英美文化阅读

1.海外文化:圣诞节袜子的传说

It is said that there was a goodness man who went broke his domain . He lived a hard life and he had three daughters. The three daughters were being married but he didn't have money to buy dower for his daughters. On the happy Christmas Eve three girls went to bed early. They didn't know that their father was so worried. At last the Chrismas father decided to help them. He besprinkled gold through the stack and the gold fell into the socks of the man's daughters. They lived a happy life from then on... Christmas socks was origined by this.

传说有个心地善良的没落贵族，生活非常艰难。三个女儿快要出嫁了，他为自己没有钱给她们置办嫁妆而难过。喜庆的圣诞夜，三个姑娘早早地蜷在炕上睡觉了，剩下父亲在长吁短叹。圣诞老人决定帮助他们。他在他们家的烟囱里撒下了许多金子，落进姑娘们烤在火炉旁的长筒丝袜里。从此，他们过上了幸福而快乐的生活。圣诞节的长筒袜就这样产生的。

2.圣诞老人的传说

Chrismas Father was the descendant of a deity called Odin. It's also said that Chrismas Father comes from San Nichola, so he is also called St.Nicholas. He was the bishop of Asia Minor city of Rafah and he was called a man of God after his death. He is an old man in red clothes and he wears a red hat. He has white mustache. He comes from the north on a blowmobile every Chrismas Day. He went into people's houses by the track and he put the presents into children's socks. So in western countries,parents put the gifts to their kids in kids' socks and put them on the head of the bed on Chrismas Eve. On the second day, the first thing after kids wake up is to find the presents from Chrismas Fathers.

圣诞老人为奥丁神后裔。也传说称圣诞老人由圣·尼古拉而来，所以圣诞老人也称St.Nicholas。据说他原是小亚细亚每拉城的主教，名叫圣尼古拉，死后被尊为圣徒，是一位身穿红袍、头戴红帽的白胡子老头。每年圣诞节他驾着鹿拉的雪橇从北方而来，由烟囱进入各家，把圣诞礼物装在袜子里挂在孩子们的床头上或火炉前。所以，西方人过圣诞节时，父母把给孩子的圣诞礼物装在袜子里，圣诞夜时挂在孩子们的床头上。第二天，孩子们醒来后的第一件事就是在床头上寻找圣诞老人送来的礼物。

3. 夏威夷印象Hawaii

For most of us, Hawaii begins to weave her spell（魅力）with some little glimmer （微光）of awareness. Golden beaches and golden people. Sun, sand, sea, and surf……And somewhere between the blue skies and the palm trees（棕榈树）……we're hooked（吸引）.

The Hawaiian Islands are one of the most beautiful places on earth. The weather is

friendly. The temperature ranges（在一定范围内变化）from 60-90 degrees all year long. It's a little warmer in summer, and a little cooler in winter, but every day is a beach day for somebody.

There are no strangers in Paradise. Perhaps the most beautiful part of Hawaii is the genuine（与生俱来的）warmth of people. We call it the spirit of Aloha（爱）. It has allowed a melting pot（熔炉）of cultures from all over the world to find common ground（共同点）, and a new home, in this most gentle of places.

对于大部分人来说,那些星星点点的关于夏威夷的印象，足以让我们沉浸于她的魅力。金色的海滩金色的人们。阳光、沙子、大海、浪花……在蓝天和棕榈树之间，我们流连忘返。

夏威夷岛是世界上最美丽的地方之一。这里天气晴朗，气温整年在华氏60-90度之间变化。夏天稍暖，冬天稍凉，但对于某些人来说每天都是晒太阳的好日子。

在这人间天堂没有陌生人。也许夏威夷人与生俱来地的热情才是这里真正魅力所在。我们称之为爱的精神。它是世界上最文明的地方之一，世界各地的文化都可以在这熔炉中找到共同点，生根发芽。

4. Michael Joseph Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson (Michael Joseph Jackson, on August 29, 1958 - June 25 of 2009), was the personages with symbolic pop culture in world, have extremely high popularity and enormous influence in the whole world, praised as the king (King of Pop) of the pop.

He outstanding music versatile person, in write words, compose music, scene made, compose music, sing, dance, musical instrument play respect have remarkable achievement, he call as pop great immortal symbol most at the history jointly with cat king, unkempt person, the two after and its achievement has already been surmounted. The music video-tape of the single song " Thriller " is the first modern MV in the world, praised as " greatest music video-tape " in the history,

He has the sales volume first of the special edition " Thriller " in the world, the sales volume has already been up to 110 million one [4 ], its global sales volume of legal special edition has already exceeded 794 million, written into " complete works of Guiness Book of Records ". He is the first artist selling more than one hundred million records beyond U.S.A. in music history.

迈克尔·约瑟夫·杰克逊（Michael Joseph Jackson，1958年8月29日－2009年6月25日），是世界流行文化象征性的人物，在全世界都拥有着极高的知名度与巨大的影响力，被誉为流行音乐之王（King of Pop）。

他是出色的音乐全才，在作词，作曲，场景制作，编曲，演唱，舞蹈，乐器演奏方面都有着卓越的成就，他与猫王、披头士并称流行乐史上最伟大的不朽象征，而其成就已超越后两者。单曲《Thriller》的音乐录像带为全球第一支现代MV，被誉为史上―最伟大的音乐录像带‖，

他拥有世界销量第一的专辑《Thriller》，销量已达1.1亿[4]张，其正版专辑全球销量已超过7.94亿张，被载入―吉尼斯世界记录大全‖。他是音乐史上第一位在

美国以外卖出上亿张唱片的艺术家。

5.为何快乐假期转瞬即逝?

