Furnace-another name for America.
Because the United States is a country composed of immigrants of different nationalities from all over the world. The English spoken by these immigrants is not as hierarchical and geographically diverse as that spoken by the British.
They formed similar living habits and manners; The difference between urban and rural residents is not as obvious as in other countries. Although American society is fiercely competitive and has racial discrimination, it shows considerable flexibility and inclusiveness in assimilating immigrants from different ethnic groups.
As a result, a brand-new overall culture and national consciousness have been formed, making the United States a "multi-ethnic country". The American outlook on life is based on the spirit of individual struggle, self-control and competition.
Yuppies and yuffies-Yuppies and yuffies are a new word that Americans copied from hippies, meaning "young urban professionals". Yuppies are engaged in occupations that require higher education, such as lawyers, doctors, architects, computer programmers, business managers and so on.
Their annual salary is very high. Yuppies are successful, ambitious, talented and have a luxurious life.
Unlike hippies, yuppies have no sense of decadence, do not care about political and social issues, and only care about making money and pursuing a comfortable life. Elegant princess poetry means "young people who fail in the city"
Although they feel that their life is not as good as that of yuppies, they don't want to feel lost and swear to find their own home. Uncle Sam-Uncle Sam is a nickname and symbol of the United States.
Uncle Sam's English is Uncle Sam, and the abbreviation is America.
Just like the English abbreviation in America. But how did it become a nickname and symbol of America? The general saying is: 18 12. During the American-British War, there was a businessman (some people said he was an official) named Sam? Samuel Wilson (1776— 1854) is usually called Uncle Sam.
The United States bought his beef box with the American flag on it.
Words. People joke that these are all covered by u.
S. The boxes with words on them all belong to Uncle Sam.
Later, "Uncle Sam" became a nickname for the United States. 19 In the 1930s, American painters painted Uncle Sam as a lanky old man with a goatee, and his hat and trousers were marked with the Stars and Stripes.
-Black Friday-The word "black" comes from Good Friday. 1987101October19, the share price of new york stock market plummeted. Because it is Friday, it is called "Black Friday" in the stock market.
65438+1October 65438+1October 9, new york stock index generally fell sharply, exceeding the record of stock crash caused by the Great Depression on June 65438+1October 28, 1929. Shortly after the market opened that day, there was a frenzy of selling stocks. New york's stock market hit a record of 604.3 billion shares, causing heavy losses to several large American companies. The total stock value of 5,000 listed companies lost $500 billion in one day.
The stock prices of major financial markets around the world plummeted rapidly, causing great panic in the West. This stock price crash is the worst since the First World War and the biggest decline in Wall Street's history.
2. Common sense of Chinese and Western cultures
Tradition: China people value "inside", while westerners value "outside".
China people look forward to a bumper harvest and enjoy happiness through festivals, while westerners prefer to vent their personal feelings and publicize their individuality. Thinking mode, western rationalism and speculative analysis of details; China attached importance to the overall synthesis of experience and intuition.
In terms of privacy, China people's concept of privacy is relatively weak, and they think that individuals should belong to the collective, pay attention to unity, friendship and common concern. Therefore, China people are often willing to understand the ups and downs of others, and the other party is willing to tell them frankly. On the other hand, westerners pay great attention to personal privacy and space, and are unwilling to mention their own affairs to others too much, let alone let others interfere.
For example, when people meet for the first time in China, they often ask each other about their age, marital status, children, occupation and even income. In the eyes of China people, this is a kind of courtesy, but in the eyes of westerners, these questions violate their privacy. Time concept: Westerners' time concept and money concept are linked, and the concept that time is money is deeply rooted, so they cherish time very much, and often make careful arrangements and plans for time in their lives, thus forming a good habit of punctuality.
China people, on the other hand, belong to a country with multi-directional time habits, so they have great arbitrariness in the use of time, and generally do not strictly follow the plan as westerners do. Politeness, China people pay attention to modesty, and emphasize "humility and respect for others" when interacting with others. This is regarded as a virtue, which is a polite phenomenon with China cultural characteristics.
When others praise us, we often belittle ourselves to show modesty and courtesy. Western countries do not have such cultural habits. When they are praised, they always say "thank you" happily to show their acceptance.
Due to the cultural differences between China and the West, we think that Westerners are overconfident and have no modesty. When westerners hear that China people deny others' praise, or deny their own achievements, or even belittle themselves, they will be very surprised and think that China people are dishonest. Catering customs, the Chinese nation has a fine tradition of hospitality.
On social occasions and banquets, enthusiastic China people often toast each other. When China people entertain guests, even if the table is full of delicious food, the host is always used to saying a few kind words like "forgive me".
The host sometimes puts food in the guest's bowl with chopsticks, and uses various methods to persuade the guest to eat more food and drink more wine. In western countries, people emphasize respect for individual rights and privacy, so they won't do anything beyond their power.
When eating, they will never force food into your bowl, eat whatever they want, and will not persuade guests to drink in various ways, let alone force you to get drunk. Behavioral norms, such as patting children on the head in China, are friendly, while in western countries, it is very disrespectful to children, and parents will be very angry about it.
