It is from this “underclass,” and those who take advantage of it, that most of the violence springs—the violence which is one of the least pleasant aspects of American society. (134from Background to the USA by Richard Musman, 1982)
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10. Americans Are Restless People
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An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on; he will plant a garden and rent it just as the trees are coming into bearing; he will clear a field and leave others to reap the harvest; he will take up a profession and leave it, settle in one place and soon go off elsewhere with his changing desires. If his private business allows him a moment?s relaxation, he will plunge at once into the whirlpool of politics. Then, if at the end of a year crammed with work he has a little spare leisure, his restless curiosity goes with him traveling up and down the vast territories of the United States. Thus he will travel five hundred miles in a few days as a distraction from his happiness. (141from Democracy of America by Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835)
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The United States continues to welcome a large number of immigrants each year and has been referred to as a melting-pot society. Melting-pot means a sociocultural assimilation of people of differing backgrounds and nationalities; the term implies losing ethnic differences and forming one large society or macroculture. While the idea of everyone?s being the same may sound ideal, the problem with this concept is that many U.S. citizens wish to maintain their ethnic-cultural heritage. Rather than being one melting-pot society, therefore, the reality of the United States is that many U.S. cities are made up of neighborhoods of people with a common heritage who strive to retain their original culture and language. If you travel to San Francisco, a visit to Chinatown with its signs in Chinese and people speaking Chinese will verify this reality. Many street signs in other U.S. cities such as New York, Miami, or Honolulu, are in another language in addition to English. The result has not been the melding of various cultures into one cultural group as idealists believed would happen. Because we have cultures within cultures (microcultures), communication problems often result. In reality the United States is a salad bowl of cultures. While some choose assimilation, others choose separation. (205from Intercultural Business Communication by Lillian H. Chaney & Jeanette S. Martin, 2000)
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12. Cleanness
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A fundamental assumption of ethnocentric people is that their way of doing things is right, proper, and normal and those ways practiced by culturally different people are wrong and inferior. Such a blanket condemnation of cultural differences prevents us from seeing that other people view our customs as equally strange and irrational. For example, people in the United States think of themselves as being particularly conscious of cleanliness. As a nation we probably spend more money per capita on a whole host of commercial products designed to make ourselves and our environments clean, hygienic, and oror-free. Yet a number of practices found in the United States strike people in other parts of the world as deplorably unclean. To illustrate, whereas most North Americans are repulsed by an Indonesian who blows his nose onto the street, the Indonesian is repulsed by the North American who blows his nose in a handkerchief and then carries it around for the rest of the day in his pocket; the Japanese consider the North American practice of sitting in a bathtub full of dirty, soapy water to be at best an ineffective way of bathing and at worst a disgusting practice; and East Africans think that North Americans have no sense of hygiene because they defecate in rooms (the bathroom) that are frequently located adjacent to that part of the house where food is prepared (the kitchen). (1163from The Cultural Dimension of International Business, 1998 p.31)
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14.
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The American People
There is no such thing as a typical American, but here are some views of Americans which many think are fair.
Ordinary Americans are friendly and not afraid to show their feelings. They are generous, lively and amusing. They are not as snobbish or class-conscious as the English, and the way people speak is not important to them. A university professor can talk to his students in a broad Brooklyn or Southern accent and no one will be surprised or shocked. In Britain, …accent snobbery? is dying, but people are sometimes criticized for the way they speak, and this upsets them. However, there is …money snobbery? in the USA, which sometimes takes strange forms.
The American?s dr eam is success in his job, success earned by his own skill and hard work. There is no one an American admires more than the self-made man, no matter what kind of family he comes from, whereas upper-class people in Britain still tend to dislike self-made men and find them socially unacceptable.
Despite the great wealth of the USA, there is an …underclass? of some 20 million people, black, white and Hispanic. Because of the awful conditions under which many of these unfortunates live, all hope drains from them and they do not have the strength they need to rise out of their misery. A great part of the violence in American society begins in the ghettos and inner cities where this underclass lives.
The USA is not a welfare state, yet it spends more on the very poor than many nations with a complete welfare system. Even the poorest Americans do not starve to death, and they are not left to die on the street after an accident. Whatever hospital they are taken to, they receive very careful treatment without cost. Even the millions of illegal immigrants who pour every night across the Mexican border get enough food to live on, despite the fact that they are not American citizens. Many Americans feel that the poor and the unemployed get too much welfare. Unemployment pay is certainly much higher than in Britain.
Many foreigners have the false idea that there is no public transport in the USA.
believed, so the very poor have to walk. This is quite untrue. There is public transport. There is a cheap and regular bus service in every city. Many cities also have a new subway system, equally cheap. But better-off Americans in many parts of the USA never go by bus. In fact, they wouldn?t w ant to be seen in one, in case someone thought they couldn?t afford a car!
The elderly middle class sometimes find themselves in terrible situations. Take Mrs Vorst, a middle-aged widow with a small pension. Her doctor told her she must have an operation immediately. She had the operation, but did not leave the hospital until six weeks later. When she received her bill, she almost fainted, for she wasn?t old or poor enough for Medicare (free medical treatment). Then a lawyer heard about her difficulties and suggested she should sue the doctor and the hospital for keeping her in bed too long. The lawyer won her case for her, but he kept as his fee 50% of the money the judge allowed her, so she still couldn?t pay the whole bill. Honourable American lawyers are worried by such dishonest members of their profession.
