chapter——7

1.The word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses: Excellenceof taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture. An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning. The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.2.Some historians believe the West originated in the northern and easternMediterranean with ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and south, conquering and absorbing many older great civilizations; later, they grew to the north and west to include Western Europe.3.Western culture is a term used to generally refer to most of the cultures ofEuropean origin and most of their descendants.4.Foundations of Western Culture are: ancient Greece (concretely Greekphilosophy), the Roman Empire (specifically Roman law), Catholic and Protestant Christianity.5.Western culture originates from 2 ancient cultures: Hellenistic culture （emphasizing rationality）and Hebraic culture （emphasizing virtue & discipline）6. 3 most noted achievements of ancient Greeks: Mythology; Architecture;philosophy.7.Greek Mythology, set of diverse traditional tales told by the ancient Greeksabout the exploits of gods and heroes and their relations with ordinary mortals.8.The Greek gods resembled human beings in their form and in their emotions.9.The Olympians refers to the twelve major gods and godd esses dwelling onMount Olympus.10.Zeus is the god of gods, the god of sky, the supreme god, the father of bothgods and men.11.Hermes (Mercury) is god of physicians and thieves; messenger of gods.12.Apollo is the sun god, the god of music, a god of prophecy.13.Dionysus is god of wine and ecstasy.14.Hephaestus is god of fire; celestial blacksmith.15.Athena is the goddess of war, wisdom and handicraft.16.Hera is queen of heaven and of the Olympians, the goddess of marriage andfamily, the protectress of married women and their legal children.17.Poseid on is the god of sea, the protector of seamen, the god of earthquakesand tsunamis.18.Had es is god of the und erworl d.19.Two of the most important of the semi historical myths involve the searchfor the Golden Fleece and the quest that led to the Trojan War.20.Aphrodite is the godd ess of l ove and beauty, the protectress of sailors.21.Heracles is a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, stepson ofAmphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus, the greatest of the Greek heroes.22.The ancient Greek Olympic games was a religious rather than secular festival,celebrating the gods in general and Zeus in particular.23.The idiom “Pandora’s box” means the fountainhead of all evils.24.The idiom “Cupid’s arrow” signifies the magic power of love.25.“Tantalus’s torture” means permanent frustration by the sight of somethingdesired but inaccessible. It also means eternal thirst and hunger.26.The idiom “Sisyphean task” suggests everlasting fruitless hard labor.27.“The golden fleece” means very valuable thing which is rare an d verydifficult to get.28.“Golden touch” therefore refers to the magic power to change cheap metalsinto gold, or worthless junks into treasures.29.“The golden apple” or “the apple of discord” refers to the things that giverise to conflicts and strife.30.“A chilles’s heel” refers to the only part of the body that remains vulnerable.31.“Trojan horse”, or “the wooden horse” means a trap intended to underminean enemy, or subversion from inside.32.The term “Oedipus complex” was chosen by Sigmund Freud to designate ason’s feeling of love toward his mother and jealous hatred toward his father.33.“Narcissistic (personality) disorder” or “narcissism”, means the indulgencein self-admiration.34.“The sword of Damocles” on one hand signifies the impending danger, andon the other hand, indicates the precariousness of power and rank.35.Constellations: Aries (the Ram)白羊座, Taurus (the Bull)金牛座, Gemini (theTwins)双子座, Cancer (the Crab) 巨蟹座, Leo(the Lion)狮子座, Virgo (the Virgin)处女座, Libra (the Scales)天秤座, Scorpio (the Scorpion)天蝎座, Sagittarius (the Archer)射手座, Capricorn (the Goat)摩羯座, Aquarius (the Water Carrier)水瓶座, Pisces (the Fishes)双鱼座.36.Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are Classical Greek philosophers.37.Western culture originates from the Hebraic-Christian culture that isund oubtedly embodied in and found ed upon the Holy Bibl e.38.Christianity was the inheritor and the reformer of Judaism, and so theChristian Bibl e includ es the Ol d Testament and the New Testament.39.The Old Testament is the coll ection of books written prior to the life of Jesusbut accepted by Christians as scripture.40.The Torah, or "Instruction," is also known as the "Five Books" of Moses，includ es Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.41.The Torah contains the ten commandments, of God, reveal ed at Mount Sinai.42.Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings ofJesus as presented in the New Testament.43.God is the eternal being who created the universe and all there is have theproperties of holiness, justice, omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevol ence, omnipresence and immortality.44.Christians call the message of Jesus Christ the Gospel ("good news").45.The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God andthe Messiah (Christ).46.Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnation and "true God andtrue man" (or both fully divine and fully human).47.Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary.48.The Eucharist (called Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper) is the part ofliturgical worship that consists of a consecrated meal, usually bread and wine.49.Christianity was l egalized in the 4th century, when Constantine I issued anedict of tol eration in 313. From at l east the 4th century, Christianity has played a prominent rol e in the shaping of Western civilization.50.Christianity may be broadly represented as being divid ed into five maingroupings: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthod oxy, Oriental Orthod oxy, Protestantism, Restorationism.51.Food is important to keep traditions alive as they are part of our history andour culture.52.The multitud es of food styl es of the Western society mainly result from thehistory, heritage, and geographical differences.53.A full course dinner usually consists of multipl e dishes. Usually it is mad e upof three or four courses, such as appetizer, main course and d essert.54.At the end of the meal, napkin shoul d be l eft semi-fold ed at the l eft sid e of theplate.55.Celebrating birthdays became popular almost universally because birthdaysgive peopl e a reason to gather in friendly groups, share food, and enjoy kinship.56.In many portions of the worl d an individual's birthday is cel ebrated by a partywhere a specially mad e cake, usually d ecorated with l ettering and the person's age, is presented. The cake is traditionally stud d ed with the same number of lit candl es as the age of the individual.57.Religious symbolism suggests that lighting candl es opens a channel forprayers to the unseen worl d above. This concept has been borrowed to convey the id ea that blowing out birthday candl es sends a birthday wish to heaven.58.Baptism is consid ered to be a form of rebirth—"by water and the Spirit"—thenakedness of baptism (the second birth) parall eled the condition of one's original birth.59.The removal of cl othing represented the "image of putting off the ol d manwith his d eeds, so the stripping of the body before for baptism represented taking off the trappings of sinful self, so that the "new man," which is given by Jesus, can be put on.60.Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worl dwid e youth movementwith the stated aim of supporting young peopl e in their physical, mental and spiritual d evelopment, that they may play constructive rol es in society.61.If the coupl e of l overs are going into marriage, the man shoul d make aproposal by giving an engagement ring to the woman.62.The marriage will be recognized by: a marriage license and wed dingceremony.63.The reason why brid esmaids and groomsmen are need is that the evil spiritswoul d be confused by so many similarly dressed peopl e.64.A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying or remembering the life ofa person who has died.65.A funeral may take place at either a funeral home or church.66.Funeral services commonly includ e prayers; readings from a sacred text;hymns (sung either by the attend ees or a hired vocalist); and words of comfort by the cl ergy. Frequently, a relative or cl ose friend will be asked to give a eul ogy颂歌, which d etails happy memories and accomplishments; often commenting on the d eceased's flaws, especially at l ength, is consid ered impolite.67.Festivals are precious human heritage that links to religion, customs, historyand peopl e’s lifestyl es. Festivals, of many types, serve to meet specific needs, as well as to provid e entertainment.68.Though festivals many have religious origins, others involve seasonal changeor have some cultural significance.69.New Year’s Day is universally cel ebrated on the first day of the calendar,January 1.70.Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries around the worl d, it is thefirst day of the lunar calendar.71.Valentine's Day is a holiday cel ebrated on February 14(in most countries).Love and affection are celebrated between l overs by sending greeting cards andgifts, dating.72.Mod ern Valentine's Day symbols includ e the heart-shaped outline, d oves, andthe figure of the winged Cupid.73.Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of theExodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. 74.Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year, celebrating theresurrection of Jesus. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from thed ead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated onEaster Day or Easter Sunday (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday) .75.Easter egg is seen by foll owers of Christianity as a symbol of resurrection:whil e being d ormant it contains a new life sealed within it.76.Mother's Day is a cel ebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood,maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society. It originated from an ancient Greek ritual which was to respect the Mother of Gods, Hera.77.Halloween is a yearly holiday observed around the worl d on October 31, thenight before All Saints’ Day, much like Day of the Dead celebrations.78.The American Thanksgiving Day is a traditional family feast with a traditionalturkey dinner, usually in the mid-afternoon. Typical Thanksgiving food also includ es sweet potatoes, pumpkins, cranberries, and fruit salads.79.Carnival typically involves a public cel ebration or parad e combining someelements of a circus, mask and public street party. Peopl e often dress up or masquerad e during the cel ebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life.80.The three very important European Film Festivals are Venice Film Festival,Cannes Film Festival, and Berlin International Film Festival.81.The Gold en Lion is award ed to the best film at Venice Film Festival.82.The Gold en Palm is the highest prize award ed at The Cannes InternationalFilm Festival.83.The Gol d en Bear is the highest prize award ed for the best film at the BerlinInternational Film Festival.1。