Customs and habits, China people have supreme respect for dragons, and consider them as symbols of the Chinese nation. There is a "Dragon Fight Festival" in the west, and dragons are considered evil.
China people think that red is a symbol of "happiness" and "auspiciousness", while white and black are unlucky colors. Therefore, people will wear red clothes, hang red lanterns and paste the word "hi" on major festivals or weddings.
At funerals, people will wear black or white clothes, which represents mourning for the world. But westerners like white and black very much.
Foreign brides wear white to show their holiness. When attending parties, women in China usually wear yellow or purple clothes to show nobility, while foreign women wear black clothes to show elegance. With the deepening influence of western culture, some ideas of China people are quietly changing, and they will wear white wedding dresses. ) Food culture, the West is a rational food concept. No matter the color, aroma, taste, shape and nutrition of food, we should ensure that we pay attention to how many calories, vitamins and protein we take in a day.
Even if it tastes the same, you must eat it because it is nutritious. China, on the other hand, is a beautiful concept of diet. What China people pursue for food is an indescribable "artistic conception", that is, it is difficult to embody this "realm" with what people usually call "color, fragrance, taste, shape and container".
Religious belief, the cultural system with Confucianism as the core and Buddhism as the religion in China and the cultural system with Christianity as the core in the West have brought different cultural characteristics. Traditional culture in China thinks that even numbers are auspicious, and the number "666" is auspicious in China, but it is the day when the devil is resurrected.
This should be distinctive enough. Science and technology: 1. Formation period: "Molecular theory" marks the maturity of western culture. If eastern culture is spiritual, then western culture is relatively material, which is called "western material culture" here.
The development of western culture is much simpler than that of eastern culture, ranging from theology to philosophy and finally to science. Western theology is different from eastern theology, which is based on profound Confucian classics, while western theology has no profound thoughts, but purifies the soul by worshipping beautiful gods, without strong spiritual guidance in eastern theology.
Therefore, the western theological thought does not affect the management thought of * * *, and this problem is completely different in the East, especially in China, where Confucian classics and Neo-Confucianism are the basis of the management thought of * * *, and mixed theological thoughts will also penetrate into the management thought of * * *. The biggest difference between western theology and eastern theology is that western theology does not exclude matter, while eastern theology strongly excludes matter.
This difference in cultural connotation has led to the emergence of western material culture, which has brought western awareness of industrial production and economic development. Oriental culture can't produce the consciousness of industrial production and economic development because it rejects material.
The emergence of western philosophical culture is the prelude and ideological preparation of the emergence of western material culture, and it is also the beginning of rational thinking of western culture. From theological culture to material culture, western philosophical culture has played a transitional role.
In western philosophy and culture, the most important problem to be solved is whether material comes first or spiritual comes first. Does matter decide spirit, or does spirit decide matter? This philosophical debate finally liberated western culture from the chaotic thinking of theology and established a rational thinking that emphasizes material, that is, the thinking of material culture.
3. What is a good book to read if you want to know about world history?
Read the general history first to give you a general understanding of world history, such as the general history of the world.
Then read national history or regional history according to your interests at that time. In addition, some interdisciplinary works may also be helpful to you, such as: (guns, steel and germs) this book discusses ancient history from the perspective of epidemiology; This book feels like science fiction, but it takes you through prehistoric Egypt and American civilization. You have also read a book on world history written by a doctor from the perspective of genetics (the name is forgotten) and a book on world history written from the perspective of meteorology. These works in other disciplines help you to understand the evolution of history.
For example, why nomads invaded the south in stages has a lot to do with climate change; Another example is why Europeans conquered America so easily, mainly because the germs brought by Europeans played a great role, and so on.
4. Common sense of world literature
1 Shakespeare (England) has four tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, four comedies Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Much ado about nothing. Tolstoy (Soviet Union) War and Peace Anna? Karenina 3 Dante (Italy) Divine Comedy 4 Hugo (France) The Virgin of Les Miserables 5 Homer (Greece) Iliad and Odyssey 6 Goethe (Germany) Playing Goethe? Feng? Berry Xing 'an, novella Young Werther, poetic drama Faust 7 Lu Xun (China) 19 18 When writing Diary of a Madman in May, he began to use Lu Xun as his pen name.
Representative works include: Collection of Novels, Wandering, Collection of New Stories, etc. , prose collection, flowers in the morning (formerly known as "coming back to life"), weeds, essays, graves, hot air, flower collection, flower collection, north-south assembly, and three leisure collections. Andersen's early masterpieces include Light Box, Little Flower, Thumbelina, Daughter of the Sea, Wild Swan and Ugly Duckling.
The representative works of mid-term fairy tales include The Little Match Girl, Shadow, A Drop of Water, Mother's Story, Puppet Player and so on. The representative works of late fairy tales include Dream under the Willow, She is a Waste, Nightcap of a Bachelor, Lucky Beauty and so on.
9 Pushkin (Russia) novel The Captain's Daughter; Historical documentary drama "The History of pugachev"; Poetic novel Eugene? Onegin "; The novella Dubrovski, The Collection of Belgin's Novels, etc. 10 Dickens (Britain)' s representative works are A Tale of Pickwick and A Tale of Two Cities.
