作者：刘育文
出版社：浙江大学出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
英语文化选读试读：
前言
英语专业本科教育的目的就是培养高等英语应用人才，这就要求英语教育必须以社会需求为目标，以应用能力的培养为主线设计学生的知识、能力、素质结构和培养方案，以应用为主旨和特征构建课程体系和教学内容体系。《英语文化阅读》就是以“提高学生素质，服务专业学习”为指导思想，根据《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》精心设计的教材。
英语专业基础阶段阅读教材的一个重要目标就在于培养学生的阅读技能。因此本教材将注重系统训练学生掌握词、句、段、篇的阅读技巧和略读、寻读、细读等阅读方法，并将技巧讲解和专题训练有机地结合起来，通过大量的练习，让学生将所学到的阅读技能运用到实践中去。
拓展学生知识面，提高其人文素质也是编写本教材的一个重要指导思想。因此，本教材根据主题编排中西文化差异，选材突出文化特征，既有理性的西方文化知识介绍，又有鲜活的感性领悟，做到知识性与趣味性相结合，有助于学生从西方传统文化和现当代文化中汲取精华部分，了解其独特的精神内涵。目的在于培养学生对文化差异的敏感性、宽容性以及处理文化差异的灵活性，以丰富学生文化知识，提高其跨文化交际能力；同时引导学生去解读、思考、分析、批判，以提高学生的思辨能力和判断能力。
此外，本教材的编写以满足学生需求、适应市场需要为出发点。针对目前日益高涨的考研热、出国热，本教材练习的编排尽量与国内研究生入学考试、国外的托福、雅思、GRE或GMAT等重大考试接轨，以激发学生强烈的阅读热情。阅读在各类考试中所占比重都较大，通过对学生进行系统的阅读测试训练，可以帮助他们全面提高阅读水平和阅读能力，从而获得进一步深造的机会。
总之，这本教材与当下教育发展趋势接轨、切合学生实际需求，融知识性、趣味性于一体，做到技能与应试并举，有利于学生阅读技能和跨文化交际能力的提高。
教材共分为15个单元。每个单元围绕同一主题展开，包括四个部分。第一部分为阅读技能介绍，并配相应习题；第二部分是与主题有关的习语、谚语或格言；第三部分提供与主题密切相关的阅读文章两篇，其中说明性或议论性文章及记叙性文章各1篇，后面附相应练习；第四部分为阅读测试，每个测试由4～5篇长短不一的文章构成。本书第1、4、7、10、11单元由刘育文负责编写，龚昭编写了第2和第3单元，黄庆欢编写了第5和第6单元，杨丽斌编写了第8和第9单元，兰晓茹编写了第12和第14单元，第13和第15单元由查叶娟编写。在本书的编写过程中，作者引用了国内外书籍、报刊以及网络上的文章作为阅读理解的素材，在此一并致谢。由于编者水平有限，书中难免会存在错误和缺陷，敬请广大读者和同行专家学者批评指正。编者浙江大学城市学院2012年10月Unit 1Cultural DifferencesPart 1Reading Skills
Good reading requires both speed and comprehension. If you read fast enough but get little of the writer's message or even misunderstand the message, you' re not an effective reader. Likewise, if you are too slow to finish a certain passage within the time limit, even if you have a perfect comprehension of a part of it, you are not an efficient reader.
Effective and efficient reading means understanding information from what you read without spending too much time in the process. To be an effective and efficient reader, you need to grasp some reading skills. One of the most important reading skills you should develop is to use the context clues as well as word formation to guess unknown words. Besides, to have a good understanding of complicated sentences is also a premise for good reading as there are more often than not long and complicated sentences in English. What's more, some knowledge about topic, main idea and patterns of details to support the main idea is also necessary to better understand what you read. Finally, reading skills like skimming, scanning and detailed reading will help to read effectively and efficiently.
The reading skills will be systematically introduced in each unit in this book. However, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect, so if you want to read both effectively and efficiently you have to practice more with the help of the reading skills.Section A Guessing Unknown Words from the Context Ⅰ
Readers will inevitably come across words that they don' t know when they are reading. They don' t need to consult a dictionary each time they meet a new word. Instead, they can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words in several ways.
One of the most important reading skills is to make use of the context, that is, words or phrases or even sentences that come before or after a certain word, to figure out its meaning.