The USA has many serious problems—crime, violence, unlawful immigration across the Mexican border, pollution, unemployment, race relations, and many more. But the Americans face their problems boldly and with determination. Twenty years ago blacks and whites were fighting each other in many American cities. Today more and more blacks hold positions of authority in every walk of life. Fear, dislike, even hatred, are still there in places, but there has been an improvement in race relations that few non-Americans know much about.
There is no Communist party in the USA. It is forbidden, and this pleases most Americans, because they are afraid of Communism. Some Americans call all socialists and left-wing p eople in their own and other countries …Commies?. The Americans believe in …free enterprise? (the freedom to do business without any interference from the Government). The only political parties which count in the USA are the Democrats and the Republicans. Most Democrats are more liberal than Republicans. They want arms control, more Health insurance. But there is more difference between the British Labour and Conservative parties than there is between Democrats and Republicans. (783 words, from Background to English-Speaking Countries by Richard Musman, 1995)
Japan and the U.S.A.: Different but Alike
At first glance, Japan astonishes and fascinates the American because it seems so different. All that characterizes the United States—racial and ethnic heterogeneity, newness, vast territory, and individualistic ethic—is absent in Japan. Instead one encounters an ancient and homogeneous population, traditions that emphasize the importance of groups and communal needs, with a rich panoply of highly elaborate rites and ceremonies that cover every aspect of daily living, from drinking tea to saying hello.
Where Americans pride themselves on a studied informality and openness, their Japanese counterparts employ formality and complexity. If Americans value time, the Japanese treasure space. While Americans have always enjoyed a sense of continental scale, employing metaphors to size to describe both the natural environment and industrial production, Japan has exerted its genius on the diminutive and the miniature. It seems appropriate for America to produce the world?s airplanes, while Japan creates cameras and transistors.
Yet these two cultures, so apparently opposite in almost every way, have always possessed a strange affinity for each other. Like their descendents, 19th century American visitors found the world of Japanese art, philosophy, ceremonies, and social life to be compellingly attractive. One reason is its very comprehensiveness. Japan is a filled-in culture, with few imprecisions or empty spaces. Little has been left to chance;
Opposites supposedly attract, but there is more to it than that. Japan and America share, to differing degrees, some large experiences and broad skills which have bred a certain kind of sympathy.
Both, for example, have transplanted cultures. Each nation has a “mother” society—China and Great Britain—that has influenced the daughter in countless ways: in language, religion, social organization, art, literature, and national ideals. Japan, of course, has had more time than the United States to work out its unique interpretation of this older culture. But even today the debt to China is perceivable and gracefully acknowledged. It has produced in some artists and philosophers the same kind of ambivalence and self-consciousness dominating American cultural nationalities.
Both societies, moreover, have developed the brokerage art, the business of buying and selling, of advertising and mass producing, to unprecedented levels. Few sights are more representative than the tens of thousands of bustling stores to be seen in Japan, above all the disciplined and enticing department stores. To American eyes they seem comforting and reassuring as an expression of the commercial spirit.
