中国历史文化英文演讲（共6篇）
My Chinese Dream
Good morning / afternoon ladies and gentlemen:
My name is …., a girl from …….It’s a great honor for me to stand here.My topic is “My Chinese Dream”.As is known to the world“where there is a river, there is a city”, but I want to say that where there is a person, there is a dream.Everyone has his or her dream.Some may want better education, some better jobs, some to help more people and so on.It may be something concrete or even a goal for life.Whatever it is, whether it is for individuals or society, it indicates the most beautiful thing in everyone’s heart.When I was a little girl, my parents told me that I am Chinese.I am proud of her large area and brilliant history.Whenever the Five-starred Red Flag rises gradually in the sky, my heart will be filled with profound respect and love to her.As I grow up, I know that she was once weak, invaded and have scars.Fortunately, we have the great Communist Party, who leads Chinese people to stand up and have more say on international affairs.So my Chinese Dream is that China can be stronger and Chinese people happier.That’s all, thank you.
This speech was not orally delivered but was written in a pamphlet and distributed among the public, aiming at fighting against the licensing order issued in 1643 which instituted pre-publication censorship upon parliamentary England.According to the licensing order, authors should have a license approved by the government before their work could be published.It is quite unfair and violates the freedom of press.
John Milton gave a nearly perfect refutation to the parliament with his most eloquent words and rhetorical flourishes.As a famous English poet and polemicist, Milton has a deep personal conviction as well as a passion for freedom and self-determination, which can be easily found in his poetry and prose.He is also a responsible servant who cares the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day a lot.Taking the description of him given above into consideration there is thus no surprise for the appearance of this magnificen speech.
Areopagitica is full of biblical and classical references which greatly strengthens Milton’s argument.And this particular feature is of course closely related to Milton’s writing style and Calvinis Presbyterians that comprised parliament at that time.The whole book displays a flow of ideas and thoughts with solid examples and rigid reasoning.
Before coming to the major part of this book review:comment ing on some of the quotations picked up from the book, I would like to first point out some of Milton’s methods or sparkling points o his getting the facts straight, that is, in other words, his reasoning process and framing angle.
1 The Reasoning Process and Framing Angle of Aer opagitica
In order to clarify his point, Milton didn’t go to the topic di rectly.On the contrary, he was brilliant enough to argue for himsel from different perspectives and nearly all of them are convincing a well as interesting.For example, he called for people to read al kinds of books and acquire varied knowledge, this, of course, includes those so called“bad books”and according to him, even“bad books”themselves have benefits:they can enhance people’s ability of distinguishing good from bad, right from the wrong.So it is quite reasonless for parliament to apply license order and eliminate the ideas they dislike.
Also, there is no doubt that Milton has a good logic in his speech.He not only provided harmfulness of licensing order through all of his speech but also talked about the feasibility of applying pre-publication censorship and the real beneficiaries of this regulation.As he said, there are too many books, magazines or pamphlets published in England every day, and it is definitely impossible for the limited inspectors to go through all these publications and make a final decision of prohibiting which one.If they just scan the book for a few seconds and have their final say, they are very irresponsible for the reader.Let alone many books demands deep reading and thinking and we can’t assure the inspectors are qualified enough to make judgments on these books.What’s more, the implementation of the licensing order may provide facilitation measures for the monopoly of some booksellers;they may use this opportunity to crack down on their competitors.So in a word, if we put aside its bad effects, it is still infeasible and harmful in reality.
In addition to his spectacular reasoning process and framing angle which in fact have a positive effect on our development of critical thinking, there are a great deal of thought-provoking quotations that deserved further exploration.In this book-review, there are three major quotations that interested me most listed here.And I relate all of these three quotations to our Chinese culture and intellectual history.
2 Destroying Culture for the Sake of Censorship is“a kind of massacre.No blood but more brutal.”
In the beginning of his speech, in order to stress the disastrous effect of implementing licensing order, Milton gave the parliamentary members these words:
...as good almost kill a man as kill a good book;who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image;but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God;as it were in the eye.
