關(guān)于中美文化的不同英語作文
每個國家的文化習俗都不同,中美文化之間有什么樣的差異。下面是學習啦小編帶來的關(guān)于中美文化的不同英語作文,歡迎大家閱讀!
關(guān)于中美文化的不同英語作文篇一
文化差異何其大 美國為何難以理解中國
Do the events that led to the outbreak of the first world war carry lessons for the Sino-American relationship? A century ago it was the ascent of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm I thatunsettled the world; today a rising China is roiling east Asia. Then, as now, domestic politicson both sides played a role; one that is too easily neglected.
導(dǎo)致一戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)的事件對中美關(guān)系有什么啟發(fā)意義嗎?一個世紀以前,德國在威廉一世(Kaiser Wilhelm I)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下的崛起讓世界感到不安;如今,中國的崛起讓東亞感到不安。當時和現(xiàn)在一樣,對立雙方的國內(nèi)政治都發(fā)揮了作用——這是一個太容易被人們忽視的因素。
Why did Britain and Germany – linked by trade, dynastic ties, culture and religion – findthemselves at war in August 1914? In part, as historian Paul Kennedy has argued, it wasbecause London’s liberal ideology contributed to its perception of a growing German threat.
1914年8月,存在貿(mào)易、王朝紐帶、文化和宗教聯(lián)系的英國和德國為何開戰(zhàn)?從某種程度上來說,正如歷史學家保羅•肯尼迪(Paul Kennedy)所指出的,那是因為倫敦的自由主義意識形態(tài)強化了其關(guān)于德國威脅日益加劇的認識。
Filtered through liberalism’s lens, Germany looked militarist, autocratic, mercantilist and statist– and contempt for the country’s political culture added to London’s disquiet. When the warbegan, it quickly came to be seen as a liberal crusade against “Prussianism”.
透過自由主義“棱鏡”,德國給人看到的是軍國主義、獨裁、重商主義和計劃經(jīng)濟——而對該國政治文化的鄙視也增加了倫敦的不安。當戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)時,人們立刻將之視為一場討伐“普魯士主義”的自由主義戰(zhàn)爭。
In this respect, today’s Sino-American rivalry resembles the pre-1914 Anglo-Germanantagonism. The speed of China’s growth worries US policy makers, as do the geopoliticalimplications of its economic transformation.
從這個方面來說,當今的中美對抗類似于1914年以前的英德對抗。中國的發(fā)展速度讓美國政策制定者感到擔憂,其經(jīng)濟改革對地緣政治的影響同樣讓美國不安。
Across the American political spectrum, China’s success is attributed to its failure to play bythe rules of free trade – for instance, its habit of manipulating the value of its currency andengaging in industrial espionage. Market-oriented liberalism is the dominant ideology in theUS and, as in pre-1914 Britain, it shapes policy makers’ image of their supposed adversary.
在美國政界上下看來,中國的成功得益于其沒有遵守自由貿(mào)易規(guī)則,例如慣于操縱匯率,以及從事工業(yè)間諜活動。以市場為導(dǎo)向的自由主義是美國的主要意識形態(tài),而正如1914年前的英國一樣,它決定了政策制定者對他們所以為的對手的印象。
American leaders view China as a nation whose undemocratic political system raises doubtsabout both the scope of its foreign policy ambitions and its trustworthiness as a diplomaticpartner. Moreover, China’s combination of political authoritarianism and state-directedcapitalism causes unease because it challenges the supposed universality of the Americanmodel of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism.
在美國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的眼里,中國不民主的政治體制令人懷疑其外交政策雄心的范圍,以及其作為外交合作伙伴的可信賴性。此外,中國政治威權(quán)主義與國家資本主義的結(jié)合令人不安,原因是它挑戰(zhàn)了美國模式的自由主義民主和自由市場資本主義的所謂普適性。
Aaron Friedberg, a Princeton University professor, says that for Americans, “the success of amainland [Chinese] regime that blends authoritarian rule with market-driven economics is anaffront.” For members of the US foreign-policy elite, the Chinese threat is not so muchgeopolitical as ideological.
普林斯頓大學(Princeton University)的阿龍•弗里德伯格(Aaron Friedberg)教授表示,在美國人看來,“中國大陸政權(quán)將威權(quán)統(tǒng)治和市場導(dǎo)向的經(jīng)濟學結(jié)合在一起所取得的成功是一種侮辱”。對美國上層外交政策制定者來說,中國威脅更多是意識形態(tài)層面的,而不是地緣政治上的。
Powerful external and domestic forces are putting the US and China on the road toconfrontation. China aspires to be the regional hegemon in east (and southeast) Asia. The US– the incumbent hegemon, having dominated the region since 1945 – is blocking its path.