Both peoples love to shop, to travel, and to record. And both peoples have always emphasized the importance of work and are paying penalties for their commitment to development and modernization. (435 words, from American English Rhetoric by Robert G. Bander, 1978)
汉英翻译篇章练习 Practice 1 近读报纸，对国内名片和请柬的议论颇多，于是想起客居巴黎时经常见到的法国人手中的名片和请柬，随笔记下来，似乎不无借鉴之处。 在巴黎，名目繁多的酒会、冷餐会是广交朋友的好机会。在这种场合陌生人相识，如果是亚洲人，他们往往开口之前先毕恭毕敬地用双手把自己的名片呈递给对方，这好像是不可缺少的礼节。然而，法国人一般却都不大主动递送名片，双方见面寒喧几句甚至海阔天空地聊一番也就各自走开。只有当双方谈话投机，希望继续交往时，才会主动掏出名片。二话不说先递名片反倒有些勉强。 法国人的名片讲究朴素大方，印制精美，但很少有镶金边儿的，闪光多色的或带香味儿的，名片上的字体纤细秀丽，本人的名字也不过分突出，整张纸片上空白很大，毫无拥挤不堪的感觉。 Practice 2 我想,教师要给学生的,是一把开启知识宝库的钥匙,而不是把学生的脑子变成一个容器。教师的工作是启发学生,通过自己的思考、实践、试验去求得知识,鼓励他们大胆提出问题和不同意见。经过研讨,得出自己的结论,而不是由教师包办代替。 我喜欢那些爱提“怪”问题的学生。提不出问题的,不能算是好学生。 其实,学习就是一个不断出错误和改正错误的过程。年轻人要学,我们自 己也要学。一句话,教育是要使人从无知变成有知,从愚昧变成聪明,从野蛮 变成文明,而不是相反。 就说这流行音乐吧,我就不如年轻人懂得多。我有个习惯,自己不懂得东西，绝不轻易反对,而是努力去学懂它。 你看吧,大街上姑娘们大声谈笑,我行我素；小伙子也穿红戴绿。中国人胆子大起来了，不那么缩头缩脑了。你还能拿年轻人头发长短、裤脚大小来衡量谁是好学生谁是坏学生吗？ Practice 3 我所追求的幸福 在西方流传着一句据说是来自古老中国的谚语，只是我在中国从未听说
第二讲 原句：I seized the largest brush and fell upon my wretched victim with wild fury. 译文：我抓起那支最大的画笔，势不可挡扑向那全无招架之力的画布。 原文：There is a definite link between smoking and lung cancer. But this doesn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company. 译文：吸烟肯定与肺癌有关，但这并不能使你感到太不舒服，因为吸烟的人不止你一个。 原文：Derek fancies himself as a ladies' man, but he spends too much time admiring himself in the mirror for my liking. 译文：德里克自以为是个讨女人喜欢的人，可是我不喜欢他花那么多的时间在镜子面前自我欣赏。 He is the last man to come. He is the last man to do it. He is the last person for such a job. He should be the last (man) to blame. 原文：John can be relied on. He eats no fish and plays the game. 译文：约翰为人可靠，他既忠诚又正直。 Literal translation takes sentences as its basic units and the whole text into consideration at the same time in the course of translation. It strives to reproduce both the ideological content and the style of the entire literary work and retain as much as possible the figures of speech. 死译：one-to-one translation: each SL word has a corresponding TL word. 硬译：word-for-word translation: Transfers SL grammar and word order, as well as the primary meanings of all the SL words, into translation. It is normally effective only for brief simple neutral sentences. Literal translation goes beyond one-to-one translation, ranges from one word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, clause to clause, to sentence to sentence. Literal translation is the basic translation procedure both in communicative and semantic translation, in that translation starts from there. ---by Newmark Liberal Translation mainly conveys the meaning and spirit of the original without trying to reproduce its sentence pattern or figures of speech. 原文：我们的朋友遍天下。 错译：Our friends are all over the world. 译文: We have friends all over the world. 单词
制作时间：2004年7月21日英美文化与英汉翻译(第1-12期) 作者：snowry_yhn 编辑、制作：yangbb 第1期 MAVERICK (2) 第2期 FBI & SLOAN-KETTERING (3) 第3期 AMA (4) 第4期 GATT (5) 第5期 WESTERN (6) 第6期 GIS & YANK (7) 第7期 GILTS (8) 第8期 JV (9) 第9期 AT&T (10) 第10期 GDP (11) 第11期 MAFIA (12) 第12期 GURU (13) 转载请注明出处，谢谢！
制作时间：2004年7月21日［yangbb语］ 终于完工了，而且今天是自己的生日，就把这个包子作为生日 礼物送给自己吧！呵呵，好高兴啊！ 其实做包子真的是件比较苦的事情，而且体力劳动远大于脑力劳动。但是我想，如果自己辛苦做出来的包子没有人分享，那才是真正 可悲的事情。所以沪友一定要支持我们的劳动啊！ 还有两点提醒一下（不要骂我啊，我马上就说完）： 1．本文档版权归沪江所有，尊重原创，请网友在转载时注明出处，非常感谢！ 2．本文档按A4幅面制作，有条件的网友可直接打印。 ［snowry_yhn语］ 了解英美文化对我们的英语学习是很有必要的，特别是对于翻译！ “白象牌运动鞋”怎么翻译呢？是“White Elephant Sports Shoes” 吗？大家知道White Elephant 在英语中是什么意思吗？”yellow pub lications"又该怎么翻译呢？是"黄色出版物"吗？ 由于缺乏对英美文化的了解而造成的误译、谬译或交际中断经常发生。我们这个栏目就是希望让大家更多的了解一些英美文化，基于snow的实际水平，有错误的地方请大家多多包涵！ 第1期 Maverick Maverick
英汉对比研究读书报告