Chapter 7 MulticulturalismForeigners from older cultures with traditions，dating back hundreds and hundreds of years sometimes react with surprise and skepticism when the topic of U.S. culture comes up. Commenting on the United States, they sometimes say things like “But the United States has no culture.”People in the United States find comments such as this one amusing at best, and sometimes downright infuriating. In a way, I understand why a foreigner might react skeptically to the United States, especially if the person comes from a more ethnically and racially homogeneous society. Or if the person comes from a society whose culture is reinforced by state institutions—government, church, and schools, for instance. It would be hard for this foreigner to understand a multiracial, ethnically diverse country like the United States, whose institutions do not strongly reinforce the culture. However, it seems naïve or even perverse to deny the existence of a culture that has such great impact on other cultures, for better or worse. The clothes that Americans wear, the food they eat, the music, films, and books they produce, and even to some extent the religions they practice influence how many people in other countries live and think. One may easily disapprove of the influence that mass American culture has on the world, but one cannot objectively deny that influence.In all fairness, I have to say that it’s understandable that foreignershave trouble identifying an American culture because not even the best minds in the country—writers, educators, and politicians—agree on the basic nature of U.S. culture. Now today I’ll try to contrast three ways that U.S. culture has been perceived over the years. Then perhaps you can decide which point of view seems the most logical to you. We’ll take a look at the older monoculturalist view; a newer, multiculturalist view; and finally a third view, which I’ll call the pluralistic view.First in our discussion is the monoculturalist view of the United States as a melting pot. A melting pot, literally a pot in which metals like aluminum and copper are milted in order to blend them, is the traditional metaphor for the way the different groups of immigrants came together in the United States. Now, theoretically, the result of many nationalities blending together is one big unified common culture, an alloy of all the parts in it. In other words, the result is a combination of all the different parts, which have mixed together and are no longer recognizable as separate parts. However, many people today feel that the idea of one common U.S. culture is a myth and has always been a myth. To support their view, opponents point out that many groups, notably African, Asian, and Native Americans,have at times been excluded from participating fully in society through segregation and discrimination. Furthermore, a trademark of U.S. immigration has been that the most recently arrived group, whether Irish or Italian or Chinese or Jewish, typically facedstrong discrimination from those already in the United States. We know that all these groups have made important contributions to culture, that is not the point. The point is, given the climate of discrimination at different times in the past (and even now), U.S. society does not assimilate new cultural input until much later—after the new immigrants are viewed with less prejudice. Let’s move on to another view of U.S. culture.The second view of U.S. culture that we’ll look at today is the multiculturalist view. The multiculturalist view focuses on the many subcultures that make up the U.S. population—all the different ethnic and racial groups we talked about in a previous lecture. Now, each group brought its own distinct culture when it immigrated to the United States. The multiculturalist view does not see U.S. culture as a milting pot; rather, the metaphor that multiculturalists often employ is the patchwork quilt, a bedcover made of numerous pieces of differently-colored material. (Have you seen quilts like these on beds?) The metaphor of the patchwork quilt is appropriate in that the multiculturalists see the United States as a mosaic of separate, autonomous subcultures, each one distinct from the other. U.S. culture, in this view, is a sum of the distinct parts, with little or no mixing of subcultures. Opponents of this view, those who disagree with it (and there are many who do), say that the multiculturalist view ignores the characteristic mixing of groups, both ethnic and racial, thathas been common in the United States. Americans of European background have always intermarried, many people are a combination of four or more ethnic backgrounds—and often of more backgrounds than they can keep track of. I do not want to imply that the United States has overcome its race problems—far from it. But recent census statistics give two indications of somewhat more mixing than previously. First, one in fifteen U.S. marriages is now interracial. An interracial marriage would be any combination of white, black, Asian, and Native American spouses. Admittedly, there are many more marriages between Asians or Native Americans and whites