从跨文化角度浅析中英讣告差异折射出的生死观差异_英语论文

A Brief Analysis of View of Life and Death behind Obituary Section of Chinese and Western Newspapers through Cross-cultural Approach

摘要

生者如何对待一个人的逝去，不仅跟逝者有关，还很大程度上反映了生者与其所处的社会对待死亡的方式。所有关于死亡的公告都属于讣告，这在西方报刊中占据重要地位。但是，中国报刊中讣闻板块占据的版面微乎其微。因此，本课题从形式和内容两方面着手，从中国传统儒家思想对中华民族生死观的影响以及西方启蒙运动对以英美为主的西方人生死观的影响的角度，来解读中西相同领域旗鼓相当的代表人物讣告，旨在说明中国更加注重亡者社会价值，而西方更加注重亡者个人感受和价值的论点。除了名人外，本课题也会涉及普通群众的逝世，因为他们才是讣闻板块的主体。

关键词：讣告；中西报刊；生死观；文化差异

Abstract

How the survivor deals with a man’s death says a great deal not only about the deceased individual’s life but also about the survivor and his society’s approaches to death. All announcements about death are subsumed under “Obituary” section, which is a very prominent feature of most Western newspapers. Chinese newspapers, however, pay less attention to this section due to various reasons. Thus, this thesis will focus on the obituary difference in newspapers from structure to content, analyzing the viewpoints on life and death, affected by Confucianism in China and the Enlightenment in Western world. Examples are to be given of the figure in China and his or her counterpart in Western world of the same field or industry in order to come to the conclusion that Chinese cherish social value of the dead, while the Westerner personal feeling and contribution. Besides the figures, the unknown ones will also be mentioned as they are the majority in daily obituary.

Keywords: obituary; Chinese and Western newspapers; view of life and death; cultural difference

Contents

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review2

3.The Obituary’s Structural Difference between Chinese and Western Newspaper2

4.The Obituary’s Content Difference between Chinese and Western Newspaper (Analysis Based on Excerpt Obituaries).4

4.1 Politics — a constant theme in both4

4.2 Confucianism and its influence 5

4.3 The Enlightenment and its influence...9

5. Conclusion.11

Works Cited 12