摘要：英语和汉语的对比，通过对两这种语言的语法特征、修辞手段、翻译技巧、思维方式等等方面的具体讲解，把语言和文化结合起来，对中西方思维方式的不同加以对比分析讲解，清晰、不显枯燥的同时又具有说服力。众所周知，要想学好外语，对其特点的了解是必须的，而要了解其特点，最好的方法就是与母语加以比较。思维方式是造成语言差异的重要原因。影响思维方式的因素也多种多样。英语学习，尤其是翻译，不是一蹴而就的，它需要不断地理解学习和练习，更多时候，了解英汉语言之间的不同以及中西方文化、思维上的的追根溯源也是必要的，因为学习一门语言语言，在一定程度上也是对其文化和思维方式的学习。Speaking of English and Chinese comparison，the language of the two rhetorical devices, translation skills, thinking mode and so on,they combine language with culture. As we all know, in order to learn a foreign language, it is necessary to understand its characteristics, and to understand its characteristics, the best way is to compare with the mother tongue. There are many factors influencing the way of thinking. Learning English, especially translation, not overnight, it needs to understand the study and practice, more often, understanding between English and Chinese and Western cultures, different thinking on the back is necessary, because learning a foreign language is the way of thinking and learning. 关键词：思维方式语法特征修辞手段翻译技巧逻辑思维抽象思维英语注重形合，且注重环环相扣的逻辑关系，所以汉译英时往往要加入连词和对句子进行扩展和组合，形成复合句或长句；相反，由于汉语句子一般结构较为简化，无拖沓，所以在英译汉时也应当注意，常常需要将英语句子进行分解、拆散和重组。英语文章多为长短句交错使用，了解这一特点对平时汉译英和写作时也大有益处。又如，英语通常为物做主语，而汉语则为人，所以在英汉互译的时候要注意其人称、物称主语的转换。文化上的不同也是需要注意的，如在写作的时候，西方人喜欢引用专家学者，尤其是有科学依据的观点，而中国人则频繁使用领袖和伟人的话。思维方式是造成语言差异的重要原因。影响思维方式的因素也多种多样。其中最为明显的，概括而言是中国人的思维方式受到儒、道和佛三家的影响，形成了中国人的悟性，重人文，轻科学，而西方则讲求逻辑思维，以判断推理为主，提倡理性思辨和科学探索。英语学习，尤其是翻译，不是一蹴而就的，它需要不断地理解学习和练习，更多时候，了解英汉语言之间的不同以及中西方文化、思维上的的追根溯源也是必要的，因为学习一门语言语言，在一定程度上也是对其文化和思维方式的学习。The way of thinking,Performance method, rhetorical device,translation skill,logical thinking,abstract thinking, Pay attention to the logical relationship of interlocking, So the translation often join conjunctions and extension and combination of the sentence on the contrary, the Chinese sentence structure is simplified, without procrastination, so in English Chinese translation should also be noted that the English sentence often needs to be decomposed and detached and reassembled. English articles for the length of sentence interlaced, understanding of the characteristics of the usual translation and writing is also helpful. Cultural differences also need to be noted,
Clinton is the first black president . 克林顿是第一个重视黑人权益的总统 Clinton is the first woman president. 克林顿是第一个重视妇女权益的总统 1. We want to buy quality steel. 我们要买高质量的钢材。 2. I am pleased to be here to offer a U.S. business perspective on one of today’s great quality ch allenges: building a high skills/high wage workforce. 我很高兴能来此介绍一下美国商界对当今我们在素质方面所面临的挑战的看法，这项挑战就是如何建立一支高技术，高薪金的劳动队伍。 3. The president now is on a poverty tour. 总统目前正在访问贫困地区。 4. noise abatement procedures. 抑制噪声的措施 5. She is on her listening tour of New York. 她正在纽约巡回访问，听取群众的意见。 6. Professor Smith is leaving the school. That is a stupid loss. 史密斯教授要离开学校了。这个损失实在是不明智才造成的。 7. The kiss represents the symbolic loss of the most famous American child. 那轻轻的一吻是一个象征，代表这个美国著名的孩子已经长大成人了。Criminal law 刑法； Criminal layer专门处理刑事案件的律师； Criminal attack构成犯罪的攻击； criminally insane 形式法庭鉴定为患有精神病 This is a thought-provokingly different explanation . 这个解释完全不同，但却很能给人启发。 Bryant Gumbel is sometimes favorably compared with Ted Koppel. 人们有时把布来恩特甘贝尔和特德考波尔相比，认为甘贝尔更好。The so-called critics are only generically mentioned, but not individually mentioned. 那些所谓的批评者，传媒提到他们时总是泛泛而指，从来不指名道姓。The areas could be profitably rehabilitated. 重建这些地区是有利可图的。 The consensus strategies for managing the world’s forests sustainably. 既能获得各方同意，又能使全球森林得以可持续生长的管理策略。 Men tend to enjoy public, referentially orientated talk, while women enjoy intimate, affectively orientated talk. 男人喜欢公开谈论有具体内容的话题，而女人则喜欢两三个人私下交流感情。 15．The joy of his return 由于他回来而有的喜悦 16. of humble parentage, he began his working life in a shoe factory. 由于出身低微，他的第一个工作是在一家制鞋厂。
