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SAT文化词条
作者: 来源:第一家教网 日期:2010.03.19  浏览量:16513
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SAT文化词条(二)

SAT文化词条(三)

下列词条来自紫铭教育编著的《SAT官方指南文化手册》部分内容

1Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater) to navigate, communicate or to detect other vessels. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location. The term sonar is also used for the equipment used to generate and receive the sound. The frequencies used in sonar systems vary from infrasonic to ultrasonic.

声纳一种利用水下声音传播来导航,联络或侦查其他船只的技术。它可用于声音定位。这个术语还指产生和接收声波的设备。声纳所使用的频率从次声到超声不等。

2Dolphins

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. They vary in size from 1.2 meters and 40 kilograms, up to 9.5 m and 10 ton. They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. Dolphins are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of animals and their often friendly appearance and seemingly playful attitude have made them popular in human culture.

海豚一种与鲸和钝吻海豚很接近的海洋哺乳动物,包括17属近40种。海豚体型差异大,从身长1.2米体重40千克到身长9.5米体重10吨不等。海豚遍布世界各地,主要在浅海大陆架活动。属食肉动物,主要食物是鱼类和鱿鱼。海豚被认为是自然界智商最高的动物之一。因其友善的外表和貌似活泼的天性,被看作人类的好友。

3, Native Americans

Native Americans were living in North America for many hundreds of years before Europeans reached the continent. For a long time white people called them Indians (see in picture).

Today, many people do not like this name since it is based on a mistake: it was given to the people living in the Americas by Christopher Columbus who, when he arrived there, thought he had discovered India. Instead, people prefer to use the term Native Americans. There are also native people living in Alaska and Canada, e.g. Inuits (see in picture—an Inuit in kayak) and Aleuts, but they are separate groups and are not called Native Americans.

Early contact with Europeans

In Pre-Columbian North America there were many tribes who lived by hunting animals and gathering plants. Many of the tribes moved from one place to another according to the season and what food was available. Most of what is known about Native Americans dates from the time when they came into contact with Europeans.

The first place in the US where Europeans settled permanently was Jamestown, Virginia, founded in 1607. At first Native Americans were positive about the Europeans and were happy to have the many new things they brought, e.g. metal cooking pots, cloth and guns. But the Europeans also introduced diseases that Native Americans had no resistance to, so many became ill and died. They also brought alcohol, the effects of which Native Americans did not know. Some Europeans took advantage of this by getting them drunk and then paying low prices for their goods.

The worst problem for Native Americans, which lasted into the late 20th century, was that the new settlers wanted their land. To Native Americans owning land was a strange idea. Tribes moved around as they pleased and shared land with any other tribe that was friendly. They did not understand that a person might believe a piece of land was theirs, or that they would try to keep others from using it. The settlers, on the other hand, assumed that they would take control of North America and used all means to do this, including making agreements, which they usually did not keep, tricking Native Americans into selling land cheaply, and taking it by military force. Native American chiefs like Sitting Bull, Tecumesh and Geronimo fought against the settlers.

As Whites began moving west, Native American tribes had to be moved on. Some were forced to go to other parts of North America, to areas very different from the ones they were used to. The Trail of Tears was one of many terrible examples: in the cold winter of 1838-1839 17000 Cherokees had to move from their land in the south-east to what is now Oklahoma and more than 4000 died. The government promised tribes that if they agreed to stay in one part of the country they could keep that land forever. But the promises lasted only until Americans discovered that the land they had given them was good for farming or had gold.

Whites have explained this behavior in different ways. When the Indians fought and killed white people they said that this proved that Native Americans were wild and had to be controlled. People also believed that the Native Americans were wasting good land by not developing it. In the 19th century Americans believed in manifest destiny, meaning that they thought God wanted them to occupy the whole continent. They also believed that it was better for the Native Americans to learn to live like white people and tried to teach them Christianity. Many Native American children, including the athlete Jim Thorpe, were taken away from their tribe and sent to schools where they were not allowed to speak their own language.