This analogy put a good man and a good book into comparison.Milton evaluated which result is worse, killing a good man or a good book?In the common sense and in most contexts in our daily life, a person’s life is of highest value.However, if we broaden our horizon and put this question into the long history of human beings and even the future development in the next few generations, it is no doubt that those things that can move ahead the civilization and the overall advancement of human culture should be in the top priorities.If we use a cross-culture thinking pattern to view this point, this self-evident truth is apparently being upheld at home and abroad.For instance, in China’s history, we all know that Emperor Qin once burnt books and buried literatus in pits.The great damages he did to Chinese culture and intellectual history was not those people he killed, although they had good qualities and a lot o knowledge, the most unbearable thing he did was to burn thou sands of books which spilt over a wide varieties and can promote a well as enrich China’s culture a lot.This damage can never be rem edied.Just like what John Milton had said, it was a kind of massa cre.No blood but more brutal.
3 The Freedom of Press is Widespread in Free Countries While the Authoritarian Counties are Known for their Censorship and Licensing Order
Great minds think alike.There are a lot of similar things be tween China and western world if we refer to some of the brillian ideas that Milton put forward in this small pamphlet.When speak ing of the licensing order’s history, Milton raised a great deal of ex amples including past history in England and other countries a well as the Greek and Athens mythology.And this is also suited to China’s history, in addition to the above cross-culture example The original words of Milton are as followings:
...yet best and wisest commonwealth through all ages and occa sions have forborn to use it, and falsest seducers and oppressors o men were the first who took it up, and to no other purpose but to ob struct and hinder the first approach of reformation.
The main idea of these words is that throughout the history the adopters of licensing order are always those oppressors in auto cratic context, while in a real democratic country and especially when an enlightened monarch is in charge, the speech is alway free and the whole country is open to different ideas and thoughts As Milton has already given the examples of western world, as a Chinese reader of this speech, I cannot help associating this with Chinese history.There is an idiom in China shares the simila meaning with what Milton said:be frightened into complete silence but to exchange their hatred with eyes.The idiom comes from a sto ry in Chinese history.During the period of Emperor Zhou Li Wang because of his cruel administration, people complained a lot.In or der to get people in control, Emperor Zhou sent a lot of spies to keep an eye on people and if someone says some unpleasant word about emperor, he will be caught by spies and be severely pun ished.So at that time people couldn’t express their true feeling when they meet each other and could only exchange their hatred with eyes.Three years later, people could not bear it anymore and rallied tighter to overthrow the dynasty.So when Emperor Zhou died, people called him Zhou Li Wang.Li, refers to cruel in Chi nese.What Emperor Zhou Li Wang did functioned the same as the licensing order, they both restricted people’s freedom of speech So, in my opinion, the licensing order not only nourishes in the au tocratic country but can also result in the extermination of the coun try which applies it.
4 There is no Clear Line between Good and Evil.Milton Called for an Inclusive Attitude towards all Books
In terms of his logical composing of refutation towards licens ing order, I have already talked about his brilliant ideas of the grea use of bad books.As this is one of the most important arguments in the speech, I would like to dig deeper into it.Milton actually said a lot about the relationship between“good books”and“bad books”.I just picked up one sentence from them:
Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play on the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength.Let her and Falsehood grapple;who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?
