文化差异文章.docx
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文化差异文章.docx
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文化差异文章
Whatleadstotheculturaldifference?
TheculturesoftheEastandtheWestreallydistinguisheachotheralot.Thisisbecausetheculturesystemsaretwoseparatesystemsonthewhole.
Theoriginoftheeasternculturesismainlyfromtwocountries:
ChinaandIndia.Bothofthetwoculturesaregestatedbyrivers.InChina,themotherriveristheYellowRiverwhiletheIndianoneistheHinduRiver.Thesetwoculturesweredevelopedforseveralthousandyearsandformedtheirownstyles.TheninDangDynastyofChina,theChineseculturegraduallywentoverseastoJapan,mixedintotheJapanesesocietyandshapedtheJapaneseculturenowadays.ThoughabitdifferentfromtheChineseone,itbelongstothesamesystem.
Whenthetwomotherriversgavebirthtotheeasternculture,anotherfamousculturewasbroughtupontheMesopotamianPlain----theMesopotamianCivilization.ThiscivilizationlaterondevelopedintotheculturesoftheAncientGreeceandAncientRome.Andthesetwoarewell-knownasthebaseoftheEuropeanculture.LiketheChineseculture,theEuropeanonealsocrossedwaters.WhenthecolonistsofEnglandsettleddowninAmerica,theirculturewentwiththemovertheAtlanticOcean.SotheAmericanculturedoesn'tdistinguishfromtheEuropeanonealot.
Atthesametime,thedifferenceofthelanguagesystemsaddstotheculturaldifferences.IntheEast,mostlanguagesbelongtothepictographiclanguage(seethepicturebelow)whiletheWesternlanguagesaremostlybasedontheLatinsystem,forexample,theoneI’musingtowritethispaper.
Otherfactorslikehumanracedifferencecountsaswell.Butwhat’smore,duetothefardistanceandthesteepareasbetweentheEastandWest,thetwoculturesseldomcommunicateuntilrecentcenturies.Sotheygrewuptotallyintheirownwayswithalmostnointerferencefromtheother.
Pictographiccharactors
PartIIHowdifferentlydopeoplebehaveindailylife?
Thedifferencesareeverywhere.Theyaffectpeople’swaysofthinkingandtheirviewsoftheworld.Evenineverydaylife,theculturaldifferencesshowupfromthemomenttheeyesareopenedtotheminutethedreamsareinvited.
Inthefollowing,I’llgivesometypicalexampleofthedifferences.
Section1:
Greeting
Greetingisthefirststeptoformaculture,becausepeoplebegintocommunicatewithothers.Theindividualsbecomeacommunity.
HowdoweChinesegreeteachother?
Informally,ifwemeetanfriendinthestreet,weareusedtosay:
“Hi,haveyouhadyourmeal?
”or“Whereareyougoing?
”.Whenitisthecaseoftwogentlemen,theytendtoshakehands.
However,inthewesterncountries,theabovequestionsarejustquestions,notgreetingatall.Theymaythinkyou’reinvitingthemtodinnerifyouaskabouttheirmeals.Usually,they’lljustgiveeachotherasmileorgreetwitha“Hi.”.They’llshakehandsonlyinsomeformalsituations.Bytheway,Westernerscanleaveapartyormeetinghallswithoutaformalconge,norshouldtheyshakehandswitheveryattendeelikemostofuswilldohere.
Section2:
Expressinggratitude
Thinkofthesituationsbelow.Yourmotherisbusyinthekitchen.Shesuddenlyasksyoutofetchabowlforher.Youdoso.What’llyourmother’sresponsebe?
Probablyshe’lljustcontinuedoingthecooking.Afterawhile,thedinnerisready.Yourmotherhandsyouyourbowlofrice.What’syourresponse?
Probablyjustbegintoeat.
That’swhatIwanttosay.InChinesefamilies,werarelysay“Thankyou”tootherfamilymembersforreceivinghelporservice.Neitherwillwesaysobetweengoodfriends.It’ssuchanunpopularresponsethatifyousayit,thecounterpartwillthinkyouaretreatinghimasastranger,otherwiseyouarelackingofintimacy.
ButintheWest,"thankyou"isoneofthemostfrequentlyusedsentences.Teacherswillthankastudentforansweringaquestion;husbandswillthankhiswifeformakingacoffee.
However,asaninterestingphenomenon,it’sacustomtosay"thankyou"inJapan.Nomatterinfamilyoramongfriends,Japanesechronicallyuseitalltheday.Thisisprobablytheaberranceoftheculture.
Section3Dining
Thewayspeopleeat,thatis,thetablemanner,reallydistinguishalot.Thereasonforthisisprobablybecauseofthedifferentdiningtoolsandmenus.
Easternersusechopsticks,orsometimesevengraspricestraightlywithhandsasIndiansdo.Thethinandlongchopstickscannotbeusedtocutfood,soweusuallyuseourteethtoactasknives.Weholdourfood,meatorvegetable,withthechopsticks,sendthemtothemouths,biteoffapartofitandremaintheotherpartonthechopsticks.That’stheusualwayweeat.Wearealsousedtoholdupourbowlswhenhavingriceorsoup.Japaneseholdbowlstohavemisosoupwithoutspoons.ButallthesehabitsareconsideredrudeintheWesterncountries.