各種強有力的內(nèi)外因素正把美中推上對抗之路。中國渴望成為東亞(以及東南亞)地區(qū)的霸主,而自1945年以來主導(dǎo)該地區(qū)的現(xiàn)任霸主美國則攔在路上。
Yet America’s predominance in east Asia contributes little to the security of a nation whosegeography and unsurpassed military capabilities would anyway make it close to invulnerable.The US is the most secure great power in history – even more so if you factor in thedeterrent effect of nuclear weapons. The true cause of American insecurity is not animminent encroachment on its territory but the risk that US alliances – especially with Japan –will draw it into a regional conflict.
然而,在東亞地區(qū)的主導(dǎo)地位并不會讓美國更安全——不管怎樣,美國所處的地理位置和擁有的無可匹敵的軍事能力讓其處于一種近乎無懈可擊的狀態(tài)。美國是歷史上最安全的大國——如果你考慮到核武器的威懾作用,就會更肯定這一點。美國真正的不安全因素不是其疆域會遭到入侵,而是同盟關(guān)系——尤其是美日同盟——將其拖入地區(qū)沖突的風險。
The US wants to maintain its east Asian dominance to keep the region’s markets open toAmerican goods and its people open to liberal ideas. China threatens this openness, on whichAmerica’s security is wrongly believed to depend.
美國希望保持在東亞地區(qū)的主導(dǎo)地位,以讓該地區(qū)的市場繼續(xù)向美國商品開放,其民眾繼續(xù)接受自由主義思想的熏陶。中國威脅到了這種開放,而美國的安全被錯誤地以為依賴于這種開放。
The liberal assumptions embedded in American foreign policy put the US at odds with China,and also heighten Beijing’s mistrust of Washington’s intentions and ambitions. The spiral ofanimosity that threatens to culminate in a confrontation between the two countries is inlarge part a creation of American policy.
美國外交政策中蘊含的自由主義思想導(dǎo)致美國與中國立場不一致,也加深了北京方面對華盛頓意圖和抱負的不信任感。這種不斷增長的、有可能在兩國對抗中達到頂峰的敵意,在很大程度上是美國政策導(dǎo)致的。
As China’s rises, Washington has a last clear chance to avoid the looming Sino-Americanconflict.
在中國的崛起過程中,美國有最后的避讓機會,可以避免不斷迫近眼前的中美沖突真正爆發(fā)。
This would entail making real concessions on Taiwan and on China’s territorial claims in the Eastand South China Seas. It would also involve a commitment that Washington would notinterfere in China’s internal affairs.
這需要美國在臺灣問題以及中國涉及東中國海和南中國海的領(lǐng)土主張上做出真正的妥協(xié)。此外美國也需承諾不干預(yù)中國內(nèi)部事務(wù)。
America’s political culture – based on exceptionalism, liberal ideology, and openness – is a bigobstacle to coming to terms with a resurgent China. So is the fact that the foreign-policy eliteremains wedded to American primacy, and refuses to accept that this will inevitably slip awaybecause of the relative decline of US power.
美國建立在例外主義、自由主義思想和開放觀念等基礎(chǔ)之上的政治文化,是影響美國接受復(fù)興的中國的一大障礙。另一個障礙是,美國外交政策圈子中的精英們依然癡迷于“美國主導(dǎo)地位”,并拒絕接受這種地位隨著美國實力相對衰落必將喪失的觀點。
History is also a problem.
歷史也是一個問題
US policy makers are quick to invoke what they take to be the lessons of the 1930s whileoverlooking the causes of the first world war. David Calleo, a professor at Johns Hopkins, hasobserved that what we should learn from the earlier conflict “is not so much the need forvigilance against aggressors, but the ruinous consequences of refusing reasonableaccommodation to upstarts”.
美國政策制定者迅速擺出他們從上世紀30年代事件中歸納的教訓,卻無視一戰(zhàn)的起因。約翰斯-霍普金斯大學(Johns Hopkins University)的戴維•卡萊奧(David Calleo)教授指出,我們應(yīng)該從更早那場沖突中學到的主要教訓,“不是必須警惕侵略者,而是拒絕合理包容新崛起者將帶來破壞性后果”。
If the US wants to avoid a future conflict with China, it cannot allow liberal ideology toobstruct a reconciliation with an ever more powerful China. That is the real lesson of 1914.
