大二英语课本

Unit 6

Intercultural Communication

I. Difficult Sentences

1. Like most ailments it has its own cause, symptoms, and cure.

(1) What does “it” refer to in this sentence?

(= “It” refers to culture shock.)

(2) In the previous sentence, the author uses the word “disease”, but here

the word “ailments” is used. What is the difference between these two words?

(=Disease is a general term referring to an illness which affects a person, animal, or plant. Ailment refers to an illness that is not very serious. Obviously, culture shock is not a serious physical disease that is affecting one’s body. It is just a kind of emotional discomfort usually found in somebody who has been suddenly transplanted abroad. )

(3) Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=和大部分疾病一样，这种病有其独特的起因、症状和疗法。)

2. … when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to give orders to servants, how to make purchases, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not.

(1) Say something more about the usage of “when/what/how/ + infinitive”

structure.

(=There are three points to remember when you use this kind of structure: First, this structure is used only after such English verbs as ask, decide, discover, find out, forget, know, learn, remember, see (=understand/perceive), and wonder, etc.; Second, besides “when/what/how”, words like “where/which/whether” can also be used in this structure; Third, the structure “whether + infinitive”is usually used after “want to know” or “wonder.” )

More examples:

*I found out where to buy fruit cheaply.

*I didn’t know when to switch the machine off.

*I wondered whether to write or phone.

(2) Paraphrase “when to take statements seriously and when not.”

(=when we should believe that these statements are worth our attention and when we needn’t pay attention to them)

3. These cues which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs,

or norms are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are

as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept.

(1) According to this statement, what makes up our culture?

(=The cues we acquire in daily life, the language we speak, and the beliefs we accept.)

(2) Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=这些暗示可以是语言、手势、面部表情、风俗习惯或社会行为标准。

我们在成长的过程中获得了这些暗示，就像我们的语言和我们所接受

的信仰一样，它们已经成为我们文化的一部分。)

4. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues.

What is the implied meaning of this sentence?

(=Without these familiar cues such as words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms, we would probably get lost and suffer from frustration and anxiety, and wouldn’t be able to work efficiently.)

5. To an American everything American becomes irrationally glorified.

Do the two words “American” in this sentence mean the same?

(=No, they don’t mean the same. The first “American”is a noun, meaning “someone from the USA,”while the second is used as an adjective, meaning “relating to the US A.”)

6. The culture of any people is the product of history and is built up over

time largely through processes which are beyond his awareness.

(1) What can you infer from this sentence?

(=Culture develops and builds up through a long but hardly

noticeable process.)

(2) Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=任何一个民族的文化都是历史的产物，经过漫长的、本民族意识

不到的过程才得以积累形成。)

7. To this attitude we give the name ethnocentrism, a belief that not only

the culture but the race and the nation form the center of the world.

(1) To what kind of attitude do we give the name ethnocentrism?

(=We give the name ethnocentrism to the attitude that people

regard their culture as both the best and the only way of doing

things.)

(2) How is ethnocentrism defined in this sentence?

(=It is a belief that not only the culture but the race and the nation

form the center of the world.)

(3) Analyze the structure of this sentence.

(=a. The first part of this sentence uses the technique of fronting (前

置手法). The regular sentence order would be “We give the name

ethnocentrism to this attitude”; b. In the second part, there is an