四六级考试

【分析解答题】Will the World RememberDisney or Plato Significant Worldwide Influence ofAmericanCultureLONDON—Down in the mall, between the fast-food joint and the bagel shop, a group of young people huddles in a flurry of baggy combat pants, skateboards, and slang. They size up a woman teetering past wearingDKNY, carrying Time magazine in one hand and a latte in the other. She brushes past a guy in a Yankees’’ baseball cap who is talking on his Motorola cellphone about the Martin Scorsese film he saw last night. It’’s a standardAmerican scene—only this isn’’tAmerica, it’’sBritain. U.S. culture is so pervasive that the scene could be played out in any one of dozens of cities. As a global superpower,America exports its culture on an unprecedented scale. From music to media, film to fast food, language to literature and sport, theAmerican idea is spreading inexorably (不可阻挡地), not unlike the influence of empires that preceded it. The difference is that today’’s technology flings culture to every corner of the globe with blinding speeD、If it took two millenniums for Plato’’s "Republic" to reach NorthAmerica, the latest hit from Justin Timberlake can be found in Greek (and Japanese) stores within days. Sometimes, U.S. ideals get transmitted—such as individual rights, freedom of speech, and respect for women—and local cultures are enricheD、At other times, materialism or worse becomes the message and local traditions get crusheD、"The U.S. has become the most powerful, significant world force in terms of cultural imperialism [and] expansion," says Ian Ralston,American studies director at Liverpool John Moores University. "The areas that particularly spring to mind are Hollywood, popular music, and even literature." But what some call "McDomination" has created a backlash (强烈反应) in certain cultures.And it’’s not clear whether fast food,Disney, or rock’’n’’roll will change the world the way Homer or Shakespeare has.Hollywood rules the global movie market, with up to 90 percent of audiences in someEuropean countries.Even inAfrica, two of three films shown areAmerican. Few countries have yet to be touched by McDonald’’s andCoca-Col
A、Starbucks recently opened up a new front in SouthAmerica, and everyone’’s got a Hard RockCafé T-shirt from somewhere exotiC、West Indian sports enthusiasts increasingly watch basketball, not cricket.Baseball has long since taken root inAsia andCub
A、AndChinese young people are becoming more captivated byAmerican football and basketball, some even printing the names of NB
A、stars on their school sweatsuits.AmericanEnglish is the language of choice for would-be pop stars inEurope, software programmers in India, and Internet surfers everywhere. America’’s preeminence is hardly surprising. Superpowers have throughout the ages sought to perpetuate their way of life: from the philosophy and mythology of the ancient Greeks to the law and language of the Romans; from the art and architecture of the TangDynasty and Renaissance Italy to the sports and systems of government of theBritish."Most empires think their own point of view is the only correct point of view," says Robert Young, an expert in postcolonial cultural theory at Oxford University. "It’’s the certainty they get because of the power they have, and they expect to impose it on everyone else."Threats ofAmericanCulturalDomination Detractors of cultural imperialism argue, however, that cultural domination poses a totalitarian threat to diversity. In theAmerican case, "McDomination" poses several dangers.First, local industries are truly at risk of extinction because of U.S. oligopolies (寡头卖主垄断), such as HollywooD、For instance in 2000, theEuropean Union handed out one billion euros to subsidise (资助)Europe’’s film industry.Even the relatively successfulBritish movie industry has no control over distribution, which is almost entirely in the hands of the Hollywood majors.Second,
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试题答案：one-way 答案解析：根据关键词borrow culture from other countries 查读小标题4,000 Years from Now下面第一段最后两句Others note that it is not all one-way traffic．America may feast largely on a diet of homegrown culture，but it imports modestly as well… document.getElementById("warp").style.display="none"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; 查看试题解析出处>>