跨文化交际李成明unit2-A原文+翻译PDF

2023年12月5日发(作者：教育作文)

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Unit 2

With the amazingly rapid development in transportation and information communication,

people from different cultures interact more often than ever before, but misunderstandings even

conflicts caud in the process of this interaction also grow increasingly. Just for this reason, much

concern is focud upon the problem of how to help people interact and communicate successfully

in a transcultural way. As a matter of fact, culture is not strange to us all. We hear, read and talk of it,

such as Chine culture, English culture, tea culture, campus culture and so on. But when it comes

to the meaning of culture, it is notoriously difficult to define what culture really is or should be.

随着交通运输和信息交流的飞速发展，不同文化背景下的人们交往越来越频繁，但在交往过程中产生的误会甚至冲突也日益增多。正因为如此，人们关注的焦点是如何帮助人们以跨文化的方式成功地进行互动和交流。事实上，文化对我们大家来说并不陌生。我们听、读、谈它，如中国文化、英国文化、茶文化、校园文化等。但说到文化的意义，很难界定什么是真正的文化，什么应该是文化。

Text A The Concept of Culture

Culture is notoriously difficult to define. In 1952, the American anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber

and Clyde Kluckhohn, critically reviewed concepts and definitions of culture, and compiled a list of

164 different definitions. So far there is no agreement among anthropologists and scholars

regarding the nature of culture.

众所周知，文化很难定义。1952年，美国植物学家阿尔弗雷德·克罗伯和克莱德·克鲁克汉对文化的概念和定义进行了批判性的重新审视，并编制了164个不同的定义清单。到目前为止，人类学家和学者对于文化的本质还没有达成一致意见。

Although the term culture is ud by most of the social sciences today, over the years it has

received its most preci and thorough definition from the discipline of anthropology. Whereas

sociology has concentrated on the notion of society; economics on the concepts of production,

distribution, and consumption; political science on the concept of power; anthropology has focud

on the culture concept. From anthropology nineteenth-century beginnings, culture has been central

to both ethnology and archaeology and has been an important, if not major, concern of physical

anthropology. Anthropology, through its constant examining of different life ways throughout space

and time, has done more than any other scientific discipline to refine our understanding of the

concept of culture.

尽管今天大多数社会科学都使用“文化”这个词，但多年来，它从人类学学科中得到了最精确、最彻底的定义。而社会学则集中于社会概念；经济学则集中于生产、分配和消费概念；政治学则集中于权力概念；人类学则集中于文化概念。从19世纪的人类学开始，文化就一直是民族学和考古学的中心，并且一直是一个重要的，如果不是主要的，对物质人类学的关注。人类学通过对整个空间和时间中不同生活方式的不断研究，比任何其他科学学科都更能完善我们对文化概念的理解。

In nonscientific usage, the term culture refers to personal refinements such as classical music,

the fine arts ，world philosophy and gourmet cuisine. For example，according to this popular u of

the term, the cultured person listens to Bach rather than Eminem, can distinguish between the artistic styles of Monet and Toulou-Lautrec，and attends the ballet instead of professional

wrestling. The anthropologist, however, us the term in a broader n to include far more than

just "the finer things in life". The anthropologist does not distinguish between cultured people and

uncultured people. All people have culture, according to the anthropological definition. The

Australian aborigines, living with a bare minimum of technology, are as much cultural animals as

Yo-yo Ma and Baryshnikov. Thus, for the anthropologist, projectile points, creation myths and mud

huts are as legitimate items of culture as a Beethoven symphony, a Warhol painting and a Sondheim

musical.

在非科学的用法中，文化一词是指个人的改进，如古典音乐、美术、世界哲学和美食。例如，根据这个流行的术语，有文化的人听巴赫而不是埃米纳姆，可以区分莫奈和图卢兹·劳特里克的艺术风格，参加芭蕾舞而不是职业摔跤。然而，人类学家在更广泛的意义上使用这个术语，不仅包括“生活中更美好的事物”。人类学家不区分有文化的人和没有文化的人。根据人类学的定义，所有人都有文化。澳大利亚原住民生活在科技含量最低的地方，他们和马友友和巴利什尼科夫一样是文化动物。因此，对于人类学家来说，投射点、创造神话和泥屋与贝多芬交响乐、沃霍尔绘画和桑德海姆音乐剧一样，都是合法的文化项目。

Over the past century, anthropologists have formulated a number of definitions of the concept of

culture. In fact, in the often-cited work by Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, more than 160

different definitions of culture were identified. This should not lead to the conclusion that

anthropology is a chaotic battle ground where no connsus exists among practicing

anthropologists. In actuality, many of the definitions say esntially the same thing. One early

definition was suggested by nineteenth-century British anthropologist Edward Tylor. According to

Tylor, culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and

any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society". More recently, culture

has been defined as "a mental map which guides us in our relations to our surroundings and to

other people", and perhaps most succinctly as "the way of life of a people".