Usually authors intend to use many different types of context clues to help their readers understand the meaning of a new or difficult word. Generally there are seven types of context clues: 1. Definition/Explanation Clues, 2. Example Clues, 3. Class Relationship, 4. Synonym and Antonym Clues, 5. Comparison and Contrast Clues, 6. Cause and Effect Relationship, 7. Common Knowledge.
Once a reader grasps these skills, he can easily guess the meaning of the unknown words. In the first three units, these skills will be introduced one by one.1.Definition/Explanation Clues
A definition is to define or explain the meaning of a word, or a phrase or a type of thing. Definition clues join the unknown word with the word(s) that rename it or tell its meaning.
There are clues for us to judge a definition or explanation. They may be verbs or verbal phrases like be(is, was, are), mean, i.e., involve, be called, be defined as, be known as, that is, refer to, represent, signify, deal with etc. They can also be indicated by punctuation marks such as commas, parentheses, brackets, or dashes. For example,
1) Pedagogy is defined as the art, science, or profession of teaching.
2) Syntax, the study of sentences, is a branch of linguistics.
3) A piranha—a carnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers—is known for its sharp teeth and a voracious appetite for meat.
In Sentence 1) the word “pedagogy” is explained immediately following its use. From the definition we know “pedagogy” is related to education and can refer to an art or science or profession. In Sentence 2) the words between the commas—the study of sentences—define the word “syntax”. A “piranha” in Sentence 3) is a kind of freshwater fish that likes to eat meat.2. Example Clues
Example clues can help you guess the meaning of an unknown word from the example or by determining what the examples have in common. By using examples or illustrations, an author tries to show what a word may refer to. Example clues are usually introduced by the following words and phrases: including, such as, for example, for instance, and like. Colons and dashes can also signal examples. Here are two examples:
1) The historian wrote many books about potentates in England, for example, Queen Elizabeth I, King Henry VIII and King George VI etc.
2) The late billionaire left a large sum of money to his only son who was still a child. So before his death, he chose fiduciaries, including 2 lawyers and 5 bankers, to help manage his money.
In Sentence 1), we know Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, James XI are queen and kings in Britain, so we can derive from the examples that “potentates” most probably refer to rulers. Likewise, from examples “lawyers” and “bankers”, we can infer that “fiduciaries” may refer to persons who hold assets in trust for a beneficiary.3. Class Relationship
In English, some words are higher in rank or order than other words which are more specific. The former is called superordinate which is a general term that includes various different words representing narrower categories, that is, hyponyms or subordinates. For example, fruit is a superordinate which includes apples, pears, melons, and so on and so forth. From the association between a superordinate and subordinates, we can get a general, but maybe not specific meaning of an unknown word. For example,
1) Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes are all varieties of citrus fruits which originate in Southeast Asia and have been cultivated in an ever-widening area since ancient times.
2) The old lady grows many kinds of flowers in her garden, roses, tulips, sunflowers, lilies, orchids, carnations, hibiscus, just to name a few.
It's easy for us to get an idea of the word “citrus” in Sentence 1) as we know the characteristics of the four fruits listed. However it's hard for us to figure out the specific meaning of “hibiscus” in Sentence 2), but we know it's a kind of flower.Section B PracticeDirections: Choose the word that is closest in meaning to the underlined word according to the context.
1. Myopia—shortsightedness—can cause a person to fail the vision test required to obtain a driver's license.A．blindfoldB．vision testC．color blindnessD．nearsightedness
2. After a day's hard work, Bob is always ravenous. Yesterday, for example, he ate salad, a large chicken, a large chocolate cake and two bowels of soup before he was finally satisfied.A．unsatisfiedB．very angryC．exhaustedD．very hungry
3. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a noxious gas which can cause death.A．smellyB．poisonousC．terribleD．fragrant
4. He had such a wan, or colorless look, that we thought he was ill.A．furiousB．sadC．paleD．strange
5. The criminal used different aliases in each state. For example, in New York, he called himself Tom; in Boston, he said he was Robert.A．real nameB．false nameC．surnameD．given name
6. Precipitation is a measure of the quantity of water in the form of either rain, hail or snow which reaches the ground.A．waterB．rainfallC．hailD．snow
7. The plane is scheduled to leave for Shanghai at 9:00 a.m., but it is said to be retarded for two hours. That is to say, it will leave at 11:00 a.m. instead.A．postponedB．stoppedC．canceledD．extended
8. The compactor is an appliance that crashes bones, bottles, cans, and cardboard, paper, all kinds of garbage, compacts it and puts it into one disposable bag.A．clothingB．a place where automobiles are keptC．a ropeD．any kind of waste matter
9. She is studying glaucoma and other diseases of the eye.A．scalp ringworm on the skinB．freckle on the faceC．disease related to the eyeballD．eczema on the skin
10. Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles.A．animals which live on meatB．animals that feed on grassC．animals that creep and crawlD．animals that live in waterPart 2Idioms, Proverbs and SayingsDirections: Idioms, proverbs can show great differences between different cultures. Read the following English idioms and choose what you think is correct and try to find the Chinese equivalents.
