在教學(xué)中如何減少中西方文化差異對英語閱讀理解的影響學(xué)位論文

differencebetweenChinaandtheWest”.TheconceptionsofChineseandWesterncultureChineseculturemainlytakesnatureasanobjectofworshipratherthanstudyandconquest,astheobjectofimageratherthaninquiry.Ontheproblemofdealingwithinterpersonalrelations,theChineseculturepaysattentiontothegroupsandharmonybuttakeslightofindividualandresistance.Chineseculturealwaysseekstheunificationofmanandnature,socialharmonyasthemainthemeoflifeideals,developstheconceptofgroupsbutopposestheindependentwillofhuman.TheconceptofharmonyinChineseculture,inthesameway,alsoembodiesanddevelopsthespiritofobedience,submission,conservationandcomplacent,withlittlesenseofprotestandrebelcourage.Therefore,itformsChineseculturalcharacterasmodestandprudent,reservedandintroverted.Inthewest,thephilosophersfromancientGreeceandRomeputtheirsightsonnatureatthebeginning.Theyexploredthemysteriesofnatureanddominatedthenature,beingthehostofnature.Natureisjusttheobjectforpeopletorecognizeandconquer.Theyemphasizedpeople’sindependence,strongwillofpursuitfreedomandindependentspirit.Indealingwiththeinterpersonalrelations,thewestprefertoindividualfreedomandpersonalindependence,emphasisonthelife’svalueanddignity,theacquisitionandprotectionofprivateproperty.Thewesternersuseeverymeanstoachievetheiraims.Theywillfaceallthechallengesdirectlyandnevergiveuporabandon,sotheyhaveformedastraightforward,open-mindedandstrongcharacter.(谷彥君,2002)3.TheImpactofCulturalDifferenceonReading3.1ImpactonvocabularyVocabularyisthebasicelementoflanguage.Itisthecrutchofthewholelanguagesystem,soitcanreflectthedifferencesinculturemorewidely.Wangzuoliang(1979)oncesaid,“Awordnotonlyhastheliteralmeaning,butalsohasthedeepmeaning.Therefore,peoplewhohavedifferentculturebackgroundswillhavedifferentunderstandingsofasameword.”3.1.1ConceptualmeaningConceptionmeaningisthebasicmeaningofaword.Itisabstract,anddoesnothavedirectcontactingwiththeobjectivethings.Notunderstandingwords’conceptionmeaningscorrectlywillcausecommunicationconflict.Forexample,inChinese,“uncle”referstofather’syoungerbrotherorsomeeldersyoungerthanfather.ButinEnglishitreferstofather’sbrotherormother’sbrother.Therearemanywordslikethat,suchasgrandfather,father-in-law,andcousinandsoon.Anotherexample,“drugstore”isdifferentbetweenEnglishandChinese.IntheUSA,drugstorenotonlysaledrugsbutalsofood,drink,etc,.However,InChina,drugstoreonlysaledrugs.(蘇小河,2005)3.1.2ConnotativemeaningConnotationmeaningisthemeaningbeyondconceptionmeaning.Usuallyithasdirectcontactingwiththeobjectivethings.Forexample,“intellectual”hasdifferentmeaningsinChineseandEnglish.InChinese,“theintellectual”includesuniversityteachers,universitystudentsaswellasdoctors,translators,engineersandallothercollege-educatedpeople,eventhemiddleschoolstudentsarealsoconsideredtobe“intellectuals”.ButinEnglishspeakingcountries,intellectualonlyincludesthepersonswhohaveahigheracademicstatuslikeuniversityprocessors,notordinaryuniversitystudents.Anotherexampleis“individualism”.Inthewest,ithasbecomeacommendatorytermofthemodernwestvaluesandtheculturalessence.Itisaspiritoffighting.Itisalsothesummaryfortheindividualfreedomandindividualright,achievementofself-value.However,inChinese,itisatypicalderogatoryterm.Ithasthesamemeaningasegoism,self-centerandselfish.(蘇小河,2005)3.1.3CollocativemeaningCollocationmeaningmainlyreferstothecombinationrelationsbetweenwordandword.Wecannotapplyourmothertongue’scollocationruleintotheEnglishlearning.Forinstance,“Hongcha”(紅茶)istranslatedas“blacktea”;“blackcoffee”istranslatedas“nongcoffee”（濃咖啡）inChinese，buttheChinese“nongcha”(濃茶)istranslatedas“strongtea”.InChinese“yuhouchunsun”(雨后春筍),“duoniurumao”(多牛如毛)aretranslatedintoEnglishas“springuplikemushrooms”,“asplentifulasblackberries”respectively.Ifwetranslatethemas“springuplikebambooshoots”or“asplentifulasoxhair”,theforeignersmaynotunderstandwhattheymean.