高级英语视听说教程文本单元

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1、Let me begin the lecture today by asking, What exactly is culture?This question has been approached by anthropologists in many different ways. Murdock, for example, in Outline of World Cultures,produced what many have called the ultimate laundry list of thingscultural by naming 900-odd categories of

2、 human behavior. I wontattempt to go into these at this time. Another less lengthy list is thefamous grocery list of Edward B. Tyler. He wrote, Cultureis that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of soci

3、ety. But another definition of culture that many find useful is, the totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior. Obviously this definition leaves out much if we feel obligated to include all the ways of life that have been evolved by people in every society.A particular culture, then, would

4、mean the total shared way of life of a given group. This would include their ways of thinking, acting, and feeling as reflected in their religion, iaw, language, art, and customs, as well as concrete things such as houses, clothing, and tools. Cultural anthropology is the study of cultures-living an

5、d dead. In its totality, it includes linguistics, the study of speech forms, archaeology (the study of dead cultures), and ethnology, which is the study of living cul-tures or those that can be observed directly.Why study cultural anthropology? One reason noted by Ruth Benedict, another well-known a

6、nthropologist, is that the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the present is such a fascinating one of cultural growth. Interestingly, every society has gone through three stages or steps of cultural growth. These are savagery, barbarism, and finally, civilization. The last is, of course, to va

7、rying degrees. We are often reminded of another compelling reason to learn about different cultures-to learn and use a foreign language effectively. Most of us realize that just knowing the language of another culture is not enough for meaningful communication. You can ask anyone who has tried to us

8、e their high school Spanish inside a Spanish-speaking country. Ned Seelye, in his 1993 book Teaching Culture, lists six skills to nurture and support intercultural communication:Number 1: Cultivate curiosity about another culture and empathy toward its members.Number 2: Recognize that different role

9、s and other social variables such as age, sex, social class, religion, ethnicity, and place of residence affect the way people speak and behave.Number 3: Realize that effective communication requires discovering the culturally conditioned images of people when they think, act, and react to the world

10、 around them.Number 4: Recognize that situational variables and conventions shape peoples behavior in important ways.Number 5: Understand that people generally act the way they do because they are exercising the options their society allows for satisfying basic physical and psychological needs.And,

11、finally, number 6: Develop the ability to evaluate the truth of a generalization about the target culture and to locate and organize information about the target culture from books, mass media, people, and personal observations.Culture and society must coexist. Without living together people cannot

12、create a culture or way of life. If a group or society is small, isolated, and stable, it might also share a single culture. For example, think of the Tasaday, allegedly a Stone Age people in the Philippine rain forest, who were discovered by anthropologists back in 1971. Aside note is that due to t

13、heir supposed isolation, they had no weapons or known words in their language for enemy or war. In your read-ing after the lecture, youll learn more about the Tasaday and the conroversy surrounding them up to the present time.It is important to remember, however, that large societies, such as those

14、in Canada, the United States, India, or Egypt, are multicultural or pluralist societies. They also tend to have many subcultures. In the long history of human life, multiculturalism is a fairly recent phenomenon. Those of us in multicultural environments must remember that discovering similarities a

15、mong people from different cultures is as important as identifying differences. For example, in classrooms on just about every university campus in the world, we find students from many different social and ethnic backgrounds. What are some of the universals that you and other international students

16、 have all experienced in your earlier educational life?One common universal is that all cultures use rewards and punishments to encourage correct behavior. Another example is that societies withhold certain information from the young. This might include faults in our leaders or sexual taboos. A thir

17、d universal is the effort by the controlling group in a culture to educate the young to strengthen and secure its dominant position. In the majority of contemporary societies this control is reached through political means in contrast to the military actions of earlier times, such as the Roman Conqu

18、ests and the Moorish invasions. In closing this lecture on societies and culture, let me remind you not to forget the contributions of thoughts and actions of the individual person in a group. Note the observation of Edward Sapir, another famous anthropologist: It is always the individual that reall

19、y thinks and acts and dreams and revolts. Obviously the concept of culture will be argued by anthropologists for years to come.The fields of history and archaeology go hand in hand. Let me explain what I mean. History is often the story of a particular person, a person like the Emperor Napoleon. Or,

20、 history is the story of a nation, such as the country of France. On the other hand, archaeology is the study of the people, the customs, and the life of ancient times . Archaeologists find out about these ancient times by studying the ruins of cities, monuments or tombs, or any written records that

21、 remain. In todays lecture Im going to talk a little about a particular person in ancient Chinese history, and Im also going to talk about one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the late twentieth century. The history part of my talk will be about Qin Shihuang, who was the founder of the

22、first unified empire in China. He lived between 259 D.C.E. and 210 D.C.E., and he is often called the First Emperor of China. Just as the exploits of the Emperor Napoleon still fascinate many people and scholars today, so does the story of Qin Shihuang and his house of eternity. Today, Im also going

23、 to be talking about what has been found, to date, in the area of Qin Shihuangs tomb. We dont know what additional treasures of Chinese history and culture will be found in the tomb area (or tomb mound in the future, but what has been discovered so far is an incredible find for ancient Chinese histo