如果美國想要避免未來與中國發(fā)生沖突,就不能讓自由主義意識形態(tài)妨礙它與越來越強大的中國修好。這是1914年帶給我們的真正教訓。
關(guān)于中美文化的不同英語作文篇二
The difference between chinese and western culture
With the rapidly challging word, people throughout the world have found it increasingly necessary to minimize the rate of misunderstanding due to miscommunication in their contacts with another. In the oast most human beings were born, lived, and died within a limited geoographical area, never encountering people of other cultural backgrounds. It might be said that technological advances have been most effective in creating the borderless word, the global community. As our world shrinks and its inhabitants become interdependent, people from remot cultures increasingly come into contact on a daily basis. It is no longer hard to find situations in which membes of ince isolared groups of people. Now these people may live thousands of miles away or right next door to each other. So all the people are faced with the challenge of understand this world. So when the east meet west, there are many problems. Some problems are listed as follows.
First of all, the way of eating. All huaman beings have certain basic needs. Our fundamental needs for things that keep us alive. This is the physioligical need. All individuals must eat in order to survive. But what people eat, when they eat, and the manners in which they eat are all patterned by culture. No society views everything in its environment that is edible and might provide nurishment as food. Americans eat oysters but not snail. The French eat snails but not locusts. The Jews eat fish but not pork. The Hindus eat pork but not beef. The Russiand eat beef but not snake. We all have ideas about what kinds of food are good to eat. We also have ideas about what kinds of food are bad to eat. As a result, people from one culture often think the food that people from another culture eat are disgusting or nauseating. Dislike is not the only reason why some culture will not eat a certain food. In some clture, certain foods are taboo. Sometimes the food taboos may be so strong thrat just the thought of eating forbidden foods can cause an indivdual to feel ill. We can also find culture difference in way of bring up children treating the early, greeting each other, saying and spending money before other people do in everyday, but in some English-speaking countries, people do not agree with us. We chinese may enjoy something that is not usually consider as edible by the English-speaking people. Generally we perfer to have thing hot and much emphasis on the taste. We eat from one plate when we are eating with others, and we like to seat one by one, and in the shape of a round. On the opposite, some English-speaking contries, most of the people like to seat in two rows, two people face to face. They have their own plate. On the aspect of table manners, there are many differences between chinese and English-speaking people. For example, in some Englishi-speaking countries, Bread plates are to the left of the main plate, beverage glasses are to the right. Salad fork, knife and soup spoon are further from the
main plate than the main course knife, fork and spoon. When eating bread rolls, break off a piece before buttering. Use the knife only to butter the bread, not to cut it. They should not start eating before your host does or instructs to do so. At larger meals, it is considered okay to start eating once others have been served. When finished, place the knife and fork together at five o’clock with the fork on the left. It is considered rude to answer the telephone at the table. If need to take an urgent call, excuse self and go outside. Try to eat all the food you are served. But in China, the table manners are different. Chinese traditionally eat rice from a small bowl held in the left hand. The rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice pushed into the mouth using the chopsticks. Some Chinese find it offensive to scoop rice from the bowl using a spoon. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon. The thumb must always be above the edge of the bowl. The host should always make sure the guests drinks are sufficiently full. One should not pour for ones self, but should offer to pour for a neighbor. When your drink is being poured, you should say "thank you" and tap fingers on the table to show appreciation. When people wish to clink drinks together in the form of a cheer, it is important to observe that younger members should clink the edge of their drink below the edge of an elder to show respect.
Secondly, the way of communication. Form birth to death, communication plays an integral part in our life. There are some language problems, including the different styles of using language such as direct, indirect; expansive, succinct; argumentative, conciliatory; instrumental, harmonnizing; and so on. These different styles can lead to wrong interpretations of intent and evaluation of insincerity, aggreeiveness, deviousness, or arrogance, among other. The misinterpretation nonverbal signs and symbols such as gestures, postures, and other body movements. It is a definite communication barrier. But it is possible to learn the meanings of these observable message,usually in informal rather ways. It is more difficult to understand the less obvious unspoken codes of the other cultures. Language, as the carrier of culture, is created during the process of human beings’ productive labor and serves as the tool of communication to convey the message between people. However, it has been endowed with magic and power in particular language acts. As the old saying goes, troubles come out of the tongue. Superstitious people think that the language itself can bring about fortune or misfortune so that taboos to restrict the use of language are created. Anyone who violates them will get punishment, whereas those who faithfully obey the restrictions of language taboo will get protection. Furthermore, linguistic taboos change with the development of society .The paper firstly analyzes the evolution of linguistic taboo. It is indicated in the paper that linguistic taboo exists in almost every aspect of people’s life and is a universal social phenomenon in China and Britain. Both Chinese and
English cultures are in agreement about linguistic taboos such as pronunciation taboo, and vocabulary taboo. However, influenced by different cultural backgrounds, ideologies and the concepts of value, Chinese and English linguistic taboos also have differences, as is discussed in the paper from the aspects of taboo subjects, taboo numbers and names. At last, this paper puts forward two effective ways of avoiding taboo, that is, using euphemism and having a good knowledge of the taboo culture. And this discussion would help English learners improve their ability of cross-cultural communication and achieve better communicational effects. For example, During the feudal times, people were not equal to the rulers and were suppressed by their superiors. The distinction between the upper and the lower classes was also reflected in the evaluation of the language used by them respectively. The words of upper class used were considered good and elegant while those used by the lower class were regarded as vulgar and indecent and should be avoided in the speech of ladies and gentlemen. In modern society, as a result of the development of science and technology, many natural phenomena are no longer mysterious. Human beings not only constantly improve their abilities to exploit the world where they are living through their great wisdom and knowledge, but also make efforts to explore the extraterrestrial world. Science has much more say in today’s society. Thereby, the superstitious elements in linguistic taboos decrease while those reflecting spiritual civilization increase.