Introductory Remarks ①．White elephant昂贵而无用的东西 ②．Yellow publications低级趣味出版物 ③．Lame duck跛鸭：不能连任的人 ④．Disinformation假情报 ⑤．Hegemony势力范围 ⑥．Mentor保护人 ⑦．Deep throat秘密消息的来源 ⑧．Paint lily多此一举 ⑨．Smoking gun确凿的犯罪证据 ⑩．Be in high cotton兴隆 ?．Barter trade交换贸易 ?．BBS电子布告栏系统 ?．Anonymous remailer匿名转信站 ?．Cybersalon网络咖啡厅 ?．Cyberspace网络世界 ?．Online prank网络恶作剧 ?．CPI消费者物价指数 ?．ISDN综合服务数字网络 ?．OPEC石油输出国组织 ?．Mitnick affair米尼克事件 21．World Wide Web万维网，全球信息网 22．Cellular phone蜂巢式移动电话 23．Genetic engineering遗传工程 24．The economics of Cloning复制人的经济分析 25．G-7七大工业国集团 26．Reaganomics里根经济学 27．Junk bond垃圾债券 28．Face the music了解美国军队惩罚违纪士兵的方式方法 29．Talk turkey了解美国白人的伪善 30．Come down to the brass tacks了解美国工人的过去 31．Go to the dogs了解英美人破产的辛酸 32．Samaritan源自《圣经》中，指乐善好施者 33．Green Berets指头戴绿色贝雷帽的美国特种部队 34．An Eagle Scout指美国的飞鹰童子军 35．American Dream表意是“美国梦” 36．Forbes list指美国《富布斯》富翁排行榜 37．Madison Avenue是麦迪逊大街，代指美国广告中心 38．A rags-to-riches legacy是美国梦的一个重要的内容，指“留下一笔‘白手起家发财’的遗产” 39．Social Security指美国的“社会保障条例” 40．Medicare指美国为65岁以上的老人专设的“老年保健医疗制” 41．Negative income tax指美国社会的“最低收入补贴” 42．A scapegoat替罪羊
5.汉英句法对比 ?句子的概念 ?汉语句子强调语义，表示语义终止的标点符号根据句子语义和语气来确定，具有突出的“以意统形”的特点。 ?英语句子强调形式和语法结构：首词第一个字母大写，句末用句号、问号或叹号；大多数句子有主语和谓语。 ◆句子的类型 ?汉语句式： 按功能，可分为陈述句、疑问句、祈使句和感叹句。按结构，可分为单句与复句。 ?英语句式： 按功能，可分为陈述句、疑问句、祈使句和感叹句。 按结构，可分为简单句与复杂句（并列句和复合句） ?汉英句式异同 ?汉英都有陈述句、疑问句、祈使句、感叹句四大类。汉英陈述句基本相同，句尾都用降调。汉英疑问句都是用升调，句尾加问号，这是相同之处。 ?汉语疑问句分特指问、反复问、是非问、选择问和反问五种，而英语只有一般疑问句、特殊疑问句、选择疑问句和反意问句四种。 ?汉语的是非问句和英语的一般疑问句相当，但语序不同。汉语是非句是陈述句式，或在陈述句尾加“吗”、“吧”表示。英语一般疑问句的谓语动词“ to be”，“to have”和助动动词或情态动词都放在主语之前。如：Are you a teacher? 你是老师吗？ 汉语的特指问句和英语的特殊疑问句相当，但词序却不尽相同。汉语特指问句的词序和陈述句相同，而英语的特殊疑问句则一定要把疑问词放在句首，其句式是“疑问词+ 一般疑问句”。如：What are you doing? 你在干什么？ 汉语的选择问句和英语的选择问句相同，只是词序不同。汉语的选择问句仍然是陈述句的词序，英语则是一般疑问句的词序。如：你去看电影，还是去看戏？ Are you going to cinema or to theatre? 对于英语反意疑问句的翻译则要把握原文意思，用最恰当汉语形式来表达。如：He is your teacher, isn't he? 译文(1) 他是你老师吧？（表示猜测） (2) 他是不是你老师？（表示怀疑） (3) 他是你的老师，对吗？（表示没把握） (4) 他是你的老师，不是吗？（表示肯定） 汉语的反复问句是用肯定否定相叠表示疑问的，英语中没有与它相当的形式。译成英语用一般疑问句即可。如：这本书是不是你的？Is this book yours? 汉语的反诘问句可用否定形式表示肯定意思，也可用肯定形式表示否定意思。可以用英语的反意问句或一般问句来翻译。如：她不是没进城吗？She has not gone to town, has she? 你不能走快点吗？Can't you walk a little faster? 汉语的祈使句和英语的祈使句通常都没有主语，句子都用降调，句末用句号，语气较强的用叹
英译汉篇章翻译练习（2） Proverbs are the popular sayings that brighten so much Latin American talk, the boiled-down wisdom that you are as apt to hear from professors as from peasants, from beggars as from elegances. Brief and colorful, they more often than not carry a sting. When a neighbor?s dismally unattractive daughter announced her engagement, Imelda remarked, “You know what they say, Senora: …There?s no pot so ugly it can?t find a lid.?” And when her son-in-law blustered about how he was going to get even with the boss who had docked his pay, Imelda fixed him with a cold eye and said, “Little fish does not eat big fish.” One afternoon, I heard Imelda and her daughter arguing in the kitchen. Her daughter had quarreled with her husband?s parents, and Imelda was in sisting that she apologized to them. Her daughter objected. “But, Mama, I just can?t swallow them, not even with honey. They talk so big until we need something; then they?re too poor. So today when they wouldn?t even lend us enough to pay for a new bed, a ll I did was say something that I?ve heard you say a hundred times: …If so grand, why so poor? If so poor, why so grand?” “Impertinent!” snorted Imelda. “Have I not also taught you, …What the tongue says, the neck pays for?? I will not have it said that I could never teach my daughter proper respect for her elders. And before you go to beg their pardon, change those trousers for a dress. You know how your mother-in-law feels about pants on a woman. She always says, …What was hatched a hen must not try to be a rooster!” Her daughter made one more try. “But Mama, you often say, …If the saint is annoyed, don?t pray to him until he gets over it.? Can?t I leave it for tomorrow?” “No, no and no! Remember: …If the dose is nasty, swallow it fast.? You know, my child, you did wrong. But, …A gift is the key to open the door closed against you.? I have a cake in the oven that I was making for the Senora?s dinner, I will explain to the Senora. Now, dear, hurry home and make yourself pretty in your pink dress. By the time you get back, I will have the cake ready for you to take to your mother-in-law. She will be so pleased that she may make your father-in-law pay for the bed. Remember: …One hand washes the other, but together they wash the face.?”
