2. restrained — not emotional拘谨的
3. ill-bred — adj. badly-behaved, not very well educated没有教养的, 没有礼貌的, 粗野的
4. generosity —liberality in giving or willingness to give 大方，慷慨(给予的)
5. hospitality — cordial and generous reception of or disposition toward guests 好客
6. barrier — something immaterial that obstructs or impedes 非物质的妨碍或阻碍物
Intolerance is a barrier to understanding. 偏狭是理解的一大障碍
7. indifference —the state or quality of being indifferent 冷淡的态度或性质 8. irritating — irritable惹人生气的; 使人不愉快的
9. embarrassment — the act or an instance of embarrassing 困窘的事(动作或事件); the state of being embarrassed 处于困窘的状态
10. malicious —adj. having the nature of or resulting from malice; deliberately harmful; spiteful 恶意的,具有恶毒的本性的或由恶意而产生的；蓄意要伤害别人的；怨恨的：malicious gossip 用意歹毒的流言蜚语
11. cripple — one that is partially disabled or unable to use a limb or limbs 伤残人，伤残动物，跛子肢体部分伤残者或无法使用四肢者：
cannot race a horse that is a cripple.不能用一匹跛足的马进行赛马
12. sportsmanship — conduct and attitude considered as befitting participants in sports, especially fair play, courtesy, striving spirit, and grace in losing.运动员精神(适合参与运动的行为或态度，特别是公平竞争、礼貌谦逊、奋斗精神、胜不骄败不馁运动家精神)
13. live up to — put into practice实践, 做到, 真正做到，生活得无愧于 We will live up to what our parents expect of us. 我们决不辜负父母亲对我们的期望。
Did the TV play live up to your expectations? 这部电视剧有你期望的那样好吗?
14. essence — the intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something, nature本质, 用作表示特征或区别的本质或要素 15. in obedience to — according to遵照, 依照 hold a person in obedience 使人驯服
He acted in obedience to the orders of his superior. 他是遵照他的上级指示行动的。
16. take advantage of —乘机利用；利用别人的弱点占便宜; 欺骗 17．consideration — (1) thoughtful concern for others; solicitude. 关心，对他人的体贴关心；担忧 (2) high regard; esteem 敬重；尊重
18. acknowledge — to express thanks or gratitude for 答谢，致谢，鸣谢，表示对…的感谢或感激
19. accidental — occurring unexpectedly, unintentionally, or by chance. 意外的，偶然发生的
20. disturbance —the act of disturbing 骚乱，扰乱的行为
21.grant — to consent to the fulfillment of 同意，同意对…的满足：
grant a request 同意要求
22. entitled — have a right to有资格的
23. accompany — to be or go with as a companion 陪伴，陪同 24 bother — vi. to take the trouble; concern oneself 烦；操心
25. particular— attentive to or concerned with details or niceties, often excessively so; meticulous or fussy 挑剔的，苛求的, 通常指过分地注意或涉及细节和细微区别的；谨小慎微的或小题大作
26. conform to — to act or be in accord or agreement; comply with 适合行为或状态, 和谐一致；遵从
27. routine — fixed and regular way of doing things; a set of customary and often mechanically performed procedures or activities 常规； 老一套惯常的且常常机械地执行的程序或活动
28. observe — to adhere to or abide by 遵守或服从
29. alight — to set down, as from a vehicle; dismount 走下来，如从交通工具上走下来；下车
The queen alighted from the carriage. 女王从马车上下来
30. maxim — a succinct formulation of a fundamental principle, general truth, or rule of conduct 格言，箴言，基本原理、普遍真理或行为准则的简洁形式 31. apply to — 将...应用于
32. seniority — condition of being senior (in age, rank) 年长，资历，资深地位 33.irrelevant —adj. unrelated to the matter at hand不相干的，离题的，与所讨论的问题不相关的
5.Questions for discussion
(1). What is an American? What is the typical American personality? What are his attitudes and values?