TheetiquetteintheWestrequeststhatwheneating,bowlsandplatescannotleavethetables.Foodshouldbecutbyknivestofitintothemouths.Ofcourseyourmouthcannottouchtheplatesorbowls.Sotheregularprocessislikethis.Youcutyoursteakontheplatewithforkandknife,sendthemeatcubeintothemouthwithforkandnothingwillbereturnedbackbuttheforkalone.
Section4Symbolizing
Symbolizationishowpeopleimagineorregardsomething.Itactuallyreflectsthewaypeoplethink.HereI’llonlydiscusssomesymbolizationthatfrequentlyappearsindailylife.
Firstisaboutthecolors.Weoftengiveeachcolorsomemeanings,becausewefeeldifferentlywhenfacingdifferentcolors.Sopeoplealwayshavepreferencewhenchoosingcolorsofclothes,decorations,etc.IntheAPECsummitheldinShanghaiseveralyearsago,inthelastday,thepresidentsfromallovertheworldworethetraditionalChineseDangsuitsandtookaphototogether.Thecolorsofthesuitswerechosenbythemselvesfreely.However,it’squiteinterestingtofindthatmostEasternerschoseredwhilemostofthewesternerspreferredblue.Toexplainthis,it’seasytorealizethatwhatredmeansisalmostoppositeintheEastandtheWest.Redmeansluck,fortunehere.WeChineseoftenusethiscolortodecorateinfestivals,suchasredlanterns,redChinesenodes,redbangers.Butredstandsforblood,revolutionsintheWest.Sothepresidentsavoidedwearingthisunluckycolor.
Anotherinterestingdiscoveryisaboutthedragons.IntheEast,dragonsareimaginedassomethinglikesnakeandareflowingintheskyformostofthetime.Thedragonissaidtohavethefaceofthehorse,thehornsofthedeer,theearsoftheox,thebodyofthesnake,theclawsoftheeagleandsquamaofthefish.WeregarddragonasGodandsaythatweChinesearetheoffspringofthedragon.TheGodofDragonsofthefourseascanchargetherainfalls,sowesometimesalsocallthemtheGodofthewaterorrain.ButintheWest,peoplethinkdragonsasdinosaurs,whichcanstandonthegroundwithfeetandflywithhugewings.Theylayeggsjustlikedinosaurs.ThedragonsoftheWesthavetheabilitytoeruptfire,insteadofwater.Thefirecandestroyeverythingsothedragonsarenotwelcomedatall.TheyevenbecomethesymboloftheDevil.
DragonsImaginedbyChinese
DragonImaginedbytheWesterners
PartIIIWhatcanwedototreattheculturegap?
Nowwehaveseenthatthereexistssuchahugegapbetweeneasterncultureandwesternone.Thenwhatshouldwedotofacethisgapinthegraduallyglobalizingworld?
Firstly,wecannotdenyanyofthecultures.Everynationhasitsowncharacteristicsandit’smainlythroughitsculturethatwefirstbegintoknowthenationanditscharacteristics.Sowecannotsaythatthiscultureorcustomisrightandthatiswrong.Equalrespectshouldbeattachedtoeverycultureintheworld,eventothosethatarenotinexistenceanymore.
Next,weshouldgettolearnhowtocoordinatethedifferentcultures.Wesaytheworldisbecomingsmallerandsmaller.Moreforeignerscomeandgoeveryday.Whenitisinthesamecountry,thesamecity,thesameneighborhood,theculturalcollisionisexpectedtobemoreserious.Soweshouldtrytoavoidthishappening.Oneimportantthingistogetsomebasicknowledgeabouttheotherculturessoasnottomisunderstandsomeactionsorhabitsoftheforeigners.
Whentheabovetwoisdone,wecanstarttocommunicate.Imeanwecantakeinsomestrongpointsfromtheforeigncultures.Thoughtheredoesn’texistcorrectnessintermsofculture,itdoeshavethetermsofmoreadvancedormoresuitablefortheworldnowadays.Ofcourse,wecannotthrowawayourowncultureandacceptanotheronetotally.EverycultureisatreasuretothehistoryoftheEarth,soweshouldonlypickoutthosewelacktoperfectourown.
Differentculturesaddthemostcolorfulelementtotheworldof21stcentury.Theculturalgapshouldnotbetheobstacletothecivilizationofhumanbeing.Itoughttobethemotivationofourgoingfarther.
回答者:
淘气阿斌-试用期一级3-1101:
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其他回答共2条
Part1
汉语成语“一箭双雕”或“一举两得”,用英语说是“一石打死二鸟”:
“Tokilltwobirdswithonestone”。
英语句子“Hehastakenthebreadoutofmymouth”,不能译成“他从我嘴里拿走了面包”,而应为“他砸了我的饭碗”、“他抢走了我的工作”或“他断了我谋生的路”。
中国人在向外国人介绍自己爱人(妻子)时,常用“lover”一词,外国人听了十分惊奇,因为“lover”在英语里表示“情妇”或“情夫”即“情人”的意思。
而汉语中的“爱人”,相当于英语的“husband”或“wife”。
中国人把猫头鹰当作不吉祥的象征,但英语中却说“aswiseasanowl”,把猫头鹰当作智慧的象征。
中国人把“龙(dragon)”视为吉祥的神物,有不可思议的伟大力量,因而成为至尊无上的帝王象征,甚至把它看作是光明的未来,“望子成龙”(longtoseeone′ssonbecomeadragon)。
可是英美人却把“dragon”视为喷烟吐火的凶残怪物(afiercefirebreathingm
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