跨文化交际第五、六单元补充阅读

1、跨文化交际第五、六单元补充阅读you will read three texts oncommunicating through culturein this reading exercise we are going to: 1. look at some of the ways in which countries introduce themselves to other countries through means other than language. 2. experience some of the specialist vocabulary of museums and e

2、xhibitions. text 1 focus question for text 1 what is the central theme of the exhibition? commentary indian arts aesthetic values are entangled with religious meaning, and this ancient work - now housed at the british museum - dates from a time when much of london was still marshland. some of these

3、treasures will be among a cache of precious objects heading east to india in the museums biggest ever travelling show. richard blurton the enduring image exhibition is a magnificent exhibition which will go to india to be shown both in delhi and bombay later this year to mark the 50th anniversary of

4、 indian independence. it will also be an occasion to show in india, for the first time, some of the great treasures from the british museum. commentary the items going to india come from a collection of seven million artefacts in the museum - one of the oldest collections in the world. it attracts a

5、lmost as many visitors each year - half of them from overseas. richard blurton the subject of the exhibition is the way in which in world cultures and throughout time, man has used the depiction of the human form or the suggestion of it as a way of communicating ideas or beliefs. the items in the ex

6、hibition have been chosen from the nine antiquity departments and it has been a joint process arriving at the final list of objects for the exhibition, some three hundred in total. partly it has been a choice by myself, the curator in charge, partly a choice depending on what is available within the

7、 museum, what is required for other exhibitions, what is required for other loans. there is also the matter of whether objects are fit to travel. we are in the basement of the department of western antiquities and we are going to look at a sculpture here which is going in the exhibition. it is this

8、one here - it is from the ancient syrian city of palmyra, a caravan city which grew up on the rich trade between the settled roman levant and the east. it is now quite evident that certain features of palmyrean sculpture influenced the sculpture of areas such as gondhara in the north western sub-con

9、tinent. commentary cross-cultural influences abound even with treasures that seem quintessentially english. richard blurton there are certain objects in the exhibition which have a certain resonance or interest as far as india is concerned. im thinking for example of the anglo-saxon jewellery set wi

10、th garnets. now, we know that the tiny cloisonnes - the little inlays of garnet - that are shown in this jewellery originally came from india. commentary this earthenware piece is a haniwa figure - made in japan in the sixth century. regular meetings between the curator, the british council and the

11、designer confront some of the difficulties of creating special settings for the shows. richard blurton an object with which weve had considerable problems or debate with the designer is the monolithic head of amunophis the third, which is at present displayed in the museums egyptian sculpture galler

12、y. this is very heavy to start with. it can clearly only go on a floor space which will support it. it is very large so it has to be shown at a certain height. therefore design considerations that have to be taken into account when making the plans for the display of the sculpture. this exhibition g

13、ives us an opportunity to forge close links with colleagues in india and it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other better and to understand the way in which international exhibitions work. words & expressions aesthetic valuesprinciples for the appreciation of what is beautiful (usu

14、ally in art) cachea hidden or guarded store of items depictionnoun from the verb depict meaning to represent, portray, describe, paint curator in chargehead curator, person who catalogues and arranges items in a museum, library, or other collection roman levantthe eastern part of the roman empire; l

15、evant means rising and is therefore an alternative to east - the opposite is occident (setting)meaning west the sub-continentliterally any land mass smaller than a continent, but used (especially by the british) to describe the area covering pakistan, bangladesh, india, sri lanka anglo-saxonperiod i

16、n british history from 5th - 11th century ad, named after the angles, saxons (and jutes) invading from north west europe garneta deep red precious stone (gem) cloisonnesin full, cloisonnenamel is enamel coating in which is separated by strips of precious metal and often set with jewels inlayssetting

17、 metal or gems into another material so that the surfaces are flush haniwacylindrical clay figures put outside japanese tombs 5th - 7th century ad monolithicmade from a single block of stone forge linksa chain is a series of rings (links) which are beaten in a forge, a workshop with a furnace. answe

18、r to focus questions the depiction of the human form - how different cultures use sculpture and other art forms to explain themselves to themselves and to the world. some other possible comprehension questions 1. how many artefacts are there in the british museum? 2. how many of them were sent to in

19、dia? 3. what is cross-cultural about the anglo-saxon jewellery? 4. what are the obvious problems with the head of amunophis? 5. what is the personal advantage to the museum staff in such an exhibition? answers to the extra questions1. 7 million 2. some 300 3. the inlays of garnet came from india. 4.