24、ry and archaeology. To set the historical context for the excavation of Qin Shihuangs House of Eternity, Id like to first talk a little bit about the man himsell. His name was Ying Zheng. And before he unified the empire in 221 D.C.E., China had been tom apart by wars between seven regional kingdoms

25、. Under the leadership of Ying Zheng, one of these regional kingdoms, the Kingdom of Qin, eventually defeated the other six kingdoms. Ying Zhengs defeat of the other six kingdoms accomplished two things: First, it ended the power of these other six kingdoms. Second, the unification of the seven king

26、doms started a centralized imperial system that lasted more than 2,000 years.When he became Emperor, Qin Shihuang did a number of things to unify and protect his empire. First, he standardized the system for writing Chinese characters. Prior to his unification of the empire, the writing of Chinese c

27、haracters varied in the different kingdoms. When Qin Shihuang became Emperor, he decreed that a standardized system of Chinese characters was to be used throughout the empire. Next, he decreed that there would be just one system of weights and measures, and one system of currency, rather than many d

28、ifferent systems, as had been the case before unification.To protect his new empire from the barbarian tribes to the north, he ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China. Now, there already were small walls scattered across the northwest frontier of the empire, but Qin Shihuang had these wa

29、lls joined together to create 1,500 miles of fortification and protection for his empire. Qin Shihuang also began an enormous road-building project. In the second year after unification, construction of three major imperial highways was begun. These highways eventually stretched approximately 6,800

30、kilometers (or 4,225 miles throughout the empire. Just in comparison, by the year 150 C.E. the Roman Empires road system was about 5,984 kilometers or 3,718 miles. The Roman Empires system stretched all the way from Scotland to Rome and then to Jerusalem.Qin Shihuang also began another large constru

31、ction project-the building of his tomb or mausoleum. It seems that as soon as the Emperor gained power, he became preoccupied with death, and with constructing a magnificent House of Eternity for his afterlife. At this point, Im going to segue from talking about the biography of Qin Shihuang to talk

32、ing about the archaeology part of my lecture. Lets see. OK. As I mentioned, when Qin Shihuang became emperor, he immediately began construction of his House of Eternity. And what an incredible House of Eternity it was! Archaeologists believe that 700,000 laborers were forced to work on the tomb for

33、about eleven years. The entire area of the tomb covers approximately 56.25 square kilometers. It is believed that the tomb was intended to be a microcosmic replica of the Qin capital around the years 221 to 210 B.C.E. Archaeologists also believe that Qin Shihuangs tomb contained imperialpalaces fill

34、ed with rare gems and other treasures, and that it also contained gardens and temples. It is even believed that the chemical mercury was pumped through the tomb to create the image of flowing rivers in the tomb area. Can you imagine rivers of mercury in a tomb?A 12,000-square-meter area at the site

35、of the tomb has a very high mercury content-in fact, ten times higher than that of the surrounding area so archaeologists think that it is very likely that the mercury rivers did, indeed, flow through the tomb area.Without a doubt, the most striking features of the Emperor Qins House of Eternity are

36、 the terracotta warriors and horses found in the tomb area. In 1975, Chinese authorities built a museum on the excavation site to preserve these terracotta warriors and horses, and the other incredible treasures that were being uncovered. Today, the museum covers an area of 16,300 square meters. Tha

37、t means the area is more than two football fields long! The area is divided into three sections, or what are called pits: No.1 Pit, No.2 Pit, and No.3 Pit. No.1 Pit is the largest of the three pits; its approximately 960 square meters in size. It first opened to the public on Chinas National Day in

38、1979 . In No.1 Pit, there are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back. It is estimated that there are 3,210 terracotta foot soldiers in this pit, alone. Two years later, in 1976, No.2 Pit was unearthed. It contained nearly a thousand warriors and ninety wooden chariots

39、. This pit was opened to the public in 1994, and today visitors from all over the world go to see Qin Shihuangs House of Eternity, and to see his terracotta army that was to protect his tomb. Altogether more than 7,000 terracotta soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been found in these

40、three pits, and more will likely be found in the future as archaeologists continue to explore and excavate the tomb area.Id like to finish up my talk by referencingwhat Peter Hassle of National Geographic magazine says about the ancient Chinese emperors view of the afterlife. Mr. Hassle says that th

41、e emperors of ancient China saw the afterlife as a continuation of life on Earth, much as the ancient Egyptians did. He also notes that archaeologists working on the tomb of the First Emperor of China are dusting off a window to the past. Theyre dusting off this window to give us a vision of what ma

42、ttered to the ancient rulers and their cultures. We have much more to learn from thc tomb of the First Emperor of China as excavation of the tomb area continues. We dont know when the excavation will be complete. Chinese officials say that the tomb mound of the first Chinese emperor will not be exca

43、vated until preservation techniques have advanced significantly. Well, thats about all I have to say for today. For homework, Id like you to read the description in your textbook of the terracotta warriors and horses found in Qin Shihuangs tomb. See you next time.The Filllt Emperor of China: Buildin