《英汉翻译理论与实践》课程教学大纲 （英文名称E-C Translation: Theory and Practice） 一、课程说明 课程编码 22110280 课程总学时 32 周学时 2 学分 1.5 课程性质专业必修课适用专业英语专业1、教学内容与学时安排（见下表）： 教学内容与学时安排表
2、课程教学目的与要求： 本课程是高等学校英语专业三年级学生开设的一门专业必修课。它是理论与实践相结合的一门课程，其主要目的在于使学生具备笔头英汉翻译的基本能力。通过介绍各类文体语言的特点、汉英两种语言的对比和分析以及各种不同文体的翻译方法，使学生掌握英汉翻译的基本理论，掌握英汉词语、长句及各种文体的翻译技巧和英译汉的能力。要求译文比较准确、流畅，翻译速度达到每小时250-300字。 3、本门课程与其它课程关系： 本课程为英语专业本科三年级学生开设。学生在修该课程之前已修完综合阅读，综合英语，语法学，词汇学，英美文化等课程，这些课程都为学生修该课程奠定了扎实的语言基础。该课程又是学生综合英语语言运用能力的体现和反映，它的开设不仅能提高学生的翻译能力，而且它与英美文学，语言学，口译，高级英语等都能帮助学生进一步提高他们的综合英语语言运用能力。 4、推荐教材及参考书： 教材采用孙致礼编著的《新编英汉翻译教程》上海外语教育出版社（2003年4月第1版）教学参考书 Baker, Mona. 2001. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Bassnett S, Lefevere A. 2001. Constructing Cultures: Essays On Literary Translation.Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Brown Gillian & Yule George. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. 2000 Catford, J.C. 1965. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London: Oxford University Press. Hatim B. 2001. Communication Across Cultures:Translation Theory and Contrastive Text
参考文献 一、翻译理论与实践相关书目 谢天振主编. 《当代国外翻译理论导读》. 天津：南开大学出版社，2008. Jeremy Munday. 《翻译学导论——理论与实践》Introducing Translation Studies---Theories and Applications. 李德凤等译. 北京：商务印书馆，2007. 包惠南、包昂. 《中国文化与汉英翻译》. 北京：外文出版社, 2004. 包惠南. 《文化语境与语言翻译》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司. 2001. 毕继万. 《世界文化史故事大系——英国卷》. 上海：上海外语教育出版社, 2003. 蔡基刚. 《英汉汉英段落翻译与实践》. 上海：复旦大学出版社, 2001. 蔡基刚. 《英汉写作对比研究》. 上海：复旦大学出版社, 2001. 蔡基刚. 《英语写作与抽象名词表达》. 上海：复旦大学出版社, 2003. 曹雪芹、高鄂. 《红楼梦》. 陈定安. 《英汉比较与翻译》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司, 1991. 陈福康. 《中国译学理论史稿》（修订本）. 上海：上海外语教育出版社. 2000. 陈生保. 《英汉翻译津指》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司. 1998. 陈廷祐. 《英文汉译技巧》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社. 2001. 陈望道. 《修辞学发凡》. 上海：上海教育出版社, 1979. 陈文伯. 《英汉翻译技法与练习》. 北京：世界知识出版社. 1998. 陈中绳、吴娟. 《英汉新词新义佳译》. 上海：上海翻译出版公司. 1990. 陈忠诚. 《词语翻译丛谈》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司, 1983. 程希岚. 《修辞学新编》. 吉林：吉林人民出版社, 1984. 程镇球. 《翻译论文集》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社. 2002. 程镇球. 《翻译问题探索》. 北京：商务印书馆, 1980. 崔刚. 《广告英语》. 北京：北京理工大学出版社, 1993. 单其昌. 《汉英翻译技巧》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社. 1990. 单其昌. 《汉英翻译讲评》. 北京：对外贸易教育出版社. 1989. 邓炎昌、刘润清. 《语言与文化——英汉语言文化对比》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社, 1989. 丁树德. 《英汉汉英翻译教学综合指导》. 天津：天津大学出版社, 1996. 杜承南等，《中国当代翻译百论》. 重庆：重庆大学出版社, 1994. 《翻译通讯》编辑部. 《翻译研究论文集（1894-1948）》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社. 1984. 《翻译通讯》编辑部. 《翻译研究论文集（1949-1983）》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社. 1984. . 范勇主编. 《新编汉英翻译教程》. 天津：南开大学出版社. 2006. 方梦之、马秉义（编选）. 《汉译英实践与技巧》. 北京：旅游教育出版社. 1996. 方梦之. 《英语汉译实践与技巧》. 天津：天津科技翻译出版公司. 1994. 方梦之主编. 《译学辞典》. 上海：上海外语教育出版社. 2004. 冯翠华. 《英语修辞大全》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社, 1995. 冯庆华. 《文体与翻译》. 上海：上海外语教育出版社, 2002. 冯庆华主编. 《文体翻译论》. 上海：上海外语教育出版社. 2002. 冯胜利. 《汉语的韵律、词法与句法》. 北京：北京大学出版社, 1997. 冯志杰. 《汉英科技翻译指要》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司. 1998. 耿占春. 《隐喻》. 北京：东方出版社, 1993.
