英语国家文化概况（上）
Focus
Section A: Movie
Section B: Sport
Before Reading
Guess
Have you ever watched the following
movies?
Can you match these movies?
Jane Eyre
Casablanca
Roman Holiday
Waterloo Bridge
Before Reading
How many times the US has held modern
Olympic Games?
_____ 6
_____ 7
_____ 8
Section A: Movie
5.1 The UK
Text A: The British Movie Industry
Text B: The British Movie Stars
5.2 The US
Text A: American Movie Industry
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
5.3 Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Text A: Canadian Movie
Text B: Australian Movie
Text C: New Zealand’s Movie
5.1 The UK
Text A: The British Movie Industry
Text B: The British Movie Stars
Text A: The British Movie Industry
The UK has been influential in the movie
industry since the early twentieth century.
British movie had the same beginning and
innovation as its counterparts in the US and
Europe.
It enjoyed a history of important and successful
productions.
However, the British movie has been
challenged for its identity and the influences of
American and European movies.
Text A: The British Movie Industry
The problem was that it did not keep up with
the advances being made abroad and quickly
became technically out of date. Moreover, as
a movie producing country, it severely lacks
government support and fund.
Fortunately, the British movie industry
realized this problem and took steps to solve it.
Text B: British Movie Stars
British movie stars are prestigious and
influential in the movie industry both home
and abroad.
Those excellent movie stars like Olivier
Laurence, Vivien Leigh and Sean Connery,
Catherine Zeta Jones, Kate Winslet and Keira
Knightly, had fairly successful acting career.
Dazzlingly glamorous, they had captured the
fancy of an adoring public.
5.2 The US
Text A: American Movie Industry
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Text A: American Movie Industry
Text A: American Movie Industry
Movie is an important recreation in the US;
the majority of Americans are film addicts.
Movie is also a culture activity, offering a
mirror into American cultural and social
history.
With a mixture of art, business, and popular
entertainment, the movie provides a host of
insights into Americans’ ideals and fantasies.
Text A: American Movie Industry
The American film industry is strikingly
successful, both in its domestic market and
abroad. American movies are available to the
rest of the world by distribution networks
worldwide, which promoted American actors
and actresses.
Since the early twentieth century, Hollywood，
a district of Los Angeles, California, has been a
major center of the American film industry. The
film studios of Hollywood are the primary
sources of the most commercially successful
movies.
Cultural Notes:
Hollywood: 好莱坞是美国加利福尼亚州洛
杉矶的一个区，于1910年并入洛杉矶，长
期以来是电影和娱乐中心。
Text A: American Movie Industry
For those who make the most outstanding film
achievements, Oscar awards are granted,
which are the most influential and prestigious
film awards.
The awards and gold-plated statuettes have
been presented annually by the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The major awards
Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Director
Best
Supporting Actor
Best Actor
Best
Supporting Actress
Best Screenplay
Best Actress
Best Director
Several classic Best Pictures of the
Academy Awards
Several classic Best Pictures of the
Academy Awards
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Marlon Brando brought
the techniques of method
acting to prominence in
the films A Streetcar
Named Desire and On the
Waterfront.
His acting style had a
profound effect on a
generation of actors.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Audrey Hepburn gained
immediate prominence
with her leading role in
Roman Holiday, by which
she won an Oscar as Best
Actress. This movie is
such a success that over
the next decades, the film
fans are still attracted by
her charm.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Elizabeth Taylor grew from a
doll-faced child starlet to one
of the silver screen's most
striking beauties.
It is worth remembering that
Taylor has received five Best
Actresses nominations and
two Oscar statuettes during
her amazing six-decade career.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Meryl Streep became an
actress from an early age.
She became the most
successful actress in
Hollywood history, having
gained overall 12 Oscar
nominations.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Tom Hanks made an
impressive performance of a
slow half wit in Forrest
Gump. Actually, the movie
swept most of the major 1994
Academy Awards.
After that, Hanks starred
some other Academy Award
winning movies, like Saving
Private Ryan and Cast Away.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Classic Hollywood movie Top
Gun and Rain Man propelled
Tom Cruise’s screen career to
height.
By the mid-90s, he has been
Hollywood's most bankable
star of his generation.
