跨文化交际英教程答案.doc

Unit 1 Communication Across Cultures Warm Up Questions 1. Why is it difficult to explain to a blind person what colors are? 2. Do you sometimes find it hard to make yourself properly understood by others? If you do, why do you think it is hard? It is very difficult for people to understand one another if they do not share the same experiences. Of course, we all share the experience of being human, but there are many experiences which we do not share and which are different for all of us. It is these different experiences that make up what is called ―culture‖ in the social sciences － the habits of everyday life, the cues to which people respond, the automatic reactions they have to whatever they see and hear. These often differ, and the differences may introduce misunderstandings where we seek understanding. Reading I Intercultural Communication：An Introduction Comprehension questions 1. Is it still often the case that “everyone?s quick to blame the alien” in the contemporary world? This is still powerful in today‘s social and political rhetoric. For instance, it is not uncommon in today‘s society to hear people say that most, if not all, of the social and economic problems are caused by minorities and immigrants. 2. What?s the difference between today?s intercultural contact and that of any time in the past? Today‘s intercultural encounters are far more numerous and of greater importance than in any time in history. 3. What have made intercultural contact a very common phenomenon in our life today? 6 New technology, in the form of transportation and communication systems, has accelerated intercultural contact; innovative communication systems have encouraged and facilitated cultural interaction; globalization of the economy has brought people together; changes in immigration patterns have also contributed to intercultural encounter. 4. How do you understand the sentence “culture is everything and everywhere”? Culture supplies us with the answers to questions about