在过去的一个世纪里，人类学家对文化概念提出了许多定义。事实上，在AlfredKroeber和ClydeKluckhon经常引用的作品中，发现了超过160种不同的文化定义。这不应导致这样的结论：人类学是一个混乱的战场，实践中的人类学家之间没有共识。实际上，这些定义中的许多基本上都是相同的。19世纪英国人类学家爱德华泰勒提出了一个早期的定义。泰勒认为，文化是“一个复杂的整体，它包括知识、信仰、艺术、道德、法律、习俗以及人类作为社会成员所获得的任何其他能力和习惯”。最近，文化被定义为“指导我们与周围环境和他人关系的心理地图”，也许最简洁的定义是“一个人的生活方式”。

Adding to the already sizable number of definitions, we will define the concept of culture as

"everything that people have, think and do as members of a society. This definition can be

instructive becau the three verbs(have, think and do) correspond to the three major components

of culture. That is, everything that people have refers to material posssions: everything that

people think refers to the things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes: everything that people do refers to behavior patterns. Thus, all cultures are compod of

material objects, ideas, values and attitudes and patterned ways of behaving.

在已有大量定义的基础上，我们将把文化的概念定义为“作为一个社会成员，人们拥有、思考和做的一切”。这一定义具有指导意义，因为三个动词（have、think和do）对应文化的三个主要成分。也就是说，人们所拥有的一切都是指物质财富：人们所认为的一切都是指他们头脑中所携带的东西，如思想、价值观和态度：人们所做的一切都是指行为模式。因此，所有的文化都是由物质对象、思想、价值观和态度以及行为模式构成的。

Although we classify the components of culture, we should not conclude that they are

unrelated. In fact, the components are so intimately connected that it is frequently hard to parate

them in real life. To illustrate, a non-American anthropologist studying the mainstream culture of

the United States would obrve people engaged in writing in a wide number of contexts.

Middle-class North Americans fill out job applications, pen letters to loved ones, write books and

compo e-mail messages, to mention but a few examples. When we write, we are using a number

of tangible things (or artifacts), such as pens, pencils, computers, word processing software, hard

drives and paper. Although the artifacts are both obvious and visible, they reprent only one part

of writing. If we are to understand the full significance of writing in U. S. culture, it is imperative that

we look below the surface to tho other components of culture, such as, knowledge, attitudes and

behavior patterns. For example, in order for a New Yorker to u English in its written form, she

must know the alphabet, how to spell, basic English grammar and syntax, and the rule that words

are written from left to right and from top to bottom. She must know how to manipulate a writing

implement (pen or pencil) or have basic computer skills. She needs to know a wealth of cultural

information in order to communicate written messages coherently. Thus, the cultural process of

writing involves an intimate knowledge of the three fundamental components of culture: things or

artifacts, ideas and knowledge and patterns of behavior.

尽管我们对文化的这些组成部分进行了分类，但我们不应该认为它们是无关的。事实上，这些组件是如此紧密相连，以至于在现实生活中很难将它们分开。举个例子，一个研究美国主流文化的非美国人类学家会观察到从事写作的人有着广泛的背景。中产阶级的北美人填写工作申请表，给爱人写信，写书，写电子邮件，举几个例子。当我们写作时，我们使用了许多有形的东西（或人工制品），如笔、铅笔、计算机、文字处理软件、硬盘和纸张。尽管这些人工制品既明显又可见，但它们只代表了写作的一部分。如果我们要理解写作在美国文化中的全部意义，那么我们必须从表面以下审视文化的其他组成部分，如知识、态度和行为模式。例如，为了让一个纽约人以书面形式使用英语，她必须知道字母表，如何拼写，基本的英语语法和语法，以及单词从左到右和从上到下的规则。她必须知道如何操作书写工具（笔或铅笔），或者具备基本的计算机技能。她需要了解大量的文化信息，才能连贯地传达书面信息。因此，写作的文化过程涉及到对文化的三个基本组成部分的深入了解：事物或文物、思想和知识以及行为模式。

Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of culture and what makes humans unique in the animal

world, is the capacity to symbolize. A symbol is something that stands for (reprents something

el. When North Americans e a Nazi swastika, a multitude of images come to mind. The include the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler, concentration campus, goo-stepping and storm troopers. Also,

most citizens of the United States have a generally positive feeling when they e the red, white and

blue stars and stripes. That particular arrangement of colors and shapes symbolizes, among other

things, democracy, the Bill of Rights, and due process. Yet, as we have en in recent years, the

American flag reprents a host of very different meanings. For angry young men who delight in

burning it in the streets of Tehran, Djakarta and Karachi. Whether the U. S. flag symbolizes positive

or negative images, it is true that all human behavior begins with the u of symbols.