In short, by comparison, we can find that both Chinese and English communication reflect people’s psychology for good will, for safety and fortune and pleasantness. The Chinese and English people restrict their words and deeds through taboos, trying to keep a harmonious relationship between human and nature, or between people and society. They are a reflection of people’s pursuit of freedom and equality.
The most important, the different way of family structure, family values and family education. Family structure is the big difference between east and west, traditional chinese, amony many other Asians, repect their elders and feel a deep sense of duty toward them. Children repay their parents` sacrifices by being successful and supporting them in old age. This is accepted as a natural part of life in China. In contrast, taking care of aged parents is often viewed as a tremendous burden in the English-speaking countries, where aging and family support are not honored highly. In some English-speaking countries are still extrmely family-oriented. They are dedicated to helping their children and will sacrifice greatly for their children to get an edcuation. In turn, the children are devoted to their parents, who often live nearby. Grown children who go away and leave the country for the economic reasons typically send large parts of their salary home to their parents and the rest of the family. Or in some Asia, any decisions or actions are done from family consideration, not individual desires. Peope`s behavior is judged on whether it
brings shame or pride to the family. The children are trained to rely on their families, to honor elderly people, and to fear foreigners. And many of them think that their actions in this life will influence their status in the next life.
The way of family edcation is also the different. We all know the family education is the elementary education for children. Many serious problems have appeared in our education system in recent years. Almost everyone has realized the importance of solving these problems and many people have presented a lot of valuable suggestions. There are many types of family education in the world and each of them shows distinctive features and is closely responsive to its culture. And American family education is the most famous one among them. There are great differences in the concepts of education, methods of education and results of education between East family education and West family education. In some English-speaking countries, parents’ aims are to train their children to have the ability of adapting to environmental variety and the ability of living independently. Based on this concept, most American parents emphasize more to train their children’s ability of independence once they are born. They generally believe that children’s growth must rely on their own experiences, because they think that children should form a self-supporting will and the capacity to live independently since their childhood. And the capacity comes from the training in the early age. The so-called training contains many aspects, such as work, temper will, patience, the spirit of hard work, etc. However, the most fundamental training is the ability of adapting to hard conditions. Through the process of work, children will form the labor sense, learn some work skills and form a habit of labor. Besides, children can learn how to overcome difficulties, temper their willpower, develop their talents and skills, rich their knowledge, and form a habit of hard work and thrifty by working in hard conditions. It is just in the unconsciously process that children will obtain the independent survivability and take the responsibilities for the society. Compared with some English-speaking countries, Chinese parents have a very different concept of children’s education. Some parents in China only care about whether the children have a promising future, a good job, a good life or not. Based on these expectations, the majority of parents feel that their responsibility for their children is to create as good conditions as possible they can so that the children will not worry about anything in the future. Chinese parents would like to provide everything what they can for their children in the process of children’s growth. In short, they would like to sacrifice anything if their children can live better with their help. Therefore, in the process of children’s growth, the most important thing the parents concerning is to developing their children’s intellect, except for caring children’s daily life. In order to make their children have a good performance in study, become outstanding, or even become a famous person in the future, they would not let children do anything except studying. As for the children’s independence, civic awareness and their ability adapting to the
society in the future, they consider little or not at all. From these aspects we can find the obvious differences of family education between America and China.
When we faced with those difference between West and East, we should give some advice to solve these problems. According to the three big difference that pointed, we should find some way to deal with these problems.
