英美文化期末论文：英美间的文化差异(英文版)

The Difference between England and

America

Abstract: the paper is to show the difference between American and English in several aspects, such as geographical location, cultural environment and the most important part, the language.

Key words: Culture Environment,Education,food,Table Manner

Introduction

The paper deals with the The Difference between England and America.Culture is a complex, including knowledge and belief, art, morals, law, custom, and members of the society who acquired as any other capabilities and habits.

1. Culture Environment

Britain is a traditional European country with long historical tradition continuity, and there had been a hierarchy in British society for a long time. And in UK there always has been a monarchy. So, the British likes to remember past times and old acquaintances, tends to be conservative, and behaves like a gentleman. All these need culture accumulation, and these character and qualities can’t be made if the country is without a long history. However, the U.S. is precisely without a very profound historical accumulation and is a young country. So, the Americans dare to innovate and stress emphasis on personal value. On the other hand, in the United States, there are not a lot of constrains. They feel free to make bold innovations.In addition, there is a great difference in the population composition of the two countries. The United States is a nation of immigrants, people comes from all countries and regions in the world. So, the culture of the United States shows different characteristics. People in American can accept and absorb all the culture factors all over the world. U.S. attitude toward foreign cultures is an open. However, comparing to the United States, the structure of the UK population appears to be simplex.

2.Geographical Location

The geographic location of the United Kingdom and the United States are different, one in European continent, one continent of the America. The United Kingdom, after a long period of development, has been very wealthy, so they are decent and conservative. But at the beginning of the United States, the United States is in a completely unfamiliar and barren continent, the first settlers were called pioneers, so they have to have the courage to take risks. If they do not have the spirit of adventure, they will not be able to survive, not to mention development, the hard environment eventually made the American spirit. In addition, the difference of European culture and American cultural contributes to the difference of the two countries. English suffers from the influence from other European countries, like France, Germany, but American was influenced by the culture of the other countries in American continent as well as the native Indian.

3. Education

From the educational philosophy of the education system in the United States, there are the characteristics of diversity and openness, international and flexibility, which enable the U.S. Department of Education to ensure educational equity and equality of opportunity to receive education, and take full advantage of the strengths of educational objects, so education is the dynamic, vibrant in American. It also reflects what the Americans have been in pursuit, the freedom and equality. British education has a rigorous style of study and impeccable the education system. The UK has a strict quality control system, the teaching quality evaluation and the research Assessment from all the school in England are announced to the world, higher education institutions in the UK will be checked in a regular routine. This rigorous attitude is also reflected in the assessment of the student. Many students can’t get a degree if they fail in passing the assessment. Ethics and professionalism of English

teachers ensure the quality of its education. British education also reflects British conservative and rigorous character.

4.Traditional English food and confluent American food

British food, as we know, is very traditional. They don’t used to change their habit of food very frequently. Like other northern European cuisines, it majors heavily on meats, dairy products, wheat and root vegetables and a diet conductive to manual labor and red-faced citizens. The nineteenth century idea of a varied diet was one with different sorts of meat in it. Milk and vegetables were regarded as not only uneatable raw, but highly dangerous until boiled thoroughly. To a certain extent this is understandable, in an era without refrigeration, when typhoid and cholera could strike even the wealthy; over-cooking everything was probably a sensible course to take. People in English have a special eating habit. Firstly, the main meal in England seems to be eaten in the evening. Secondly, a big English breakfast is not something that many English people seem eat. Most of them have a light meal of cornflakes or toast and marmalade, orange juice and coffee rather than the eggs, sausages, bacon, bread, mushrooms and tomatoes. Fish has always been an important food in Britain. There are jellied eels, kippers or bloaters or crabs and so on. But the most popular of all is fish and chips, splashed with vinegar and eaten in the street out of a paper bag . British have a habit of drinking tea. “A nice cup of tea, the stronger the better”is supposed to be the British cure for all problems. Although many different drinks can be found in Britain, tea is undoubtedly the favorite at any time of the day and is the essential basis of afternoon tea. This is a meal that can vary from tea and a biscuit to the cooked high tea with lots of cakes served in the north. In the south west of England it is usually a cream tea, with home-made scones, strawberry jam and piles of thick clotted cream. People vary seldom have the thin cucumber sandwiches described in novels.

American cuisine : The United States is a land of delicious eating. The two concepts essential to understanding US food are regionalism and diversity, accent on the latter.

After all, Italian food differs from province to province and city to city as well. But key themes run through Italy’s food from south to north simply because its people have such strong roots in the Italian soil. Not so with the US. A nation of newcomers, its food reflects its origins. Long before Europeans set foot on American soil, vibrant and healthy civilizations nurtured themselves off the bounty of the land. They taught the settlers to plant the holy trinity of Native American cuisine—corn, beans and squash. The settlers returned the favor by nearly exterminating their benefactors, but those three foods played a vital in defining American cuisine. They retain their importance today across the continent—grits, cornbread in the South, tortillas and pinto beans in the Southwest, baked beans and succotash in the Northeast and pumpkin pie just about everywhere for Thanksgiving. American cuisine has come a long way since the early days of corn, beans and squash and along the way it has spawned some unforgettable food. Nonetheless the US remains a great place for great eating. Delicious regional styles remain a great place for great eating. Delicious regional styles remain and the new blood of immigrants sparks the imagination of the finest chefs while making for great inexpensive food in the cities. So come and get it.

5. Table Manner

At table, the British people pays special attention to table manners, such as, they should not talk at table, should not beat tableware as well. They have a strict requirement on how to use knives and forks. While Americans on the relatively few occasions will do so, they like fast and convenient food, they do not require delicate or luxury dinner but they pay more attention to popular food. American favorite food is known as KFC, McDonald's and pizza hut, the junk food. This diet keeps the American obesity rate high. But from the diet habits, it is not difficult for us to find that the American do everything vigorously and resolutely and do not stick to the trifles.

Conclusion

In a word, there are lots of different conventions in the British and the American’s culture. These conventions can be easy found in their daily life. They are all the symbols of the society development. They made us know a lot about the culture in the European countries. So if you have any interests on it, try to learn something about that and I’m sure we can benefit from it more . we can see that the British are sensitive, restrained, conservative, they tend to be rational rigorous and gentlemanly. By comparison, Americans are warm and cheerful, bold and frank. They are with a spirit of adventure and innovation.

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