历史文化

History and CultureThank you very much for your gracious speech of welcome. China is one of the earliest cradles of civilization and a visit to this ancient civilization has long been my dream.This visit will give me an excellent opportunity to meet old friends and establish new contacts. I wish to say again that I am so delighted and privileged to visit your great country and this lovely town.I am deeply grateful for everything you have done for me since my arrival in China.People from different cultures sometimes do things that make each other uncomfortable, without meaning to or sometimes without even realizing it.Most Americans are usually spontaneous, friendly and open, and enjoy meeting new people, having guests and bringing people together formally or informally.They tend to be informal and speak freely. So if your American hosts do something that makes you uncomfortable, try to let them know how you feel. They will appreciate your honesty and try not to make you uncomfortable again.Sometimes Americans are said to be superficially friendly. Perhaps it seems so. Just like anywhere else, it takes time to become real friends with people in the United States.The United States is a country driven by automobiles. Americans are actually a people living on wheels who like to do business without leaving their cars.Wherever you go, you’ll see drive-in banks, drive-in-restaurants, drive-in churches and drive-in movies.When you drive in the U.S., you should note that the speed limit on the state or federal expressway is 55 miles per hour, and there is a minimum speed of 40 miles per hour.This country has the most developed car rental industry in the world. Largest American car rental companies have offices all over the U.S., with counters at most airports and in many international cities.The ability to use a language creatively is what makes us human beings different from other animals more than anything else.To know a language means not only to know what sounds there are in that language, but also to know how the sounds relate to their meanings.To know a language is to know how words are combined to form phrases and sentences, and to be able to produce and understand new sentences never heard before.To know a language also means to know what sentences are appropriate in a particular context. After all, we may use different words and tones when we speak to different audiences.After leaving the university, I spent nearly five years researching the book on leadership. I traveled around America, spending time with go of the most effective, successful leaders in the nation.My goal was to find these leaders' common traits. The fast was more difficult than I had expected. For a while, I sensed much diversity than commonality among them.The group included both rational and intuitive thinkers. Some were well-dressed and some were not; some were well-spoken, eloquent leaders and some didn't talk much.I was finally able to come to some conclusions, of which perhaps the most important is the distinction between leaders and managers. Leaders are people who do the right things and managers and those who do things right.I am interested in the Chinese history and culture. I still remember till this day the remark of the late Chinese leader Mao Tse-tong. “It is the people, and the people alone, that is the motive force in the making of world history.”Chinese people are people of diligence and intelligence. Both my government and people believe that friendship and cooperation with China is an essential part of our future work.From what I have already seen and heard in my short time here, it is clear to me that there are indeed good prospects for an all-round cooperation between Britain and China, including both governmental and non-governmental cooperation.If my current visit can help to advance the friendship between us, then that in itself will be a source of great satisfaction to me and, I believe, a benefit to all of us.In many countries of the world, the celebration of Christmas on December 25th is a high point of the year. From November onwards, it is impossible to forget that Christmas is coming.Colored lights decorate many town centers and shops, along with shiny decorations, and artificial snow painted on shop windows. Shopping centers become busier as December approaches and often stay open till late.Shopping center speaker systems will play the traditional Christmas songs, and groups of people will often sing carols on the streets to raise money for charity. In many countries, most people post Christmas greeting cards to their friends and family.In shops or at children’s parties, someone will dress up as Father Christmas and give small presents to children, or ask them what gifts they want for Christmas. Christmas can be a time of magic and excitements for children.Welcome to my discussion on the Chinese culture and American way of life. Americans are looking to Chinese Culture to enrich their life. This trend is gathering momentum and is there to stay.Apart from their love for Chinese cuisine, now more Americans are turning to its acupuncture, herbal medicines, martial arts, and kongfu films. Chinese language and acupuncture are now taught in many leading US universities and medical schools.With the growing popularity of Chinese things, China emerges as a potential world political and economic superpower. This coincides with its reopening up to the outside world.In addition to this, Chinese communities are thriving in many American urban centers, and their reputation as a model minority has aroused further interest in this distant land, which is so vastly different.We are here to observe one of the great traditions of our nation.I want to thank all the entertainers for making the night such a special evening. Thank you all for taking time off your tight schedule to participate in this fine event.For so many years in times of calm and in times of challenge, Americans have gathered for this ceremony. For over two millennia, Christmas has carried the message that we can always live in hope.In this season, we celebrate with our families, and deeply miss family members no longer with us. Thousands of families are still grieving over the terrible losses that came to them from the September 11 attack on New York.My wife and I wish every American family the blessings of the season. And now we have the honor of lighting the National Christmas Tree. Now, please join us in the countdown.As the world is in transition so is the English language taking new forms. This, of course, has always been true. English has changed substantially in the 1500 of its years, reflecting patterns of contact with other languages and the changing communication needs of people and their societies.But in many parts of the world, as English has become part of social life, it requires a momentum and vitality of its own. The English language has been developing in ways which inevitably reflect local culture and languages. And English spoken in those countries or regions has become increasingly different from the kind of English spoken in Britain or North America.The British people deeply admire China for its thousands of years of contribution to culture and religion, to philosophy and the arts, to science and technology. Now China is at a moment in history, when your glorious past is matched by your present sweeping change. That is, the change from a planned economic system to a market economy.Your social and economic change has been even more remarkable. Everything I know about the intelligence, the creativity, and hard working spirit of the Chinese people and everything that I have heard these last few days give me confidence that you will succeed. We British want China to be successful, secure, and open. Let us work together for a more peaceful and prosperous world.The position of the English language in the world today has been rising, owing to Britain’s colonial expansion and the more recent activity of America. Any change in the role of America in the world is likely to have an impact on the use and attractiveness of the English language, especially among those for whom English is not a first language.However, the economic dominance of the United States is expected to decline, as the fast growing economies in Asia have over taken it in size and in quantity. The question remains whether English has become so dominant in the world that the decline in the influence of the U.S. will not harm the present position of the English language.China is blessed with both a proud history and the promise of tomorrow.I am delighted to begin my journey in Xian, once the capital of China, still the heartland of the Chinese people. I was raised in the heartland of my own country. I know that the character of a nation is determined by the hard-working people who live here.Tomorrow, I look forward to seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors and the Old City walls. I look forward to learning more about China’s great contributions to the store of human knowledge, from medicine and printing to mathematics and astronomy —discoveries on which so much of the whole world’s progress is based.Some people say that the United States is “a melting pot”. In my view, the melting pot myth is never true. The United States has always been a heterogeneous society with cohesion based partly on mutual respect and partly on one group’s values dominating all others. In a true multicultural society, individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds exist without socially enforced power differences. But that is not the case, at least, with the United States.In the United States, when you speak of upper, middle and lower classes you speak of power and control over material resources. Economic power in the United States today is largely held by youthful, able-bodied White males. Whites in the United States recognize the existence of a White culture. In terms of cross-cultural communication, the dominant White culture includes communication patterns of Standard English, direct eye contact, limited physical contact, and controlled emotions.。