[专业英语考试复习资料]专业八级分类模拟265

1、专业英语考试复习资料专业八级分类模拟265专业英语考试复习资料专业八级分类模拟265专业八级分类模拟265LISTENING COMPREHENSIONResolving Conflict in a Multicultural Environment . Definition of culture Culture is a group which shapes a persons 1 Cultural identities originate from race, 2 , gender, etc. . Cultural assumptions Cause of cultural conflic

2、ts: differences in values and 3 Example A: Women wrote excellent proposal but they failed in interview part They preferred to have 4 before being questioned Example B: A city in Alaska celebrated 200th year of fur Russian trader Native Indian tribe was offended The activity implied there was no 5 be

3、fore . Identifying cultural conflicts Three dimensions of cultural conflicts A. content B. 6 issues C. clash of values Three signs of identifying conflicts complex combinations of 7 about behaviors If the previous two dimensions do not resolve the conflict, then cultural differences are the root cau

4、se 8 still causes conflict and emotion . Resolving cultural conflicts Resolution 1: 9 the cultural dimension acknowledgment that the conflict contains a cultural dimension all sides are 10 to deal with all conflict dimensions systematic phased work is needed Four phases: A. 11 of each others B. Unde

5、rstand cultural perception of both sides C. Know how problems are handled 12 D. Develop conflict solutions Resolution 2: Learning about other cultures Knowledge could be obtained from training programs, reading, talking and 13 Acquiring a broad knowledge of 14 , not stereotyping Resolution 3: Alteri

6、ng practices and procedures in the organizations 15 change is necessary to make system culturally sensitive (如需获取本MP3听力录音请搜索标题名) 1.答案:values and identity听力原文 Resolving Conflict in a Multicultural Environment Good morning, everyone. Today I will discuss cultural dimension in conflict and its resoluti

7、on in application to local government entities. The demographic and cultural attitudes of the U.S. population are changing. Current statistical research shows that one out of four Americans is of Hispanic origin or a person of color. They would constitute the majority of the American population by t

8、he middle of the 21st century. The melting pot concept never became the reality. Currently, many groups prefer to maintain their traditions and beliefs and resist assimilation into Eurocentric or Anglo culture. Those demographic and perceptional changes create the necessity for governmental agencies

9、 to develop a better understanding of cultural differences and conflicts promoted by them. In todays talk, I will briefly touch upon the definition of culture, cultural assumptions, and identify and resolve cultural conflicts. First of all, the definition of culture. Culture is a group which shapes

10、a persons values and identity. A single term used to define a particular culture is often exclusive. For example, the term Hispanic does not take into account cultural differences between Cuban-Americans and Mexican-Americans. Cultural identities can stem from the following differences: race, ethnic

11、ity, gender, class, religion, country of origin and geographic region. Secondly, about cultural assumptions. Cultural conflicts arise because of the differences in values and norms of behavior of people from different cultures. A person acts according to the values and norms of his or her culture; a

12、nother person holding a different worldview might interpret his or her behavior from an opposite standpoint. This situation creates misunderstanding and can lead to conflict. Often people of the mainstream America, the Anglo culture, perceive their behaviors and beliefs as an ultimate norm, forgetti

13、ng that Anglo culture is just one of the multiple cultures existing in the USA. They are often unable to perceive their own cultural distinctiveness. For example, a group of women wrote an excellent and detailed proposal, but did badly during the interview part of the evaluation. It happened because

14、 those women came from a culture where establishing personal relationships precedes business relationships. These women felt uncomfortable when government officials did not allow time for casual conversation and immediately moved toward firing questions at them. The following case exemplifies how un

15、intentionally one cultural group can hurt the feelings of the other. The city of Kenai, Alaska was planning a celebration of 200 years since the first Russian fur traders came to the region. A Native Indian tribe which lived in Alaska for a thousand years was offended by the implication that before

16、the Russians came to the region there was no civilization there. As a result the celebration turned to a year-long event and Native Indian culture became its basis. By the end of the celebration, the Kenai Bicentennial Visitors and Cultural Center was completed. Thus, accommodation of different cult

17、ural interests helped the region to recognize its historical past. Thirdly, identifying cultural conflicts. Cultural conflict has three dimensions. To the two dimensions that every conflict hascontent and relationalcultural conflict adds the third onea clash of cultural values. This third dimension

18、constitutes the foundation of the conflict since it determines personal identity. Cultural conflict can be identified by the following signs: (1) it usually has complicated dynamics. Cultural differences mentioned above tend to create complex combinations of expectations about ones own and others be

19、haviors. (2) If addressing content and relational issues does not resolve the conflict, it can be rooted in cultural differences. (3) Conflict reoccurs or raises strong emotions even though the issue of disagreement is insignificant. Finally, when we identify the cultural conflicts, how could we res

20、olve them? The resolution of cross-cultural conflict begins with identifying whether cultural issues are involved. There are three ways of cross-cultural conflict resolution. Resolution 1: Probing for the cultural dimension. The resolution process should start from the parties acknowledgment that th