1. to spend money like ________A．landB．soilC．sandD．water 2. to look for a needle in the ________A．seaB．oceanC．sandD．haystack
3. to spring up like ________A．mushroomsB．cabbagesC．bamboo shootsD．cucumbers
4. as strong as a(n) ________A．oxB．horseC．elephantD．cow
5. as stupid as a ________A．henB．pigC．gooseD．cow
6. to kill the ________ that lays the golden eggsA．gooseB．peahenC．henD．pigeon
7. Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a ________.A．tigerB．bearC．lionD．crocodile
8. A ________ lie refers to a minor or unimportant lie, especially one uttered in the interests of tact or politeness.A．blackB．greenC．redD．white
9. A pot calls the kettle ________.A．greenB．blackC．darkD．purple
10. ________ refers to a state of confusion or disorder.A．At seven and eightB．At sevens and eightsC．At six and sevenD．At sixes and sevensPart 3Reading PassagesSection A American Values and AssumptionsBy Gary Althen
People who grow up in a particular culture share certain values and assumptions. That doesn' t mean they all share exactly the same values to exactly the same extent; it does mean that most of them, most of the time, mostly agree with each other's ideas about what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, and so on. They also agree, mostly, with each other's assumptions about human nature, social relationships, and so on.
One of the most important things to understand about Americans is probably their devotion to “individualism”. They are trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies.They are not trained to see themselves as members of a close-knit, tightly interdependent family, religious group, tribe or any other collectivity.
You can see it in the way Americans treat their children. One day I was at a local shopping mall, waiting in line to buy an Orange Julius. Behind me in the line was a woman with two children, a boy who was about three years old and a girl who was about five. The boy had his hand in the pocket of his blue jeans, and I could hear that he had some coins in there.
The boy asked his mother, “Can I get an Orange Julius? ”
“No, ” she said to him. “You don' t have enough money left for an Orange Julius. Remember you bought that cookie a while ago. You do have enough money for a hot dog. So you could get a hot dog now if you want to. Or, you could save your money, and sometime later when you have enough money, we could come back here and you could get an Orange Julius.”
Here is a young child whose own mother is forcing him to make a decision that affects not just his situation at the moment, but that will affect him at some unspecified time in the future, when he will have more money. Through this process, Americans come to see themselves as separate human beings who have their own opinions and who are responsible for their own decisions.
Indeed, American child-rearing manuals state that the parents' objective is for the child to move out of the parents' house and make his or her own way in life. Americans take this advice very seriously, so much so that someone who remains dependent on their parents longer than the norm may be thought to be “immature”, “tied to the mother's apron strings, ” or otherwise unable to lead a normal independent life.
It isn' t unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of about 22 and 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.
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 child-parent tie is loosened, if not broken.
The American version of the “ideal individual” prefers an atmosphere of freedom, where neither the government nor any other external force or agency dictates what the individual does. For Americans, the idea of individual freedom is strongly positive. By contrast, people from many other cultures regard some of the behavior Americans justify as “individual freedom” to be self-centered and lacking in consideration for others.
Closely associated with the value they place on individualism is the importance Americans assign to privacy. Americans assume that people “need some time to themselves” or “some time alone” to think about things or recover their spent psychological energy. Americans have great difficulty understanding someone who always wants to be with another person, who dislikes being alone.
Americans assume that people have their “private thoughts” that might never be shared with anyone. Doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists, and others have rules governing “confidentiality”that are intended to prevent information about their clients' personal situations from becoming known to others. Americans' attitudes about privacy can be difficult for foreigners to understand. Americans' houses, yards, and even their offices can seem open and inviting, yet, in the Americans' minds, there are boundaries that other people are simply not supposed to cross. When the boundaries are crossed, Americans will visibly stiffen and their manner will become cool.