There are no clear divisions between good and bad:the bad books may have some brilliant ideas or sayings in it and a good book is not one hundred percent good.Bad books can help people figure out what is evil while good books can help people find out what is kindness.So in a word, they are closely related to each other and are interdependent in this real world.This thinking method has something in common with China’s Daoism because one of the representative signs of Daoism is the Yin-Yang image:the white and black patterns are integrated with each other perfectly.It is the so called“harmony”we Chinese people believe and it is the most ideal status we all admire, too.What’s more, in fact, Milton brought about the idea of the use of bad books to introduce a key idea:to absorb everything critically.The way to achieve this is to read all kind of books without licensing and acquire all kind of knowledge.We can also find similar examples in Chinese history.Deng Xiaoping once used a figurative saying“Flowers of every kind are in bloom”to describe this idea.One of the most significant incidences of this idea happened in December, 1916, when China’s famous educator Cai Yuanpei, the headmaster of Peking Uni versity at that time, put forward the idea of establishing a fair, inclu sive studying atmosphere in Peking University.Here he specifical ly referred to introducing new ideas of the May Fourth Movemen as well as keep some Confucianism.Not long after the implementa tion of the new policy, Peking University became the famous and outstanding high education institution in China.
There is no point in fearing about the deteriorating effects o bad books, all we have to do is to help people distinguish the good from the bad and just like another old Chinese saying that when fac ing bad books, we had better“discard the dross and select the es sence”.
Nearly 400 hundred years have passed since the publication of Milton’s Aeropagitica.Although there is still some censorship in China now, journalists and the public never give up the efforts o fighting for the freedom of speech.Currently, with the rise of nonpartisan newspaper, especially with the rapid developments of In ternet and social media, the entitled right of delivering ideas and thoughts freely has been more and more guarantied.Just to make a joke, if John Milton lived until now, he would show a big smile face towards the great progress that have been made in the freedom o press and at the same time be greatly surprised by the rapid change of books and media nowadays.
参考文献
[1]John Milton.Aeropagitica[M].Nu Vision Publications, 2010.
Presentation
I’m glad to show you mine presentation today.And now let’s see some pictures.What are they? Maybe you’ll say “ads”.But do you see the slogans on them? Just as this one “Obey your thirst”.With the development of material prosperity, advertisements have become more and more important in our daily life.Advertisements give latest information about products.But some people think that advertisements don’t give much information but only try to persuade customers to buy.May be what mentioned above is the citizens’ view about advertisement.So, what I want to say is that we can pay more attention on advertising slogans, and some of them give us some inspiration.We might as well take a look.First I want to share my favorite slogan with you.It’s the slogan of the Hennessy.“To me, the past is black and white, but the future is always color.” Just as the slogan said, I hold the view that a person can’t be always lost in the past, and no matter how happy or terrible the past is, the future is worthy to be expected.This slogan gives a clear picture of the life that every successful person who want to realize the dream.Besides, there’s another slogan, “Start Ahead”.I believe that most of us are familiar with its Chinese meaning “成功之路，从头开始”.I
argue that wherever we go and whatever we meet, this sentence is full of power and wisdom.The other one is the slogan of Canon.As it said, “impossible made possible.” When we are in case of emergency or we meet difficulties at the critical stage of our life, it’s a good choice for us to use the slogan for encouragement.There’re also many slogans which deserve to be thought about.For example, “intelligence everywhere,” “the relentless pursuit of perfection,” and the most famous one “just do it”.Maybe we’ll forget them after the first time we heard them or maybe we could seldom remember them unless in a special situation.In my opinion, since we have so many excellent advertising slogans, we have every reason to make full use of the social resources.In other words, after we enjoy the happiness and know about the introduction of the products, we should take in the wisdom and the truth which behind them.Thank you, it’s all my presentation.
