【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 rcultural.Try to place all the cases along a continuum of interculturalness, from the most intercultural to theleast intercultural.All the cases may seem to be intercultural but they differ in the extent to which they areintercultural. However it may be very difficult for us to place all these cases along a continuum ofinterculturalness from the most intercultural to the least intercultural, for many other factors have tobe taken into consideration if we have to decide which is more intercultural than another. Forinstance, whether munication between a male manager and a female secretary is intercultural ornot and, if it is, how intercultural it may be, may depend on the cultural and social backgrounds ofthe two persons. If they are from drastically different cultures, munication between them issurely intercultural and may be very intercultural. If they are from the same culture, municationbetween them may be little intercultural.The following is tentatively suggested for measuring the interculturalness of the cases ofmunication, and the cases are presented from the most intercultural to the least intercultural:Communication between a Chinese university student and an American professor。Communication between a Canadian girl and a South African boy。Communication between a firstgeneration Chinese American and third generation one。Communication between a businessperson from Hong Kong and an artist from Xian。Communication between a teenager from Beijing and a teenager from Tibet。8Communication between a father who is a farmer all his life and his son who works as anengineer。Communication between a software technician and a fisherman。Communication between a male manager and a female secretary (supposing they are of thesimilar cultural and social backgrounds) .DebateThe class is to be divided into two groups and debate on the two different views mentioned in thefollowing on intercultural munication. State your point of view clearly and support yourargument with convincing and substantive evidence.Pro: People are people。 more interactions would lead to greater understanding of each other.（Commonality precedes）Con: People are shaped by different environments they find themselves in, therefore, the differenceoverrides. (Differences precedes)Possible Arguments for Pro:1. Human beings tend to draw close to one another by their mon nature. We all share themon basic needs.2. Rapid expansion of worldwide transportation and munication networks have made it fareasier than ever before for people throughout the world to contact with one another.3. The process of globalization may reduce the regional differences between people all over theworld. We are all members of the ―global village‖.4. Economic interdependence in today‘s world requires people of different countries to interact onan unprecedented scale, and more interaction will result in more similarity among people.5. More and more people from various cultures have to work and live together and they will adaptto each other to such an extent that cultural differences between them may no longer matter.Possible Arguments for Con:1. People throughout the world may be similar in many aspects, but differences in habits andcustoms keep them apart.2. Though the basic human needs are universally the same, people all over the world satisfy theirbasic mon human needs in different ways.3. As our society is being more and more diversified, differences between people tend to growlarger in some aspects.4. It is differences between people that underlie the necessity of munication, and it does notfollow that munication which may increase the possibility of understanding between peoplewill always reduce differences.5. People nowadays are more likely to try to maintain their unique cultural identities when theyfind themselves living closely with people of other cultures.9From the two seemingly opposite viewpoints, we can learn something that we should keep inmind when we are involved in intercultural munication. First, all human beings share somemon heritages that link us to one another. To some extent, people throughout the world are prettymuch alike in many aspects, and that has formed the very basis on which it is possible for people ofvarious cultures to municate. However, what we have to realize is that there are also vastdifferences between people from various cultural groups. To really understand a person whosecultural background is different from yours can be very difficult, for both you and that person maybe subconsciously influenced by each one‘s own cultural upbringing. In a sense, what we should doin intercultural munication is to treat people of other cultures both as the same with and asdifferent from us.Reading IIThe Challenge of GlobalizationComprehension questions1. Why does the author say that our understanding of the world has changed?Many things, such as political changes and technological advances, have changed the worldvery rapidly. In the past most human beings were born, lived, and died within a limited geographicalarea, never encountering people of other cultural backgrounds. Such an existence, however, nolonger prevails in the world. Thus, all people are faced with the challenge of understanding thischanged and still fast changing world in which we live.2. What a “global village” is like?As our world shrinks and its inhabitants bee interdependent, people from remote culturesincreasingly e into contact on a daily basis. In a ―global village‖, members of once isolatedgroups of people have to municate with members of other cultural groups. Those people maylive thousands of miles away or right next door to each other.3. What is considered as the major driving force of the post1945 globalization?Techn