Americans are also distinctive in the degree to which they believe in the ideal, as stated in their Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.” Although they sometimes violate the ideal in their daily lives, particularly in matters of interracial relationships and sometimes relationships among people from different social classes, Americans have a deep faith that in some fundamental way all people (at least all American people) are of equal value, that no one is born superior to anyone else. “One person, one vote, ” they say, conveying the idea that any person's opinion is as valid and worthy of attention as any other person's opinion.
Americans are generally quite uncomfortable when someone treats them with obvious deference. They dislike being the subjects of open displays of respect—being bowed to, being deferred to, being treated as though they could do no wrong or make no unreasonable requests.
Their notions of equality lead Americans to be quite informal in their general behavior and in their relationships with other people. Store clerks and table servers, for example, may introduce themselves by their first names and treat customers in a casual, friendly manner. American clerks, like other Americans, have been trained to believe that they are as valuable as any other people, even if they happen to be engaged at a given time in an occupation that others might consider lowly. This informal behavior can outrage foreign visitors who hold high stations in countries where it is not assumed that “all men are created equal.”…
People from societies where general behavior is more formal than it is in America are struck by the informality of American speech, dress, and body language. Idiomatic speech and slang are liberally used on most occasions, with formal speech reserved for public events and fairly formal situations. People of almost any station in life can be seen in public wearing jeans, sandals, or other informal attire. People slouch down in chairs or lean on walls or furniture when they talk, rather than maintaining an erect bearing.
Americans are generally less concerned about history and traditions than are people from older societies. “History doesn' t matter, ” many of them will say. “It's the future that counts.”They look ahead. They have the idea that what happens in the future is within their control, or at least subject to their influence. The mature, sensible person, they think, sets goals for the future and works systematically toward them.
Americans believe that people, as individuals or working cooperatively together, can change most aspects of the physical and social environment if they decide to do so, then make appropriate plans and get to work. Changes will presumably produce improvements. New things are better than old things.
Closely associated with their assumption that they can bring about desirable changes in the future is the Americans' assumption that their physical and social environments are subject to human domination or control. Early Americans cleared forests, drained swamps, and altered the course of rivers in order to “build” the country. Contemporary Americans have gone to the moon in part just to prove they could do so! “If you want to be an American, ” says cross-cultural trainer L. Robert Kohls, “you have to believe you can fix it.” …
This fundamental American belief in progress and a better future contrasts sharply with the fatalistic (Americans are likely to use that term with a negative or critical connotation) attitude that characterizes people from many other cultures, notably Latin American, Asian, and Arab, where there is a pronounced reverence for the past. In those cultures the future is often considered to be in the hands of fate, God, or at least the few powerful people or families that dominate the society.
The idea that they could somehow shape their own futures seems naive, arrogant, or even sacrilegious. Americans are generally impatient with people they see as passively accepting conditions that are less than desirable. “Why don' t they do something about it? ” Americans will ask. Americans don' t realize that a large portion of the world's population sees the world around them not as something they can change, but rather as something to which they must submit, or at least something with which they must seek to live in harmony….
(1,493 words, based on a chapter in American Ways: A Guide for Foreigners in the United States, 2003)Ⅰ. Reading ComprehensionDirections: Choose the best answer to finish the incomplete statements according to the above passage.
1. The author discusses the American values and assumptions in the order of ________.A．informality, individualism, equality, privacy, attitudes toward past and futureB．individualism, privacy, equality, informality, attitudes toward past and futureC．individualism, equality, informality, privacy, attitudes toward past and futureD．equality, informality, individualism, privacy, attitudes toward past and future
2. “Individualism” is a word with ________ connotations to Americans.A．negativeB．positiveC．neutralD．critical
3. Americans' assumption that they see themselves as separate individuals ________.A．comes from their cultural trainingB．is an ideal they are born withC．is their religious beliefD．comes from their responsibility
4. It's ________ for an American beyond 22 to live with his parents without paying for his accommodation.A．acceptableB．appreciatedC．advocatedD．shameful
5. If you display your respect to an American by addressing his honor title, ________.A．he likes it very muchB．he thinks that you' re very politeC．he doesn' t like it.D．he thinks you are well-educated
6. Store clerks and table servers are used as examples to show that ________.A．Americans are friendly peopleB．good service is provided in U.S.C．Americans think they' re superiorD．nobody is inferior to anybody else
试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]