His most impressive movies
are Mission: Impossible series.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
With the leading role in
Legends of the Fall, Brad
Pitt became an
international matinee idol.
He starred in several
bankable movies like
Seven, Meet Joe Black
and Mr. And Mrs. Smith.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Angelina Jolie transferred from wild-child Hollywood
youth to Academy Award winner and respected U.N.
Goodwill Ambassador.
Her top selling film is Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,
adapted from cartoon. In 2005, during the time of
playing movie Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Jolie fell in love
with the hero Brat Pitt. The couple in the movie plot
became a couple in real life.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
Julia Roberts ranks as the
most bankable actress
during the late 1980s and
early 1990s.
She is at her best in
romantic comedy. Roberts’
greatest success is Pretty
Woman, by which she won
the second nomination and
became a household name.
In 2000, she won the Best
Actress for Erin
Brockovich.
Text B: Hollywood Movie Stars
By the excellent performance in
Hollywood’s debut Dead Calm,
Nicole Kidman quickly gained
a reputation. In 1995, Nicole
showed her amazing acting in
To Die For, the turning point of
her screen career. Since then
she has starred in Moulin Rouge,
followed by an Oscar
nomination. Next year, by
movie Hours, she won Best
Actress Award.
5.3 Canada, Australia and New
Zealand
Text A: Canadian Movie
Text B: Australian Movie
Text C: New Zealand’s Movie
Text A: Canadian Movie
The Canadian movies have once lived in the shadow
of Hollywood. During the first half of 20th century,
movies shown in Canadian theatres were mostly
productions of the US.
Fortunately，the past decades witnessed the progress
of Canada's movie industry. The native Canadian
movies, especially, were booming with the support of
the government. To encourage those excellent native
movies, the Genies has been practiced as Canada's top
film award.
At the international level, the Canadian movies began
to earn a reputation, participating in prestigious film
festivals and winning numerous award honors.
Paul Haggis’ film Crash received 6 more dominations
of the 78th Academy Awards and finally won the Best
Picture. Other notable honors include the nomination
as Best Foreign-Language Film at the 1987 Oscar as
well as the many prizes awarded
to Canadian films at the Cannes Festival.
Cultural Notes:
Best Foreign-Language Film: 奥斯卡最佳外
语片提名
The Cannes Festival: 法国戛纳电影节是世界
最大、最重要的电影节之一，最高奖为
“金棕榈奖”。
Text B: Australian Movie
The Australian film has developed as an
expanding industry. In the early years,
Australian filmmakers showed interest in
producing and exploring Australian identity
movies. This category of movies was notable
for their peculiarly colonial themes of convicts
and bushrangers.
Contemporary Australian movie is more
diverse than ever, exploring Australian people
and culture from a diverse range of viewpoints.
Text B: Australian Movie
In the 1990s, Australian
directors produced
internationally
successful films like the
Academy Awardwinning film Shine.
Australia’s best-loved
films include Muriel's
Wedding and Priscilla,
Queen of the Desert.
Text C: New Zealand’s Movie
In the early 1990s, New
Zealand films such as Jane
Campion's Academy Awardwinning film The Piano, Lee
Tamahori's Once Were
Warriors and Peter Jackson's
Heavenly Creatures began to
gain international reputation.
Text C: New Zealand’s Movie
Peter Jackson directed the
action fantasy epic film The
Lord of the Rings Trilogy in
New Zealand, a gripping and
powerful adventure movie.
It used mostly New Zealand
crew and many New Zealand
actors in minor parts.
The movie is a huge
commercially success,
promoting the New Zealand
film industry to height.
Section B: Sport
5.4 The UK
Text A: Sports in the UK
Text B: Popular Sports in the UK
5.5 The US
Text A: Sports in the US
Text B: Top Three Popular Sports
5.6 Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Text A: Sports in Canada
Text B: Sports in Australia
Text C: Sports in New Zealand
5.4 The UK
Text A: Sports in the UK
Text B: Popular Sports in the UK
Text A: Sports in the UK
Many sorts of major sports
originated in the UK,
including football, golf,
cricket, rugby and tennis.
Sport has been deeply rooted
in the British experiences for
centuries, attracting large
numbers of persistent
followers.