? 1. Personality in American is further complicated because of their diverse racial and cultural origins, successive waves of immigration from all parts of the world and their regional diversities. In spite of the seeming contradictions in American life, Americans as a whole share some personality.
The pioneering spirit of the immigrant is still an important part of the American character. The frontier greatly influenced the American character. It was frontiersman’s struggle that shaped the American spirit. The frontier encouraged energetic activity and dignified labor with the hands. It made of the independent, self-reliant farmer a symbol which still influences American life. It produced a resourceful, inquisitive, practical-minded type, able to turn his hand to any sort of work, preferring to govern himself in small, easily adaptable to a new environment, relatively free of class distinctions, full of optimism and faith in the country which had rewarded him so well.
? 2. The courage to try something new has been an American characteristic since colonial times. The Americans are adventurous.
? 3. Mobility. The desire to start a new life in a new place is noticeable throughout the nation. Nearly half Americans change residences every year. In a mobile society an energetic person can hardly help matching himself
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against others and seeing how far he can go.
4.The American creed. The ideas or beliefs that shape American character are a faith in the rational, a need for moralistic rationalization, an optimistic conviction that rational effort counts, faith in the individual and his rights, the cult of the common man, the high valuation put on change and progress, and on pleasure consciously pursued as a good. Equally strong is the American’s faith in his institutions.
5. Individualism and equality. Americans firmly believe in them. For Americans, individual rights and obligations come first. They believe in equality of opportunity. Any individual, no matter how poor, can achieve wealth and fame through diligence and virtue. Any boy can, in theory, become President. Striving is a moral obligation. Achievement, not class, is the standard by which men are judged. There is little or no glory attached to being born wealthy or privileged. The real test is how far you climb from where you started.
6. Success as a goal. Americans place a very high valuation upon success. Success does not necessarily mean material rewards, but recognition of some sort – preferably measurable. Material success in the U.S. is not looked upon as selfish. Its results are seen to have communal value.
7.Hardworking. Americans love work. It is meat and drink to them. Until very recently there has always been a great deal of work to do in the country, a great deal that needed doing. Men of all sorts and conditions had to pitch in. 8. Skillful. Americans still like to be handy at all things. Nearly everyone knows how to use tools, make simple repairs to plumbing or electrical fixtures, refinish furniture or paint a wall. Far from being thought a disgrace if he performs these “menial” tasks, a man is thought ridiculous if he does not know how to perform them.
9. Along with this urge to be jack-of-all-trade goes a willingness to change from one occupation to another. “For a European”, writes Andre Maurois, “life is a career; for an American, it is a succession of hazards”.
10. Materialism. American materialism is not that of loving and hoarding wealth; it is a love of making and consuming wealth. They spend more money on churches, social services, hospitals and all kinds of charities.
11. High level of production does lead to a high level of material comfort and that Americans are mighty fond of having things that are new, shine, softly padded, conveniently arranged, efficient and so far as may be, effortless. The labor-saving gadgets, the love of comfort turn out to be ways of saving his time and energy for something else.
12. Americans also play hard. They are always in a hurry, yet they spend more time relaxing. They spend more time and money on traveling, going to movies, watching television and reading newspapers and magazines than any other people in the world.
13. Humor has never been valued more highly in any civilization than in America. American humor, in short, confirms the importance of mating and
the family, the high status of women and children, the pace and tension of life, and above all the love of humor itself as an approach to life more to be prized than riches, a gift to be cherished and applauded.
? 14. Americans carry with them an appearance which is more a result of attitude than clothing. This attitude combines a lack of class consciousness, a something jaunty optimism and an inquisitiveness which in combination look to the European like naivete. Also a liking for facts and figures, an alertness more muscular and ocular than intellectual, and above all a desire to be friendly.
? 15.There are of course some negative traits of American Character such as divorce, crime, violence, drug users and indifference to the old. What’s more, the highly mobile American society leaves individuals with feelings of rootless, isolation, indifference to community welfare and shallow personal relationships.
