【简介】
本教程分英国篇与美国篇，采用地道、易读的英文素材全面展现了英美两国政治、社会、文化生活的各个方面，描述、讨论并分析了两国的地理、种族、政治、经济、宗教、价值观、教育、福利保障制度等内容，旨在培养学生的文化意识，提高跨文化交际能力。
【文化交际英语程系列介绍】
依据《大学英语学指南》，外教社策划出了‘跨文化交际英语系列”，力图充分挖掘大学英课程丰富的人文内涵，满足各高校开设跨文化交际英话课程的需要。
‘跨文化交际英语课程系列”包括跨文化交际技巧、英美文化、文学、中国文化等多个品种，品类丰富、涵盖面广，旨在帮助学生了解中外不同的世界观、价值观、思雄方式及社会组织的差异，培养学生的文化与跨文化意识，提高学生社会语言能力和跨文化交际能力。
【Preface】
Living in a"global village", virtually every individual in modern society, young college students in particular, is expected, if not required, to be able to speak one or two foreign languages. Beyond that, globalization also demands that one should be able to communicate interculturally with people from outside his her country, making understanding or appreciation of any culture or cultures increasingly important, indeed necessary, for any"global villager"to play a significant role in the world. In response to this changed and changing world, Chinese colleges and universities have recently made efforts to shift the focus in English language teaching from language-based skill training to a more culture- oriented approach, in the hope that college students will be not only proficient in English language, but also competent in intercultural communication.
In keeping with this shift of focus, we initiated our project in June 2012 and completed it in March 2013. The purpose of this project is twofold. One is to provide in this textbook readable, fluent and, hopefully, idiomatic English on the one hand, and to inform the users of this textbook of the fundamentals of British and American culture on the other hand. As indicated in the title of this textbook, it is intended to describe, discuss and occasionally analyze the basic fabrics of British and American political, social and cultural life, all defined in a broad sense. To this end, we took cautious measures in conceptualizing and designing the format and content of this textbook and, through judicious consultation and thought-through discussion, eventually came up with what is now presented to the users of it.
In executing the plan thus conceived we adopted a multi-dimensional approach, giving priority to the social and cultural aspects of these two most important English-speaking countries, while at the same time paying due attention to other aspects of British and American life. Altogether, the textbook is composed of 16 chapters, 8 about Britain and 8 the United States. For each chapter, a uniform organizational structure is followed, which includes 10 items such as Guided Reading, Learning Objectives Project, New Words and Expressions, Text, Notes and Explanations, General Questions, Essay Questions, Quiz, and Reference answers.
They are structured in such a way to make it user-friendly, for teachers and students alike.
Like many other similar survey textbooks on Britain and America, this one also covers some of the basic topics about these two countries like geography, demography, politics and economy. However our similarity may just end here, for a significant portion of our textbook is devoted to the discussion of such topics as religion, values, ethnic groups, and political principles. It is our belief that all of this offers us a key to the understanding of either Britain or the United States,for they are the ones that undergird the political economic and social structure upon which these two countries are built.
To fulfill this"mission", we followed the time-honored principle of"division of labor", breaking our joint undertaking into two parts, with Wu Min,Chen Huilin, and Zhang Xinbin taking care of the British part, and Wang Enming and Wang Zhuo responsible for the American part. As a team, we have been working on many projects, bound together by our common commitment to the study of British and American culture as well as our friendship and colleagueship. Needless to say, this is not going to be our last concerted effort, for we know full well that, as students of British and American culture, we still have tons of work to do in both teaching and research.
After all, as"global villagers", we all need to be able to communicate and understand people of different cultures, all of which begins with language skills and cultural awareness, plus intercultural competence. With this in mind, we would like to invite the users of this textbook to join us in this endeavor to make our world a harmonious"global village".
Any comment or criticism about the textbook in any form will be greatly appreciated.
Wang Enming
American Studies Center
College of English Literature and Language
Shanghai International Studies University
电子营业执照
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出版物经营许可证: 新出发沪批字 第 T0015 号