Native American languages

Before Europeans arrived in North America there were over 300 Native American languages. Some have now died out, and of the 250 or so remaining many are spoken only by a few older people. Other languages, like Cherokee, are more widely spoken. Most Native Americans speak English, some as their first language and others as their second.

Native American languages have added many words to English, though the meaning of a word has often been changed. Teepees are a kind of tent, wampum belts were made of beads and since the belts had great value Europeans used wampum to mean ‘money’. Moccasins, a kind of shoe, are today worn by people all over the world. Many Native American words describe the things they name. For example, the Asakiwaki tribe’s name means ‘people of the yellow earth’, and the Cherokees’ name for themselves, Ani-Yun’wiya, means ‘the leading people’. Indian names for Whites included ‘people greedily grasping for land’.

Many American place names have their roots in Native American languages. Ohio, for instance, is a Native American name, and the names of many of its towns and cities, such as Chillicothe and Sandusky, and the lakes Scioto and Olentangy, are of Native American origin.

Native Americans today

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a part of the US government, there are now about 550 tribes. These include well-known groups like the Navajo and Sioux, and less famous tribes like the Cayuse. The number of Native Americans living in the US is about 1.2 million.

Almost a million live on reservations (see in picture—an Indian reservation in New Mexico), areas of land that the government has allowed them to keep as their own. Native Americans are US citizens, and have the rights and responsibilities of any US citizen. However, reservations have their own governments and police forces and Native Americans pay different taxes. They also have the right to hunt and fish where and when they like, while other Americans have to get a license.

On or off the reservations Native Americans find it difficult to live the traditional life. Activities of other Americans affect the way they live. Building dams across a river, for example, can affect the numbers of fish living there, so that even though Native Americans have the right to fish they may not be able to catch anything. Away from the reservations, many Native Americans find that their culture is very different from that of white people and have difficulty adapting.

Poverty is a serious problem. About 37% of people who live on reservations are unemployed, compared with 6% of the general population. Many tribes try to bring in money from outside. Some sell rights to search for oil on their reservation; others use the fact that the reservation makes its own rules to open casinos where people from outside can come and gamble. Gambling is illegal in most parts of the US and many Americans want it to remain so, but it makes a lot of money for the tribes. This brings Native Americans, once again, into conflict with white Americans.

Native Americans in the popular imagination

An American tradition dating back to early times is Thanksgiving. When the English arrived in Jamestown many died during the long cold winter, but in the following spring Native Americans showed them what local foods they could eat. In the autumn, well-prepared for the winter, settlers and Native Americans had a special dinner together, the first Thanksgiving, to thank God and the Native Americans for all the food they had.

Another story describes how the Native American princess Pocahontas saved the life of John Smith, the leader in Jamestown, when her father, Powhatan, wanted to kill him. She later married another Englishman, John Rolfe, and went to England with him. The story of Pocahontas is widely known and many Native Americans are proud to have her as an ancestor.

But Native Americans were more often seen by white settlers as the enemy. Westerns, i.e. films and books about the Wild West, use the threat from Indians as their central theme. In this context Native Americans are still called ‘Indians’. Children often play ‘cowboys and Indians’ and pretend to kill each other. When Buffalo Bill, began touring the US with his Wild West show, the chief Sitting Bull was one of many Native Americans in it, and many people went to see this former great enemy.

Many Americans have an image of a ‘typical Indian’, a chief (see in picture) who lived in a teepee with his squaw (=wife), smoked a peace pipe after signing a treaty with the white man (whom he called pale face), sent smoke signals to communicate with people far away, and spoke broken English full of colorful expressions such as ‘big heap wampum’ (a lot of money) and ‘speaks with forked tongue’ (is lying). Most of these ideas have some basis in Native American culture, but it is wrong to put them all together and believe that that was how Native Americans lived.

Americans make such mistakes because they have little interest in Native Americans. Having succeeded in pushing them out of the way onto reservations, most Americans ignore them. This may be because the Native Americans who are left are living proof of a hard truth: America wants to be, and often is, a land where everyone has a chance and where the government behaves fairly and honestly to all, but this America is built on land stolen from the people who lived there first.