We have all experienced it —a holiday that whizzes by at the time, the Daily Mail reported.

When we are on holiday, or doing something else new and exciting, the hours pass really quickly there and then. But all the new experiences lead to lots of new memories — and when we look back at them, there are so many to go through, that it feels as if we were gone for ages.

In contrast, when we are at home or work and going about our normal routine, there are less interesting things and so fewer memories are laid down.

This phenomenon has been called "the holiday paradox" by psychology lecturer Claudia Hammond.

She said that our lives are normally so humdrum, that only six to nine experiences a fortnight are worth committing to memory. When on holiday, we remember six to nine things from each day.

据《每日邮报》报道，欢乐时光总过得特别快，相信人们都有同感。

人们在休假期间会做一些新鲜的、刺激的事情，当时就会觉得时间过得特别快。但其实，在这期间所有的新鲜的经历，都会变成新的记忆，因此，当我们回忆时，会觉经历了很多，而产生错觉以为时间过得特别快。

相反，在家、上班或者做日常必须做的事情时，便会丧失兴趣，能记住的事情便会越来越少。

心理学老师克劳迪娅?哈蒙德将此现象称为―假期迷思‖。她指出，平时我们的生活十分平淡，以至于2周才有6-9件经历值得记忆，而人们放假时，一天内起码有6-9件经历能够记住。

6. standing up more久坐可致英年早逝?!

A new study suggests that for better health, you should try standing up more, Health Day News reported.

"Those who spend 11 or more hours a day sitting, are 40 percent more likely to die within the next three years regardless of how physically active they are." researchers say.

Analyzing self-reported data from more than 222,000 people aged 45 and older, Australian researchers found that mortality risks spike after 11 hours of total daily sitting.Yet they are still 15 percent higher for those sitting between 8 and 11 hours, compared to those spending fewer than 4 hours per day sitting down.

据每日健康新闻报道，新研究指出，多多站立是更为健康的生活方式。

科学家称，每天久坐11小时以上的人，未来3年，无论做多少锻炼，死亡率会比正常人高出40%。

澳大利亚科学家分析22.2万名45岁及45岁以上人士的自我检查报告得出，每

天坐11小时的人死亡风险陡增。相比每天坐不足4小时的人，每天坐8-11小时的人死亡率要高出15%。

7. Rear Window Culture

Many people like to put stickers or posters on the rear window of their car, which can show the unique personality of the car owner and start a new trend known as―rear window culture.‖

There are different types of posters people like to put on their rear windows. Some are warning the vehicles running behind them, such as―Don?t follow me, I lost my way too,‖―Baby in car‖and―Stop pursuing,I‘m married.‖

Some are just making jokes of themselves, such as―Newbie on road, no threatening please,‖―Oops, I don?t know which one is the brake pedal,‖or―After you.‖越来越多的人喜欢在汽车后窗张贴各类图释或标语。不同个性的车主，所展示的显然是不同的姿态，这些标语图案汇集在一起其实就是一种文化，即―后窗文化‖。

后窗标语有很多种。有的属于车距警示类：如―别跟着我，我也迷路了‖、―车里有小孩‖、―别追了，本人已婚‖等。

有些则是自我调侃，如―新手上路，禁止恐吓‖、―脚底哪个板板是刹车？‖、―新手龟速，你走先……‖等。

8. To change the world alive！活着就为改变世界

Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 –October 5, 2011) was an American computer entrepreneur and inventor. He was co-founder,chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. In 1976, when he was 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Wo Zini Ike formed Apple Computer.

Jobs created the Macintosh computer has led, ipad, iPod, iPhone and many other well-known digital product.In 2007, Steve Jobs was "Fortune" magazine as the greatest businessman of the year. 2009 by Fortune magazine as the best decade American CEO, the same year was elected one of Time magazine Person of the Year.

He is Apple's "The Godfather", a perfect combination of art and technology of IT leaders, a person who changed the world.

However, on August 24, 2011, Jobs resigned from the post of CEO. Local time on October 5, 2011, died aged 56.

史蒂芬.乔布斯（1955年2月24日－2011年10月5日），美国电脑界的发明家、企业家。苹果公司的创办人之一，并曾任苹果公司的董事会主席、首席运行官。1976年，时年21岁的乔布斯和26岁的沃兹尼艾克成立了苹果电脑公司。

乔布斯先后领导缔造了麦金塔计算机、ipad、iPod、iPhone等诸多知名数字产品。2007年，史蒂夫·乔布斯被《财富》杂志评为了年度最伟大商人。2009年被财富杂志评选为这十年美国最佳CEO，同年当选时代周刊年度风云人物之一。

他就是苹果―教父‖乔布斯。一个将艺术和科技完美结合的IT领袖，一个改变了世界的人。

2011年8月24日，乔布斯辞去CEO一职。于当地时间2011年10月5日逝世，终年56岁。