20、 its size and its weight 5. chance to get to know indian colleagues topics for further discussion 1. is it only in india where there is a connection between art and religion? 2. what is ironic about sending some of these artefacts to india? 3. discuss how you think the depiction of the human form ca

21、n communicate ideas or beliefs. 4. what do the cross-cultural connections tell us about ancient times? 5. what do you think these artefacts tell us about british history? text 2 focus question for text 2 what is unusual about the way these artists create their art work? commentary a chinese takeaway

22、 restaurant in manchester - one of thousands across the uk. traditionally many of britains chinese community have made their living in the food business. julie fu works only part time in her uncles takeaway. julie, who was born in the uk is one of a growing number of second generation british chines

23、e now working to make their living as artists. julie fu in my family i got my mum and dad and four sisters and one brother and we used to help out in the takeaway all the time. i remember when we were about five years old squattinground in the kitchen helping my parents peeling king prawns and they

24、just worked all the time and we just stayed behind them watching television and playing behind the shop. i do get fed up sometimes working in the takeaway, but i still work in this business because it can support me financially and it gives me inspiration for my work. commentary julie recently stage

25、d an exhibition at manchesters chinese arts centre. her work, in part , investigates her identity as an anglo-chinese woman. julie fu language comes into my work a lot because i was born in england and later i went back to hong kong for five years and during those five years i didnt learn a word of

26、english so when i came back i struggled all the time and thats why i always put language in my work. this piece of work is about the chinese community in england and how chinese people have been integrated into this western society. im using bean shoots to represent each generation. each ring of bea

27、n shoots represents a generation and it shows how these generations have expanded. commentary kwong lee is also from manchester, also an artist and, like julie, his family also worked in the restaurant business. kwong lee food is very central to chinese culture and is something that i, as second gen

28、eration, can identify with. food is also such a strong image of - in british society - of chinese culture. i use food spices and flavourings, in part in homage to that scene, but also to try to create something for myself to say that im from that background, but i can also make strange marks with it

29、 as well. with this work i suppose im making references to the kitchen and trying to create that energy you have with cooking. in the central image ive got a kind of a wok, but the marks of this circular sort of image ive made with a wok suspended on a spring, and the circular motion of the spring c

30、reates that mark. the red you see is red food colouring in the chinese kitchen and this is a mixture of curry powder and ginger powder mixed with this kind of paint. commentary hhang fang li is also from manchester and, again, her family are in the food business. hang fang li my parents came to brit

31、ain. their purpose was better opportunity for them, better opportunity for their children. also they had dreams that they wanted their kids to fulfil. so its a bit of a surprise that they find me trying to have some sort of a living as an artist. its another world to them really. they expected me to

32、 be an accountant or a doctor or some sort of high income profession, but not as an artist. when i was a child i grew up with chinese embroidery on the walls, so i think my influence comes from that. this is like a shimmering nylon and with these manufactured colours i layered these different manufa

33、ctured colours together to create something much more personal, much more me. the final result is something like this. its the start of a combination of paper and fabric. my work isnt about exploring british chinese identity. it more looking into the eastern thinking behind producing a piece of work

34、. the sort of mental preparation before you start a piece of work and when you actually do it you just do it. it becomes an automatic, natural thing, so the effect is unforced, spontaneous and quite free. commentary naturally, the work of the artists attracts interest from both the wider public and

35、their own community. today a group of chinese pensioners are viewing julie fus exhibition. the main work is an installation piece comprising woks collected from 200 chinese takeaways in manchester. julie says it reflects the impact of the chinese community in britain. julie fu i think one reason for

36、 my artwork is that it helps me find out who i am. my parents are chinese and im living in england most of my life and i feel like i dont belong to either of these cultures. i feel like im part of this new generation. its like a new generation growing. its not chinese and its not english. its a mixt

37、ure. words & expressions takeawayprepared meals that you take home to eat manchesternorthern english city with a large chinese population and its own chinatown squattingsitting on your heels, crouching king prawnsvery large prawns embroideryneedlework patterning on cloth shimmeringshining with a

38、 flickering light installation piecea piece of art work that has to be set up or built inside an art gallery or exhibition answer to focus question the artists use things from the kitchen or the wardrobe to create their art works. some other possible comprehension questions 1. how have most first-ge

39、neration chinese made their living in britain? 2. what are some second-generation chinese now doing for a living? 3. what do julies bean-shoot rings represent? 4. what does kwong lee use a wok to do? 5. what did hang fang lis parents expect her to be? answers to the extra questions 1. chinese restau