美洲原住民

在欧洲人到达北美之前,美洲原住民已经在那里生活了数百年。在很长时间里,白人把他们称为印第安人。如今,许多人并不喜欢这个名字,因为它原本就是错误的:当克里托弗·哥伦布到达美洲时,他以为自己发现了印度,于是把生活在那里的人称为印第安人。人们更愿意用美洲原住民这个称谓。阿拉斯加州和加拿大也有原住民,分别称为因纽特人和阿留申人,但他们是独立的群体,不叫美洲原住民。

与欧洲人的早期接触

在哥伦布到达北美之前,北美有许多部落,靠狩猎和采集植物为生。随着季节变化和可以获得的食物不同,许多部落从一个地方搬到另一个地方。人们对美洲原住民的了解基本上是从他们首次与欧洲人接触开始的。

1607年,欧洲人在美国弗吉尼亚州的詹姆斯敦建立了第一个殖民地。最初,美洲原住民对欧洲人很友好,对他们带来的许多新事物也很欢迎,例如金属锅、布料和枪。但欧洲人还带来了一些疾病,对此美洲原住民毫无抵抗力,所以许多人病倒并相继死亡。欧洲人还带来了酒,美洲原住民对酒精的作用也一无所知。一些欧洲人利用这一点把他们灌醉,然后低价购买他们的产品。

对于美洲原住民而言,最糟糕的问题在于殖民者要占领他们的土地,这个问题一直持续到20世纪后期。在美洲原住民看来,拥有土地是个奇怪的想法。他们的部落四处迁移,与友好部落共有土地。对于有人会认为一块土地是自己的,或者试图阻止别人使用这块土地,他们感到迷惑不解。另一方面,殖民者认为他们要控制北美,并利用一切手段达到这个目的,包括签订协议(但往往不遵守),诱使美洲原住民廉价出售土地,以及用武力占领土地。卧牛、特库姆塞和杰罗尼莫等美洲原住民酋长纷纷抗击殖民者。

在白人向西推进时,美洲原住民部落也不得不搬家。一些部落被迫迁移到北美其他处所,与他们久已习惯的地方截然不同。“血泪之路”就是许多悲惨的例子之一:1838年至1839年的寒冬,切诺基部落的1万7千人被迫从美国东南部的家乡迁往现在的俄克拉何马州,4000多人在途中死亡。政府向这些部落承诺,如果他们同意留在一个地方,就可以永远保留这片土地。但当美国人发现,他们给予印第安人的土地适于耕作或蕴藏着黄金时,他们便马上违背了诺言。

对此,白人有不同的解释。当印第安人抗击和杀害白人时,他们说这证明美洲原住民野蛮成性,必须实行管制。人们还认为,美洲原住民不会开发,浪费了很好的土地。19世纪,美国人相信天定命运论,认为占领整个北美是上帝的旨意。美国人还认为,学会像白人一样生活对美洲原住民有好处,并试图向他们灌输基督教。包括运动员吉姆·索普在内的许多美洲原住民的孩子被带到部落以外,送到不允许讲自己语言的学校。

美洲原住民的语言

在欧洲人到达北美之前,那里有300多种美洲原住民的语言。很多已经消亡,现在剩下的约有250种,其中许多种也只有一些老年人在讲。彻罗基等其他语言说的人比较多。大多数美洲原住民说英语,这是他们的第一语言或者第二语言。

美洲原住民的语言为英语增加了许多词汇,但词义往往有所变化。Teepee 是一种帐篷,贝克数珠腰带由贝壳串的珠子做成。由于这种腰带很值钱,欧洲人用wampum来指“钱”。Moccasins是一种鞋,现在世界各地的人都在穿。美洲原住民的许多词汇形象地描述他们命名的对象。例如,Asakiwaki部落的名字意为“黄土地上的人”,彻罗基人给自己起名Ani-Yun’ wiya,意思是“领导者”。印第安人给白人起的名字里包括“贪婪攫取土地者”。