Text A: Sports in the UK
Nowadays, sport still remains an important
recreation in the UK. The British people are great
lovers of competitive sports. What they enjoy most
is to have a relaxation by taking outdoor sports on
weekends or after work. And it is natural for them
to talk about sports and watch sport programmes in
their daily lives. Among them, football, golf,
cricket and horse racing remain the country's most
popular spectator sports. Therefore, gaining a
knowledge of sports is a good way of
understanding British way of life.
Text A: Sports in the UK
The 2012 Summer Olympics are to be hosted
by London, the capital city of the UK. It will
run from 26 July to 12 August 2012.
Thus, London will become the first city to
have hosted the modern Olympic Games three
times, having previous experiences in 1908
and 1948.
Text B: Popular Sport Games
Popular sports
football
golf
cricket
horseracing
hunting
Football
Football claims the highest popular attendance
in this country, with its season from midautumn to early May.
Playing football at school age or in spare time
is a great enjoyment for men of all ages. But to
most of the British people, football is a
professional spectator sport game.
Football
The UK owns many top football clubs, such as
Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and
Liverpool. Clubs compete in national leagues
and competitions and some go on to compete
in European competitions. British teams have
very good performances in European
Competitions and several have become UEFA
Champions.
UEFA: Union of European Football
Association, 欧洲足球协会联盟。
Football
As for the home nations, it competes
individually as England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
The England national football teams are
considered as fairly powerful, having won the
World Cup in 1966 when it was hosted in
England.
It is proposed to have a united team to
participate in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Golf
The most popular
participation sport in the
UK is Golf, enjoyed by
people of all ages.
This noble sport game is
invented by the Scottish.
There is a first-class golf
course, the Old Course, at
St Andrews of Scotland,
which holds top-level golf
Championships.
Cricket
Cricket is a most popular
sport in summer.
The players appear quite
formally dressed. So it is
often believed to be
associated with British spirits,
quietness and gentleness.
Cricket is considered as the
most British of games; its
popularity increases in the
Commonwealth of Nations.
Horse racing
The sport of British royal family is
horse racing, mainly for betting.
Organized horse races have been
held in this country for centuries.
Nowadays, it is divided into two
kinds: flat racing and steeple
chasing.
The Grand National is the world’s
most famous steeplechase. The
biggest social event associated with
horse racing is the Royal Ascot.
Cultural Notes:
The Grand National：一年一度在英国利物浦
举行的越野障碍赛马.
the Royal Ascot：每年6月在英国伯克郡阿斯
科特赛马场举行的赛马会，为期4天，是英
国最重要的赛马会之一，王室成员经常参加。
Hunting
Hunting is an ancient sport, which are favored
by royal families.
It is criticized as too cruel to hurt and kill
animals.
Now it is practiced as an outdoor sport game,
rather than a means of getting food.
5.5 The US
Text A: Sports in the US
Text B: Top Three Popular Sports
Text A: Sports in the US
The US is a sport-loving nation.
Sports participation is extremely
popular as to release pressure
and keep healthy. Watching sport
games is an important recreation
in Americans’ lives.
Sports are also daily topics of
conversation whenever people at
work or at play.
Text A: Sports in the US
Sports in the US take a great variety of forms, from
team sports like football, basketball, baseball to
individual games such as swimming and wrestling.
In those professional games, large crowds of audience
cheer their supporting team or player to win. Boxing
was once the most watched individual sport, but it has
been replaced by golf and auto racing.
The favorable geography of the country provides
sufficient space for fishing and hunting. Tennis and
many outdoor sports are also popular.
Text A: Sports in the US
There are eight modern Olympic
Games have been hold in the US,
four Summer games and four
Winter games. Americans athletes
are good at track and field events,
basketball, swimming and boxing.
They are top winners of Olympic
gold medals.
Some American athletes have been
known to the world, in particular
basketball player Michael Jordan
and boxer Muhammad Ali.
Text B: Top Three Popular Sports
Top Three Popular Sports
American Football
basketball
baseball
American Football
American football claims the most popular spectator
sport in the United States. It is a combat game where
eleven highly trained players on each team compete
on a field skillfully and brutally.
There are now 33 professional teams, located in
major cities throughout the country, to form the
National Football League (NFL). Each team plays 16
games between early September and the end of
December. Late in January, the best two teams
compete at the Super Bowl.