40、rants 2. working as artists 3. the growth and integration of each succeeding generation of immigrants 4. make circular marks on his painting 5. an accountant or a doctor topics for further discussion 1. what are the normal patterns of immigrant work and living arrangements? 2. what do you think of a

41、rt that uses food colouring and spices? 3. how chinese do you find these british chinese, and how british? 4. what would be your attitude if your child wanted desperately to be an artist? 5. what is your attitude to the kind of mixture of this new young generation in britain? text 3 focus question f

42、or text 3 what is the very powerful symbol of 19th century britain in the exhibition? commentary the start of a state visit to britain by the emperor and empress of japan - their first in 27 years. the visit takes place at a time when the anglo-japanese relationship is being strengthened by a wide r

43、ange of cultural exchanges. britain is playing host to a number of japanese events - some are modest like this education workshop on minyo folk music, others high profile - including an exhibition on rimpa art at the british museum. at the same time japan is hosting festival uk 98. norie oka festiva

44、l uk 98 is a year-long festival thats happening in japan all over the country this year. it touches upon very traditional to modern high culture to popular culture. its a very trendy thing in japan as a matter of fact. i think we do believe in cool britanniaand, well, youngsters are particularly int

45、erested in britpop, fashion and of course weve had very long connections from the time of the industrial revolution in the field of technology. commentary in the field of science and technology one of the festival uk contributors, the science museum, is staging its largest ever travelling exhibition

46、. some items have been restored, such as this, the original orrery , a model of the planetary system, made in 1712. doron swade the science museum exhibition itself consists of about fifty to sixty of the museums most prized objects. these are objects which have played a seminal role in world indust

47、rialisation. the biggest single object is stephensons rocket, this 1829 locomotive. and in a sense it has become both the mascot and symbol of the exhibition. commentarybut taking it apart and getting it to japan was no mean feat. because of its age and fragility, moving it out of its home in the mu

48、seum took hours of careful manoeuvring. norie oka stephensons rocket is always in our textbooks as the symbol of modern industrialisation. we are all very familiar with what stephensons rocket is, and people would be so keen to see the real thing. commentarystephensons rocket steamed into the histor

49、y books in 1829 when it won a trials competition on the liverpool and manchester railway to prove the viability of steam locomotives. that event at rainhill signalled the dawn of the era of steam trains. doron swade so this is an opportunity, if you like, to show the original artefact in all its glo

50、ry, because what rocket currently looks like, in its present state, is very different from a beautiful, pristine, working replica . its colour is different because we preserve the provenance of the object as it decayed, as it was left outside, it rusted. it was then subject to various generations of

51、 conservation. techniques which perhaps now we might not have used, so if you like, rocket in its present form is a living chronicle of its working life as well as its museological life, so there is a message about the role museums have as custodians of material culture. commentary while the science

52、 museum exhibition tours japan, in london the british museum is showing japanese rimpa art - with work borrowed from tokyos idemitsu collection. it was opened by the duke of gloucester. timothy clark well, incredibly, although rimpa art is very is regarded in japan as very important, quintessential

53、japanese style, there has never been a major exhibition of rimpa art in britain before. rimpa is a style, really. it is a style of japanese painting and applied arts from the 17th through the 19th centuries. rimpa art is regarded as quintessentially japanese for two reasons. one is stylistic, but th

54、ere is no real equivalent anywhere else in continental asia. the second is the subject matter which looks back to the courtly classics of the japanese tradition and otherwise treats the native plants and flowers of the japanese countryside. people in the west have become familiar with this kind of d

55、esign imagery whether they realise it or not. it had a profound influence on art nouveau, for instance, and so when people come to see this exhibition theres a sense in which they recognise something for which they did not know the roots. from what we know of the original commissions, many of the wo

56、rks were commissioned by aristocrats - either the imperial aristocracy or the new military feudal aristocracy. and a hundred years ago it was the new, newly rich industrial aristocracy of the meiji era who collected these works. commentary these cultural exchanges do have a lasting effect, as has be

57、en found by these minyo folk music workshops in london. norie oka this teachers workshop is organised by an organisation called the japan festival education trust which came out of the japan festival 91. minyo is literally translatable as folk songs. it is very down to earth. people sang while they

58、were working, very much attached to their normal daily life. it enjoys a huge popularity. teacher a lot of japanese music is very formulaic in the sense that there are certain sorts of phrases that occur again and again and once youve learned them for one piece, you often find you run into them again in another piece. it makes it a lot easier in a way to learn orally and to memorise the entire repertoire, rather than having to rely on a notation on a music stand where you perform. commentary they used to say that east and west were worlds apart -