《美国文化背景 第4版(汉英对照)》以阐释美国社会的传统基本价值观为出发点,将美国的发展历程、社会时事与大量研究结构、民调数据进行整合,阐释传统基本价值观的由来,以及这些价值观对美国的各种制度和生活,例如宗教、商业、政府、种族关系、教育、娱乐和家庭等方方面面的影响。 本书不仅介绍了美国文化的内涵、发展和变化,更具备精心设计的丰富学习内容,可提升读者的语言能力。在每一章前后都有注重词汇、阅读、写作、讨论等能力的练习,同时提供多种鼓励交流、创新的研究活动内容。参考译文、指导手册及参考答案的加入使阅读和学习过程更加得心应手。
Why is it that some writers struggle for months to come up withthe perfect sentence or phrase while others, hunched over akeyboard deep into the night, seem unable to stop writing? In TheMidnight Disease, neurologist Alice W. Flaherty explores themysteries of literary creativity: the drive to write, what sparksit, and what extinguishes it. She draws on intriguing examples frommedical case studies and from the lives of writers, from FranzKafka to Anne Lamott, from Sylvia Plath to Stephen King. Flaherty,who herself has grappled with episodes of compulsive writing andblock, also offers a compelling personal account of her ownexperiences with these conditions.
The cowboy that enigmatic, larger-than-life icon of our culturehas long been considered a figure of fast hands, steel nerves, andfew words. But according to Ramon Adams, cowboys, once amongthemselves, enjoyed a vivid, often boisterous repartee. You mightsay that around a campfire they could make more noise than ajackass in a tin barn. Here in one volume is a complete guide tocowboy-speak. Like many of todays foreign language guides, thishandy book is organized not alphabetically but situationally, lestyou find yourself in Texas at a loss for words. There are sectionson the ranch, the cowboys duties, riding equipment, the roundup,roping, branding, even square dancing. There are words and phrasesyoull recognize because theyve filtered into everyday language bluelightnin, star gazin, the whole shebang plus countless others that,sadly, are seldom heard in current speech: lonely as a preacher onpay night, restless as a hen on a hot griddle, crooked as a snakein a cactus patch. As entertaining as it is authoritati