1. IRELAND’S SOCIAL CHANGES
1. Women have more rights like had equal access to jobs in terms of hiring, as well as equal opportunities in subsequent promotions and pay awards.
2. Any citizen of an EU country can work and live legally in Ireland.
3. High house price give them a lot of pressure. So that most young people would have to live in far-flung suburbs.
4. Ireland is now the most car-dependent society in the world.
5. Ireland’s living standards have increased dramatically. But the new wealth has not been shared equally. The wealthy have become almost indecently rich, the poor have become more deprived.
6. The exposure of corruption has shocked the ordinary Irish public and made them increasingly cynical about politicians in particular.
7. The lack adequate public facilities and programs to tackle these emerging problems is striking in Ireland. Some problems even reached almost crisis point in some cities.
8. Young people were better educated and more aware of their options in life, and better able to take them up.
9. Young people no longer wish to inherit an enterprise which is a hard life at best, and world now yield only a meager income in comparison with other was of living.
10. Many people went out and bought expensive cars and second houses.
2. THE BRITISH MONARCHY
1. The oldest institution of government is the Monarchy.
2.The power of the monarchy was largely derived from the ancient doctrine(天赐神授的)of the “divine right of kings”.
3. It was held that the sovereign derived his authority from God, not from his subjects.
4. For a thousand years Britain has had a hereditary king or queen as the head of state.
5. In medieval times the king should not exercise absolute power.
6. Instead, the sovereign should be willing to receive advice from prominent men.
7. The monarch’s unwillingness to do this led to many battles between the king and other powerful groups like the Church and powerful, land-owning feudal barons.
8. Britain is both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy.
9. Today, the official head of state is the queen and her powers are largely traditional and symbolic.
10. It was a gang of feudal barons and the Church which opposed some of King John’s policies.
3. CLASS IN THE UK
1. I t makes a difference to an individual’s “life-chance” which group or class he or she is born into.
2. Though it should be stressed that it is far from impossible for the working-class child to acquire middle-class status: it is simply statistically much more unlikely than for his middle-class school-friend.
3. Manual (or “blue-collar”) workers would usually call themselves working-class, and office (or “white collar”) workers would usually call themselves middle-class.
4. There is a hazy area around unskilled office-work and skilled well-paid manual work which leads to sub-divisions such as “lower middle-class” being used.
5. T he term “upper middle-class” might be used to describe doctors and lawyers w ho have relatively high incomes and high-status professions---especially in families with long traditions of such employment.
6. Such class-divisions are not simply economic: a working-class car worker may earn more money than a middle-class university teacher, but there are additional cultural differences.
7. An obvious one in the UK is
which newspaper people read.
8. Strangers would probably be able to place each of them in the right class simply by listening to the way they speak: regional accents tend to be stronger amongst the working-class.
9. Another factor marking off what might be termed an “upper middle-class” is education. The top levels of many aspects of British society----arts, media, industry and politics contain a very high proportion of “Oxbridge” graduates. When hiring they tend to hire fellow Oxbridge graduates.
10. It has also retained a hereditary aristocracy.(保留了世袭贵族) Among the students at the private schools attended by the upper-middle-class above would be a thin scattering of aristocratic children, who will inherit titles. But their significance should not be over-stated. Their position has changed with the century.
4. POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UK
1.Three major national parties: The Conservative party(保守党)and the Labour party(劳工党)are the two biggest, and any general election is really about which of those two is going to govern. The third important party is the Liberal Democrats(自由民主党), who usually receive up to about 20% of the votes: not enough to form a government, but enough to have a big impact on which of the other two parties does so.
2.The Labour party is the newest of these three, created by the growing trade union movement at the end of the nineteenth century. … …P54
3.The Conservative party is the party that spent most time in power. Basically the Conservatives are seen as the party of the individual, protecting the individual’s right to acquire wealth and to spend it how they choose, and so favoring economic policies which businessmen prefer, such as low taxes. … ...P54
4.The Liberal Democrats occupying the ideological ground between the two main parties. At such, at election time they may receive votes both from those who usually vote Labour and from those who usually vote Conservative. Many people see them as comparatively flexible and pragmatic in their balance of the individual and the social.
5. There are small parties supporting the independence of each of the three smaller countries in the Union, though at the moment they all receive a small share of the vote at election time.
5. Immigration to Australia
1. Since the earliest days of European settlement, migration has accounted for up to 50 percent of Australia’s population increase.
2. During the middle of the 19th century migrants were predominantly British and those who benefited from assisted migration were almost all from Britain. However, the population also included migrants from Italy, Greece, the Lebanon, Afghanistan and the Pacific Islands. Gold rushes attracted many people from other countries especially from Germany and China.
3. By the 1870s, the Chinese constituted the third largest group in Australia, after the British (including the Irish) and Germans.
4. The White Australia Policy 1901 was manifested in the Immigration Restriction Act. It remained a guiding principle of Australian immigration until its gradual abolition between 1966 and 1973. The framers of the policy made it clear that Chinese and other’non-whites’had to be stopped from permanently settling here.