“Dragon”inChineseisasymbolofemperorsintheancienttimes,itisamascot.ButinEnglish,“dragon”isamonster.Itgivespeopleaterribleimpression.Andpeopleoftenrelate“dragon”with“evil”or“ferocity”.Sowecansee“Asianfourtiger”inEnglishbutnot“Asianfourdragon”asisinChinese.Andweoftensay,“wangzichenglong”(望子成龍).Wetranslateitas“tohopethatone’ssonwillbecomesomebody”butnot“tohopethatone’ssonwillbecomeadragon”(蘇小河,2005)3.2ImpactonsentenceCulturaldifferencesdisturbreadingnotonlyinvocabulary,butalsoinsentences.Sentencesaremakingupofvocabulary,butnotasimplestackingofallthewords’meanings.Forexample,ayoungChinesewenttoswimming,andhecamebackinaminute.Hisforeignfriendswonderedwhyhecamebackquickly.Hesaid,“Therearesomanypeopleintheswimmingpool,like“sesamepastecookeddumpling”.Hisforeignfriendsdidn’tunderstandthesentence.Theyneitheratesesamesauce(芝麻醬)norseencookeddumpling.Inthewest,peoplealwayssay“Itwaspackedlikesardines”todescribesomanypeopleinsomeplace.Forthisparable,Chinesemayunderstanditsliteralmeaning,butcannotunderstandthedeepmeaning.SardinesarenotfamiliartoChinese,evenalittleflattinwascrammedwithsardines,anditisdifficultforChinesetounderstandthecrowdedscenes.(李丹,2007)Foranotherexample,InBritishschool,whenteacherasksthestudentswhat“teabreaksdomatter”means?Almostallthestudentsanswer,“Theycanbeusedbytheworkersasanexcusetotaketimeofffromwork”.BecausetheydonotknowthatafternoonteaisveryimportantinBritish’sdailylife,so“teabreaksdomatter”means“theyareanimportantaspectoftheBritishwayoflife”.(李丹,2007)3.3ImpactonthoughtLanguageisnotonlythetoolofcommunication,butalsothetoolofthought.Thoughtismainlyexpressedthroughlanguage.Whendosomereading,wecanfindthatEnglishandourmotherlanguageisdifferentinthemeansofcoherencebetweensentencesorparagraphs.Intheliterarystyleandrhetoric,Englishpapers,reports,advertisements,contracts,poemshaveobviousdifferencewithChinese.Forexample:adialogue(廖道圣,2001)A：CanIhelpyou?B：Yes，Iamlookingforapairofwhitegloves．IthinkIwearsizesix．A：Thewhiteglovesareonthiscounter．Letmesee…h(huán)ereissizesix．Theseareniceandtheywashwell,too.B：Oh，I’lltrythemon．Hmm…Theyseemtofit.Howmucharethey?A：Fivedollars．B：Allright．Iwilltakethem．A：That’llbefive-twentywiththetax．Question：Howmucharethegloves?It’saneasyunderstandingcontext.Butstudentswillfeelconfused:Itmentionedtwopricesandwhichoneistheanswer?Themajorityofstudentsansweredfivedollars,becausetheydidnotknowthatinmanywesterncountries,peopleneedtopaytaxeswhentheyshop.However,inChinaAnotherexample,inthetextofBigBuckstheEasyWay(JohnHardy.2005),thefatherencourageshissonwhogoestocollegetomakemoneybyhimself,ratherthanalwaysaskparentsformoney.Whenthesonmeetsdifficultiesduringtheprocessofmakingmoney,thefatheronlysaidsuperficially,“Youareacollegestudent,andyoushouldknowhowtodo.”Whenreadinghere,theChinesemaysay,“Whytheparentsdonotputoutahandtoaid?It’sunthinkable!”Sowhenstudythetext,teachersshouldintroducesomewesterners’valueorientation,theirlifeidea,theirdiplomaticrelationtothestudents.TheAmericanadvocatesindependence.ThemajorityofAmericansthinkthatitisveryimportanttotakegoodcareofoneselfindependently.TheAmericanparentsarethesameasotherparents.Theylovetheirchildren,butthewaysaredifferentfromChineseparents’.Theybelievethatearlyeducationisnecessaryfortheirchildren,andthechildrenaretaughtthattheymustbeindependentineconomy.Afterenteringcollege,fromthepresidentdowntotheordinarypeople’schildrenaremakingmoneybythemselveswhilestudying.ButChineseparents'lovetotheirchildrenismoreexternalanddirect.Itreflectsoneveryaspect.Onlytounderstandthisculturalbackgroundknowledge,canweunderstandthefather’spractice.