英 国 文 化英 国 文 化英 国 文 化英 国 文 化 British Culture and Education 主讲教师：田祥斌 Lecture 12

American Culture and Education --American Sports (Chapter 5) --American Flags (Chapter 6) --American Foreign Relations (Chapter 7) --American Religion (Chapter 8)

I. American Sports (Chapter 5)

American Sports -- The people in USA are great lovers of sports. They like to play football, basketball, baseball, swim, fish, boxing, golf, etc. -- Football: American football is a game played by two teams of eleven players using an oval ball. Players carry the ball in their hands or throw it to each other as they try to score goals that are called touchdowns. 橄榄 球（美式足球）

soccer, football, rugby --Soccer 是美式英语里的英 式足球，也就是我们平时 说的足球 football; --Football 是英式英语里的英式足球 ; 在美 国 football 是指美式橄榄球，球员主要是 抱着球跑。 -- Rugby 指所谓的橄榄球。但是没有美 式足球穿得那样夸张。

American Football

American Sports Basketball: It is a very popular game in high schools. In more than 20 states, statewide high school tournaments （联赛） are held yearly. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the American organization in charge of the national tournaments all year round. Many universities have their own basketball team or baseball team

American Sports Hunting: Americans are free to have guns and this makes hunting a popular sport in the USA. The gun clubs provide a recreation pastime, target shooting.

American Sports Swimming: Swimming is very popular in USA and is a year-round sport in most areas because they have swimming pools indoors and outdoors.

American Sports

2. American Flag

American Flags American Flags (Chapter 6, p63) The Stars and Stripes”(The Flag of the United States) --The Stars and Stripes is the national flag of the USA. It consists of 50 white stars on a blue canton, with a field of 13 alternate stripes, 7 red and 6 white. The 50 stars stand for the 50 states in the USA and the 13 stripes stand for the original 13 states.

红色象征勇气，白色象征真理，蓝色则象征正义

3.American Foreign Relations

American Foreign Relations (Chapter 7, P69-74) --After World War II, USA marks the prominence of the foreign affairs and has become the only superpower since the disintegration 解体 of the former Soviet Union in 1991.

American Foreign Relations --Out of the enormous wealth it obtained from the war and the benefits from its involvement in the world affairs, the USA began its expansion and aggression in the world. Now America has dominated world affairs, but it started to decline in the Iraqi War.

American Foreign Relations Containment ( 牵制，围堵 ) of Communism and World Police --The policy of containment of communism has been the mainstream policy of US administrations in foreign affairs. The excessive fear of communist subversion was fed by numerous sources, such as the founding of the Peoples’ Republic of China and the announcement of a Soviet atomic explosion in 1949.

American Foreign Relations -- The policy of containment of communism led the USA into the war in Vietnam which turned out to be the longest war in the history of the USA. The US involved in Korean War. The USA and Vietnam signed a cease-fire agreement on January 27, Because of the defeat that it suffered in China, in Korea and in Vietnam, the US soon began to decline from the height of power.

American Foreign Relations The Relationship Between China and the USA (74-82) --The relationship between China and American is one of conflict, normalization and competition. --In February 1972, Nixon came to visit China and signed the first Sino-American Joint Communique which agreed on the fact that there was only one legal government in China, that is, the P.R. China.

American Foreign Relations --There are three Sino-American joint Communiques signed by two countries which define and determine the general principles in the normalization of relations between the two countries. They are the basic principles in the establishment of the relations between both counties.

American Foreign Relations --The Chinese government and people always abide by three joint communiques ( 联合声明 ) signed by both sides. With the joint communiques and the associated mutual benefits, the healthy relations between the two great nations will continue, instead of descending into confrontation.

4. American Religion

American Religion American Religion (Chapter 8, pp ) --There are three great world religions: Buddhism, Islam [' ɪ z'l ɑ m] 回教；伊斯兰教, and Christianity [,kristi'ænəti] 基督教 --The people in the USA are great lovers of religion. Among more than three hundred million people, there are over three thousand (3000) religious denominations 教派 and 60 per cent of the American people have religious beliefs.. Over three fifths of all American religious people are Protestants. ['pr ɔ tistənt] 新教徒

American Religion --There are two major denominations in US: Mormonism 摩门教 and Christian Science. --There are three features of religion are identified in the US: the variety of beliefs, the emphasis on social problems and the separation of church and state. --The variety of beliefs: people from different nations bring different beliefs. In America, there was no king and no special rules set for religion.

American Religion --The emphasis on social problems: They emphasize on social problems and humanitarian ideals rather than concern with individual sin. People believe that American religious thinking in general has tended to turn more to improving the present world by doing one’s duty and less to winning salvation in the next world through repentance 悔改.

American Religion -- The separation of church and state: There is no established state religion. They hope to have no religious oppression because some of them escaped from religious persecution in their original countries. --The Constitution seems to imply that public educational institutions should not provide religious instruction as part of the regular curriculum.

American Religion Now the economic decline, constant unemployment, and the disintegration 分解 of families make people all more crazy for religion in USA. Problems still exist in American religion.