宣纸 rice paper
衙门 yamen
叩头 kowtow
孔子Confucius
牌楼 pailou;pai-loo
武术 wushu(Chinese Martial Arts)
功夫 kungfu ;kung fu
中庸 the way of medium (cf. Golden Means)
中和 harmony (zhonghe)
孝顺 to show filial obedience
孝子 dutiful son
家长 family head
三纲：君为臣纲，父为子纲，夫为妻纲 three cardinal guides: ruler guides subject, father guides son husband guides wife
五常：仁、义、理、智、信 five constant virtues: benevolence (humanity), righteousness, propriety, wisdom and fidelity
八股文 eight-legged essays
多子多福：The more sons/children, the more blessing/ great happiness
各市、州文化、旅游局：
为更好地宣传文化旅游节，在文化旅游节期间营造隆重热烈的节日气氛，文化旅游节组委会宣传部特别拟定了以下宣传口号和标语用于文化旅游节宣传，请各有关单位以此为依据制作横幅或标牌。
1、热烈祝贺首届中国国际文化旅游节隆重举办
Congratulations on the Successful Opening Of the 1st China International Culture-Tourism Festival!
2、畅游神州 赏阅华夏
Travel while Appreciate Splendid China3、锦绣潇湘 快乐湖南
Splendid Xiaoxiang Happy Hunan4、展示山水精品，体现人文精粹
Presenting Exquisite Landscapes, Revealing Humane Essence5、文化旅游 比翼双飞
Culture and Tourism Fly Wing to Wing6、芙蓉国里，精彩湖南
Hunan，a Land of Wonders7、培育壮大湖南旅游支柱产业
Fostering Hunan Tourism A Pillar Industry8、推动全省旅游业又好又快地发展
Accelerating Hunan Tourism Development9、感受人文之厚重，品味山水之秀美
Experience Profound Culture, Enjoy Beautiful Nature9、人文湘楚，山水湖南
Hunan, A Land Rich in Culture and Scenery10、畅游湖南山水，赏阅湖湘文化
Enjoy Hunan Scenery and Appreciate Hunan Culture11、湖南欢迎您 中国欢迎您
Welcome To China, Especially Hunan!
12、培育支柱产业，建设旅游强省
Fostering A Pillar Industry, Constructing A Province Of Tourism Industry!
13、文化助推 旅游腾飞
Culture Promotes Tourism Rise14、携手共进、深度融合，推进文化旅游产业大发展
Culture & Tourism Unite In Depth, Enhance the Prosperity of Culture-Tourism Industry15、大地有界 文化无疆
Our Land is Vast and Culture Profound16、推动文化旅游深度融合 促进湖南两型社会发展
Culture and Tourism Merge to Push the Harmonious Development of Hunan
China has a splendid food culture.Along with the implementation of the open policy and reform and the appearance of cultural diversity,it is necessary to introduce China’s food culture to the world.How to do it?The first task is the translation of Chinese food.
The potential worth of translation and interpretation industry is huge.In the process of cross-cultural communication,good understanding and proper comprehension are not just a tool for us to get a better idea about things from different culture,but also the necessary weapon to enrich our own culture.On the other hand,if the translation is hard to understand,it will cause lots of trouble even conflicts in the process of communication.
2 Concerns and Problems of Translation
2.1 Material first
“One just needs to explain the materials and the way it cooks.”as it is said.
English dish names are for the convenience of foreigners’order,and they don’t have the responsibility of popularizing Chinese culture.As for the menu translation,it is successful if it gives a clear explanation to the materials and cooking techniques.And if it can be modified to promote people’s appetite,that is perfect.
2.2 Aesthetics first
Some experts insist that the translation of dish name should observe the aesthetic effort.Among Chinese food,there are such dish names including“blossom”(百花),”lotus”(芙蓉)and so on.They vividly describe the pretty profiling and make people appetitive by their images.Thus we must not neglect the aesthetic connotation of the dish.