(林震,2007)4.TheNecessitytoIntroducetheCultureBackgroundintotheEnglishReadingTeachingHuWenzhong(1999)dividedcultureintotwomaincategories:“knowledgeculture”and“communicationculture”accordingtotheneedsofforeignlanguageteaching.Theso-called“knowledgeculture”istheculturalfactorswhenpeoplewithdifferentculturalbackgroundscommunicatewitheachother.Theydonotdirectlyaffecttheaccuratetransmissionofinformationinverbalandnonverbal.Theso-called“communicationculture”istheculturalfactorswhenpeoplewithdifferentculturalbackgroundscommunicatewitheachother.Theydirectlyaffecttheaccuratetransmissionofinformationinverbalandnonverbal.Hesaid,“Inlanguageteaching,communicationcultureismoreimportantthanknowledgeculture.”(1999)Theprocessofstudents’readingisalsoaprocessofcross-culturalcommunication.Therefore,understandingofforeignreadingsisacomplexprocessofcross-culturalcommunication.AlmostalltheforeignreadingmaterialsthatstudentsreadcomefromEnglish-speakingcountries’newspapers,magazinesandliteraryworks.Thethemesrangefrombiographies,society,cultures,dailylife,science,andcustomsandsoon.Thesematerialsnotonlyreflectthecustoms,rituals,dailylife,interpersonalrelationships,commoncultureofEnglish-speakingcountries,butalsoreflectthevalues,timeorientation,andthepaceoflife.Itisimpossibleforstudentstounderstandwhattheauthorswanttoexpressjustbytheirknowledgeofgrammar,vocabulary,voiceandsentence.Inaddition,thelanguageitselfisaculturalphenomenon.Theprocessoflanguagelearningisalsoaculturallearningprocess.Thus,itisnecessarytoimporttherelevantculturalbackgroundknowledgeintothereadingteaching.5.CultureTeachingMethodsinEnglishTeachingProcessOneprobleminforeignlanguageteachingcontinuestobeofcriticalimportance:studentsmakecomprehensivemistakeswhenreadingEnglishtexts.ThiskindofunderstandingerrororcomprehensionbarrieriscloselyrelatedtotheculturaldifferencesreflectedbyChineseandEnglishlanguages.Foreignlanguagereadingcomprehensionis,infact,across-culturalcommunicationevent,andstudents’familiaritywiththetargetcultureisthepremiseofsuccessfulreadingcomprehension.IntheprocessofforeignLanguagereadingcomprehension,readers’taskisnotjusttoacquireknowledge,butmoreimportantly,tocommunicatecross-culturallywiththewriterandcriticallyabsorbtheculturalheritageinthetargetlanguage.Inrecentyears,moreandmoreEnglishteachersandlearnershaverealizedtheimportanceofcultureinlearningandteachingforeignlanguages,howevertherearestillquiteanumberofteacherswho,intheprocessofteachingreading,emphasizeonlylanguageitselfandneglecttheculturalknowledgeofthetext.Obviouslythismethodofteachingisnotveryhelpfulinimprovingstudents’abilitytocomprehendthetext.Actually,manyEnglishlearnersmightnotunderstandwhatasentencemeansorwhataparagraphisabouteventhoughtheyunderstandeverysinglewordandallthegrammaticalstructuresinthesentenceortheparagraph.ThisphenomenoncanbeexplainedasaresultofEnglishlearners’ignoranceofthesocialculturalimplicationsandbackgroundsoftheEnglishlanguage.Forthepurposeofimprovingtheteachingofreadingcomprehensionandstudents’readingabilityandmakingstudentsawarethatculturalknowledgeplaysavitalroleintextcomprehension,EnglishteachersshouldfirstfullyawareoftheimportancetounderstandthedifferencesbetweenChineseandWestculture,andreadeverykindofbookstoimprovetheirculturalaccomplishments.Secondly,whenteachinglanguageknowledge,teachersshouldteachculturalknowledgeasmuchaspossible.Sudingfang(1996)hasproposedthreeimportantprinciples:practicalprinciple,stageprinciple,suitableprinciple.Thethreeprinciplesrequiretheculturecontentsshouldbecloselyrelatedtostudents’existinglanguageknowledge,dailycommunication,andtheirfuturecareer.Inordertoteachculturalcontentstostudentseffectively,toexcludetheculturalbarriers,teacherscantakethefollowingmethodsbasedonthethreeprinciples.5.1Pre-classNowadays,almostalltheEnglishreadingmaterialsareselectedfromtheoriginalmaterials.Sobeforeteachinganewtext,teachers