Cultural Notes:
American football：美式橄榄球，也称美式足球，
是美国流行的竞赛运动。得分方法有多种，包括
持球越过底线，抛球到在底线后的队友，或把直
放在地上的球踢过两枝门柱中间，又叫射门。由
于球赛中往往会与对方球员有身体冲撞，因此球
员需穿保护衣及头盔出赛。
the National Football League: 全国橄榄球联合会
the Super Bowl: 超级锦标赛
American Football
Football games are played on
Sunday afternoons with a few
nationally televised games on
Monday nights.
Most fans watch exciting
games while gathered at a
friend's home or in a local bar
in front of TV, eating and
drinking together as a party.
Basketball
Many Americans prefer
basketball to the football,
because it is a faster game as
well as a wonderful indoor
sport activity especially
popular in winter.
Almost every American high
school and university
organizes basketball teams
and competes regularly.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is
the American organization of national
championship all the year round.
NBA games in many cities are sold out well in
advance, so it may be difficult to obtain tickets.
NBA: NBA联赛是由美国“全国篮球协会（简称
NBA）” 创办的比赛，其比赛的激烈程度和水平
之高被世人公认为世界之最。
Baseball
Since the late 19th century, baseball has been
regarded as the national pastime, with its audience
grown significantly. Baseball is a game between two
teams of 9 players each, played on an enclosed field
according to the rules, under jurisdiction of one or
more umpires. The objective of each team is to win
by scoring more runs than the opponent.
There are three major leagues as the National League,
the American League and the Negro League, which is
attended by African Americans. The regular season is
from the beginning of April to October.
5.6 Canada, Australia and New
Zealand
Text A: Sports in Canada
Text B: Sports in Australia
Text C: Sports in New Zealand
Text A: Sports in Canada
Canada's official national sports are lacrosse
(summer) and ice hockey.
Hockey is a national pastime. It is considered
as the most popular sport Canadians play, with
1.65 million active participants in 2004.
Text A: Sports in Canada
Football is also popular spectator sport, which
is played professionally in the Canadian
Football League (CFL).
Basketball, volleyball, baseball, golf, skiing
and soccer are widely played at youth and
amateur levels.
Canada recently hosted the 2007 FIFA U-20
World Cup37, and will host the 2010 Winter
Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, British
Columbia.
Text B: Sports in Australia
Sport has a major role in Australian leisure activity,
encouraged by a temperate climate which favors
outdoor activities. About a quarter of adult
Australians participate in organized sporting activities
regularly.
At an international level, Australia has particularly
strong team performance in cricket, hockey, netball,
rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in
cycling, rowing and swimming. Nationally, other
popular sports include horse racing, soccer and motor
racing.
Text B: Sports in Australia
Australia has participated in every summer
Olympic Games and every Commonwealth
Games.
The country hosted the 1956 Summer
Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer
Olympics in Sydney, and has ranked among
the top five medal-takers since 2000.
Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982
and 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Text B: Sports in Australia
Other major international events held regularly
in Australia include the Australian Open,
annual international cricket matches and the
Formula One Australian Grand Prix.
the Australian Open: 澳网公开赛
Grand Prix: 国际汽车大奖赛
Text B: Sports in Australia
Televised sport is popular.
The highest rating
television programmes
include the summer
Olympic Games and the
grand finals of local and
international football
championship.
Text C: Sports in New Zealand
Sport plays a significant
part in New Zealand's way
of living.
Traditionally, New
Zealanders show interest in
sports of all kinds.
The temperate climate also
encourages most forms of
outside recreation.
Text C: Sports in New Zealand
In New Zealand, varieties
of sports are enjoyed
throughout the year.
Although rugby probably
remains the most
popularized national sport,
other sport games, like
cricket, basketball, lawn
bowling, netball, soccer
and rugby league, are
increasingly popular.
Also popular are golf, tennis,
cycling, field hockey, skiing,
softball and a variety of
water sports, particularly
surfing, sailing, surf
lifesaving skills and rowing.
Text C: Sports in New Zealand
Rugby union is closely linked to New Zealand's
national identity.
The national rugby team, the All Blacks, has the
best record of any national team.
They hosted and won the Rugby World Cup in
1987, and will host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Rugby union: 英式橄榄球
the All Blacks：新西兰英式橄榄球队，又称
“全黑队”。
The Reflection to Unit 5