CultureDifferences作文.doc

Culture DifferencesKey words: western countries、eastern countries、culture、differences、comparison 、education、wedding、language、equality、manners、lifestyleIn this terms reading courses, we learned many articles which are related to different countries and culture. So, in my article, I want to talk about the culture differences between western countries and eastern countries combined with what we have learned in class.The differences can be found from lots of aspects of our daily life, ranging from education to eating habits and so on.Education SystemsThere are dramatic differences between the education in the east and education in the west.The education system in the east is mainly based on the text book. All of the work to be done is in the text book and requires no additional research.However, it is different in western countries. The Western education system encourages students to have individual thoughts and opinions. They want the students to learn to ask why and to be independent in life as well as in their studies. They teach things outside of the books. Besides, they try to bring out the students interests in things rather than just tell them thats what they have to do. Western students spend a lot more time on sports. There isnt nearly as much homework for the students to do so they have enough time to spend on their hobbies and interests. Students in western countries are encouraged to do researches to answer some of the problems left by the teacher. In addition, they would also be given challenging and flexible assignments that can last over a few weeks to work on.Wedding Customs and RitualsNo matter in western countries or in eastern countries, the wedding is one of the most important occasions during ones lifetime.In the west countries, the engagement and wedding notice will be declared by the brides parent generally. As per to the traditional customs, the brides family should pay most part of the wedding fees, while the grooms family should in charged with the rehearsal feast and other accessories. Also the siblings and friends of the bride and groom will receive invited letters several weeks before. The wedding will be held in the church by daylight, if you have received an invitation, you should dress very formal on the wedding.The tradition of giving a diamond began with the Italians. It was believed that diamonds were created from the flames of love and represented everlasting love. The Wedding Kiss dates back to Roman times. The kiss was to seal the marriage legally between the couple and must be witnessed by another person. In addition to the groom not being allowed to see the bride before the ceremony, the veil was also used to protect the bride from being seen by evil spirits and jealous suitors. To this day, it is considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride on her wedding day before the ceremony.In Chinese legend, the fatherly God-in-the-moonlight ties a red string around the ankles of the man and woman who are supposed to be husband and wife someday. Thus, no matter how far apart they are, they will eventually get married.Two families pick an auspicious date as the Betrothal Day. This is a formal meeting between the parents of the perspective bride and groom. On the day of the wedding, two families perform hair dressing ritual and capping ritual for the bride and groom respectively. Then the groom sets out to the brides home, and he will inevitably be blocked at her door by her friends, and the bridesmaids will play door game with the groom and his attendants. The bride and groom will then leave her home and proceed to meet the grooms parents for Tea Ceremony. The wedding date ceremony ends with a feast which features elaborate Chinese wedding food. The night of the wedding, the bridal room will lit dragon and phoenix candle to drive away the evil spirit, the newlyweds will drink wine from two cups tied together with a red string, arms crossed from each other. This is the formal wedding vow in Chinese culture. Then the bride will be offered dumplings thats boiled half-raw. The pronunciation of raw is the same as giving birth to children, a indication of family prosperity. The next morning of the wedding, the bride should get up early and make a meal for the grooms family to demonstrate that she is well-nurtured. Three days after the wedding, the groom and bride will go back to visit the brides parents.Differences between English and ChineseThere is not one single Chinese language, but many different versions or dialects. Belonging to two different language families, English and Chinese have many significant differences. This makes learning English a serious challenge for Chinese native speakers.Most aspects of the English phonological system cause difficulties for Chinese learners. Some English phonemes do not exist in Chinese. Unlike English, Chinese is a tone language. This means that it uses the pitch of a phoneme sound to distinguish word meaning. In English, changes in pitch are used to emphasize or express emotion, not to give a different word meaning to the sound. English has more vowel sounds than Chinese, resulting in the faulty pronunciation of words.Whats more, there are various differences in word order between Chinese and English. English also has a number of short verbs that very commonly combine with particles to form what are known as phrasal verbs while this kind of lexical feature does not exist in Chinese. Sense of equality and hierarchyWesterners, a strong sense of equality, whether rich or poor, everyone will respect themselves and not allow others to infringe upon their rights. At the same time, everyone can fully respect others. In the United States, few people in their own pride in a prominent family background, but also very few people came with their own poor ashamed of, because they know that, as long as our own efforts, there will certainly be able to achieve success. As the United States a popular proverb says: if they work hard, denim can be president.Although the establishment of New China for nearly six decades, but the traditional ruler and subject, father and son the sense of hierarchy in China, is still deeply rooted in peoples minds. Father in his sons eyes, the eyes of teachers, students have the absolute authority of the family background in human development still plays a very important role.Table MannersThe main difference between eastern and western eating habits is that unlike the West, where everyone has their own plate of food, in China the dishes are placed on the table and everybody shares. If you are being treated by a Chinese host, be prepared for a ton of food. Chinese are very proud of their culture of cuisine and will do their best to show their hospitality.And sometimes the Chinese host uses their chopsticks to put food in your bowl or plate. This is a sign of politeness. The appropriate thing to do would be to eat the whatever-it-is and say how yummy it is. If you feel uncomfortable with this, you can just say a polite thank you and leave the food there.To sum up, Chinese and Western cultural differences are also reflected in many ways, but simple to generalize is not complicated: reflected in the way of thinking is the difference between abstract and concrete, reflecting the attitude of life can be understood as Westerners seem to be more practical, the number of Chinese people at