44、g an Empire and A House of EternityThe womens movement has gained a lot of attention in recent years in the U.S., and in countries around the world, as you heard in the last lecture. The womens movement has inspired many women to fight for equal rights and treatment in their homes, their personal re

45、lationships, and at work. It has also forced many women to examine and to rethink the roles they play in society. However, not only have women begun to examine and rethink the roles they play at home and work, and in modem society as a whole, but men also have begun to examine and rethink the roles

46、they play in society, and to examine and rethink the various and changing roles they must play at home and work today.Men have also begun to react in both positive and negative ways to the new expectations they must meet at home and work. Some men are adjusting well to the new roles they must playas

47、 more and more women enter the job market, and some men are pleased that their wives and partners have jobs outside the home. However, some of the role changes men are having to make to accommodate their working wives and girlfriends, and some of the new expectations concerning their masculinity are

48、 causing some of them a good deal of stress, anger, and confusion. Some men are even asking the question What does it mean to be a real man in todays world? Many are confused about how they should treat women, whether these women are their female colleagues at work, their friends, or their wives. So

49、me feel they are no longer king of the castle at home. As a result of this confusion and unhappiness, a countermovement called the mens movement has sprung up alongside the womens movement in the United States. Men in the movement seek to provide one another with the support they need to cope with t

50、he stresses and strains of being a man in todays world, and to cope with the stresses and strains brought about by the professional advances made and the personal freedoms won by women in many countries over the past few decades.Some women view the mens movement as a backlash against the professiona

51、l advances women have made and the personal freedoms they have won, as a result of the womens movement. Many men land many women, also) sec the mens movement as mens need to form a brotherhood for psychological support, just as women have formed support groups with other women. Others see the mens m

52、ovement as mens attempt and need to understand more fully what it means and takes to be a real man at the start of the twenty-first century, when traditional definitions of manhood are changing, or are under attack in many countries around the world.To begin this discussion of some of the catalysts

53、for the mens movement, Ill say just a few words about why some women consider the mens movement a reaction against the womens movement-what the well-known author Susan Faludi calls the backlash against the womens movement. Ms. Faludi suggests that some men feel that women are becoming too independen

54、t and powerful today as a result of the professional advances they have made in the workplace and because of the personal freedoms they have gained in their family and personal relationships. She notes that the resentment of some men toward womens gaining power is not a recent phenomenon.More than 1

55、,900 years ago, the women of Rome tried to repeal a law that forbade them from riding in horse-drawn chariots and from wearing multicolored dresses. In 195 B.C.E., the Roman senator Cato! Expressed the fear and concern that the women of Rome had become so powerful Cato that the independence of the m

56、en of Rome had been lost in their homes, and was being trampled underfoot in public. In her book titled Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, Susan Faludi points out that many men today still resent womens progress in becoming independent personally and professionally. Faludi notes th

57、at a seven-year survey of American male attitudes in the 1980s found that no more than 5 to 10 percent of the men surveyed genuinely supported womens demands for independence and equality. It is likely that this attitude has not changed much today.Although some women view the mens movement as a back

58、lash, many others see the mens movement as something that is good for both men and women. They see it as mens need to form a brotherhood for psychological support to protect their rights and personal freedoms even as women formed support groups with other women to protect and advance their rights. T

59、hey think, for example, that women should not automatically be given custody of children when a divorce occurs, and yet this is what often happens in the United States today. Finally, some authorities relate the development of the mens movement to the confusion created by the crisis of masculinity i

60、n contemporary society, and the many and changing images portrayed in the popular media of who and what real men are and how they are supposed to act. 1 you watch American movies, you might find yourself asking: Is the real man, for example, a sensitive guy like Dustin Hoffmans Tootsiel Is he an inv

61、olved dad like Robin Williamss Mrs. Donbtfire or the father played by Steve Martin in Parenthood? A macho man like Arnold Schwarzenegger plays in The Terminator, or is he a caring nurturer like the man Schwarzenegger played in Kindergarten Cop? Many men are searching for answers to this question and

62、 are attempting to find answers from the leaders of the mens movement.What are the origins of this crisis of masculinity that poses problems for many men today? One of the historical reasons for the crisis, according to Robert Bly, a poet who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the me

63、ns movement, is rooted in the changes that place in the U.S. as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which occurred in the early to mid-1900s.When the Industrial Revolution began, the kinds of work that people did (that is, the kinds of work men did changed for many Americans. Before the Civil War

64、, 88 percent of American males were small farmers, independent artisans, or smallbusiness owners. In these professions the workers usually worked close to their homes. This meant that sons were constantly learning how to work and support themselves and their family by working alongside their fathers

65、 . By 1910, however, less then one-third of all men in the United States were self-employed. Sociologist Michael Kimmel points out that even then many men felt that the concept of manhood was being threatened (and was even vanishing) because men no longer worked their land, or had control over their labor. Many never got to see the fruits of their labor, as farmers and craftsmen usually do. Many men in the post-Industrial Revolution era had become mere cogs in the machines of industrial America. In addition, thechange from a farm to an industrial society meant that instead of supportin