英美文化的一些知识

1. British personalities(P6)（星）The best-known quality of the British , and in particular of the English, is “reserve”. A reserved person is one who does not talk very much to strangers , does not show much emotion, and seldom gets excited.Closely related to English reserve is English modesty, within their hearts, the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else, but in their relations with others they value at least a show of modesty. The famous English sense of humor is similar. Its starting point is self deprecation, and its great enemy is conceit. Its ideal is the ability to laugh at oneself—at one’s own faults, one’s own failures and embarrassments, even at one’s own ideals. Finally, sportsmanship . Like a sense of humor, this is an English ideal which not all Englishmen live up to. It must be realized that sport in its modern form is almost entirely a British invention.(152)2. Importance of Elizabeth Era in politics,military,internationalrelations and culture（月）Elizabeth Era is a British golden age. In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and siblings. She followed a motto “I see, and say nothing” ,which saved her from political misalliances.Elizabeth restored the status of the episcopal church. And in the first two years she released the supreme law and a single laws, regulatingthe king is the supreme leader of church. Besides , she was cautious in foreign affairs and only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns. In military, She organized England pirates to raid The Spanish fleet that filled with Gold and silver jewelries constantly, which helps the British repayment of the debt. Later, Elizabeth defeated the Spanish armada, which is popularly viewed as one of the greatest victories in English history. In culture, famous above all is the flourishing of English drama that led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.(153)3. The establishment of constitutional mornarchy(P39)（月）As early as in 1215, the king John was forced to sign The Magna Carta, requiring that the king should respect the regulation and power of the nobles and church , ensure the liberty and property rights of the public and the king’s power in levy tax is l imited. This is the earliest origin of the constitutional monarchy, also is the beginning of the constitution.After The Glorious Revolution in 1689, the British parliament passed the Bill of Rights a year later. It included: without parliament’s permissio n , the king can’t publish laws or stop the implementation of law, shall not collecte or control taxes, and shall not recruit oraintain regular army. Besides, subjects have the right to petition the king. Parliament ,which members from people's free elections, should be held regularly and so on.A constitutional monarchy system of government That theparliament in supreme power and court is independent, subjects’ rights and freedoms from infringement was established.(160)4. The role of the monarch(P41)（月）The british monarch can be seen as having two roles: head of state, and “head of the station”.As Head of State, The queen undertakes constitutional and representational duties which have developed over one thousand years of history. There are inward duties, parliament must be opened, orders in council have to be approved, acts of Parliament must be signed, and meeting with the prime minister must be held. There are out ward duties, such as the queen represents Britain to the rest of the world.As 'Head o f Nation'. The Monarch’s role is less formal, but no less important for the social and cultural functions it fulfils. These include: proving a focus for national identity, unity and pride; giving a sense of stability and continuity; officially recognising success and excellence; and supporting service to others.The queen also has an essential role in providing a sense of stability and continuity in times of political and social change.(157)5. Checks and balance（梅）“C hecks and balance” is a federal system of gowernment seted up by the constitution to divide powers between the national,state and governments.The American government is divided into three branches: legislative(立法), executive（行政）, and judicial（司法）. These three branches are not independent. Each branch has powers that it can use to check and balance the operations and power of the other two branches.Each branch serves a different purpose and presides over（负责）several different entities（实体）.The legislative branch has the powers to make the laws ,which oversees（监督）the house of representatives（众议院）and the senate（参议院）.The executive branch is given the power to carry out the laws and consists of the president,the cabinet（内阁）,and the federal departments and stly,the judicial branch is given the power to interpret the laws.It presides over the supreme courts and the other federal courts.But each of these three br anches’ power is restricted by other two btanches.(145)6. The election of American presidents(P54)（星）The President are elected every four years. They must be at least 35 years of age, benative-born citizens of the United States, and have been residents of the U.S. for at least 14 years.The national presidential election actually consists of a separate election in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia; in these51 elections, the voters vote for "electors" pledged to one of thetickets. These electors make up the "Electoral College."Each state has the same number of electors as it has senators and representatives。