美国的许多地名源于美洲原住民的语言。例如,俄亥俄就是美洲原住民起的名字,该洲的许多市镇和城市,例如奇利科西和桑达斯基,还有赛欧湖和奥兰腾吉湖,其名字都源于美洲原住民的语言。

今日美洲原住民

根据美国政府部门印第安人事务局的数据,现有印第安人部落约55个,其中纳瓦霍和苏族等部落比较有名,卡尤塞等名气不大。目前居住在美国的美洲原住民约有120万。

近100万美洲原住民居住在保留地——即政府允许他们自己保留的土地。美洲原住民是美国公民,与美国公民享有同等的权利和义务。但是,保留地有自己的政府和警察机构,美洲原住民交的税也不同。他们还可以随意狩猎和捕鱼,其他美国人则需要得到特许。

不管是离开还是留在保留地,美洲原住民都很难保持传统的生活方式。其他美国人的活动影响着他们的生活。例如,在河上建堤坝会影响河里鱼的数量,这样即便美洲原住民有权捕鱼,他们也可能什么都抓不到。离开保留地以后,许多美洲原住民发现他们的文化与白人的截然不同,很难适应。

贫困是个严重的问题。美国总的失业率是6%,而保留地内的失业率高达37%左右。许多部落试图从保留地以外挣钱,有的出让在保留地内寻找石油的权利,有的利用保留地自行制定规章制度这一条件,开设赌场让外面的人来赌博。在美国的大部分地区,赌博是非法的,许多美国人希望保持现状,但这些部落借赌博赚了很多钱。这使美洲原住民再次与美国白人发生冲突。

大众心目中的美洲原住民

感恩节是可以追溯到早期的一个美国传统。英国人抵达詹姆斯敦以后,许多人在漫长的严冬死去,但第二年春天,美洲原住民告诉他们当地什么东西是可以食用的。秋天,为过冬做了精心准备以后,殖民者与美洲原住民共同举行了特殊的晚宴,感谢上帝和美洲原住民给予他们食物,这就是第一个感恩节。

还有一个关于美洲原住民公主波卡杭塔斯的故事。在波卡杭塔斯的父亲波瓦坦打算杀死詹姆斯敦首领约翰·史密斯的时候,波卡杭塔斯救了他的性命。后来她嫁给了另一个英国人约翰·罗尔夫,并随他一起去了英格兰。波卡杭塔斯的故事流传很广,许多美洲原住民为有她这样的祖先感到骄傲。

但是美洲原住民经常被殖民者视为敌人。关于西大荒的西部小说和电影都以印第安人的威胁为主题。在这些小说和电影里,美洲原住民仍被称为“印第安人”。孩子们经常玩“牛仔与印第安人”的游戏,假装互相残杀。当“野牛”比尔的“西大荒”表演在美国巡回演出时,包括印第安酋长卧牛在内的许多美洲原住民参加了演出,许多人赶来一睹这位昔日的大敌。

许多美国人心目中有“典型的印第安人”形象:一个与妻子一起住在帐篷里的酋长,在同白人签订条约以后抽着和平烟斗,发出烟雾信号与远方的人联络,说着蹩脚但生动的英语,例如 big heap wampum(很多钱)和 speak with forked tongue(说谎)。美国人的这些想法大多源于美洲原住民的文化,但把这些拼凑起来,认为这就是美洲原住民的生活,那就是错误的。

美国人之所以犯这种错误,原因在于他们对美洲原住民没什么兴趣。在成功地排除了障碍,将他们驱赶到居留地以后,大多数美洲人不再理会美洲原住民。这也许是因为,留下来的美洲原住民是活生生的证据,证明了一个令人难堪的铁的事实:美国想成为一个人人享有机会、政府公正诚实地对待所有人的国家,事实也往往如此,但这个美国是在从原住民那里窃取的土地上建造起来的。

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