21、eir conflict contains a cultural dimension. Next, there should be willingness on all sides to deal with all conflict dimensions including the cultural one. Third, systematic phased work on the conflict is needed. One expert has identified four phases: (1) the parties describe what they find offensiv

22、e in each others behavior; (2) they get an understanding of the other partys cultural perceptions; (3) they learn how the problem would be handled in the culture of the opponent; (4) they develop conflict solutions. Resolution of the conflict is particularly complicated if the conflict arose not jus

23、t out of misunderstanding of the others behavior, but because of incompatible values. Resolution 2: Learning about other cultures. People can prevent cross-cultural conflicts by learning about cultures that they come in contact with. This knowledge can be obtained through training programs, general

24、reading, talking to people from different cultures, and learning from past experiences. Important aspects of cultural education are understanding your own culture and developing cultural awareness by acquiring a broad knowledge of values and beliefs of other cultures, rather than looking at them thr

25、ough the prism of cultural stereotypes. Resolution 3: Altering organizational practices and procedures. Often the organizational structure reflects the norms of just one culture and inherits the cultural conflict. In such cases, structural change becomes necessary to make the system more. sensitive

26、to cultural norms of other people. All right. In closing, I would like to reiterate that conflict, depending on the outcome, can be a positive or negative experience for an organization. With changing demographics, cultural differences become an acute issue. Many groups resist assimilation and wish

27、to preserve their cultural distinctiveness, which makes cultural conflict education an essential tool for maintaining healthy relations in organizations and society in general. I hope my talk today has helped detect the cultural conflicts and you will be able to resolve them with ease. 解析 本题考查文化的定义。

28、讲座提到，文化塑造了个人的价值观与身份。故填values and identity。2.答案:ethnicity解析 本题考查文化认同的来源。录音提到，文化认同来源于以下几点：种族、民族、性别、阶级、宗教、出生地和地理区域。根据提纲提示，本题应填入ethnicity。3.答案:norms of behavio(u)r解析 本题考查文化冲突的原因。文化冲突发生的原因是不同文化的人们有不同的价值观和行为准则。因此本题填入norms of behavior/behaviour。4.答案:casual conversation解析 由“女士们会因政府官员没有留出时间闲谈就直接提问而感到不舒服”，可推知

29、女士们喜欢闲聊(casual conversation)之后再进入提问环节。5.答案:civilization解析 根据讲座，200周年的庆典活动会使当地的印第安部落觉得被冒犯，因为活动暗示着在俄国人来到这片区域之前当地没有文明。故填civilization。6.答案:relational解析 本题是细节题，考查文化冲突的三个维度，分别是内容、关系和文化价值观的冲突。故答案为relational。7.答案:expectations解析 本题考查识别文化冲突的第一个标志。讲座中提到文化差异往往会产生复杂的行为期待组合。故填expectations，注意用复数。8.答案:Insignificant

30、 disagreement解析 本题是原文“即使分歧微不足道，冲突也会再现或激起更强烈的情绪”的同义转换，考查综合理解能力。答案为Insignificant disagreement。9.答案:probing for解析 本题考查解决文化冲突的第一个办法探索文化维度。因此，结合下面对应的提纲内容，应填入probing for。10.答案:willing解析 本题涉及探索文化维度的第二个步骤，即各方都必须有意愿去处理冲突的各个维度。此处需将willingness转换为wining。11.答案:Identify offensive behaviors/Describe offensive beha

31、viors解析 根据原文describe what they find offensive in each others behavior，此处需要考生进行归纳，填Identify offensive behaviors或Describe offensive behaviors均可。12.答案:in the opponent解析 录音提到，系统的有步骤的工作是必要的。其中第三步讲述到，学习怎样在文化对立面上解决问题。因此本题应填入in the opponent。13.答案:past experiences/previous experiences解析 本题是细节题，考查跨文化知识的获取途径，可

32、通过培训课程、阅读、交流和过去经验获得知识。故填past experiences或previous experiences。14.答案:values and beliefs解析 录音提到，文化教育的重要方面是了解自己的文化，通过获取关于其他文化价值观和信仰的广泛知识来发展自己的文化意识。因此本题填入values and beliefs。15.答案:Structural解析 本题考查解决文化冲突的第三个方法，属于细节题。讲座中提到结构的改变是必须的，可以让体制对文化更敏感。故答案为Structural。Four Characteristics of Culture . Culture is sh

33、ared Region, climate and 16 form a set of values and beliefs Culture does not belong to a single individual . Culture is learned Culture is not born or 17 Culture is 18 Example: People 19 People invent better technologies People learn from the past generation . Cultures change Example: 20 vs. primit

34、ive Causes of cultural changes: the regular 21 of cultural traits Different rates of cultural changes among nations e. g. Germans are 22 to adopt new words, while French people are resistant to it Two ways of cultural changes a) Inventions within a society b) 23 cultural traits from one society to a