5. Today, there is a much higher proportion of settlers arriving from Asia although Anglo Australia migrants still predominate.
6. Irish economy
Ireland is a small, open, trade-dependent economy. The Irish economy has been transformed from
being agrarian and having a traditional manufacturing base to one increasingly based on the hi-tech and internationally traded services.
From its founding in 1922 until the 1970s: P191
The EU: Economic policies.
1. The Celtic Tiger: mimicking the boom in Asia, the media called Ireland’s sudden wealth “the Celtic Tiger” economy. Because Ireland has became wealthy with all the swiftness and ferocity of that beast.
2. Benefit of Common Market (EU): improve the infrastructure and for education and training. The most important benefit for Ireland is in granting it access to Europe. With this access, Ireland’s dependence on its traditional trading partner, Great Britain, has been severely modified.
3.In the early years, EU subsidies also proved a bonanza for small farmers.
4. Many multinational companies find Ireland an attractive foreign base.
7. The troubles in northern Ireland
1. Groups of Protestants began to organize counter-demonstrations and rioting broke out. Protestant mobs attacked Catholic areas. The police were overwhelmed by the fighting, and the Northern Irish Prime Minister asked London for solders to help restore order.
2. The longer British solder stayed, the more they were seen as the symbol of British rule in Northern Ireland. The IRA at this time split. In the early 1970s the IRA carried out a campaign of bombing and shorting, usually targeting the security forces, but often bombing citycentres. The British security forces were strengthened.
3. The Protestants formed their own illegal “Paramility” groups and took revenge on Catholic s, often murdering individuals at random. Catholic in mainly Protestant, and Protestants in mainly Catholic areas were threatened. The result is that Northern Irish cities are “ghettoized”(使成为少数民族聚居地)into exclusively Protestant and exclusively Catholic areas.
4. Internment: in 1971 the Northern Irish government took the desperate step of imprisoning terrorist suspects from both sides without trial. This suspension of civil rights caused anger on both sides.
5. In the following year 1972, 468 people were killed in Northern Ireland , the worst year of the troubles. This was a key event in strengthening Catholic opposition to the British presence. This day has now been mythol ogised as “Bloody Sunday”, an important symbol of British oppression.
6. In 1973, an agreement was reached between the main political parties in Northern Ireland, and importantly, the British and Irish governments. The IRA’s bombing campaign extended to the mainland of Great Britain, but even so the troubles settled down to a peculiar level of semi- acceptability. People had got used to it. Both sides continued the conflicts, but the Britain forces kept the scale down to a lower level than in the early 1970s, and though the late 1970sand the 1980s the death rate averaged around 90 per year. It didn’t get worse, but neither could anyone see an end to it.
8. Australian Aborigines
1. The peoples of the Dreaming belonged to over 500 different groups or nations with different languages and cultures but they were bound together by their belief in the Dreaming.
2. The sacred(神的)creation stories provide a memorable map of the landscape. The intricate and specific detail of the stories of the Dreaming transform the desert into a familiar and life sustaining landscape: the Peoples of the Dreamtime know how to find water, even in the desert areas, because the special stories within the Dreaming provide a detailed knowledge of their land.
3. The peoples of the Dreaming developed an intricate understanding of the land their intellectual skills became important to the colonists and developers who took over the country after 1788.
4. The pastoralists exploited the Peoples’ understanding of the land in the development of the great cattle
and sheep stations that created massive wealth for the new white “owners”.
The British took over the country in the late 18th century declaring it to be “terra nullius”. These one million or so people who lived on the land were instead grouped together under the one name: “the Aborigines”, the generic term meaning “the original natives of the land.”
9. Newspapers in the UK
The United Kingdom has one of the world’s oldest established newspaper industries. In the late 18th and early 19th century as the British economy began to industrialise, as the democratic franchise was extended to larger segments of the population, and as literacy levels rose through the introduction of mass education, more and more newspapers began to appear.
The Observer which is still published every Sunday, making it the world’s oldest national newspaper.（观察家报）
The Times is the United Kingdom’s oldest daily newspaper.（泰晤士报）
The quality press(or the broadsheets)严肃报纸because they are printed on large-size paper. It carry more serious and in-depth articles of particular political and social importance. They also carry reviews and feature articles about high culture and will generally be read by a well-educated, middle class audience.
The Guardian（卫报）：the left-wing newspaper.
The Telegraph(电讯报): tend to support tough sentences for criminals, be unsympathetic to single mothers and favour free enterprise over social programs.
The tabloids（通俗小报）smaller format newspapers with colour photos and catchy headlines. They are often called “the gutter press”(低级趣味报纸)because they deal in scandals and gossip. The stories are shot, easy to read and often rely more on opinion than fact.
