自20世纪80年代“跨文化”一词引入中国之后，人们普遍关注并越来越清醒地认识到语言学习离不开文化的导入。语言是文化的一种表现形式，不熟悉语言的文化特征，就难以学好该种语言，文化已成为影响语言学习的一个重要因素。教育部高教司在《大学英语课程教学要求》试行版（2004年）和正式版（2007年）中均将跨文化交际作为大学英语学习的一项主要内容。本教材就是依据《大学英语课程教学要求》和教育部大学英语教学改革精神，以建构主义理论、生态教学理论和动机一目标理论为基础，从趣味性、知识性和实用性入手，分析东西文化差异的产生根源，阐述东西文化差异的具体表现，构建学生的跨文化交际知识，提高学生的英语学习兴趣，加强大学素质教育，培养具备跨文化交际能力的社会应用型人才。
- 前辅文
- Part I Different People in Different Countries
- Unit 1 Englishmen, Americans, and Chinese
- Passage A The English Character
- Passage B The American Character
- Passage C The Chinese Character
- Cultural Information Influence of Geographic Environment
- Unit 2 Values and Religions
- Passage A East and West, Different Values
- Passage B Religion and Its Influence in the East and West
- Passage C American Religious Heritages
- Cultural Information Being Religious in America
- Part II Differences in Daily Life
- Unit 3 Family and Friend
- Passage A American Family
- Passage B Social Relationship and Friendship in the East and West
- Cultural Information American Friendship
- Unit 4 Sports and Entertainment
- Passage A Leisure Activities in Britain and China
- Passage B Sports and Recreation in America
- Cultural Information Volunteerism in America
- Unit 5 Dieting and Culture
- Passage A Chopsticks or Forks, Taste or Nutrition
- Passage B Eating Etiquette in the West
- Cultural Information Cultural Formulas for Hunger
- Part III Differences in Study , Work and Society
- Unit 6 Education
- Passage A Education in China and the U.S.
- Passage B Home School Education
- Cultural Information American Education
- Unit 7 Different Attitudes to Time and Work
- Passage A Different Attitudes to Time
- Passage B American Attitude to Work and Manual Labor
- Cultural Information Theories of Ethics in the West
- Unit 8 Social Differences
- Passage A American Presidential Election
- Passage B The Welfare State
- Cultural Information American Politics
- Part IV Intercultural Adaptation
- Unit 9 Meeting Different Cultures
- Passage A Silence in Different Cultures
- Passage B Culture Shock and Adjustments
- Cultural Information Verbal or Silent Communication
- Unit 10 Globalization
- Passage A Ethnocentrism
- Passage B Understanding Intercultural Conflicts
- Cultural Information Ethnocentrism, a Barrier in Intercultural Communication
- References
