有關流行文化的英文閱讀

　　無論你去到哪里，當地都會有自己的流行文化。但是，當你要去一個地方旅游的時候，最好還是先了解一下當地的文化吧。下面為大家送上一篇有關流行文化的英文閱讀。

　　when you think of american culture, what first comes to your mind? mcdonald's? coca cola? levi's? disneyland? michael jordan? julia roberts? many people imagine american culture is a collection of popular symbols like these. actually, these symbols are only one small part of american culture-"pop culture."

　　what is pop culture? well, pop is short for popular. the origins of pop culture can often be traced to popular movies, television shows, music stars and sports figures. pop culture is also promoted by business and advertising. the most common examples of american pop culture appear among high school and college students. trends set by famous personalities quickly become part of young people's lifestyles.

　　american pop culture has spread around the world. one major reason for its popularity is that english is a universal language. english is the language of diplomacy, international business and transportation. since language and culture go together, learning english means becoming aware of english-speaking cultures. also, america is a world leader in movies, music and magazines. the kind of american culture communicated in those media is pop culture. finally, pop culture is easy to package and to export. for that reason, it is easy to "sell" to the world.

　　(at a cafe in paris, france)

　　pierre: i just saw an advertisement for that recent american movie "the pelican brief". sounds interesting. want to go see it with me?

　　jean: i don't think so. i've got too much to do. besides, all of this american influence really bothers me. everybody's going to see american movies, listening to american rock music and eating american fast food.

　　pierre: oh, come on. don't be such a grouch. people just want to find out what america is all about. the movies i've seen make american lifestyles seem exciting. maybe we could learn a few things from them.

　　jean: learn a few things! yeah, sure. we'll learn how to be american and forget how to be french. if we follow american ways, it's going to change our own culture. americans will be the winners, and we'll be the losers.

　　pierre: now, wait a minute. you're forgetting that we have a global economy now. if we want to do business with americans, we have to understand their culture.

　　jean: if american culture is michael jackson, mickey mouse and mcdonald's, i don't want to understand it.

　　many people assume that american pop culture is what america is all about. does pop culture reflect the true culture of america? yes and no. pop culture does represent a portion of american society-especially urban young people that are tuned in to the media. but american pop culture is faddish and ever-changing. it is an artificial and superficial picture of america. if you want to learn about real american culture, you'll have to go a little farther than mcdonald's.

　　【拓展】

　　流行文化簡介

　　一般來講，流行文化是與高雅文化相對而言的。高雅文化一般“包括如古典音樂、嚴肅小說、詩、舞蹈、高雅藝術和其他為相對較少的并受過教育的人們欣賞的作品”。流行文化則是被普遍喜歡和熱烈追隨的文化，其主要功能是娛樂。如吉登斯就這樣定義:“術語`流行文化'指的是被成千上萬或幾百萬人觀看、閱讀或參與的娛樂”。海蒂茲進一步具體指出:“流行文化就是那類普遍可得的人工制品:電影、錄音錄像帶、CD或VCD、時裝、電視節目、溝通和交流的模式等”。根據上述文化與流行的討論，我們也可以簡單地用一句話將其界定為:許多人實踐和追隨的一種普遍的生活方式。

　　流行文化歷史

　　流行文化(PopularCulture)屬于文化的范疇。在學術發展史上，“文化”一直是最復雜的術語之一。最早在科學意義上為“文化”下定義的是英國文化人類學的奠基人泰勒，1871年，他在其代表作《原始文化》中寫道:“文化或文明，就其廣泛的民族學意義來講，是一復合整體，包括知識、信仰、藝術、道德、法律、習俗以及作為一個社會成員的人所習得的其他一切能力和習慣”。這之后，至20世紀50年代初，文化定義已經有164種之多。著名學者T.伊格爾頓在其最新的大作中指出，文化這一術語一直是在對立的兩極之間被使用:它太寬泛又太狹窄、太充滿“人類學”的無所不包又太局限于美學意義上的思辨性。20世紀90年代，一些人類學者認為，文化定義可以歸納為兩種，一為社會結構意義上的文化，另一是個體行為意義上的文化。前者指的是一個整體社會中長期、普遍起作用的行為模式和行動的實際準則，這些模式在那些給事件和人際關系以明顯結構的形態和反復出現的周期規律性中呈現出來，并且構成常被歸為“生活方式”的那種東西。結構功能主義學派的拉德克利夫-布朗就持此觀點。后者是個體習得的產物，包括一個人類群體成員為了在他參與活動的這個群體中被相互接受地交往而必須知道的東西。據此認識，文化不必為該社會甚或該群體所有成員所共享，而是在相互學習的過程中，有關成員彼此授受意義，以至這些意義能夠使他們達到共同的目標，因為他們建立了共同的理解和文化的想像。

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