也许，文化的最基本方面，以及人类在动物世界中的独特之处，是象征的能力。符号是代表（代表）其他事物的东西。当北美洲人看到纳粹党的纳粹党徽时，脑海中浮现出许多画面。其中包括大屠杀，阿道夫希特勒，集中营，鹅步和暴风部队。而且，大多数美国公民看到红、白、蓝星星和条纹时都有一种普遍的积极的感觉。这种特殊的颜色和形状的安排，除其他外，象征着民主、权利法案和正当程序。然而，正如我们近年来所看到的，美国国旗代表了一系列截然不同的含义。为那些喜欢在德黑兰、雅加达和卡拉奇街头焚烧它的愤怒的年轻人。不管美国国旗象征着正面还是负面的形象，所有人类的行为都是从使用符号开始的。

As Leslie White stated so eloquently, the ability to symbolize is the single most important

hallmark of humanity. It is this capacity to create and give meaning to symbols that helps people

identify, sort and classify things, ideas and behaviors. When people symbolize by using language,

they are able to express experiences that took place at an earlier time or suggest events that may

happen in the future. Without symbols we would not be able to store the collective wisdom of past

generations, and conquently we would be prone to repeating the mistakes of the past. Symbols

tie together people who otherwi might not be part of a unified group. The power of our shared

symbols becomes clear when we meet others from our own culture in a far-off country. We

generally are drawn to them becau we share a common t of symbols, such as language,

nonverbal forms of communication and material culture such as clothing. It is the shared meaning

of our symbols that enables us to interact with one another with the least amount of ambiguity and

misunderstanding.

正如莱斯利·怀特雄辩地说的，象征的能力是人类最重要的标志。正是这种创造和赋予符号意义的能力，帮助人们识别、分类和分类事物、想法和行为。当人们使用语言作为象征时，他们能够表达发生在早期的经历，或者暗示未来可能发生的事件。如果没有符号，我们就无法储存过去几代人的集体智慧，因此我们很容易重复过去的错误。符号将不属于统一组的人联系在一起。当我们在一个遥远的国家遇到来自我们自己文化的其他人时，我们共享的符号的力量就变得清晰起来。我们之所以被吸引，是因为我们有一套共同的符号，如语言、非语言的交流形式和物质文化，如服装。这是我们符号的共同含义，使我们能够以最少的歧义和误解相互交流。

In everyday terminology, the term race often is ud as a synonym for culture. But

anthropologists consider the to be two very different concepts. A race refers to an interbreeding

population who members share a number of important physical traits with one another, such as

blood types, eye color and shape, skin color and hair texture, to mention just a few. By way of contrast, culture refers to our non-biological and non-genetic characteristics. All people can be

classified according to their physical traits and according to their acquired or cultural characteristics.

And, even though many groups share a common culture and a similar t of physical traits, the

two concepts vary quite independently of each other.

在日常术语中，种族这个词经常被用作文化的同义词。但是人类学家认为这是两个非常不同的概念。一个种族是指一个杂交群体，其成员彼此具有许多重要的身体特征，如血型、眼睛颜色和形状、皮肤颜色和毛发质地，仅举几个例子。相比之下，文化是指我们的非生物和非遗传特征。所有人都可以根据他们的身体特征和后天或文化特征来分类。而且，尽管许多群体有着共同的文化和相似的身体特征，但这两个概念却完全独立。

Another popular misunderstanding involves the confusion between culture and civilization. Again,

like the concept of race, the concepts of civilization and culture are not interchangeable. While all

civilizations are cultures, not all cultures are civilizations.

另一个流行的误解是文化和文明之间的混淆。同样，与种族的概念一样，文明和文化的概念是不能互换的。虽然所有的文明都是文化，但并非所有的文化都是文明。

The concept of civilization, as ud by anthropologists, refers to a very specific type of culture

that appeared around 5, 500 years ago in Fertile Crescent (prent-day Iraq). Civilizations are

esntially cultures that have developed cities. Bad largely on the definition of archaeologist V.

Gordon Childe, civilizations (or urban societies) are characterized by traits such as monumental

architecture, centralized (hierarchical) governments, fully efficient food production systems and

writing. While we sometimes hear such statements as "Oh, how uncivilized", modern

anthropologists do not u the term civilization to designate a superior type of culture.