英汉对比研究综述 摘要：本文是对英汉对比研究进行综述。文章首先阐述了比较语言学和对比语言学的异同，继而回顾了我国英汉对比研究的历史与现状，讨论了英汉对比研究的实用价值以及宗旨和目标，最后论述了对比研究是理论和方法。 关键词：对比研究、异同、历史与现状、实用价值、宗旨目标、理论方法 正文： 近年来，我国与外国的交往日益频繁，国内出现了外语热，而外国也出现了汉语热。这种局面大大促进了我国的外语教学、对外汉语教学以及翻译事业，也有力地推动了我国对比 语言学的研究。人们在外语教学中逐渐认识到，要学好外语，必须了解其特点，最有效的方 法就是与母语的特点作比较。熟悉外语和母语的特点，并加以科学对比，分析其差异的因素，这无疑将有助于确定教学中的重点和难点，增强教学的预见性和针对性，从而提高教学的效果。 一、比较语言学和对比语言学 “对比”和“比较”在语言研究和语言实践中是经常出现的字眼，常被混为一谈。其实作为学科，它们有着本质的区别， 比较语言学，又称历史比较语言学，是一门把两种或两种以上语言放在一起加以共时比较或把同一种语言进行历时比较的学科。它旨在重构原始语，理清语言之间的亲属源流关系， 阐述它们的体系和特质，最终建立其谱系关系，比较语言学的目的主要是求同。 对比语言学属于共时语言学，它是对两种或两种以上的语言作共时的、常为静态的考察 和分析，指出它们中各个层次，即语音、词汇、语法、语义、篇章等之间的相似之处和不同之点，并努力运用哲学、心理学、民族学等各学科的知识与理论去阐释这些不同之点所产生的根源的学科。对比语言学的主要目的是觅异。 作为研究方法，“对比”和“比较”是密不可分的，人类研究事物、认识事物离不开比较，对各种语言现象的阐释是建立在比较分析之上的。“只有比较才能看出各种语文表现法 的共同之点和特殊之点。”要对比必须进行比较，因为“一种事物的特点，要跟别的事物比较才显出来”。所以，“对比”与“比较”是你中有我、我中有你，互相依赖的关系。 二、英汉对比分析的历史及现状 英汉对比研究作为语言学的一个分支，兼具有理论语言学与应用语言学的性质，其任务主要是对英汉两种语言进行共时和历时的对比研究，描述并解释英汉语之间的异同，并将研究成果应用于语言研究和其他领域。英汉对比研究应分为三个层次：语言的表层结构；语言表达方法；语言哲学。从学科上看，英汉语言对比可分为英汉对比语言学、英汉翻译学和英汉对比文化学三个学科。从实践上看对比语言学也是两个方向：一个是理论研究方向； 一个是应用研究方向。 在国外真正进行英汉语言对比的首推赵元任，他1933年撰文对汉语和英语语调进行了对比。国内的英汉或汉英语言对比研究可追溯到1898年出版的马建忠的《马氏文通》和严复 的《英文汉估》。 根据中国英汉语比较研究会的老会长刘重德先生的观点我国的的对比研究史可以分为三个时期：1898—1949年可称为英汉对比研究的第一时期，从马建忠的《马氏文通》和严复的《英文汉估》算起，到四十年代末。这期间，英汉对比研究从草创到发展，成绩显著。 “虽有移植的问题，但其中包含着认真的鉴别和自己的独特创造，对汉语语言学的建立做出了巨大的贡献，开创了择善化用的传统。”这种评价应该说是恰如其分的。1949 —1976年是
地域政治与社会生活差异对翻译的影响 莎士比亚十四行诗中把情人比作夏天可爱而温柔Shall compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate：Rough wind do shake the darling buds of May And summer’s lease hath all too short a date(译文:我可否将你比作夏日?你更可爱，更温柔:暴风摇撼五月钟爱的嫩芽,而夏日的周期太过短暂)。由于地理位置的关系,“夏天”带给中国人和英国人的联想和感受是不相同的。在中国,情人象夏日,有你受的。 风俗习惯差异对翻译的影响 同一件事物, 不同的文化背景, 看法大相径庭。在汉文化中龙(dragon) 凤( phoenix) 是一个图腾形象。在封建社会, 龙比喻是皇帝, 凤比喻皇后, 帝王成婚称龙凤呈祥。在汉语中, 龙和凤都用于好的意思。如龙凤, 龙虎、凤毛、山窝里飞出金凤凰。汉语中还有不少表示欢乐、愿望而气势磅礴带龙的成语: 龙飞凤舞、龙盘虎跃、生龙活虎、藏龙卧虎、攀龙附凤、望子成龙。龙在中华民族的心目中是顶礼膜拜的, 所以称自己是龙的传人。但在圣经中, 与上帝作对的恶魔撒旦(San tan) 被称为the Great Dragon. Dragon 总是代表邪恶, 令人感到恐怖。说一个人象龙不是一句好话, 尤其是讲女人象龙, 指的是又凶恶又歹毒、令人讨厌。She is a bit of a dragon around this place. (她是一个很专横跋扈的人)。Phoenix 在西方的传说中是一种鸟, 在沙漠中生存了五、六百年后, 将自己烧成灰烬, 然后从中又诞生一只的Phoenix, 所以英语中Phoenix, 有再生、复活的意思。英语习俗差异是多方面的, 最典型的莫过于对狗这种动物的态度上。西方人把狗当作宠物来养, 狗是人类最好的朋友, 所以, 英语中大部分用狗的形象词语比喻的是普通人的形象, 毫无侮辱的意思。如love me love my dog. 爱屋及乌。Every dog has its day. 凡人皆有得意日。He works like a dog.他干得十分卖力。Dog doesn’t eat dog. 同类不相残。Y ou lucky dog . 你这个家伙真走运!中国人当然也养狗, 但对狗的看法大不相同, 与狗的成语总是含贬义, 表示坏人恶行,典型的如走狗、狗仗人势、狗眼看人低、狗嘴里长不出象牙来、狼心狗肺、狗急跳墙、狗头军师、狗改不了吃屎、狗娘养的、狗屁等。