3 Translation Principles for Chinese Dishes
The same Chinese food can be cooked in different ways.Knowing exactly what is the meaning of each cooking method and choose the right one to translate the dish is the premise.Usually the cooking methods are used as adjectives.To make the translation easier,they can be divided into the following groups:
“”煮“”白灼“stewed”(煲、炖、烩).It means putting the food into a pot,then adding water to cook the food,for example,“Boiled Egg”(煮鸡蛋)”Stewed Pork”(炖猪肉),etc.The second group is“quick-fried”(爆)“stir-fried or sautéed”(炒),and“fried or pan fried”(煎).It meanputting the food into a pan,stir-friing the food with a quick fireThe third group is“marinated”(卤),“braised”(焖),and“simmered”(煨).It means putting the materials into the sauce,andto.The fourth group is“roast or barbecued”(烧烤),“mixed or assorted”(什锦),“sweet and sour”(糖醋),“broiled or grilled”(铁扒)“spiced or seasoned”(五香),“toasted or baked”(烘烤),“braisedwith soy sauce(in brown sauce)”(红烧),“spicy and hot”(麻辣)“smoked”(熏),“steamed”(蒸).This group indicates the differenflavors even with the same materials.For example,“Sweet andSour Fish”(糖醋鱼)and“Braised Fish with Soy Sauce”(红烧鱼)The fifth and last group is“pickled,preserved,salted”(腌)“mashed”(捣烂),“minced”(剁碎),“ground”(磨碎),“dicedcubed”(切丁、切块),“filleted”(切柳),“sliced”(切片),“shredded”(切丝),“shelled”(去壳),“boned”(去骨),“peeled”(去皮),etc.Thigroup shows how the materials look like before they are beingcooked.
3.1 Translation methods
3.1.1 Naming beginning with the material
Formula:Main ingredients(shape)+(with)subsidiaries(Chicken Cubes with Almond杏仁鸡丁)
Formula:Main ingredients(shape)+(with,in)flavo(Duck Webs with Mustard Sauce芥末鸭掌)
3.1.2 Naming beginning with the cooking techniques
1)Introducing the Cooking techniques and main ingredients
Formula:Cooking techniques+main ingredients(shape)(Soft-fried Pork Fillet软炸里脊)
2)Introducing the Cooking techniques,main ingredients and subsidiaries
Formula:Cooking techniques+main ingredients(shape+(with)subsidiaries(Braised Chicken Fillet with Tender Ginge仔姜烧鸡条)
3)Introducing the cooking techniques,main ingredients and flavor
Formula:Cooking techniques+main ingredient(shape)+(with,in)flavor(Braised Beef with Brown Sauce红烧牛肉)
3.1.3 Naming beginning with shape or flavor
1)Introducing the Shape(taste),main ingredients and subsidiaries
Formula:Shape(taste)+main ingredient+(with)subsidiary(Crisp Chicken with Sesame芝麻酥鸡)
2)Introducing the Taste,cooking technique,and main ingredients
Formula:Taste+cooking technique+main ingredient(Crisp Fried Spareribs香酥排骨)
3)Introducing the Shape(Taste),main ingredients and flavor
Formula:Shape(taste)+main ingredient+sauce(SlicedFish with Tomato Sauce茄汁鱼片)
4)Naming beginning with Person’s name or place name Introducing the Initiator(Cradle)and Main Ingredients Formula:Person’s name(cradle)+main ingredient(MPo Bean curd麻婆豆腐)
Introducing the Initiator(Cradle),cooking techniques and Main Ingredients
Formula:Person’s name(cradle)+cooking technique+main ingredient(Dong Po Stewed Pork Joint东坡煨肘)
3.1.4 One dish named in different ways
In the process of translation,one dish can be translated by several ways from different perspectives.Take Kung Pao ChickenCubes(宫保鸡丁)for example:Sauteed Chicken Cubes with Peanuts OR Gongbao Chicken Cubes OR Diced Chicken with Chiland Peanuts
3.1.5 Translation in direct way
1)The principle of usage of Chinese Pinyin
Principle 1:Typically Chinese and widely accepted by other nations,the Chinese traditional food can be translated with Chinese Pinyin on the principle of popularizing Chinese language and Chinese culture.Example:Jiaozi(饺子),Baozi(包子),Mantou(馒头),Huajuan(花卷),Shaomai(烧麦).
