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摘 要理解美国必先理解美国人的文化。语言不仅是文化的载体，也是文化传承和传播的重要方式。谚语是一个民族文化本质的集中体现，是了解一个民族文化的最好渠道，因为谚语作为语言的重要组成部分，记录了民族文化的发展历程。价值观作为文化的最深层次在谚语中有所体现。本文采取解读法探求美国价值观及其在谚语中的体现。然后通过例证表明谚语不仅是美国文化的一部分，还是美国文化的一面镜子，进而加深对美国和社会文化的理解。18951
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毕业论文关键词：美国价值观；谚语；美国文化
Abstract If we want to know America, we should learn the American culture. Language is not only the carrier of culture but also the important means of inheriting and spreading culture. Proverbs are the essence and the concentration of a nation’s culture. As an important part of language, proverb is one of the best channels to know well the culture of a nation because proverb notes down the evolution of a nation. The values as the deepest of culture are reflected in proverb. The intention of this study is to explore the American values and its reflection in proverbs. Then this paper will illustrate that the common proverbs are not only a part of American’s culture but also a mirror of American’s culture. So we can make a further understanding of American society and culture.
Key words: American values ; proverbs; American culture
The Reflection of American Values in English Proverbs
Contents
摘 要 i
Abstract ii
I. Introduction 1
II. The Origins of American Values 2
2.1 The Tradition of Inpidualism，Equality and Hard Work 2
2.2 The Tradition of Puritanism 5
2.3 The Influence of Westward Movement 6
III. American Core Values and its Reflection in Proverbs 8
3.1 Proverbs Reflecting Inpidualism 8
3.2 Proverbs Reflecting Equality 9
3.3 Proverbs Reflecting of Work and Achievements 10
3.4 Proverbs Reflecting Materialism 11
3.5 Proverbs Reflecting the Value of Change and Progress 12
3.6 Proverbs Reflecting Competition 13
3.7 Proverbs Reflecting Time Orientation 13
IV. Conclusion 14
Bibliography 15
Acknowledgements 16
I. Introduction
Values are the core of culture, we cannot learn to a nation without apprehending its main value system because of implicit and abstract values are often embodied in social and cultural phenomenon. The extensive American territory and many racial and ethnic groups determine the persity of her values which equality, work and family have been the focus of research efforts. Meanwhile values give us the unwritten rules which embody ideas about what most people in a society consider desirable, and they underlie the people’s preference. Therefore, values can be regarded as the core of a culture. Somebody and their words can serve as a means to comprehend a nation’s values. The meaning of a word is the product of a particular culture that passes on shared and appropriate meanings. Culture not only provides the basis of the meanings we give to our perceptions, it also directs us to word specific kinds of messages and events (Guo and William 35). Norms and values operating in a given culture leave their trace and are reflected by a variety of cultural products. Such collective products that store and transmit cultural wisdom include a culture’s proverbs that provide advice about recommended courses of action. In nearly every culture, proverbs, communicated in rich and vivid language, offer an important set of instructions for members to follow Proverbs demonstrate how verbal expressions are used to underscore values. These words of wisdom endure, so that each generation learns about what a culture deems significant. As Seidensticker notes, “They say things that people think important in ways that people remember. They express common conceits. Because proverbs are learned easily and repeated with great regularity, they soon become part of an inpidual’s belief system .They express well known truths, social norms, or moral themes, which are sometimes unique to that particular culture. It is not exaggerating to say proverbs bear heavily the trace of the origin of a culture. There are some proverbs voicing the importance of proverbs like, “A proverb comes not from nothing”; “A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience”; “A proverb is a true word'’; “A proverb is an ornament to language”; “A proverb is much matter decocted into few words”; “Proverbs are not vain words”; “Proverbs are the lamps to words”, (Sheng and Li 366). American proverbs, undoubtedly, stress important American value held by the dominant culture. They are handed down through generations from people’s struggle of work and life. This thesis explores how American proverbs reveal enduring inpidual and cultural themes that provide solace and guidance to American people in their ordinary lives and that bring up a superpower in four hundred years that left so many nations too far behind to catch up.