We can study other languages and learn to expect in nonvwebal forms and other cultural aspects. We can train ourselves to meet intercultural encounters with more attention to situation details. We can use an investigative approach rather than stereotypes and preconceptions. We can gradually expose ourselves to differences so that they become less threatening. We can even learn to lower our tension level when needed to advoid triggering defensive reactions. The overall goal should be to achieve intercultural communication competence.
So the ideal solution to reduce the problems are to share knowledge with others in communication. This is why it is easiest to communicate with other members of the same group. This is why people so often gather together socially with others who are very much like them. Since intercultural communication is communication with members of different cultual groups, and therefore, because we do not share knowledge, assumptions, values, and forms of discourse with them, we must expect there to be problems of interpretation. We must look for these problems, anticipate where they will arise out of our differences, and then plan our aommunications to be as effective as possible.
However, we have to remember that, most of the time, the different ways that are the customs of dfferent cultures are neither right nor wrong. It is simply that different people do the same tings in different manners, even though we can not understand ,we should show the respect. I believe this is the best way to make our life become more comfortable and make the world more harmonious.
關(guān)于中美文化的不同英語作文篇三
中美文化差異
國人見面打招呼時,喜歡問“你吃了嗎?”“你去哪呀?”
而西方人對此都感到很怪異。
An American studying in China had an appointment at noon. As he was getting on his bicycle a Chinese friend passed by. "吃了嗎?”The young Chinese asked. This, of course, is a common Chinese greeting around meal time and the American merely nodded with a smile, waved goodbye and went off. He realized that his friend’s remark was nothing more than a Chinese way of saying hello or Hi. If the greeting had been put literally into English "Have you eaten yet?" Or “Have you had your lunch? " It would have sounded rather unusual. To Americans, this greeting might mean this: "I haven't either. Come on, let’s go together and get something to eat." or "If you haven’t, I was just going to invite you to my place." In other words, it could indicate an invitation to a meal.
Actually , another foreign student who had not been long in China once complained in broken Chinese 你們?yōu)槭裁蠢蠁栁页粤孙垱]有?我有錢。To his way of thinking, people were concerned that he was not getting his meals properly because of lack of money. Clearly, he was offended. There is a similar Chinese greeting, such as "上哪兒去啊?""到哪兒去啦?" Which if translated literally, would be "Where are yon going?" Or "Where have you been?" The natural reaction of most English-speaking people to this greeting would most likely be "It’s none of your business!"
Fortunately, not all greetings sound strange or arouse displeasure. Many are similar, some are merely different. While greetings in many languages often indicate the time of day, there may be inconsistencies within a language. English has Good morning, Good afternoon and Good evening but not Good noon. And Good night is not a greeting at all, but an expression of farewell.
greeting 打招呼
一天中午,一個在中國學習的美國留學生有個約會。他剛要騎上自行車,一位中國朋友從旁邊走過,問他:“吃了嗎?”這是中國人在吃飯前后打招呼的常用語。美國留學生笑著點點頭,揮揮手表示告別,就走了。他知道,中國朋友的話等于英語中的Hello或Hi,但如果照字面譯成Have you eaten yet?或Have you had your lunch?外國人聽起來就很怪。美國人會以為,這種打招呼似乎是說:“我也沒有吃。走吧,我們一起去吃點東西吧。”或者說:“如果沒有吃的話,我正要請你到我家去呢。”;總之,這樣打招呼有時意味著邀請對方去吃飯 。
發(fā)生過這樣的事。有一次,一個剛到中國不久的外國留學生結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地用漢語說:“你們?yōu)槭裁蠢蠁栁页粤孙垱]有?我有錢。”他以為人們總問他“吃飯了嗎”是因為怕他沒錢吃飯。他顯然對這種問法感到生氣。 再如,漢語中的“上哪兒去啊?”和“到哪兒去啦?”這樣打招呼的話直譯成英語就是Where are you going?和Where have you been?用這兩句英語來打招呼,大部分講英語的人聽了會不高興,他們的反應(yīng)很可能是:It' s none of your business! 你管得著嗎!
幸而,打招呼的話并不都令人感到奇怪或者引起對方反感。有許多打招呼的話是相似的,有些只是說法不同。在許多語言里,打招呼的話往往是相似的,有些只是說法不同。在許多語言里,打招呼的話往往與時間有關(guān),但即使在一種語言中也有不一致的地方。英語中有Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening 都相當于漢語中的“您好”,只是說的時間不同而已,但不說Good noon。而 Good night (晚安;明天見;再會)根本不是打招呼的話,這只是告別時說的話。
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