Unit 1 Page 22
The growth of intercultural communication as a field of study is based on a view o f history that clearly demonstrates people and cultures have been troubled by a pers istent inability to understand and get along with groups and societies removed by sp ace, ideology, appearance, and behavior from their own. What is intriguing about m any of human civilization's failure is that they appear to be personal as well as globa l. The story of humankind is punctuated with instances of face-to-face conflicts as w ell as international misunderstanding--major and minor quarrels that range from si mple name-calling to isolationism or even armed conflict.
It is obvious that increased contact with other cultures and subcultures makes it i mperative for us to make a concerted effort to get along with and to try to understan d people whose beliefs and backgrounds may be vastly different from our own. The ability, through increased awareness and understanding, to peacefully coexist with p eople who do not necessarily share our lifestyles or values could benefit us not only i n our own neighborhoods but could be the decisive factor in maintaining world peac e.
纵观历史，我们可以清楚地看到，人们由于彼此所处地域、意识形态、容貌服饰和行为举止上存在的差异，而长久无法互相理解、无法和睦相处。在这种情况下，跨文化交际作为一个特定的研究领域得以形成和发展。值得注意的是，人类文明在发展过程中所遭受的许多挫折，既是个人的，又是全球性的；人类历史进程总是充满了个人间的直接冲突和民族间的误解——从骂骂咧咧到孤立主义直至到武装冲突，大大小小争端不绝。
很显然，文化间以及亚文化间的交往比以前多了，这迫切要求我们共同努力，去理解有着不同信仰和文化背景的人们，并与之和睦相处。通过加深认识和理解，我们能够与生活方式、价值观念不同的人们和平共处；这不但有益于我们周遭环境的安定，也是维护世界和平的决定性因素。
Unit 2 Page 60
Culture is sometimes referred to as our mental programming，our “software of the mind. ” But we can take that computer analogy further and say that culture is the operating environment that enables software programs to run. Culture is like DOS or Unix or Windows：it is what enables us to process information in various specific application. The metaphor of windows seems to be very appealing to describe culture: culture is a mental set of windows through which all of life is viewed. It various from individual to individual within a society, but it shares important characteristics with menbers of a society.
Culture is like the water fish swim in┄a reality that is taken for granted and rarely examined. it is in the air we breath and is as necessary to our understanding of who we are as air is to our physical life. Culture is the property of a community of people, not simply a characteristic of individuals. Societies are programmed by culture, and that programming comes from similar life experiences and similar interpretations of what those experiences mean.
If culture is mental programming, it is also a mental map of reality. It tells us from
