L55 Patterns of Culture

Custom has not been commonly regarded as a subject of any great moment. The inner workings of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom have a way of thinking, is behaviour at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behaviour more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberrant. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role that custom plays in experience and in belief, and the very great varieties it may manifest.

No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. Even in his philosophical probings he cannot go behind these stereotypes; his very concepts of the true and the false will still have reference to his particular traditional customs. John Dewey has said in all seriousness that the part played by custom in shaping the behaviour of the individual as over against any way in which he can affect traditional custom, is as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue over 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 becomes no more than an exact and matter-off-fact observation. The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. 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 complicating 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 nature 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 over 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. New words and expressions

a way of thinking 一種想法

commonplace a.平凡的 口頭語common

the other way around相反

aberrant a.脫離常軌的,異常的;(醫)變異,失常

ab-表示"偏離,脫離或離開" = irregular

normal正�！�—abnormal不正常;use用——abuse濫用;

(近)eccentric怪異的;straying偏離的:a stray dog野狗;go astray步入歧途

trivial a.微不足道的,瑣碎的triviality細節,瑣事(見lesson12)

frist rate第一流 A-one第一等的,第一流的;topflight最棒的; second to none首屈一指;second to 次于

predominant a.占優勢的,起支配作用的 predominace n. dominate統治地位

pre-前面的` = superior,preponderate

paramount絕對重要; principal主要的;校長

manifest vt.清楚地表現 illustrate vi.舉例說明;圖解;加插圖于;闡明vi.舉例

portray繪畫

pristine a.原始的(太古年代)(lesson27) (近)primitive原始的(一般);ancient古代的;

prehistoric史前的

stereotype n.陳規(lesson5)break through打破

over against和……相比 = be compared with

vernacular n.方言 (和外語相比較)母語,mother tongue的變體 (近)dialect方言(在一國內)

accent口音 vary from person to person因人而異

accommodation n.適應 v. accommodate容納 He accommodates himself to sth.

accommodation to對……適應 = adapt to, adjustment to 區別adoption采取,收養

incumbent a.義不容辭的,有責任的 結構:It is incumbent on sb.to do…

responsible有責任的 responsible for為……負責

proposition n.主張 來源:propose向……提議

Man proposes,God disposes.謀事在人,成事在天。

(近)tender投標,建議

unintelligible a.難理解的 intelligible可理解的

區別:intellectual 知識分子;intelligent聰明的

read—readable—unreadable;

comprehension—comprehensible—incomprehensible;

discern—discernable—undiscernable

preferential a.優先的 來源:prefer favorable有利的

prefer green tea to black tea./I prefer to green tea rather than black tea. black coffee =

sugar free coffee現在國外最流行的:decaf coffee

controversial a.引起爭論的 controversy n.論爭(lesson39)

cactus n.仙人掌 復數形式:cacti拉丁變形

abacus算盤—abaci(pl.); alumnus校友—alumni(pl.)

termite n.白蟻

group vt.把……分類

variant a.不同的 variation n.變化;變奏曲

易混:various各種各樣的;variety多樣性

barbarian n.野蠻人 = savage,vandal

pagan n.異教徒 相信不只有一個神的人或非基督教徒者

區別heretic異教徒 信邪教的人

hold sway over支配,掌握 Superstition holds sway over my brain/mind.

wield揮,統治,支配(lesson40)

sway(左右)搖;shake(上下)搖;swing(繞圈)搖

premise n.前提 大/小前提:major/minor premise

Only on the premise of equality,can we further negotiate.

institution n.慣例,風俗 長期的習慣,不一定要遵守(社會風俗)

custom不同部落,種族 When in Rome,do as the Romans do.

tradition有歷史遺傳(可指家庭習俗)

supernatural a.超自然的

Notes on the text

The basic background about this author:

Ruth Benedict (female)

She is a famous anthropologist.

"Cultural relativism"文化相關論

subject ( = topic,theme)

great moment = significance重要性

The inner workings of our own brains…倒裝句式

正常:we feel the…workings to be… 賓語前置,強調賓語

workings運作(可數名詞)

uniquely獨特的 = only

worthy of值得

commonplace a.后省略名詞level

We have a way of thinking. = as we view/see it

As a matter of fact作為一個事實而言( = in fact)

Traditional custom,taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behaviour more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberrant.非常難句型 主語:Traditional custom 謂語:is a mass

mass大量 = collection

is a mass = is a whole/total

taken被動語態,"采樣","取樣"

take the world over = throughout the world

detailed細致的 astonishing = surprising evolve進化(develop)

the predominant role一個主導作用

experience實踐

in belief信仰,思維活動

it may manifest體現

variety多樣性

第二段第一句話點出主題

pristine eye原始的眼光 = pure純潔的

edite編輯

definite一定形式的,有限的

set集合

custom習俗

institution慣例

ways of thinking思維方式

probing = research, studies研究

stereotype陳規,定式

very強調

very修飾名詞表示強調

have reference to和……有關 = be connected with

John Dewey(1859-…)"哲學思想":learning by doing

in all seriousness = seriously

the part = the role

在某一方面,用介詞in

as…as比較 第一個as后面,風俗對人的影響——人對風俗的影響

第二個as后面,母語總體的詞匯比例——被吸收到家庭語言中的兒語

over against對比,與……比較

orders = different levels不同層面,不同階層

have had虛擬

autonomously auto自動 autonomous自治的

figure省略用法=figure of speech

no more than正好,恰好 = just

observation觀察,證明

life history 生平

first and foremost = above all最重要,首先

accommodation適應

pattern行為模式

standard規范,標準

hand down = pass on流傳下來

省略謂語

group種族 = race

born into出生于

globe = earth

no——整體否定

cultural transmission文化傳遞

it is more incumbent upon us to understand…插入語

until直到

as to +名詞 = about 關于

complicating = difficult復雜

unintelligible難以理解的

not until直到……才

until直到……為止

profitable有利可圖的 = beneficial

preliminary基本,基礎 = basic

have been的用法:后面的動作,一定是要和前面構成一個完成,后面的完成才能引發前面 的動作

violently opposed強烈的反對

require虛擬

weighting稱重

item選擇的課題,項目

one of the items or another=on or another of the items

in all the less controversial fields…在不太令人爭論的一些領域

nebulae星云

all that we know of…

that we know做all的后置定語

of 做all的后置定語

social insects群居生活的昆蟲

let us say = so to speak

major social sciences主要的社會學

substitute替換,替代

that of 作同位語

anthropology人類學

as long as = if 只要,如果

degree of sophistication = understanding理解

set over against與……對比

these institutions這些習俗

指前面belief,superstition

Our among the rest 獨立主格句