孔雀(peacock) , 汉文化中,peacock 是吉祥的象征, 孔雀开屏是大吉大利的事。傣族人跳孔雀舞来表达自己美好的愿望。在英语中, 孔雀的意义基本上是否定的, 强调它骄傲的一面。如: He attempted to peacock his way through the world。他想名扬世界。Mary was peacocking about in the classroom. 玛丽在教室里趾高气扬地走来走去。 3宗教信仰与历史典故、谚语对翻译的影响 中西文化的历史渊源不同, 宗教信仰不同, 典故、谚语的来源不同。汉英语言中涉及宗教的词语数目庞大,蔚为壮观。大多数西方人信基督教, 崇拜的神称为上帝(God) , 上帝只有一个, 但包括三个位格(Person) 即: 上帝圣父(God the Father)、上帝圣子(God the Son )、上帝圣灵(God the Holy Ghost ) , 统称为三位一体(Trinity). 这三位不是三个神, 而是同具一个本体的独一真神。中国有盘古开天、道教的玉帝, 有佛教的阎王和观音(Buddhism Guan Ying, the Goddess of Mercy) 有神话的龙王。典故、谚语是每个民族文化的一个重要组成部分, 也是语言的重要组成部分, 人们常常在不自觉运用各民族文化遗产的典故、谚语。中国人常说“东施效颦”“叶公好龙”“真是马后炮”“原来又是个空城计”。中国人的典故多来自于《诗经》和中国的四大名著等。西方人的典故则来自于《圣经》和莎士比亚及希腊、罗马神话和传说。若缺乏对中西文化不同的宗教信仰和历史典故、谚语的个性深刻了解, 难以翻译出词语中的文化内涵。比如“Being a teacher is being at present at the creation, when the clay begins to breathe. ”要翻译出这个句子, 首先要弄清上帝之创造(Creation of God)。上帝用六天的时间创造了世界。第一天, 创造光, 划分昼夜。第二天, 创造空气, 划分天地。第三天, 划分海陆, 使陆地长植物。第四天, 创造日月星辰, 划分季节。第五天, 创造鸟类与鱼类。第六天, 创造昆虫、兽类, 并按照自己的形象造人。第七天, 安息日(Sabbath)。其次要明白(clay) 指的是人体(clay figure)。据圣经记载, 上帝用泥土造一个人形, 再在人体的鼻孔吹一口气, 人体就
第二章英汉句式结构对比与翻译 一. 英文句式结构 基本上为主谓结构,可以扩展为5种: 主+谓、主+谓+宾、主+谓+宾+宾补、主+谓+宾+间宾+直宾、主+系+表。汉语中有部分句子与上述英文句子是对应的。 二. 中文句式结构 （一）主谓结构。（可分为主动和被动） （二）主题—评述句 1. 很多汉语句子是“话题性”很强的句子，即句子的前面是一个话题，后面是对话题的评述或陈述、描述。 如：他处境很危险；楼上住着个女工。 2. 其中话题跟后面的动词只是对这个话题所作的说明,不一定表示主语所指称的实体的行动或性质,或者后面根本就没有动词。 3. 结论：将此类句子翻译成英文时，需进行句式结构的调整，在整个句中找到可以在英文中作主语的词，然后再根据主语选择合适的动词，如果找不到主语，就需要添加主语，或将句子中动作的承受着作主语，变为英文的被动语态。 4. 主题—评述句可归纳为如下几种： ⑴动作承受者作话题。如：那件事我已经办好了。 ⑵双话题。如：我头疼。 ⑶动词或动词短语作话题。如：加入世贸组织利大于弊。 ⑷从句作话题。如：张三明天去美国，我觉得很奇怪。 ⑸地点作话题。如：桌上搁着一碗饭。 ⑹时间作话题。如：今天风和日暖。 （三）无主句 1.即“非主语句”，一种是没有主语的，叫无主句，还有一种是由一个词构成的，叫独词句，如：火！注意！这种句 子可以直译。 2.一般来说，无主句主要用于以下几种情况： ⑴表达客观、科学、公正的语气。汉语的一些科技材料或法律条文中往往使用无主句，目的是使表达的内容更科学、公正。这种情况下，无主句要以为英文的主谓结构时，一般都转化为被动语态，也就是使用原文的宾语做主语，因为被动语态不强调动作的发出者，可以比较准确地表达原文的语用效果。 如：要制造飞机，就要考虑空气阻力问题。Air resistance has to be taken into consideration when an airplane is to be made. ⑵表达不满又不失礼貌地语气。汉语中无主句多用来表达一种微妙的情感，在不强调施事者的情况下，表达自己的观点，不满等。在英语中，遇到同样的情况，一般较为广泛地使用被动语态。这样说话人可以避免对自己所说的话负责，听话人也不会感到说话人在把自己的主观意志强加给自己。所以，此类无主句可以译为英语的被动句。有时也可以用形式主语it，避开主观语气。 如：为什么总把这些麻烦事推给我呢？Why are these troubles always left to me? 有时也可以用形式主语it，避开主观语气。 如：学这一套，不如去学照相。It is better to learn photographing than to learn this stuff. ⑶省略第一人称主语“我”或“我们”。有时候为了直接表达自己的观点，说话人刻意省去了“我”或“我们”。这些无主句往往出现在较为正式的场合或正式的书面报告中，翻译成英文时可根据集体情况添加主语“我”或“我们”，最好不要将其转译为英语的被动语态。 如：希望一切问题都会迎刃而解。I hope that all the problems will be readily solved.