人类学家所使用的文明概念指的是一种非常特殊的文化类型，大约在5500年前出现在肥沃的新月（今天的伊拉克）地区。文明本质上是发达城市的文化。在很大程度上，根据考古学家v. Gordon Childe的定义，文明（或城市社会）具有诸如纪念性建筑、中央（等级）政府、完全高效的食品生产系统和写作等特征。虽然我们有时听到“哦，多么不文明”这样的说法，但现代人类学家并没有用文明这个词来指代一种优越的文化类型。

The last phra in our working definition –as members of a society - should remind us that

culture is a shared phenomenon. For a thing, idea or behavior pattern to qualify as being cultural, it

must have a meaning shared by most people in a society. It is this shared nature of culture that

makes our lives less complicated. Becau people share a common culture, they are able to predict

within limits, how others will think and behave. For example, when meeting someone for the first

time in Toronto, it is customary to shake the person's hand. If both people grew up in Toronto,

neither party will have to wonder what is meant by an outstretched hand. They will know, with

nearly absolute certainty, that the extended hand is a nonverbal gesture signifying friendship rather

than a xual advance, a hostile attack or an attempt to steal one's wallet. It is when we step

outside our familiar cultural tting -where meanings are not shared with other people-that

misunderstandings occur. In fact, the uncertainty one experiences when trying to operate in an unfamiliar culture often leads to culture shock, a form of psychological distress that can result in

depression, overeating or irritability.

作为一个社会的成员，我们工作定义中的最后一句话应该提醒我们，文化是一种共同的现象。一件事、一个想法或一个行为模式要符合文化，它必须具有一个社会中大多数人所共有的意义。正是这种文化的共性使我们的生活不那么复杂。因为人们有着共同的文化，所以他们能够在一定范围内预测他人的想法和行为。例如，在多伦多第一次见到某人时，习惯上是握手。如果这两个人都在多伦多长大，两党都不必怀疑伸出的手是什么意思。他们几乎完全肯定地知道，伸出的手是一种表示友谊的非语言手势，而不是性的前进、敌对的攻击或企图偷钱包。正是当我们走出我们熟悉的文化环境时——在这种环境下，意义无法与其他人分享，误解才会发生。事实上，当一个人试图在一个陌生的文化中操作时所经历的不确定性往往会导致文化冲击，一种可能导致抑郁、暴饮暴食或易怒的心理痛苦形式。

Culture is not transmitted genetically. Rather, it is acquired through the process of learning or

interacting with one's cultural environment. This process of acquiring culture after we are born is

called enculturation. We acquire our culture (ideas, values and behavior patterns) by growing up in

it. When an infant is born, he or she enters a cultural environment in which many solutions already

exist to the universal problems facing all human populations. The child merely needs to learn or

internalize tho solutions in order to make a reasonable adjustment to his or her surroundings. A

male child who is born in one place will probably watch a good deal of TV; attend schools with

books, desks and professionally trained teachers; eventually learn to drive a car; marry one wife at a

time. On the other hand, a male child who is born in another place is likely to grow up playing with

cows, learn most of what he knows from peers and elders rather than teachers, undergo an

initiation ceremony, into adulthood that involves being anointed with the undigested stomach

contents of an ox slaughtered for the occasion, and look forward to having at least three or four

wives at one time. Even though both children are born into radically different cultures, they have

something important in common: they are born into an already existing culture, and they have only

to learn the ways of thinking and acting t down by their culture.

文化不是遗传的。相反，它是通过学习或与一个人的文化环境互动的过程获得的。这种在我们出生后获得文化的过程叫做文化融合。我们通过在文化中成长来获得我们的文化（思想、价值观和行为模式）。当婴儿出生时，他或她进入一个文化环境，在这个环境中，已经存在许多解决所有人类面临的普遍问题的办法。孩子只需要学习或内化这些解决方案，以便对周围环境做出合理的调整。一个出生在同一个地方的男孩可能会看很多电视；在学校读书，办公桌和受过专业培训的教师；最终学会开车；一次娶一个妻子。另一方面，一个出生在另一个地方的男孩很可能在成长过程中与奶牛玩耍，从同龄人和长辈那里而不是老师那里学习他所知道的大部分知识，经历一个启蒙仪式，进入成年期，这包括被涂上为这个场合而屠宰的一头牛未消化的胃内容物，并期待着哈维。一次至少有三到四个妻子。尽管两个孩子出生在完全不同的文化中，但他们有一些重要的共同点：他们出生在一个已经存在的文化中，他们只需要学习他们的文化所规定的思维和行为方式。

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