Principle 2:Typically Chinese and widely accepted by other nations,the Chinese traditional food are translated with the dialect and keeps its spelling.Example:Tofu(豆腐),Kung-Pao Chicken(宫保鸡丁),Chop Suey(杂碎),Wonton(馄饨),Shao-mai(烧麦).
2)Translation in accordance with the literal information
As discussed in part 3.2.2,the Chinesse dish names showing the cooking techniques and ingredients belong to this category.Ex-ample Salted Duck(咸水鸭)
3.1.6 Translation in indirect way
Some dish names contain the special local product,so weneed to render them into the common names,and then translatethem into English.Generally speaking,this category is the beautifi-cation of the materials and the cooking techniques.For example,“fish maw”(鱼鳔)is usually called“cod’s maw”(广肚);“shuang-dong”(双冬)refers to“mushroom”and“bamboo”;“yugun”(玉棍)is referred to as“bamboo shoot”.
3.2 Two problems concerned
3.2.1 The usage of singular and plural of countable noun
The countable nouns in the menus are usually in the plural form,while in condition that there is only one main ingredient othe ingredient is too small to be counted,the singular form shouldbe employed.
In the first dish name,“noodles”and“vegetables”are count-able,so we use the plural form.In the second one,“scallion”isminced too small to count,so the singular form is employed here.
3.2.2 The usage of propositions“In”and“With”in the sauce and subsidiaries
If the main ingredients are in the sauce or in the subsidiaries,the proposition“in”is employed.
Example:Steamed Beef Ribs in Black Bean Sauce(豉汁牛仔骨)
The main ingredients“steamed beef ribs”are in the subsidiary the“black bean sauce”,so the proposition here is“in”.
4 Conclusion
China’s rich cuisine culture always causes lots of trouble to foreigners,especially when they order in the restaurant.The diverse translation versions of the same dish challenge them with inconveniences.It is of great significance to unify the English translation of Chinese food.
First of all,names of the dishes should be brief and concise They play the role of explaining the materials and flavors of the dishes.Generally speaking,there are three to eight kinds of materials.It deserves proper consideration to achieve a brief and clear effect.In the second but not last place,the dishes present themselves with some anecdotes,such as“Beggar’s Chicken”and“Ma Po Tofu”.They reflect the characteristics of China’s food culture.It is impossible to explain clearly the dish through a straight literal translation,and it will be too complex to illustrate the anecdotes behind.Therefore,the key point is to take account of both the culture and the practicality of the dishes.
参考文献
[1]Jakobson,Roman.On linguistic Aspects of Translation[C].Cam bridge,MA:Harvard University Press,1959.
[2]Mona Bake,Rutledge.Encyclopedia of Translation Studies[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2001.
[3]Nedergaard-laesrn,Birgit.Culture-bound Problems in Subti tling[J].Copenhagen:Museum Tusculanum Press,1993.
[4]Nord,Chiristiane.Translating as a Purposeful Activity:Func tional Approaches Explained[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,1997.
[5]Peter Newmark.A Text Book of Translation[M].Shanghai:Shang hai Foreign Language Education Press,2001.
[6]Peter Newmark.Approaches to Translation[M].London:Polytech nic of Central,2001.
[7]Qiu,Maoru.Language,Culture,and Translating[M].Shanghai:Foreign Languages Education Press,1998.
[8]Nida E A,Taber C R.The Theory and Practice of Translation[M].Leiden:E.J.Brill,1969.
[9]李运兴.语篇翻译引论[M].北京:中国对外翻译出版公司,2001.
【中国历史文化英文演讲】推荐阅读：
中国历史小故事演讲06-20
纵观中国历史10-30
中国历史对照01-12
中国历史02-12
中国旅游历史文化09-11
中国历史文化名镇09-13
中国历史文化常识汇总10-08
中国古代历史文化常识03-13
中国历史精品文学05-24
中国历史文学05-24