Americans are a peculiar people. They work like mad, then give away much of what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a vocation. They live to think of themselves as tough-minded business men, yet they are push-overs for any hard luck story. They worship bigness yet idealize the little man. They have the biggest of nearly everything including government, motor-cars and debts, yet they are afraid of bigness. They are always trying to chip away at big government, big business, big unions, big influence. They like to think themselves as little people, average men, and they would like to cut everything down to their own size. Yet they boast of their tall buildings, high mountains, long rivers, big state, the best country, the best world, the best heaven. They also have the most traffic deaths, the most waste, the most racketeering.
When they meet, they are always telling each other, “take it easy”, then they rush off like crazy in opposite directions. They play games as if they were fighting a war, and fight wars as if playing a game. They marry more, go broke more often, and make more money than any other people. They love children, animals, gadgets, mother, work, excitement, noise, nature, television shows, comedy, installment buying, fast motion, spectator sports, the underdog, the fly, Christmas, jazz, shapely women and muscular men, classical recordings, crowds, comics, cigarettes, warm houses in winter and cool ones in summer, thick beefsteaks, coffee, ice cream, informal dress, plenty of running-water, do-it-yourself, and a working week trimmed to forty hour or less.
They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic, flock to movies and television while gripping about the quality and the commercials, go to church but don’t care much for sermons, and drinking too much in the hope of relaxing — only to find themselves stimulated to even bigger dreams.
There is of course no typical American. But if we add them all together and then divided by 226, 000,000 they would look something like a likable guy — friendly, efficient, competitive, spontaneous, adaptable, energetic,
optimistic, frank, confident and self-dependent.
(2)What are typical of Chinese?
? Influenced by Ren and Li, which lie at the very core of Confucianism, Chinese people, no matter what social positions, can all best be characterized by the spirit of Li. People can only do what Li allows them to. All the concepts, all the ways of life, modes of thinking, ways of perception and patterns of behavior are underpinned by the principle of Li.
? 2. China is considered to be a country of politeness with a history of more than 5,000 years. But Chinese politeness is different from that of British and American. Chinese follow the self-denigration and others respecting principle while the British politeness is based on the elementary rule of showing consideration to others and acknowledging the consideration they show to you. American politeness is self-confidence and others respecting. It is universally accepted that to show modesty is a way to be polite, but how is it adhered to in different cultures is very much a matter of degree. When being complimented, an English-speaking person would readily accept the compliment by saying sth like “Thank you” to show his appreciation of the praise but a Chinese speaker would try to deny the truth of the compliment by saying sth like “哪里, 哪里， 不行， 差远了”. Chinese “qianxu” is the core of Chinese politeness. We firmly believe ‘Pride goes before a fall’ (骄傲使人落后) and ‘One loses by pride and gains by modesty’ (满招损，谦受益).
? 3. Chinese follow collectivism. For Chinese, the group comes first, individual second so that the emphasis is only on loyalty, promoting harmony and improving the lot of the greatest number of people.
? 4. Status identity. In China every member behaves as his status identity dictates. Speech behavior is markings of social identity and social status. What counts in communication is not what you say but who you are and how you say what you intend to say.
? 5. Power relationship is the predominant value orientation in the Chinese culture. It is best demonstrated in the use of titles or honorifics when addressing occurs.
? 6. Extended family is common in China, including grandparents, parents, children, cousins, in-laws etc. Chinese frequently say “Blood is thicker than water”. “A man’s home is his castle”. In China where family is the basic unit of the social structure, family name comes first and only thereafter comes the given name.
? 7. Respect for the old. In China, “age” stands for “authority” and “wisdom”. Young people respect the old and old people receive honor, privilege and satisfaction.
6.Exercises about the text
7. Reading Skills: Understanding Headline Vocabulary 8. Fast Reading& Exercises