北师大硕士研究生读译课文章资料.docx

1、北师大硕士研究生读译课文章资料北京师范大学通用学术英语学术英语读译课程教材20152016学年春季学期Unit 1 Getting and Spending: A Cross-Cultural View of Economics1 Every society produces, distributes, and uses goods and services. Therefore, every society has an economy, a system that manages the process of production, distribution, consumption, o

2、r use. The people of every culture learn specific economic behavior. They have certain motivations and make certain economic choices that their society has taught them.2 Formal economics states that people make rational economic choices that result in their well-being and profit. It studies the prod

3、uction and consumption of goods in an industrialize market economy. It assumes that the economy runs on rational choices such as those a businessperson makes: Should the firm cut down or expand its production in a certain situation? Should it purchase a new machine or hire more laborers? Where shoul

4、d it locate it plant? Will it manufacture shoes or gloves? How much will be spent on advertising its product? All these decisions are assumed to be rational, that is, based on the desire to make the greatest possible profit from limited resources.3 Formal economics also assumes that individuals as w

5、ell as business act rationally in making decisions about how to spend their incomes. Individuals may have many desires, but they usually have only limited income to fulfill those desires. Therefore, decisions about how to spend that incomewhether to buy a car, give the children a private school educ

6、ation, place a down payment on a house, or take a vacationmust be weighed rationally before they are made. Decisions about how to spend time are similarly weighed. Should one spend ones leisure time with ones family, in a second job, or back in school studying for an advanced degree to improve ones

7、future economic chances?4 Formal economics focuses on the Western industrial market economy. However, its key assumptions about rational decision making limited resources, and the importance of profit do not apply to all societies. For example, in some traditional societies economic choices are made

8、 as the result of a different value system from that common in the United States. For instance, in hunting and gathering societies such as that of the Kung of south-central Africa, people have not been trained to desire many material goods. Therefore, they do not have to work all day, every day to f

9、ulfill their needs; they can get enough food and other essentials and still have plenty of leisure time left over. From our point of view, people who do not use their leisure time to further their work and profit are “lazy”. But not everyone feels the need for more possessions and servicesmore “stuf

10、f”than they already have.5 In our society, high social status or respect is closely tied to the possession or consumption of certain “brand name” goods and services. For example, all cars serve the same basic function of transportation; however, certain cars known to be expensive have more prestige

11、than do other cars that may be just as useful. In addition, we are willing to pay extra for those services that our cars automatically perform for us: automatic windows, automatic trunk openers, automatic gear shifts. In other societies, such prestige may not be associated with the display of goods

12、but rather with generosity in giving goods away to others. People who own and display much more than others may be thought stingy and may lose rather than gain prestige.6 In the United States, we generally place economic priorities above social ones. In some societies, however, social relations have

13、 a higher priority than economic ones. For example, in many Asian countries, a businessperson will leave her or her work to show hospitality to a guest even if it means the loss of a days income. The more traditional a society is, the more it is expected that friends, relatives, and neighbors will h

14、elp each other financially in time of need with a formal contract for paying back the loan. Furthermore, in many non-Western cultures, even those whose standard of living is quite low, people will go into debt of social or religious ceremonies such as a feast or a funeral.7 In non-industrial societi

15、es few aspects of behavior are purely economic. Most activity has a mixed social, ceremonial, or moral aspect to it, as well as having an economic one. For example, the Ponape people of the South Pacific often hold huge feasts at which the host serves the pig and beer and the guests bring such prest

16、igious foods as yams and breadfruit. These feasts have an important economic purpose. They provide a way for extra food to be distributed around the village without shaming those farmers whose crops are inferior. They also permit food to be eaten that would otherwise be wasted, since the Ponape do n

17、ot have refrigeration or other means for preserving food. But, these feasts also serve important social purposes. They bring people together and allow them to gain prestige by acting modestly about their contributions; at these Ponape feasts, one gains prestige not only by bringing extra food but by

18、 praising the contributions of others as better than ones own. The social aspects of the Ponape feasts may be hidden from outsiders, but they are understood and respected by the members of the Ponape culture.8 Other aspects of the economy that may differ greatly from one culture to another are the b

19、asic unit of production, the sexual division of labor, and the degree of specialization of labor. In agricultural societies, the unit of production is most frequently the extended family that consists of several generations of relatives. The specialization of labor is usually by sec and age only. Th

20、e men perform all tasks related to farming, whereas the women perform all the work related to house-keeping, gardening, and child care. Social and economic activities are usually integrated in such societies, and often decisions that appear to be economically “irrational” have a hidden meaning in te

21、rms of the cultures beliefs or values.9 On the other hand, in industrial societies, the unit of production is usually a business firm outside the family structure that is motivated almost entirely by economic interests. Typically there is a high degree of specialization of labor: Workers may belong

22、to different unions depending on the different type of job they perform within an industry, or a company may have a dozen vice-presidents, each with a narrow area of responsibility.Exercises Learn about the textI. Read the text and complete the following outline. Summary OutlinesParagraph 1: The eco

23、nomy is a system for managing the process of (1)_, _, and _.Paragraphs 2&3: Formal economics is based on the idea that people make thoughtful economic choices. Example a: A businessman may decide to (2)_ Example b: An individual may decide to (3)_Paragraphs 4&5: Western industrial societies and some

24、 traditional societies have different economic values. a. Western people work (4) _ b. In Western society, respect is (5)_. c. Traditional people may/may not desire/display (6)_Paragraphs 6&7: A central idea of these paragraphs is that (7)_ _. Example a: Some people will go in debt for a marriage or

25、 a funeral. Example b: A person may close his business to (8)_ Example c: A couple may marry for love (9)_ In most traditional, economic activities also (10)_.Paragraphs 8&9: Traditional and industrial economies differ from each other in several ways. Traditional a: (11) _ b: There is little (12)_ o

26、f work. c: (13) _ Industrial a: Production is mostly through business firms interested in (14)_. b: (15)_ (Adopted from Joan Young Gregg. Communication and Culture: A Reading-writing Text. 北京：中国水利水电出版社，1999. )Unit 2 College Pressuresby William ZinsserDear Carlos: I desperately need a deans excuse fo

27、r my chem midterm which will begin in about 1 hour. All I can say is that I totally blew it this week. Ive fallen incredibly, inconceivably behind.Carlos: Help! Im anxious to hear from you. Ill be in my room and wont leave it until I hear from you. Tomorrow is the last day forCarlos: I left town bec

28、ause I started bugging out again. I stayed up all night to finish a take-home make-up exam and am typing it to hand in on the 10th. It was due on the 5th. P.S. Im going to the dentist. Pain is pretty bad.Carlos: Probably by Friday Ill be able to get back to my studies. Right now Im going to take a l

29、ong walk. This whole thing has taken a lot out of me.Carlos: Im really up the proverbial creek. The problem is I really bombed the history final. Since I need that course for my major ICarlos: Here follows a tale of woe. I went home this weekend, had to help my Mom, and caught a fever so didnt have

30、much time to study. My professorCarlos: Aargh! Trouble. Nothing original but everythings piling up at once. To be brief, my job interviewHey Carlos, good news! Ive got mononucleosis.1 Who are these wretched supplicants, scribbling notes so laden with anxiety, seeking such miracles of postponement an

31、d balm? They are men and women who belong to Branford College, one of the twelve residential colleges at Yale University, and the messages are just a few of the hundreds that they left for their dean, Carlos Hortasoften slipped under his door at 4 a.m.last year.2 But students like the ones who wrote those notes can also be found on campuses from coast to co