文化面面觀

1. Zagat Survey

Zagat Survey是美國頗具公信力的一個評比調查報告。在Zagat榜上有名，對營業(yè)單位算是一種認可；對顧客而言，也算是一種優(yōu)良推薦。

Zagat Survey was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. As of 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals reporting over the years. In addition to restaurants, Zagat guides rate hotels, nightlife and shopping, music, movies, theater and golf. The guides are sold in book form, as software for personal digital assistants and mobile phones, and by paid subscription on the Web. Car manufacturer Honda included Zagat information in the GPS-based navigation systems in some of their models available in the United States, including the Acura MDX and Honda Accord.

The ratings are on a 30-point scale, covering food, decor, service, and cost. In addition to numeric scores, the survey also includes a short descriptive paragraph that incorporates reviewers' comments about the restaurant.

2. 美國精神--Yankees

Traditionally Yankee was most often used to refer to a New Englander (in which case it may suggest Puritanism and thrifty values), but today refers to anyone coming from a state north of the Mason-Dixon line, with a specific focus still on New England. However, within New England itself, the term refers more specifically to old-stock New Englanders of English descent. The term WASP, in use since the 1960s, refers by definition to all Protestants of English ancestry, including Yankees and Southerners, though its meaning is often extended to refer to any Protestant white American.

Harkness Tower at Yale

Yankees 重視教育，勤勉，奮斗不息。可以說Yankee在很大程度上是美國精神的代表。Education was always a high priority as typified by Harvard College (1636), Boston Latin School (1635) and Yale College (1701), as well as early advanced schools of law, medicine, theology and engineering. The Yankees pioneered the free public school and, under the leadership of Horace Mann designed a system of public schools and teacher training colleges that formed the national model copied eventually by all the states. By the late 19th century Yankees were creating the first American universities, including Harvard and Yale. Prep schools such as St. Paul's, Phillips Andover, Phillips Exeter, Choate and Groton, continue to play a leading role in educating the wealthiest families.

In religion New England Yankees originally followed the Puritan tradition as expressed in Congregational churches, but after 1750 many became Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists or Unitarians. The 17th century straight-laced moralism portrayed by novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne faded in the 18th century. The First Great Awakening (under Jonathan Edwards) in the mid-18th century and the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century (under Charles Grandison Finney) emphasized personal piety, revivals, and devotion to civic duty. Theologically Arminianism replaced the original Calvinism. Horace Bushnell introduced the idea of Christian nurture, whereby children would be brought to religion without revivals.

After 1800 the Yankees (along with the Quakers) spearheaded most reform movements, including abolition, temperance, women's rights and women's education. Emma Willard and Mary Lyons pioneered in the higher education of women, while Yankees comprised most of the reformers who went South during Reconstruction in the 1860s to educate the Freedmen.

In the 21st century the systematic Yankee ways had permeated the entire society through education. Although many observers from the 1880s onward predicted that Yankee politicians would be no match for new generations of ethnic politicians, the presence of Yankees at the top tier of politics in the 21st century was typified by Presidents George H. W. Bush, Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Forbes Kerry, scion of the old colonial Forbes family.

考考你

用今日所學將下面的句子譯成英語。

1. 到中午的時候我才意識到?jīng)]吃早飯。
2. 溫度達到華氏80度后才可以使用空調。
3. 這個學生得到老師的喜愛。

Sex and the City《欲望城市》（精講十一）考考你 參考答案

1. 老板們同意了工人們加薪的要求。
The owners gave way to workers' demands for a pay increase.

2. 這只隊伍一連五次取得勝利。
The team has chalked up its fifth win in a row.

3. 倫敦的公共汽車每小時零分開出一趟。
The London bus departs every hour on the hour.

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(英語點津Annabel編輯)