The News of the World （世界新闻报）
Function: 1.increasingly newspapers took on the role of informing the electorate about politics. This watchdog function, keeping an eye on the government, is one of the reasons why a free press is considered so important to the functioning of parliamentary democracy.
2. Many analysts feel that the power of the press has usurped the power of parliament. Contemporary politicians prefer to speak directly to the media rather than to parliament and of course they have their favorite, friendly reporters who will give them favorable coverage.
3. Business people, even more than politicians, were quick to realize “the power of the press” to inform potential customers about their products and services and so the advertising business was born.
4. British newspaper culture is unusual in the extent to which class and educational differences are reflected in the newspapers people read. People often choose to read a newspaper which accords with their own feelings.
5. Contempt of court laws restrain newspapers from printing information about people being tried for various crimes because this can prejudice the judicial system.
10. FESTIVALS IN UK
CHRISTMAS(December 25th): Schools close for the holiday period, as do shops and offices, so peoples can spend time at home with their families. Meaning:it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ—celebrations of the Winter Solstice have taken place since ancient times. Three Christmas traditions: 1. Christmas Pantomime(圣诞童话剧) a comical musical play. 2. Hear the Queen give her Christmas message to her realm over the television and radio. She usually talks about the year that has passed and expresses her hopes for the future.3. Boxing Day is which falls on the day after Christmas. Traditionally, it was on Boxing Day that people gave Christmas gifts or money to their staff or servants.
Today, it is means shopping. But for many people, Boxing Day is a day for visiting, eating and relaxing. EASTER: Easter commemorates the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. For most people the main symbol of Easter is the Easter egg, originally a Christian symbol of new life. Nowadays people give each other chocolate or candy Easter Eggs which are often very large, elaborate and expensive.“TROOPING THE COLOUR”: It happens on the second Saturday in June when the Queen’s Birthday is officially celebrated.
ENGLAND——BONFIRE NIGHT (GUY FAWKES NIGHT) History: P154
Nowadays, English people still celebrate this event in the traditional way. In early November, gangs of small children appear on British streets, often with a straw effigy called the “Guy”.
NOTHERN IRELAND
1. It comes from the 17th century battles between Catholics and Protestants is the Protestant celebration of their victory at the Battle of the Boyne (12 July) in1690. History: P154
The Twelfth is the high point of what is known as the Marching Season, when Protestant “Orangemen” take to the streets wearing their traditional uniforms of bowler hats(圆顶高帽), black suits and orange sashes, marching through the streets singing, banging drums and playing in marching bands. The Orangemen often clash——verbally, legally or sometimes violently—with the Catholics as they attempt to parade through Catholic neighborhoods, symbolically asserting their continued dominance over the Irish.
2. Northern Ireland Catholics celebrate the birthday of the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick, on March 17 each year. Patrick was a Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century and is thought to have brought Christianity to Ireland.
According to popular legend, St Patrick drove snakes(the Christian symbol of evil) out of Ireland. In another legend it is said that he used the three leafed clover(三叶草), or shamrock, to explain the Christian trinity to the pagan Irish. The shamrock is a popular symbol to wear on St Patrick’s Day, and it is also considered very lucky to wear something green.
SCOTLAND——Hogmanay and Halloween
Hogmanay: In Scotland New Y ear’s Eve called Hogmanay——is the major winter celebration, and overshadows Christmas which is a very quiet affair. The widely practiced custom is “first footing”. There is a superstitious belief that the first person to cross the threshold of a household in the New Year can bring luck and prosperity: the appearance of a young, preferably dark haired and handsome man, is considered particularly lucky. First footers often bring a bottle of spirits, alcohol, a lump of coal or a peat as a gift and are given a “dram of whisky” as their reward.
Halloween is a Scottish festival that comes from the great feast of the pagan Celts which marked the arrival of the winter half of the year. Halloween is notable for showing the darker, supernatural side of Celtic custom—communion with the dead, mischief, fortune-telling and masquerades are common practices. Children make “turnip lanterns.” Turnips are hollowed out and holes are cut to make eyes, nose and mouth. Then candles are placed inside the turnip and it is set in the windows to scare away witches and other evil spirits.
WALES——Eisteddfod
The Welsh language began to die, but Welsh speakers fought hard to preserve it. One way they accomplished this was to celebrate their culture and their language each August with a really large Eisteddfod which would remind people throughout the UK of Wales’ special cultural heritage.
At the Eisteddfod, tents and pavilions are erected around a big open space: in the different tents competitions are held to find the best choirs, translators, essayists and poets.
About American 1.What is the full name of America? The United States of America 2 How many states are there in the United States? Fifty states 3 What is the capital of the USA Washington D.C. 4 Where is the Stature of Liberty? In New York 5 Where does the American president live ? In the white house About Britain 1 What does UK stand for ? The United Kingdom 2 What us the full name of the UK? The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 3What are the four parts of the UK? England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. 4In which continent is the UK situated? In Europe. 5 By which channel is the UK separated The English Channel About China 1.How many ethnic groups are there in China? 56 2.In which continent is China located In Asia 3. what are the four great inventions in ancient China? Paper-making, printing, gunpowder, and the compass 4. What is the largest island in China? Taiwan Island 5. When was the people’s Republic of China founded?
