01 Cultural Exchange
文化交流

The Words That Facilitate the Exchange of Ideas
导读

文化交流发生于两个或者多个具有文化源差异显著的关系之间，其前提条件是各文化主体之间需有很强的文化生产力，需有自己独特的文化，需有文化自主权。他们的交流一般只会发生在各自尊重对方的前提条件下。此外，文化入侵现象、强势文化压制弱势文化现象，都不是文化交流的表现。文化交流需有起始点和机会的平等。顺从、勉强等都不是文化交流的本意。

Thanks to the means of modern transportation and communication, the world is getting smaller. The whole world community appears to be no more than a large global village, where the residents come together with different cultural backgrounds and values. While experiencing the inevitable ^[1] cultural exchanges as well as cultural clashes, the “villagers” seek to live in harmony.

In this modern world, the advanced culture of any nation has never been an isolated phenomenon, but the product of extensive exchanges with other cultures.

Of course, the root and main current of any culture must bear its own distinctive national features. Cultural exchange is by no means a process of losing one’s own culture to a foreign culture, but one of enriching a nation’s own culture.

Through cultural exchange, different cultures can absorb and influence one another.Mutual influence is a very complicated phenomenon in the field of culture. Therefore,absorbing foreign culture is metaphorically ^[2] a process of taking a bite, chewing, and digesting.We should adopt the principle of eliminating the false and retaining the true, discarding the dross and selecting the essential, exporting more and importing the best, and resisting corruptive influences. I don’t believe that such a practice will result in the disappearance of the particular features and styles pertaining ^[3] to particular cultures. On the contrary, different cultures can learn from each other’s strengths to offset ^[4] their own weaknesses and complement one another.As a matter of fact, thanks to China’s economic development and the improvement of its citizens’lives, the vision of the Chinese people has broadened, their taste for art has improved, and they have developed more interests. They are not only concerned about China’s traditional and modern culture and art, but also eager to know about the trends of cultural development across the planet, and to learn about different styles and schools of art.

While absorbing the essence of a foreign culture, we should not be content with imitation without creation. An obsession with simple imitation will sterilize creation, and as such it will be impossible for us to scale new heights in art and impossible to present to the world excellent works of our own creation. Simple imitation is by no means equivalent to novelty ^[5] and originality. On the contrary, novelty and originality result from the combination of modern and traditional styles, the combination of the distinctive features of foreign countries with those of our own nation, and the combination of artistry and education.

Cloze
选词填空

Through cultural exchange, different cultures can absorb and 1 one another.Mutual influence is a very 2 phenomenon in the field of culture. 3 , absorbing foreign culture is metaphorically a process of taking a bite, chewing, and 4 . We should adopt the principle of eliminating the false and 5 the true, discarding the dross and selecting the 6 , exporting more and importing the best, and 7 corruptive influences.

Key

1. influence 2. complicated 3. Therefore 4. digesting

5. retaining 6. essential 7. resisting

Translation Practices
翻译练习

I don’t believe that such a practice will result in the disappearance of the particular features and styles pertaining to particular cultures. On the contrary, different cultures can learn from each other’s strengths to offset their own weaknesses and complement one another. As a matter of fact, thanks to China’s economic development and the improvement of its citizens’ lives, the vision of the Chinese people has broadened, their taste for art has improved, and they have developed more interests. They are not only concerned about China’s traditional and modern culture and art, but also eager to know about the trends of cultural development across the planet, and to learn about different styles and schools of art.

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Key

我认为某些文化的不同特点和风格不会因此而消失，相反，不同的文化可以取长补短、互为补充。事实上，随着中国经济的发展和人民生活水平的提高，中国人民的视野开阔了，艺术鉴赏力提高了，他们的兴趣也变得广泛了。他们不仅关心中国传统文化艺术和现代文化艺术，而且渴望了解世界文化发展趋势，渴望了解不同艺术风格和艺术流派。

Emulation
美文自己写得出——学生仿写

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仿写范例

Crisis

Crisis to our life is what illness is to our body. Just as a fatal disease can destroy our body and sometimes even put an end to our lives, so does smashing crisis knock us down so hopelessly that we might never have chance of standing up again. However,most crises that frequent us in life are not in such category. They, like occasional ailments which sometimes can bolster our body’s immune system, are mostly minor and surmountable and therefore making us hardy enough to survive whatever adversities in our later life. Even those serious crises, if handled properly, can be turned to a blessing to us, too.

As far as a nation is concerned, crisis can be rendered beneficial. Take Wenchuan Earthquake which shook most of Sichuan for example. The crisis has cost us a lot.Houses collapsed, bridges broke down and many affected areas were cut off from the outside world. Nearly a million people lost their homes, thousands of people were injured and thousands of people were killed. But our sufferings won’t go in vain.Scientists are more determined to improve the means by which we forecast earthquakes with more accuracy. We should build houses which can survive the destructive earthquakes. And we also should better the mechanism to face the emergencies and crisis.

As for economic life, crises are not always rendered bad. During these times,we can stop the race of fast economy to speculate about some fundamental issues of humanity such as how much high-speed development in this way can contribute to the well-being of human life. Just take my own country for instance. Of course, in the past two decades or so, our economy has gained the highest speed man has experienced. But haven’t we paid too much? Our rivers are polluted. Our natural resources are shrinking.Our national power of creation is drained. Is it worthy of it? Isn’t it high time we gave it a serious thought? Shouldn’t we stop making ourselves long in quantity and short in quality? And chance of deep thought has come with this crisis, which is now deepening in most parts of the world.

Crisis sometimes contributes to our life treasure in a way that few can imagine. It can weather us and make us strong enough to face ourselves when we feel weak. Eric,my uncle is a case in point. He had hard time in his childhood going through such a fatal disease that he had never thought he could survive. He was in due course saved by doctors. Ever since then he regarded his life as a second given by God and has been so grateful to the world that he has been doing whatever he can to give back in the same measure to other fellows. And now he is living a happy and successful life.

As a well-known ancient Chinese notion goes, the past lessons if not forgotten can be good teachers for us all. If we can bear in mind the various sufferings and ordeals we have experienced, then our sufferings will not go unrewarded and those of our compatriots who was killed in the earthquake did not die in vain. We should take the lessons from crisis and regard them as a chance for new growth.

[1] inevitable: incapable of being avoided or prevented必然的，不可避免的

[2] metaphorically: expressing one thing in terms normally denoting another比喻性地，隐喻性地

[3] pertain: have to do with or be relevant to属于；关于；适合

[4] ofset: compensate for or counterbalance抵消；弥补

[5] novelty: originality by virtue of being refreshingly novel新奇；新奇的事物 k+1zc5SSfw2axGe1HL7lX1ppeaLIT7+P+w5D4wZdipGqkFzPVN3RWPFCYv6/ef4s