英语国家文化结课论文

Characteristics of American Culture

and its Influence on Chinese Youth After finishing nearly a term of courses concerning American culture, I’d like to summer up what I have learned. My composition will center on the major values, parenting style, movies, courtship and leisure time activities of the United States. When it comes to the major values of the United States, the first word passes through my mind is individuality. Americans are encouraged to develop their own goals in life at an early age. They are encouraged to not depend too much on others including their friends, teachers and parents. Because of this, they are rewarded when they try harder to reach their goals on their own. Besides, Americans uphold the ideal that everyone "is created equal" and has the same rights. This includes women as well as men of all ethnic and cultural groups living in the U.S. There are even laws that protect this "right to equality" in its various forms. What I appreciate most in the major values of Americans is the idea of time. U.S. Americans take pride in making the best use of their time. In the business world, "time is money". Being "on time" for class, an appointment, or for dinner with your host family is important in the U.S. Americans apologize if they are late. Some instructors give demerits to students who are late to class, and students at most universities have institutional permission to leave the classroom if their instructor is 10 or 15 minutes late. With the enforcement of the reform and opening-up policy, the major values of the United States have spread to China. Teenagers have learned to be independent and to call for equality. And most of all we learned to cherish the time.

In the United States, what most people consider good parenting is based on middle-class European American behaviors. These behaviors include displays of warmth and closeness balanced with monitoring and control. Asian American parents appear to show less warmth and to be more controlling of their children, yet their children often do just as well as their European counterparts.For White Americans, the parenting style most related to psychological well-being for adolescents is called authoritative parenting. Studies on these families stress two key behaviors: support

(hugging and praising children) and control. In many Western cultures, such behaviors are evidence that parents are warm and accepting of their children. Adolescents whose parents provide high support and moderate control tend to be better off; they cope better with problems, do well in school, and have less delinquency and depression. Nowadays many open-minded Chinese parents began to imitate western parenting style. Blessed with this, the adolescents here become increasingly active and outgoing.

Then let’s move on to talk about movies produced in the United States. As is known to all, Hollywood movies are regarded as modern myth makers. Hollywood possesses a great many of movie audiences, a large quantity of cinema screens, strong media systems, as well as easily cover costs on national market and so on. Meanwhile, Hollywood has global advantages on international status, industry mechanism, financial strength and tolerance of culture. All of these contribute to its ultra high box office record. After watching the movies, we perceived the major values of the United States and subtly influenced by that. The American films to some extent influenced our way of life such as the courtship.

Courtship charts pathways to marriage. Its customs and rituals help individuals negotiate the complex transition from sexual attraction, through love, to lasting marriage. It provides, for better or worse, the moral and emotional education for married life. And yet, courtship no longer occupies a vital place within contemporary American culture. The decline of courtship may reflect broader cultural trends. Accordingly, the concept of a special pathway to marriage tends to be abandoned in favor of a more general discussion of the dynamics of any close relationship. The fast-food type of love in the United States has also affected Chinese adolescents through media such as movies. The adolescents today tend to start relationships with little consideration, and quite a number of them take love as child’s play. But we have to admit that it’s not just the fault of Americans’influence. On the contrary, many factors contributed to the result.

If life seems more rushed than ever, you might be surprised to learn that

Americans don't have less leisure time than they did 40 years ago. They actually have more leisure time, and quite a bit more. What counts as leisure is up for argument, but under every definition the numbers have gone up. Americans get about 45 minutes a day of extra leisure.Americans plan on doing more jogging, but their interest in playing ice hockey is on the decline. Active vacations such as swimming and hiking are on the rise, but Americans’ interest in racquetball and surfing is not as great as it once was. Americans are using the Internet more as a leisure activity, but they also have an increased desire to remain physically fit. With the development of technologies, Chinese youth have a trend to stay indoors doing passive leisure activities such as watching television or going to the movies, as opposed to vigorous activities like aerobics, jogging and weight training. It is worth to be learned by us that Americans willing to spending their time on doing physical training and keeping fit. As the government calling upon teenagers to go to playgrounds, an increasing number of them begin to spend leisure time outdoors. I sincerely hope that we youth can be more passionate to do sports outside.

Above all are my summary and insights of the courses. Thanks for your wonderful teaching.

薛嘉洁

1311418

2014.5.26