英美文化及其风俗习惯 1．关于个人隐私：英美人特别注重个人隐私，他们认为个人的事不必让别人知道，更不愿让别人干预，当陌生人或不大熟悉的人提出How old are you?(你多大了?)／How much do you make? (你赚多少钱?)／Are you married? (你结婚了吗?)等涉及年龄、收入、婚姻状况、宗教信仰等问题时，都被认为有失礼貌。因此，在与英美人交往时，应避免问及有关隐私的问题。 2．被邀做客带什么?在英美等国家，如果被邀请去别人家里做客，除非遇到一些重大的节日或婚礼、生日等特殊的场合，通常只需带上一点小礼物或一束鲜花即可。如果是好朋友相邀，则送不送礼物都可以，如果一定要送点什么，也不需要买过于贵重的东西，礼物可以是一瓶酒，一块巧克力，一张有纪念意义的明信片等。在接过礼物后，接受礼物的人则会马上打开礼物，并说一些赞赏的话，而赠送礼物的人衷心地说一声“Thank you very much.”也是必不可少的。 3．在欧美国家，当你乘坐出租车或在饭店、旅店消费，进行理发或美容时，除车费、饭钱、住宿费等应付的账单外，常常还需支付一定的小费。小费的比例一般为账单的10％-15％。人们通常给出租车司机、理发师、美容师、旅馆行李员小费。但在饮食店和旅馆，如果小费已经算在账单里了，通常就不必再给小费了。给小费是尊重对方劳动的礼貌行为。 4．当你接到美国人请你到家做客的邀请时，你或许会感到困惑，不知道在美国人家里怎么做。其实很简单，大部分美国人都希望你在做客时表现得自然，你没必要过于拘谨。一般来说，美国人对于朋友的到访都带有随意的态度。他们希望你能感到轻松、舒适，就像你在自己家里一样。当然，在别人家里有些事你是不能做的，比如说，不经允许就开冰箱拿可乐喝或乱翻动桌子上的资料等是不礼貌的。英美国家，介绍互不相识的双方认识有习惯的顺序：先把家人介绍给主人，把男子介绍给女子，把年幼者介绍给年长者，把位卑者介绍给位尊者。 5．当你收到你不想接受的邀请时，你该如何拒绝呢?在英语中，有许多表示拒绝的用语。他们有的口气强硬，有的较委婉。对别人的邀请委婉地拒绝会更有礼貌，也让人容易接受。比如：“I'm sorry．but I'm busy on Saturday．(对不起，我星期六很忙。)”而不能说：“No. I don't want to go．(不，我不想去。)”又比如，你可以说：“I’d like t0 play tennis，but I have something else to do．(我喜欢打网球，可是我还有别的事要做。)”而避免说：“No，I don't want to play tennis with you．(我不想和你去打网球。)” 6．“这些东西多少钱(How much is it)?”在各国都是一个普通但重要的问题。在使用时各国却存在一个文化的差异。在亚洲的大部分国家，在小商店里向店主询问商品价格并讨价还价(bargain)是很自然的事。但在美国和其他西方国家，即使是小店，每样商品的包装上都有价格标签(price tag)。你不需询问价格，只用按照标签上的价格付钱即可，人们极少讨价还价。但是除了商品本身的价格外，人们通常还需另付商品价格5％～8．5％的消费税。
英美文化概况之英国篇 英国早期人文历史常识 （一） 英国东邻北海，西、北面对大西洋，南面是英吉利海峡（the English Channel），与法国隔海相望。 地理上，这里被称为“不列颠群岛”（British Isles），由大不列颠岛（Great Britain）和爱尔兰岛（Ireland）这两大岛屿，以及其它几百个小岛组成。 大不列颠岛上分布着英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士（England,Scotland and Wales）三个区域，而爱尔兰岛则分成北爱尔兰和爱尔兰共和国（Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland）两块。 政治上，大不列颠和北爱尔兰共同组成联合王国（the United Kingdom），而爱尔兰共和国则是独立于联合王国而存在的独立的国家。我们通常所说的英国，则是指联合王国。 联合王国的首都是伦敦（London）；而爱尔兰共和国的首都是都柏林（Dublin）。 大不列颠岛在政治上被划分成英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士三个区域，其中英格兰面积最大、人口最多，总的来说也最为富裕。因此很多人通常会用“英格兰人”（English）指代“不列颠人”（British），这点当然会引起苏格兰人和威尔士人（Scots and Welsh）的不满。不列颠在大约一百年前曾统治着世界上四分之一的人口和土地，其殖民地遍布全球各大洲。二战之后，随着不列颠国力衰退，各殖民地纷纷独立，不列颠帝国（the British Empire）在1931年起被英联邦所取代。
英联邦（the Commonwealth of Nations）是由英国和已经独立的前英国殖民地或附 属国组成的联合体。英国作为英联邦元首并无政治实权；各国在一定协议上相互进行政治、主要是经济方面的磋商和合作；各成员国也有权利选择退出英联邦。 （二） 英国地势西北高、东南低。其西北地区主要地形是高原；而东部和东南部则主要是低地，他们是整个欧洲平原（the Great European Plain）的组成部分。 英格兰占据了大不列颠南面的最大部分土地，那里地势平缓，多为平原、丘陵和沼泽地。特别是英格兰东部沿海地区，土地肥沃，适于耕种。 苏格兰多为山地、湖泊和岛屿，它拥有三大自然区：北部高地，中部低地以及南部山陵。不列颠最高峰尼维斯峰（Ben Nevis）便座落于此，高1,343米。威尔士亦是多山地区，6%的土地被森林覆盖，大部分村庄以放牧为主。 北爱尔兰北部为多岩石、荒蛮的海岸，曲折蜿蜒。其东北部多为高地，东南部为山区，而中部则是低浅的盆地。 不列颠是个岛屿国家，四面环海，它隔着英吉利海峡与欧洲大陆遥遥相望。位处英法两国之间的英吉利海峡最窄之处被称作多佛海峡（Straits of Dover），仅有33公里宽度。1985年英国政府和法国政府决定在多佛海峡处修建海峡隧道。 总长153公里的隧道于1994年五月竣工通车，使得欧洲公路网得以连成一体，被誉为人类工程史上的一个伟业。 英国河流分布细密。塞文河（the Severn）是英国第一大河流，长338公里，它同西
