英美文化概论课程论文

What I've Learnt in This Course

Author name: 杨坤student number : During this course，we have get the knowledge about America and Britain of their history , language , literature , education , politics and so on .

United Kingdom covers only a small part area of the earth's surface , but its people share many different origins and cultures including the Scots , the Welsh , the Irish and the English .

The English we use today has experienced too many changes . Old English of Anglo-saxon ,although it is the ancestor of modern English ,appears quite different from today's language .

During AD 587-1066 , They used both Latin and Germanic scripts but always called their language Englisc .With the Norman invasion led by William the Conqueror in 1066 , norman French became the official language of English .The following phases are Middle English , Modern English ,Standard English .

British government system The monarchy is the oldest secular institution in the United Kingdom .The British constitution is consisted of Acts of Parliament , the Prerogative of the Grown , Conventions of the Constitution , Common Law and Parliamentary Privilege . There are three elements in Parliament——the Crown , the House of Lord , the House of Commons .

English literature begins around the 8th century in a language called Old English or Anglo-saxon . During this time the master work is Beowulf , a story of a great king who fought against monsters. The middle English period , generally defined as 1100 to 1500 , sees the true beginning of the magnificent heritage of English literature .During t his period many outstanding writers appeared as like Chauccer and the Shakespeare . Chaucer was the first to use English creation of court writer. He lived in London, use natural central England each county English, not dialect in northern or south England . His works made great contribution to the formation of modern English . when he was young , Chaucer translated part of the love poem "rose legend "into English. His first work is "the duchess's book. "Especially Roy Russ and klein west Germany based on boccaccio , show the great poem talent of Chaucer . His last longest and most famous work is the Canterbury tales. His work in Britain has always been treated as the best until Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare wrote tragic (Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, as king Lear) , comedy(The merchant of Venice, a midsummer night's dream, happy, twelfth night) , tragicomedy(Romeo and Juliet) ,historical play(Henry iv, Henry v, Henry vi, Henry viii, king John, Richard ii, Richard iii) and sonnet (Lover's complaint, LuKeLi silk non-virgins remember, Venus and adonis, enthusiasm of pilgrims, phoenix and doves) .

Everybody knows that the Britain is Christians . The church of England is one of the many "Protestant" sects which broke away from the more ancient and more orthodox Roman Catholic Church several centuries ago , during the great religious upheaval called the Reformation.

Being different from the Britain , the America has a very big land . In its vast area the United States comprehends most of the physical condition known to men : heat

and cold , forest and desert , tropical-awamp and Arctic waste , mountains and endless plain , empty apace and megalopolis , and the world's largest river system .

Around the year 1000 , a party of Icelandic Vikings under Leif Ericson sailed to the eastern coast of North America . 500 years later , the need for increased trade and anerror in navigation led to another European encounter with America .

Since 1607 , England began build the permanent colonies, in 150 years, after a lot of settlers poured in, settled in coastal regions, including many from Britain, it is partly from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland and other countries. Middle of the 18th century, 13 British colonies had formed. Because of the climate and geographical environment, the 13 colonial area formed the different economic , political system and ideas . On April 19 ,1775 , revolution erupted .In 1782 30 November, Britain and America sign the Paris peace treaty, 1783 September 3rd, Britain formally recognized American independence .

Each American is subjected to two governments , that of his state and that of the Union , and each has its own distinct function . In America each state made a constitution of its own and in its own way .That is very different from us . Every state constitution divided political power among three element .Each state entrusted the executive power to a governor . Finally , Each state had a system of courts ,and the judges in the courts were not to be subject to the executive or the legislative authorities .

From the beginning of American history to the present today , American literature has recorded the story of quest . At different times the quest taken the different forms . In the 16th century Europeans came to this new world in search of the lost constinent of Atlantis.They came looking for golden " cities of Cibola " that haunted Coronado's imagination . They searched for the fabled northwest Passage to the Orient . Cooper , Poe , Emerson , Melvile , Mark Twain and Henry James were very outstanding in the history of American literature .

Most of American belief in Christian and Catholic. America is a multi-ethnic, many religious country. Christian and Catholic, orthodox Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and other religious also have many followers. Religious belief in the citizens of the population accounted for about 91%.

America has many idiomatical festival as like the thanksgiving and Christmas . The thanksgiving day is on the 4th Thursday in November . On this day , Americans give thanks for the blessings they have enjoyed during the year and celebrate with dinners and happy reunions. Christmas season is the most festive time of the year in the United States. Students from grammar school through college have to two weeks' vocation .Many families go away for the holidays ,perhaps to ski in Colorado or to swim and sunbathe in Florida . People also decorate their house with christmas tree and red stars and color lights .They sing Christmas Carols,and sending Christmas cards .

When I have learned this course ,I know that there is some reason for the rapid development of the Britain and the United States . The answers maybe are the democratic politics and good education . So ,if our we want our nation to be strong ,we have to built our politics and education .