CULTURE 文化篇
A great poem is a fountain forever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and delight .(P. B. Shelley , British poet )
伟大的诗篇即是永远喷出智慧和欢欣之水的喷泉。(英国诗人 雪莱. P. B)
A novel is a mirror walking along a main road .( Stendhcl , French writer )
一部小说犹如一面在大街上走的镜子。 (法国作家 司汤达)
Art is a lie that tells the truth .( Picasso , Spanish painter )
美术是揭示真理的谎言。 (西班牙画家 毕加索)
Humor has been well defined as thinking in fun while feeling in earnest. (Mark Twain , American novelist )
幽默被人正确地解释为“以诚挚表达感受，寓深思于嬉笑”。(美国小说家 马克·吐温)
The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation ; the two keep in their downward tendency.( Johan Wolfgang von Goethe , German poet )
文学的衰落表明一个民族的衰落。这两者走下坡路的时间是齐头并进的。(德国诗人 歌德 . J . W .)
When one loves one's art no service seems too hard .( O. Henry, American novelist )
一旦热爱艺术，什么奉献也不难。 (美国小说家 欧·亨利)
American culture
The main content of American culture is the emphasize on individuals' value, the pursue of democracy and freedom, the promotion of deploitation(开拓, 经营) and competition and the need of realistic and practicality. Its core is individualism: self first, personal need first, pursue of individual benefit and enjoyment, emphasize on achieving individual value by self-strive and self-design. This type of intentionally build up of personality and pursue customized individualism has its pros and cons, it gives incentives to people and make them exert on their potential and wisdom and as a result accelerate the development of the entire race and nation; on the other hand it is difficult to keep good relationship among people if everyone is egocentric thus make the entire society lack of unity.
American citizens emphasize on achievements and respect heroes. They have great sense in their hearts to praise success and heroes. Personal achievements are one of those with the highest value in Americans mind. Americans have very strong senses of success. Success is the pursuit of most Americans, it is their attractive future and the incentives for moving forward. They believe that one's personal value is equivalent to his achievements in his career. Some high achievers in their career such as entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and all kinds of super starts became modern heroes. The process and result of how they strived have become the frame of reference of social culture value and the real life text book for parents to educate their children.
American society has great movements within itself. These movements are shown in two aspects: movements amongst locations and movements inside the society. The United States are relatively more open and have more freedom. Developed transport and the tradition of adventure and sporty makes a lot of American migrate from countryside to cities, from downtown to uptown; and from north to the southern sunny land, from one city to another. Unlike European countries, the social classes in America is not so stable. Further more, with the advocation of public education, movements upwards along the social ladder have become possible. Many people living in the states, no matter whether they are Native American or immigrants from overseas, have the same dream of changing their social class and make their lifetime dream come true through their own efforts. This is what they often called "American dream".
美国文化的主要内容是强调个人价值，追求民主自由，崇尚开拓和竞争，讲求理性和实用，其核心是个人中心主义：个人至上、私欲至上、追求个人利益和个人享受，强调通过个人奋斗、个人自我设计，追求个人价值的最终实现。这种刻意塑造自我，追求个性化的个人主义有其积极的一面，也有消极的一面。它调动了个人的积极性，使许多人的智慧和潜力得以充分发挥，从而促进整个民族与国家的振兴和发展。然而，人人以我为中心，人际关系就难以融洽，整个社会也会缺乏凝聚力。
美国公众注重成就，仰慕英雄，有深厚的成就崇拜和英雄崇拜的心理积淀。个人成就是所有美国人价值观中评价最高的价值之一。美国人有很强的成就(或成功)意识。成功是所有美国人的追求，是诱人的前景，前进的动力。他们坚信，一个人的价值就等于他在事业上的成就。一些事业有成的企业家、科学家、艺术家和各类明星，成了新时代的英雄。他们个人奋斗的过程和结果，成了社会文化价值取向的参照系，父母教育子女的活教材。
美国是流动性很大的社会。这种流动体现在两个方面：地域性流动和社会性流动。美国相对的开放自由、发达的交通和冒险好动的传统使许多美国人从乡村流到城市，又从市中心流向郊区；从北方流到南方阳光地带，从一个城市流到另一个城市。美国社会阶级不像欧洲国家那样固定，加上公共教育的普及，使沿着社会阶梯向上流动成为可能。许多生活在美国的人，无论是土生土长的美国人，还是漂洋过海来到美国的外国移民，都有一个梦，即通过自己的努力，改变自己的社会地位，实现自己的人生梦想，这就是人们常津津乐道的“美国梦”。
American Independence Day sources
Independence Day is one of the major U.S. legal holiday. July 4, 1776, Jefferson drafted by the "Declaration of Independence" in Philadelphia at the Continental Congress formally adopted the United States solemnly declared independence from Britain. Declaration of Independence "is a great world-historic literature, through the" Declaration of Independence "The day is also a holiday commemorating the American people forever, as the U.S. Independence Day. Time: July 4, America's most important non-religious holiday, the equivalent of other countries, "National Day." Americans are generally a direct call "on July 4."美国独立日(Independence Day)的来源
独立日(Independence Day)是美国主要法定节日之一。1776年7月4日，由杰弗逊起草的《独立宣言》在费城大陆会议上正式通过，庄严地宣布美利坚合众国脱离英国而独立。独立宣言》是具有世界历史意义的伟大文献，通过《独立宣言》的这一天也成为美国人民永远纪念的节日，定为美国独立日。时间：7月4日，美国最重大的非宗教节日，相当于其他国家的“国庆日”。美国人普遍直接称之为“7月4日”。
中国
Brief Introduction to China
Location The People Republic of China is situated in eastern Asia on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, with an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. China's continental coastline extends for about 18,000 kilometers, and its vast sea surface is studded with more than 5,000 islands, of which Taiwan and Hainan are the largest.
