【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 tal vocabulary of his mother tongue against those words of his own baby talk that are taken up into the vernacular of his family. When one seriously studies the social orders that have had the opportunity to develop autonomously, the figure bees no more than an exact and matteroffact observation. The life history of the individual is first and foremost an acmodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his munity. From the moment of his birth, the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviour. By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities, its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities. Every child that is born into his group will share them with him, and no child born into one on the opposite side of the globe can ever achieve the thousandth part. There is no social problem it is more incumbent upon us to understand than this of the role of custom. Until we are intelligent as to its laws and varieties, the main plicating facts of human life must remain unintelligible.　　The study of custom can be profitable only after certain preliminary propositions have been accepted, and some of these propositions have been violently opposed. In the first place, any scientific study requires that there be no preferential weighting of one or another of the items in the series it selects for its consideration. In all the less controversial fields, like the study of cacti or termites or the mature of nebulae, the necessary method of study is to group the relevant material and to take note of all possible variant forms and conditions. In this way, we have learned all that we know of the laws of astronomy, or of the habits of the social insects, let us say. It is only in the study of man himself that the major social sciences have substituted the study of one local variation, that of Western civilization.　　Anthropology was by definition impossible, as long as these distinctions between ourselves and the primitive, ourselves and the barbarian, ourselves and the pagan, held sway over people’s minds. It was necessary first to arrive at that degree of sophistication where we no longer set our own belief against our neighbour’s superstition. It was necessary to recognize that these institutions which are based on the same premises, let us say the supernatural, must be considered together, our own among the rest.　　RUTH BENEDICT Patterns of Culture　　【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】　　monplace adj. 平凡的　　aberrant adj. 脫離常軌的，異常的　　trivial adj. 微不足道的，瑣細(xì)的　　predominant adj. 占優(yōu)勢(shì)的，起支配作用的　　manifest v. 表明　　pristine adj. 純潔的，質(zhì)樸的　　stereotype n. 陳規(guī)　　vernacular n. 方言　　acmodation n. 適應(yīng)　　incumbent adj. 義不容辭的，有責(zé)任的　　preliminary adj. 初步的　　proposition n. 主張　　preferrential adj. 優(yōu)先的　　controversial adj. 引起爭(zhēng)論的　　cactus n. 仙人掌　　termite n. 白蟻　　nebula adj. 星云　　variant n. 不同的　　barbarian n. 野蠻人　　pagan n. 異教徒　　sophistication n. 老練　　premise n. 前提　　supernatural adj. 超自然的　　【課文注釋】　　 inner workings of our own brains 這一部分是feel的賓語，為了強(qiáng)調(diào)而把賓語提前了，to be uniquely worthy of investigation 是賓語補(bǔ)足語?！　　　dj. 平凡的　　例句：Poets interpret the monplace freshly.　　詩(shī)人能把平凡的事物描繪得有聲有色?！　e was an unambitious man destined for a monplace job.　　他是一個(gè)沒有野心的人，注定要找一個(gè)平凡的工作?！　. 常事， 老生常談， 普通的東西　　例句：Soon it will be monplace for men to travel to the moon.　　人們?nèi)ピ虑蚵眯泻芸炀蜁?huì)成為常事?！　hat he has said is a mere monplace.　　他所說的無非是老生常談而已?！　s Reza’s notes also record his more monplace traits.　　另外，雷扎也記錄了薩科奇更多平凡普通的特征?！　?other way around 正好相反　　 the world over 是過去分詞短語，做traditional custom的定語，taken前省略了it is, 意為：被全世界所接受的?！　?adj. 不重要的，瑣碎的　　例句：It’s a trivial matter and not worth fighting about.　　區(qū)區(qū)小事不值得爭(zhēng)吵。　　He could remember every trivial incident in great detail.　　他能把每件小事的細(xì)節(jié)都記得很清楚。　　 adj. 主要的，占優(yōu)勢(shì)的，顯著的　　例句：The predominant feature of his character was pride.　　他的性格中主要的特點(diǎn)是驕傲?！　hich country is the predominant member of the alliance?　　哪個(gè)國(guó)家在聯(lián)盟中居于支配地位?　　【詞義辨析】　　dominant, predominant, sovereign 這些形容詞均含有“占優(yōu)勢(shì)的，支配其它的”之意?！　ominant: 強(qiáng)調(diào)?！　redominant: 側(cè)重指影響與新近的優(yōu)勢(shì)?！　overeign: 側(cè)重指其他事物都從屬于或低于它的?！　?vt. 顯示， 證實(shí)， 表露　　例句：His generosity manifests itself in times of difficulties.　　他的慷慨在困境中表現(xiàn)了出來。　　No one can manifest the truth of his statement.　　沒人能證明他講的是真話?！　he contradiction manifested itself in the employment situation.　　在就業(yè)問題上矛盾暴露了?！　?behind