英美文化差异 英国人和美国人虽然说着相同的语言，却有着许多完全不同的处事态度与生活习惯。在很多生活细节上，你一眼就能区分出高冷的英国人和不拘小节的美国人。 一、语言 语言与文化的关系相当密切。著名美国翻译理论家奈达在描述语言与文 化的关系时说：“语言永远是文化的一个组成部分，任何文章所表达的意思都 直接或间接地与所属文化相关联。归根结底，离开了相关文化，词汇就失去 了意义。文化的不同自然而然意味着语言的不同……”由此可见，文化差异包 括语言差异。 英国英语和美国英语并不是两种独立的语言。众所周知，美国是由英国 在北美的殖民地摆脱英国殖民统治而独立的国家，英语也是被移民美国的英 国人带去的。在过去的几百年时间里，英国英语和美国英语都发生了很大变化，他们的发展各不相同，但是两者之间的差异并不大。这些差异体现在发音、拼写、词汇等方面。 正如每个地方有自己的方言一样，英美两国由于地理位置相距甚远，发 音规律各不相同。这也正是为什么人们把英语发音归为英音和美音两类。在 拼写上，美国英语较之英国英语更简洁，更接近发音，如color(美)/colour(英)，realize(美)/realise(英)，theater(美)/theatre(英)，prolog(美)/prologue(英)。英美语 言在词汇方面的差异体现在英国人和美国人在表达同样的意思时选词倾向不同，如flat(英) /apartment(美)，lift(英)/elevator(美)，rubber(英)/eraser(美)，postbox(英)/mailbox(美)，film(英)/movie(美)。 二、人口 英美两国同为移民国家，但人口组成各不相同。 英国是由历史上不同时期从欧洲入侵英国的不同人种组成，包括伊比利 亚人(Iberians)、凯尔特人(Celts)、古罗马人(Romans)、盎格鲁——撒克逊人(Anglo—Saxons)、北欧人(Danes)、诺曼人(Normans)。其中入侵英国的日尔曼
Outline of chapters After learning this chapter you should learn to Chapter 1 I. terms: culture, iceberg, culture shock, low context culture/ high context culture, collectivism/ individualism, relationship-oriented/ task-oriented, multicultural person, monocultural person, multilingual person, the characteristics of culture II. Questions: 1. List some cultural differences between the west and east. at least 5. 2. What is cultural stereotype and its influence on cultural learning? 3. What kind of attitude shall we take towards cultural learning and cultural generalizations? Chapter 2 I. Terms: value, individualism, collectivism, individual-oriented society, group-oriented society II. Questions： 1. The core value of the U.S.: individualism, privacy, equality, informality, directness and assertiveness. 2. The core value of Britain: class system, British food, socializing, understatement and so on. 3. Different value in American and British daily life. 4. Cultural reasons of cheating. 5. The child-parent relationship in different culture. 6. The difference of American dream and Chinese dream. Chapter 3: I. Terms： Western-style conversation, Japanese-style conversation, low-context communication, high-context communication II. Questions: 1.Can you use different ballgames to explain western-style conversation and Japanese-style conversation? 2.What are the differences between low-context and high-context communication? 3.How should students organize their expository writing in English? 4.What are the unspoken rules for a language? 5.Can you give a specific example of directness in verbal interaction between Americans? Chapter 4 1.Illustrate the importance of nonverbal communication. 2.Know at least 5 aspects of silent language. 3.Explain the functions of nonverbal cues. 4.Explain Americans’ perception of time and their time concept.