Land Formation and Rivers China's land drops off in escarpments eastward to the ocean, letting in humid air current and leading many rivers eastward. Among the rivers totaling 220,000 kilometers in length in China, the Changjiang (Yangtze) and the Huanghe (Yellow) are world known.
China has beautiful scenery, with mountains and ranges, highlands, plains, basins, and hills. The highlands and hill regions account for 65 percent of the country's total land mass, and there are more than 2,000 lakes. The highest mountain peak is Qomolangma (Everest), the highest in the world, 8,848 meters above sea level; the lowest point is the Turpan Basin, 154 meters below sea level.
The Capital
Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is not only the nation's political centre, but also its cultural, scientific and educational heart and a key transportation hub. Beijing has served as a capital for more than 800 years. The city had many places of historic interest and scenic beauty, including the imperial Palace (also known as the Forbidden City), the largest and best-preserved ancient architectural complex in the world; the Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors performed solemn rituals for bountiful harvests; the Summer Palace, the emperors' magnificent garden retreat; the Ming tombs, the stately and majestic mausoleums of 13 Ming Dynasty emperors; and the world-renowned and genuinely inspiring Badaling section of the Great Wall. Large-scale construction since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 has brought great changes to Beijing. Today's Beijing still retains the alluring fascination of an ancient capital, but has added a small forest of skyscrapers and a complete range of municipal facilities, transforming itself into an attractively modern metropolis redolent of history.
The National Flag, National Emblem and National Anthem
The national flag of the People's Republic of China is red in color, rectangular in shape, with five stars. The proportion between the length and height of the flag is three to two. The five five-pointed yellow stars are located in the upper left corner. One of them, which is bigger, appears on the left, while the other four hem it in on the right.
The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution; the stars take on the yellow color in order to bring out their brightness on the red ground. The larger star represents the CPC, while the four smaller ones, the Chinese people. The relationship between the stars means the great unity of the Chinese people under
the leadership of the CPC.
澳大利亚
With an area of eight million square kilometres, Australia is the sixth largest country in the world.
• The population stands at just twenty million, of whom some 85% live in urban areas, mainly along the coast. About 92% of the population are of European origin, 2% Aboriginal and about 6% Asian and Middle Eastern.
• Much of Australia is arid and flat. One-third of the country is desert and another third is steppe or semi-desert. Only six percent of the country rises above 600m in elevation, and its tallest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, is just 2228m high.
• Australia's main exports are fossil fuels, minerals, metals, cotton, wool, wine and beef, and its most important trading partners are Japan, China and the US.
• Australia is a federal parliamentary state (formally a constitutional monarchy) with two legislative houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The chief of state is the British Monarch, represented by the Governor-General, while the head of government is the Prime Minister.
加拿大
Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area and shares land borders with the United States to the south and northwest.
The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of aboriginal people. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled along, the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces.[8][9][10] This began an accretion of additional provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and culminating in the Canada Act in 1982, which severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the British parliament.