35、nother Impact of changes: a changed trait will affect another Reason: cultural traits are functionally 24 Example: resisted 25 opportunities for women in North America and Europe . Cultures are 26 Examples: a) Tribes in New Guinea and upper Amazon Basin were 27 b) Tribal people now buy clothes and 2

36、8 produced by multinationals Consequence: a) Societies are 29 cultural traits from the economic powers b) Small indigenous cultures have disappeared due to the shared global culture c) Major cultures will survive because of 30 and ethnocentrism (如需获取本MP3听力录音请搜索标题名) 16.答案:historical heritage听力原文 Four

37、 Characteristics of Culture Good morning, everyone. Today, I would like to discuss with you about the characteristics of culture. As we all know, culture refers to the pattern of human activity and the symbols that give significance to these activities. Culture manifests itself in terms of the art,

38、literature, costumes, customs, language, religion and religious rituals. The people and their pattern of life make up the culture of a region. Cultures vary in different parts of the world. They are different across the land boundaries and the diversity in cultures results in the diversity in people

39、 around the world. Culture also consists of the system of beliefs held by the people of the region, their principles of life and their moral values. The patterns of behavior of the people of a particular region also form a part of the regions culture. Now, let me share with you four characteristics

40、of culture. First of all, culture is shared, by which we mean that every culture is shared by a group of people. Depending on the region they live in, the climatic conditions they thrive in and their historical heritage, they form a set of values and beliefs. This set of their principles of life sha

41、pes their culture. No culture belongs to an individual. It is rather shared among many people of a certain part of the world. It belongs to a single community and not to any single human being. Secondly, culture is learned. Human infants come into the world with basic drives such as hunger and thirs

42、t, but they do not possess instinctive patterns of behavior to satisfy them. Likewise, they are without any cultural knowledge. However, they are genetically predisposed to rapidly learn language and other cultural traits. New born humans are amazing learning machines. Any normal baby can be placed

43、into any family on earth and grow up to learn their culture and accept it as his or her own. Since culture is non-instinctive, we are not genetically programmed to learn a particular one. Every human generation potentially can discover new things and invent better technologies. The new cultural skil

44、ls and knowledge are added onto what was learned in previous generations. As a result, culture is cumulative. Due to this cumulative effect, most high school students today are now familiar with mathematical insights and solutions that ancient Greeks such as Archimedes and Pythagoras struggled their

45、 lives to discover. Next in order, cultures change. All cultural knowledge does not perpetually accumulate. At the same time that new cultural traits are added, some old ones are lost because they are no longer useful. For example, most city dwellers today do not have or need the skills required for

46、 survival in a wilderness. Most would very likely starve to death because they do not know how to acquire wild foods and survive the extremes of weather outdoors. What is more important, in modern urban life are such things as the ability to drive a car, use a computer, and understand how to obtain

47、food in a supermarket or restaurant. The regular addition and subtraction of cultural traits results in culture change. All cultures change over timenone is static. However, the rate of change and the aspects of culture that change vary from society to society. For instance, people in Germany today

48、generally seem happy to adopt new words from other languages, especially from American English, while many French people are resistant to it because of the threat of corrupting their own language. However, the French are just as eager as the Ger marts to adopt new technology. Change can occur as a r

49、esult of both inventions within a society as well as the diffusion of cultural traits from one society to another. Predicting whether a society will adopt new cultural traits or abandon others is complicated by the fact that the various aspects of a culture are closely interwoven into a complex patt

50、ern. Changing one trait will have an impact on other traits because they are functionally interconnected. As a result, there commonly is a resistance to major changes. For example, many men in North America and Europe resisted the increase in economic and political opportunities for women over the l

51、ast century because of the far ranging consequences. It inevitably changed the nature of marriage, the family, and the lives of all men. It also significantly altered the workplace as well as the legal system and the decisions made by governments. Last but not least, cultures no longer exist in isol

52、ation. It is highly unlikely that there are any societies still existing in total isolation from the outside world. Even small, out of the way tribal societies are now being integrated to some extent into the global economy. That was not the case a few short generations ago. Some of the societies in

53、 the Highlands of New Guinea were unaware of anyone beyond their homeland until the arrival of European Australian miners in the 1930s. A few of the Indian tribes in the Upper Amazon Basin of South America remained unaware of the outside world until explorers entered their territories in the 1950s a

54、nd 1960s. Members of these same New Guinean and Amazonian societies today buy clothes and household items produced by multinational corporations. They are developing a growing knowledge of other cultures through schools, radios, and even televisions and the Internet. As a result of this inevitable p

55、rocess, their languages and indigenous cultural patterns are being rapidly replaced. Virtually all societies are now acquiring cultural traits from the economically dominant societies of the world. The most influential of these dominant societies today are predominantly in North America and Western

56、Europe. However, even these societies are rapidly adopting words, foods, and other cultural traits from all over the world. The emergence of what is essentially a shared global culture is not likely to result in the current major cultures disappearing in the immediate future the same way many of the small indigenous ones have. Language differences and ethnocentrism will very likely prevent that from happening. There are powerful conflicting trends in the world today. For example, some of the nations in Africa whose boundaries were arbitrari