[摘要] 外语电影是了解外语国家文化的重要途径和有效资源。《天生一对》以温情浪漫的喜剧方式，使观众得以鲜明直观地对比两个最重要的英语国家——美国和英国之间的文化差异。本文试图通过分析对比影片中两国语言上的差异、国民性格的差异以及人文环境的差异，来揭示背后的国家文化差异，以期使读者及观众对美语和英语有正确的认识。对两国的文化有基本的了解，从而能有效帮助解决英语学习过程中的文化障碍。 [关键词] 英国文化；美国文化；差异 一、故事梗概 该片于1998年7月上映，中译名《天生一对》，以现代手法重拍了20世纪60年代经典同名作品，故事内容改编自德国小说Das Doppelte Lottchen。故事的主人公是一对双胞胎姐妹花荷莉和安妮。她们的父母尼克和伊丽莎白在一次航海旅行中在“伊丽莎白二世”号上相遇并在旅途中结为夫妇，可后来婚姻破裂。尼克独自在自己的纳帕山谷葡萄园里抚养荷莉，而安妮则与当婚纱设计师的妈妈伊丽莎白一起生活在伦敦；直到她们在夏令营相遇以前，两人彼此都不知道自己还有一个孪生姐妹。不过11年之后，命运却巧妙地让她们在缅因州一个夏令营的活动中相遇。尽管她们的外貌惊人的相似，但是两人性格、气质、行为习惯等却大相径庭，从而引得两人冲突不断。很快她们发现原来是一对双胞胎姐妹，为了更多地了懈她们的父母，她们两人决定交换身份，来到她们各自从未谋面的父亲或母亲身边。她们本打算一直这样装下去，直到尼克宣布他要再婚，两姐妹决定帮助她们的父母破镜重圆。虽然尼克那富有魅力但却让人讨厌的未婚妻给她们的计划带来很大麻烦，但姐妹俩合力设计痛整并气走了她。最终在两个女儿的安排下，二人重拾旧爱，一家人开始了新的幸福生活。影片充满情趣，两个小姐妹交换身份闹出不少笑话，搞笑情节层出不穷，而片中也穿插着温情情绪，让观众在观看电影的时候感到温暖而又愉悦。 二、影片中的美英文化差异 由于本片两个小主人公分别生长于美国和英国，两个社会文化明显差异的家庭背景，因而片中从多个视角呈现了两种文化的差异，为片中的喜剧元素增色不少。 (一)两国文化在语言上的差异 语言既是文化的一部分，又是文化的一面镜子。一个民族的语言折射出这个民族纷繁多彩的文化形态。英语通过其漫长的发展与完善，最终形成了英式英语和美式英语两种主流形式。两者在语音和表达习惯等方面存在明显差异，这势必会给非英语为母语的学习者带来难，给中外交流造成障碍。而这些差异在影片台词中可见一斑。 1．语音差异 首先，英式英语讲究抑扬顿挫，语调变化大，且发音短促，重读音较多，给人以严肃刻板之感；而美式英语讲究发音圆润饱满，连音略音较多，则更显自然随意。以夏令营场景之一为例：当荷莉堵在安妮的宿舍门口以阻止训导员发现她对安妮等的整蛊行为时说，“I、can't let,-．,yougo,．-,in there．She一's、highly contagious．”句中只两处重读，语调平稳没有起伏，倒是有三处连读和cani(t)词尾省音。而随后安妮为了揭发荷莉说道，“、Actually，We Kre、^all、quite、fine in、here unless、荷莉Parker knows、something We、don't、know．”很明显，她的伦敦口音在一句话中多处重读，而只有一处连读且无省音，整句呈现出很强的节奏感。其次，美英两种英语在很多单词的发音习惯上有很大差异。在英国英语中，字母?r只在元音之前才发音，其余位置不发音。但在美国英语中，不管“r”在词中任何位置都要发音，听起来读音大不相同，这也就是美语中有名的卷舌音(r化音)。片中的一个重要道具——扑克牌“poker”。伦敦管家马丁拿出牌时的读音为，’pouko。而当荷莉在询问同伴是否会玩时的读音为，’p；ukzr／。片中此类 词语不胜枚举。另外，还有一些个别情况，如荷莉在问伙伴会否打牌时说“Either of you，by
英美文化考试范围（加强版） 题型 一、选择题55分二、填空题15分三、简答题 20分（4问）四、问答题 10分（2选1）具体范围 一、选择题第1、3、5、10章课后选择题 补充：Unit 1 1. The ancestors of the Welsh are ___A__. A. the Celts B. the Romans C. the Angles D. the Normans 2. Which of the following is not one of the three Germanic tribes that came to be the basis of modern English race?A A. the Viking Danes B. the Angles C. the Saxons D. the Jutes 3. The historical Arthur is believed by most historians as a _A__ warrior. A. Celtic B Anglo C Saxon D Norman 4. For much of the Middle Ages, Britain was ruled by a(n) ___B___-speaking aristocracy. A. English B. French C. German D. Gaelic Unit 2 1. One of the following took place during the Elizabethan age:B A. the making of the Magna Carta B. the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English navy C. the rule of Alfred the Great D. the defeat of King Harold by France 2. In England, the monarch, D , declared that the Pope was no longer head of the Church of England. A. Bloody Mary C. King Henry V B. Queen Elizabeth I. D. King Henry VIII 3. Three of the following were characteristics of the Elizabethan age. Which of the four is the exception? A A. Queen Elizabeth advocated the Divine Right and quarreled with Parliament. B. Protestantism gradually became the dominant faith. C. This was the age of literature when Shakespeare lived and when English literature blossomed. D. This was the age of adventure on the sea. 4. Victorianism was characterized by the following except D A. It was in an age of imperialism B. It saw the great progress in sciences with Charles Darwin as a prominent figure. C. It was the age when the great progress was made in the field of communications. D. It was an age when the Battle of Hastings was won by the Duke of Wellington. Unit5 21. Which of the following states is called “the Old Colony State”? B A. Pennsylvania B. Massachusetts C. Delaware D. Georgia 22. The term “Father of Waters” is used to refer to _____C_____.
