跨文化视听说section b.docVIP

Chapter I Culture Section B Reading Defining Culture When you think of the word culture, what enters your mind? Perhaps music, architecture, the arts. Many people associate these areas with culture. Others may think of philosophy, history, and literature. Still others may think of beliefs, customs, values, and worldview. Perhaps the earliest formal definition of culture, put forward by E.B. Tylor in1871, is also one of the best known. He conceived of culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. (Tylor, 1871) Since Tylors definition, more than 500 different versions have emerged, but still no consensus has been reached up to the present. Defining culture is difficult mainly because scholars have different understandings of it. One definition, for example, treats culture as everything that is human-made. Another scholar, however, has proposed that culture is communication and communication is culture. (Hall, 1976)The authors of this book agree with most anthropologists view that culture refers to the total way of living of particular groups of people. It includes everything that a group of people think, say, do, and make. Traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese Gongfu, Peking Opera and Chinese Cuisines are among the most frequently mentioned symbols of Chinese culture. Besides, Examples of culture can also be found in every aspect of our life. These include the customs we observe for naming our children, the way we address our family members, our mode of entertaining our guests, the way we spend our money, how we take our vacation, the way we raise our children, as well as the table manners we expect the clothes we wear, the vehicles we drive, the utensils we use for meals, and so on. In a word, culture is a whole collection of our living patterns and behaviors. Metaphors of Culture As a large and pervasive concept, culture is often compared to an