美国
American Profile
name : United States of America (The United States of America). Area : 9372614 square kilometers (local area). Population : 270.3 million (end of 1998). Which whites accounted for 83.4%, 12.4% for blacks, Asians accounted for 3.3%. Languages : English, Spanish (minorities) Religion : 57% of residents believe in the Christian Protestant, 28% profess Catholicism and practice Judaism 2%. Professing other religions accounted for 4% and is not part of any denomination or 9%. (1989) Capital : Washington, DC (Washington D.C.). population of about 607,000 (1990), of which 65.8% are black. North America is located in the southern United States, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, north of Canada, Mexico and South on the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout from east to west can be divided into five geographical regions : Southeast coastal plain-Atlantic coastal plain and Mexico coastal plain in two parts. In this zone elevation 200 meters, the majority from the alluvial river from, especially the Mississippi Delta, the world's largest delta, oil black soil, the soil is fertile. Near the mouth of some wetlands. Located in the geographical area of the Florida peninsula is the largest U.S. on the peninsula. American English is the official language. But because of geographical barrier, the passage of time, the United States and Britain language has created a great difference
英国
UK
These are some of the features of the UK which you may want to consider when deciding if you wish to study, work or live there:
Culture
Note that there are good and bad sides to each characteristic, and there are many exceptions to these stereotypes.
Diversity: There is a wide mix of cultures in the UK. In London there are foreign communities from most parts of the world.
Tolerance: British people are usually tolerant to foreigners, and respect the freedom to have different opinions and beliefs.
Freedom: People usually feel free to express their own opinions and wear what they want. Don't expect people to agree with you all of the time.
Humour: British people have a strong sense of humour, but it can be hard for foreigners to understand when someone is joking.
Cautiousness: People often avoid talking to strangers until they have been introduced, partly to avoid any possible embarrassment.
Creativity: Individual ideas are encouraged. Arts and music are creative. British people are often not so good at working as a group.
Modesty: People are quite modest. They do not like to complain directly: life is peaceful, but when there is poor service it is not challenged and changed.
Language
The UK is where the English language developed. There are more people using English as their first language in the UK than in any other country except the US (the countries with the most English speakers are the US: 230 million, the UK: 60 million, Canada: 20 million, Australia: 15 million, Ireland/New Zealand/South Africa: 3 million). British English is easily understood in many parts of the world. Many people like British accents, although it can take some time for a foreigner to get used to some of the regional varieties. For details, see: English.
Travel
It is easy to travel to the UK. There are flights to London from most parts of the world. You can travel around the UK by trains and bus, although the services are not very efficient. It is usually not necessary for a student to have a car. The country is quite small, so it is easy to make day-trips or to go on holiday to other parts of Britain. The UK is close to the many different countries of continental Europe. If you come to work or study in the UK, you may have the opportunity to experience a variety of different cultures of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, Portugal and other countries. For details, see: Travel.
Based on historical documents, modern survey and statistics, as well as the result of predecessor studies, the trend and main process of forest dynamics are recognized. The forest area and forest coverage rates for each province of China from 1700 to 1949 are es- timated backward by every 50 years. Linking the result with modern National Forest Inventory data, the spatial-temporal dynamics of Chinese forest in recent 300 years (AD 1700–1998) is quantitatively analyzed. The study shows that in recent 300 years, the forest area in current territory of China has declined by 0.95×108 hm2 (or 9.2% of the coverage rate) in total, with a trend of decrease and recovery. Before the 1960s, there was a trend of accelerated de- scending. The forest area was reduced by 1.66×108 hm2 (or 17% of the coverage rate) in 260 years. While after the 1960s, there has been a rapid increase. The forest area increased by 0.7×108 hm2 (or 8% of the coverage rate) in 40 years. The study also shows that there is a significant spatial difference in the dynamics of forest. The amplitudes of increasing and de- creasing in western China are both smaller than the ones in eastern China. During the rapid declining period from 1700 to 1949, the most serious decrease appeared in the Northeast, the Southwest and the Southeast, where the coverage rate in most provinces dropped over 20%. In Heilongjiang Province, the coverage rate dropped by 50%. In Jilin Province, it dropped by 36%. In Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, it dropped by 42%. In Yunnan Prov- ince, it dropped by 35%. During the recovery period 1949–1998, the western provinces, mu- nicipality and autonomous regions, including Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Si- chuan–Chongqing, Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai, etc, the increase rates are all below 5%, while the eastern provinces, municipality and autonomous regions (except Heilongjiang, Hubei, Jiangsu–Shanghai) have achieved an increase over 5%, among which the Guang- dong–Hainan, Guangxi, Anhui, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, and Fu- jian have an increase over 10%.