Chapter 1 1.the geographical composition of the U.K.: two/four parts 2.the population: the majority / the earliest inhabitants 3.the English language: the Germanic group of the Indo-European family / three periods Chapter 2 4.Westminster Abbey 5.1066, Norman Conquest, feudalism 6.Henry II—jury system 7.Magna Carta 8.the Hundred Years’ War 9.House of Tudor: medieval to modern 10.Religious Reformation: the Roman Catholic Church VS. Henry VIII 11.two camps of the Civil War 12.the Glorious Revolution, the Bill of Rights, constitutional monarchy 13.the Industrial Revolution: reasons / effects 14.the British Empire —colonization 15.Three Majestic Circles Chapter 3 16.the British Constitution: three parts 17.a division of powers among three branches 18.Parliament —the law-making body; two houses The House of Commons —center of parliamentary power 19.the role of the Prime Minister 20.The House of Lords —Supreme Court 21.Scotland —a distinct legal system 22.right/left wing party 23.a general election —every 5 years 24.The Commonwealth —decolonization; an unpolitical union of sovereign states Chapter 4 25.Margaret Thatcher and her controversial policies 26.three sectors of economy —primary, secondary and tertiary 27.the major trends in the British economy 28.two pillar industries of the current British economy Chapter 5 29.British compulsory education —5 to 16 30.four stages secondary education —comprehensive school further education —sixth form 31.two systems
Historic events 一)Hundred Years’ war 百年战争 It was a series of separate conflicts between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France and their various allies for control of the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. Time: From1337 to 1543 The war is commonly divided into three or four phases, separated by various unsuccessful truces: ①the Edwardian War (1337–1360); ②the Caroline War (1369–1389); ③the Lancastrian War (1415–1453); Cause: The background to the conflict is to be found in 1066, when William, Duke of Normandy, led an invasion of England. He defeated the English King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, and had himself crowned King of England. As Duke of Normandy, he remained a vassal of the French King, and was required to swear fealty to the latter for his lands in France; for a king to swear fealty to another king was considered humiliating, and the Norman Kings of England generally attempted to avoid the service. On the French side, the Capetian monarchs resented a neighboring king holding lands within their own realm, and sought to neutralize the threat England now posed to France The King of England directly ruled more territory on the continent than did the King of France himself. This situation – in which the kings of England owed vassalage to a ruler who was de facto much weaker – was a cause of continual conflict. John of England inherited this great estate from King Richard I. However, Philip II of France acted decisively to exploit the weaknesses of King John, both legally and militarily, and by 1204 had succeeded in wresting control of most of the ancient territorial possessions. Significance: The Hundred Years' War was a time of military evolution. Weapons, tactics, army structure, and the societal meaning of war all changed, partly in response to the demands of the war, partly through advancement in technology, and partly through lessons that warfare taught. The war also stimulated nationalistic sentiment. It devastated France as a land, but it also awakened French nationalism. The Hundred Years' War accelerated the process of transforming France from a feudal monarchy to a centralized state. The conflict became one of not just English and French kings but one between the English and French peoples. There were constant rumours in England that the French meant to invade and destroy the English language. National feeling that emerged out of such rumours unified both France and England further. The Hundred Years War basically confirmed the fall of the French language in England, which had served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce there from the time of the Norman Conquest until 1362 Important Figures: England King Edward III 1327–1377 Edward II's son