1 1 Joyce-Dubliners, collection of English short stories; The novels Ulysses and The Night's Watch in finnigan. 12 Mark Twain-America His masterpiece is Million Pounds.
13 boccaccio-Italian masterpiece decameron 14 Gorky-Soviet autobiographical trilogy Childhood, On Earth and My University; Prose poem "The Song of Haiyan". 15 Bernard Shaw-The most famous plays in Britain are: A Widower's House, Mrs. Warren's Occupation, Arms and Man, The Truth, etc.
16 Hemingway-American war bells, the old man and the sea, the snow in Kilimanjaro-Hemingway's stories 17 Kafka-Austrian metamorphosis, the trial and construction of the Great Wall in the United States and China 18 Tugriff-stands for "father and son" 19 Euro? The representative works of Henry-America include Cabbage and the King, Four Million, The Road to Destiny and other novels. Milton-England: Paradise Lost, Samson of paradise regained and Luxor 2 1 Virgil-The most important work of Rome is the epic Aeneas (I. Chekhov-Russian representative works The Chameleon and The Man in the Condom.
23 Byron-British representative works include "Childe? Harold's Travels, Don Juan 24 Hesse-Switzerland's main work Peter? Carmen Qingte, Wolf of the Wilderness, Journey to the East, Glass Ball Game. 25 Ji Bolun-Lebanese Prophet 26 Sartre-French major philosophical works include Imagination, Being and Nothingness, Existentialism as Humanism, Criticism of Dialectical Reason and Some Problems of Methodology; The novella Nausea, the collection of short stories The Wall and the novel The Road to Freedom.
27 Aesop-Greek Frog Begging the King 28 Dostoevsky-Russian representative novel Crime and Punishment; The epistolary novel The Poor 29 Chaucer-English Canterbury Tales 30 Rousseau-Confessions of France, the reverie of a lonely traveler, letters in the mountains, civic feelings 3 1 Proust-French female prisoners, etc. Important novels include short stories, Debt Repayment, Abandonment, Suba, and Life or Death? Moya Moya and Sun and Dark Clouds; The novella Four Men; Novels shipwreck, Gora, Family and the World and Two Sisters; Important plays include Stubborn Fortress, Mokedota and People's Red Oleander. Important papers include Deadly Trading, China Talk, Russian Letters, etc. Pablo 33? Nie Luda-Chile's love poems "Twenty Love Songs and a Despair Song" and "Poems" are three representative works of the epic Manger Collection 34 Kawabata Yasunari, a famous Japanese novel "Izu's * * *", Snow Country, Thousand Cranes and Ancient Capital 35 Stenga-France is the most famous. Love trilogy: fog, rain and electricity; Essay collection "Random Thoughts".
38 O 'Neill-American Cupid doll 39 Hawthorne-American scarlet letter 40 Mrs. Stowe-American Uncle Tom's cabin (Uncle Tom's cabin; Or, "The Life of the Humble"), and translated it into "The Record of the Black Slave" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" 4 1 Mo Bosang French. The main masterpieces are the short stories The Road to Suicide and The Necklace. The novella Life and Good Friends; Representative novel Belle Ami 42 Dreiser-American representative novel American Tragedy 43 Du Fu-three officials in China, three farewells, a car shop, a hut blown by autumn wind, two roads, the hope of spring; Du Gongbu's collection.
Madame Flaubert-Bovary, France. 45 Voltaire-France is famous for its epics Henry Yade and The Girl of Orleans; Tragedy Odibe; Comedy "dissolute son"; Philosophical novel "Honest Man"; Historical works "Louis XIV era" and "On the customs and spirits of all ethnic groups"; The representative works of philosophy include Dictionary of Philosophy, Metaphysics and Newton.
5. Stories about global cultural knowledge are rich and interesting, preferably in English.
The Legend of China New Year
Legend has it that there was a monster named Nian in ancient China, with a long and sharp head and fierce beast. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve to devour livestock and hurt people's lives. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, villages and people in villages fled to the mountains to help the elderly and young people avoid the injury of the year. On New Year's Eve this year, the villagers were busy packing their bags and fled to the deep mountains. At this time, an old man with white hair came to the east of the village and told an old woman that he would drive Nian beast away as long as he was allowed to stay in her house for one night. People didn't believe the old woman's advice, so they went up the mountain to hide. The kind old man insisted on staying, but when they saw that he couldn't stop, they went up the hill to hide. When the "Nian" beast was ready to break into the village as in previous years, suddenly there was firecrackers from the white-haired old man. The "Nian" beast trembled and never dared to move forward again. It turns out that Nian beast is most afraid of Rise of the Legend and explosion. At this moment, Daimon Masaru saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital, and Nian beast fled in a hurry. The next day, when people returned to the village from the depths of the mountains, they found the village safe and sound. Only then did they suddenly realize that the white-haired old man was a fairy who helped everyone drive away the "Nian" beast. At the same time, people also found three magic weapons for the white-haired old man to drive away the "Nian" beast. Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers. This custom is becoming more and more popular and has become the most solemn traditional festival in China.