Russia is a big country, the biggest in the world by area. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. If you want to tour Russia, you have two big challenges. The first is infrastructure, and the second is time. Infrastructure is being upgraded quickly, but time is still a problem. Russia is so big! Tourism to Russia is becoming quite popular. There are many natural areas in Russia. The Trans Siberian Railway goes through or near many of them like Lake Baikal. There are many old cultural sites like the State Hermitage Museum and the Russian Museum St. Petersburg. There are also many “Red” tourist sites like Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow. 俄罗斯是世界上地域面积最广的国家。地跨太平洋和大西洋。如果你想去俄罗斯旅游，将面临两大挑战。第一个就是基础设施，第二个则是时间。基础设施更新得很快，但是时间则永远是个难题。俄罗斯面积如此辽阔！去俄罗斯旅游已经变得十分流行。俄罗斯拥有许多自然地域。西伯利亚铁路穿过或临近这些自然地域，如贝加尔湖。俄罗斯也拥有非常多的历史遗迹成列在埃尔米塔什博物馆和圣彼得堡的俄罗斯国家博物馆。俄罗斯的许多“红色革命”旅游景点如莫斯科的红方和克里姆林宫。 Traveling to the Western US is a treat as the Great Plains slowly rises as you go west into the Rocky Mountains. These go very high. In Denver Colorado you may see some real cowboys. There are more mountains and great skiing as you go west to the Cascade Mountains in the north up to Idaho and Seattle, Washington. The Sierra Nevada leads to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas in Nevada. California has the Central Valley agricultural area, and San Francisco and Los Angeles. 去美国西部旅游是件难得的乐事。在你向西走近落基山脉的时候，你可以看见大平原缓缓升起。在科罗拉多州的丹佛你可以看到真正的牛仔。卡斯克德山脉在爱达华州、西雅图和华盛顿的北部，在你朝山的西面进发的时候，你可以看到山脉连绵和滑雪运动。内华达州通向亚利桑那州的大峡谷和太浩湖及拉斯维加斯。加州有中央峡谷的农业地区、旧金山和洛杉矶。 Spain is becoming a very popular travel destination because of its beauty, history, architecture, and food. Spain is in the southwest of Europe, bordered by Portugal on the west, and the Pyrenees Mountains in the east. These divide Spain from France, and are home to the Basques, who speak a language like no other on earth. Madrid is the capital in the center of the country. Valencia and Barcelona are on the Mediterranean Sea coast. Cadiz, Malaga, and Granada are across the Straights of Gibraltar from Africa, so they have Moslem influence. Granada has the Alhambra castle. 西班牙正日益成为一个受游客欢迎的旅游胜地，她风景迷人、历史悠久、建筑优美、食物令人垂诞欲的。西班牙位于欧洲的西南部，西邻葡萄牙，东接比利牛斯山脉，和法国分了开来。西班牙是巴斯克人的故乡，他们的语言独一无二。马德里是西班牙的首都，位于整个国家的中部。巴伦西亚和巴塞罗那坐落在地中海的海岸线上。加的斯、马拉加和格林纳达和非洲之间隔着直布罗陀海峡，所以他们受到穆斯林的影响。格林纳达有著名的阿罕布拉宫。 Australia is far south of Asia. It is a huge area with not that many people. Most of Australia’s large cities like Sydney and Perth are near the coast. These cities, and the Great Barrier Reef, are the best for tourism on the coast. Australia has many unique animals, including kangaroos, koala bears, and wild camels. Much of the center is dry and even desert. This area is often called the Outback. The Aboriginal people have lived in Australia over 50,000 years and mostly live in the Outback. Ayer’s Rock is at the center of the country. 澳大利亚位于亚洲的南面，整个国家面积辽阔，人口稀少。澳洲大部分的大型城市像悉尼和佩斯，都靠近沿海。这些城市如大堡礁都是旅游胜地。澳洲有很多特有的珍稀动物，包括袋鼠、考拉和野生动物。澳洲的中部很干燥，还有一些沙漠地区，这个地区被称为澳洲内地。土著民族在澳洲已经生存了50,000多年了，而且大部分都生活在澳洲内地。艾尔斯岩位于这个国家的中部地区。 If you travel to Greece you will see beautiful weather, ancient cities like Athens, and wonderful islands around the blue Mediterranean Sea. In Athens you may see Greece’s most famous site, the Acropolis. Going to the islands you may see Crete, Corfu, Mykonos, and Rhodes. Greek history is the history of their islands. There are many island groups in Greece with hundreds of islands. The Greek mainland includes Athens, but also beautiful cities like Sparta, which had some of the ancient world’s toughest soldiers. 在希腊，你会享受到舒适的气候、欣赏到历史悠久的古建筑和环绕天蓝色地中海的小岛。闻名世界的雅典卫城，克利特岛、科孚岛、米克诺斯和罗德岛，这些构成希腊历史的岛屿。希腊有为数众多的岛屿群，这些岛屿群又包含成百上千的岛屿，他们星罗棋布。希腊本土由雅典和斯巴达构成。提起斯巴达，就不能不提那里优美的城市环境和世上最坚强的勇士。
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