中国与英美文化差异 【篇一：中国与英美文化差异】 摘要：近些年来，随着国际社会的不断进步，各国之间的经济文化 交流越来越广泛，而文化一直跟随着一个国家的发展历程，见证着 国家的兴衰存亡。纵观世界，英美文化和中国文化都具有博大精深、源远流长的特点，在不断发展的国际社会条件下，被赋予了新的内 容和含义，随着大国之间的交流越来越深入，使得各国之间文化交 流和碰撞也日益频繁。本文就目前英美文化和中国文化的发展现状，简要分析在新的社会条件下，英美文化和中国文化发展的差异所在。中国论文网 /9/view-6808314.htm 关键词：英美文化中国文化差异现状分析 中图分类号：g642 文献标识码： a 文章编号：1672-1578（2015）02-0007-02 随着我国改革开放事业的不断深入，我国经济水平和国际地位有了 很大的提升，与国际社会之间的交流和合作也越来越频繁，这就使 得我国文化承受着来自各国文化的冲击，特别是英美等西方经济发 展大国，在进行经济、文化、贸易交流时，对我国传统文化产生了 很大的影响。因此，在新的社会发展形势下，及时分析各国之间的 文化差异，对于继承和发扬我国优良传统文化有着很大的推动作用。 1 研究英美文化与中国文化之间差异的必要性 当今世界，处于国际社会中的每个国家要想得到高速的发展，就需 要保持与其他各国之间的经济、贸易等交流，而各国自身的发展历 程有着很大的区别，这就使得各国之间的文化底蕴和文化内涵有着 很大的不同，这在一定程度上阻碍了国家之间的交流与合作。因此，研究英美文化与中国文化之间的差异，对于国家之间的发展有着重 要的意义，下面就研究英美文化和中国文化之间差异的必要性做具 体分析。 1.1文化是社会意识形态的集中体现 通常来讲，文化是指人类活动的模式以及给予这些模式重要性的符 号化结构，主要包括文字、语言、文学、绘画等内容，不同地域、 不同时代的文化特点也不尽相同。文化是对人类社会长期的历史实 践过程中创造的物质财富和精神财富的集中体现，不仅是对当时社 会人类生活特点的体现，也是对一个国家长期的发展历程中文化特 色的积淀，更是对每个时期社会意识形态的重要体现。
(判断题) Chapter 1 1. People in different parts of Britain like to use the name England to refer to their country. (F) 2. The Severn River is the longest river of Britain, which originates in Wales and flows through western England.(T) 3. Today more than half of the people in Wales still speak the ancient Welsh language. (F) 4. In terms of population and area, Northern Ireland is the second largest part of Britain.(F) 5. Although the climate in Britain is generally mild, the temperature in northern Scotland often falls below -10℃ in January . (F) 6. The majority of the people in Britain are descendants of the Anglo-Saxons.(T) 7. The Celtic people were the earliest known inhabitants of Britain.(T) 8. English evolved into what is now described as Modern English from the late 16th century.(F) Chapter 2 1. British history before 55BC is basically undocumented.(T) 2. The Anglo-Saxons came to Britain in the 5th century.(T) 3. The chief or king of the Anglo-Saxons tribes exercised power at their own will. (F) 4. The Vikings began to attack the English coast in the 8th century.(T) 5. HenryⅡ built up a large empire which included England and most of France.(T) 6. The Magna Carta was designed to protect the rights of both the privileged class and the townspeople.(F) 7. The Hundred Years’War (1337-1453) was a series of wars fought between the British and the Vikings for trade and territory.(F) 8. In an effort to make a compromise between different religious factions, Queen ElizabethⅠactually defended the fruit of the Reformation.(T) Chapter 3 1. Conventions are regarded less important than the statutory law in the working of the British government.(T) 2. The British monarchy has never been interrupted throughout the history.(F) 3. In reality, the British King or Queen is the source of all government powers.(F) 4. The British Parliament is the law-making body of the Commonwealth of Nations.(F) 5. The members of the House of Commons are appointed rather than elected.(F) 6. The British Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in Parliament.(T) 7. Cabinet members are chosen by the Prime Minister from various political parties in Parliament.(F) 8. The legal systems in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are much similar in terms of law, organization and practice.(T) Chapter 4 1. British was the first industrialized nation in the world.(T) 2. The British economy experienced a relative decline during the post-war period.(T) 3. Limited resources and high unemployment rate were persistent problems that prevented rapid economic development in Britain after World WarⅡ.(F)
1. British personalities(P6)（星） 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 much to strangers , does not show much emotion, and seldom gets excited. Closely related to English reserve is English modesty, within their hearts, the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else, but in their relations with others they value at least a show of modesty. The famous English sense of humor 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. Finally, sportsmanship . Like a sense of humor, 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.(152) 2. Importance of Elizabeth Era in politics,military,international relations and culture（月） Elizabeth Era is a British golden age. In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and siblings. She followed a motto “I see, and say nothing” ,which saved her from political misalliances. Elizabeth restored the status of the episcopal church. And in the first two years she released the supreme law and a single laws, regulating