than between blacks and whites. Second, of the 1.6 million children who are adopted, 17 percent make their families multiracial because of the adoption of local children of another race or of children from abroad, especially from Asia or Latin America. Intermarriage and adoption of children of another race make a difference in how people in a family look at themselves. The point here is, the ethnically and racially pure individuals implied by the multiculturalist view are more the exception than the rule. Take, for instance, an African American man married to a Filipina, whose two sons married white women. Where in the patchwork quilt do the grandchildren of the African American former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall belong? This is an extreme example, but I think it shows that Marshall’s grandchildren share many subcultures; they do not represent just one square on the quilt.For this reason, many people prefer another, more satisfactory, view of U.S. culture.The last cultural view we’ll discuss today, the pluralistic view, is a combination of the first two views. The pluralistic view says that individuals have a number of cultural influences, some of which they share with others and some of which are different from one person to another. These cultural influences have three distinct sources: we inherit some of our culture from our families; we absorb some of our culture unconsciously from living in the culture (television figures importantly in this unconscious absorption); and third, we choose some cultural influences that we find attractive from the many subcultures in the United States. In this way, the population shares a large portion of common culture, but people also have individual cultural characteristics that make them different from others. The pluralistic view of culture recognizes the strong role of assimilation, becoming part of the larger group. In assimilation, one becomes part of a larger, dominant culture by accepting much, if not all, of the culture. The pluralistic view differs from the monocultural view in that pluralistic assimilation does not mean that immigrants must deny their original cultures or that they must forget them. But in all likelihood, immigrants become a little less Mexican, Chinese, or Arab as they assimilate parts of the new culture. Assimilationis not required by the dominant culture, but we do know that it occurs regularly among immigrant groups. If assimilation does not take place in the first generation, it most certainly does by the second or third generation.Opponents of the pluralistic view of culture cite Latinos especially Mexican immigrants, the single largest immigrant group since the 1990s. These opponents say that instead of assimilating as other groups have, Mexicans maintain strong ties to neighboring Mexico through frequent visits home. As a result, opponents fear a fragmentation破碎，碎裂, or even destruction, of U.S. culture as we know it. On the other hand, proponents of the pluralistic view point out that even Latinos follow the pattern of previous immigrants; indeed, a fifth of Latinos in the United States intermarry. If this seems like a small number, I think we could safely predict higher intermarriage rates in future generations.It would be wrong to assume that the dominant, or common, culture we’re been speaking about reflects the culture of only one ethnic or racial group that makes up the United States. At the same time, if U.S. society is an open o ne, as Americans like to believe, it would be hard to deny the changing nature of U.S. culture. It has always reflected the cultures of its immigrants and will likely continue to do so. If we accept this premise,the continuation and possible increase in Latino immigration will change the character of the U.S. culture somewhat. Not as drastically as monoculturalists fear, I think, but a change no doubt will occur. I suspect U.S. culture, to use another metaphor, will continue to seem like the same dish—but it will be a dish with a somewhat Latino flavor in the future. The real test of the future of the United States as a culture may well be whether its cultural ideal of tolerance is a reality. Well, I really have taken much more of your time than I should have. Good-bye for now.。

根据中文提示完成句子，每空一词。

（Chapter 1）1.在我遇到困难的时候，他总能给我一些宝贵的意见。

When I am in trouble, he can always give ______ some ________ advice.2.放学前我们一定要把教室打扫干净。

We have to ________ _______ the classroom before school is over.3.他看看四周，但是没发现一个人。

He ________ ________ but found nobody here.4.对于我们而言，努力学习很重要。

It’s very important _______ us _______ _______ ________.5.水最终流入了海洋。

Water _________ ________ the sea in the end.6. 这首歌曲听起来很优美。

The song _________ __________.7.记住不要浪费或者污染自然资源。

Remember not to ________ or _________ the natural resources.8.我一直等到12点钟，但他没有来。

I _________ ________ twelve o’clock, but he didn’t come.9.他摇了摇头，以示对我观点的不赞同。

He _________ _________ ________. This meant that he didn’t agree with me.10.水覆盖了地球三分之二的面积。

Water covers about ________ ________ of Earth.11.我们起初计划去伦敦，但是最后改变了主意。

We planned to go to London _______________ _______ ________,but we changed our mind finally.根据中文提示完成句子，每空一词。