# 第四册 Lesson 44 Patterns of culture 文化的模式

## 一、课文原文

Custom has not commonly been regarded as a subject of any great moment. The inner workings of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behaviour at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behaviour more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberrant. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role that custom plays in experience and in belief, and the very great varieties it may manifest.

No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. Even in his philosophical probings he cannot go behind these stereotypes; his very concepts of the true and the false will still have reference to his particular traditional customs. John Dewey has said in all seriousness that the part played by custom in shaping the behaviour of the individual, as against any way in which he can affect traditional custom, is as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue against those words of his own baby talk that are taken up into the vernacular of his family. When one seriously studies the social orders that have had the opportunity to develop autonomously, the figure becomes no more than an exact and matter-of-fact observation. The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. From the moment of his birth, the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviour. By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities, its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities. Every child that is born into his group will share them with him, and no child born into one on the opposite side of the globe can ever achieve the thousandth part. There is no social problem it is more incumbent upon us to understand than this of the role of custom. Until we are intelligent as to its laws and varieties, the main complicating facts of human life must remain unintelligible.

The study of custom can be profitable only after certain preliminary propositions have been accepted, and some of these propositions have been violently opposed. In the first place, any scientific study requires that there be no preferential weighting of one or another of the items in the series it selects for its consideration. In all the less controversial fields, like the study of cacti or termites or the nature of nebulae, the necessary method of study is to group the relevant material and to take note of all possible variant forms and conditions. In this way, we have learned all that we know of the laws of astronomy, or of the habits of the social insects, let us say. It is only in the study of man himself that the major social sciences have substituted the study of one local variation, that of Western civilization.

Anthropology was by definition impossible, as long as these distinctions between ourselves and the primitive, ourselves and the barbarian, ourselves and the pagan, held sway over people's minds. It was necessary first to arrive at that degree of sophistication where we no longer set our own belief against our neighbour's superstition. It was necessary to recognize that these institutions which are based on the same premises, let us say the supernatural, must be considered together, our own among the rest.

— RUTH BENEDICT, *Patterns of Culture*

## 二、重点词汇详解

| 单词 | 音标 | 词性 | 释义 | 用法说明 |
|------|------|------|------|----------|
| moment | /ˈməʊmənt/ | n. | 重要性 | of any great moment 有重大重要性 |
| commonplace | /ˈkɒmənpleɪs/ | adj. | 平凡的，普通的 | behaviour at its most commonplace 最平凡的行为 |
| aberrant | /əˈberənt/ | adj. | 异常的，偏离常规的 | no matter how aberrant 无论多么异常 |
| predominant | /prɪˈdɒmɪnənt/ | adj. | 占主导地位的 | predominant role 主导作用 |
| pristine | /ˈprɪstiːn/ | adj. | 原始的，纯洁的 | with pristine eyes 用纯净的眼光 |
| stereotype | /ˈsteriətaɪp/ | n. | 刻板印象，老套 | go behind these stereotypes 超越这些刻板印象 |
| vernacular | /vəˈnækjələ/ | n. | 本国语，方言 | the vernacular of his family 他家庭的日常用语 |
| autonomously | /ɔːˈtɒnəməsli/ | adv. | 自主地 | develop autonomously 自主发展 |
| accommodation | /əˌkɒməˈdeɪʃn/ | n. | 适应，迁就 | an accommodation to 对……的适应 |
| incumbent | /ɪnˈkʌmbənt/ | adj. | 有责任的，义不容辞的 | incumbent upon us 我们义不容辞的 |
| unintelligible | /ˌʌnɪnˈtelɪdʒəbl/ | adj. | 无法理解的 | remain unintelligible 仍然无法理解 |
| preliminary | /prɪˈlɪmɪnəri/ | adj. | 初步的，预备的 | preliminary propositions 初步命题 |
| preferential | /ˌprefəˈrenʃl/ | adj. | 优待的，偏袒的 | preferential weighting 优先加权 |
| barbarian | /bɑːˈbeəriən/ | n. | 野蛮人 | 不同于"civilized"人的称呼 |
| pagan | /ˈpeɪɡən/ | n. | 异教徒 | 非基督教信仰者 |

**固定搭配：**
- **as a matter of fact**：事实上
- **the other way around**：恰恰相反
- **first and foremost**：首先，首要
- **hold sway over**：支配，统治

## 三、语法知识点

### 1. 宾语前置

> The inner workings of our own brains **we feel to be** uniquely worthy of investigation

- 正常语序：We feel the inner workings of our own brains to be...
- 宾语前置以强调

### 2. 插入语

> custom, **we have a way of thinking**, is behaviour at its most commonplace

we have a way of thinking 为插入语，修饰整个句子的语气。

### 3. as...as... 比喻结构

> the part played by custom...is **as** the proportion of the total vocabulary...**against** those words of his own baby talk

- 用母语词汇量 vs 婴儿语词汇量的比例
- 比喻习俗对个人的塑造力远大于个人对习俗的影响

### 4. 虚拟语气

> any scientific study requires that there **be** no preferential weighting

require that + 动词原形（be），表示要求。

## 四、重点句型分析

### 句型1：倒装强调

> No man ever looks at the world with **pristine eyes**

- 否定词 No 置于句首
- "pristine eyes"——纯洁的眼睛，无人能以完全客观的眼光看世界

### 句型2：排比递进

> By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities, **its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities**

- 三个并列短语，节奏感强
- 强调文化对个人的全面渗透

### 句型3：对比结构

> It is only in the study of man himself that the major social sciences have substituted the study of **one local variation**, that of **Western civilization**

- 强调句型
- 讽刺：社会科学只研究西方文明这一种"地方变异"

## 五、课文翻译

习俗通常不被认为是一个重要的课题。我们觉得我们自己大脑的内部运作才值得研究，而习俗，我们惯于认为，是最平凡的行为。事实上恰恰相反。全世界的传统习俗，是一大套比任何个人在个人行为中所能形成的行为更为令人惊叹的详细行为，不管这种行为多么异常。然而这只是这个问题的一个相当次要的方面。最重要的事实是习俗在经验和信仰中所起的主导作用，以及它可能表现出的极大差异。

没有人曾以纯净的眼光看世界。他看到的世界被一套特定的习俗、制度和思维方式所"编辑"过。即使在他的哲学探索中，他也无法超越这些刻板印象；他关于真和假的概念仍然参照他特定的传统习俗。约翰·杜威极其严肃地说过，习俗在塑造个人行为方面的作用——相对于个人能影响传统习俗的任何方式——就像母语的全部词汇量与他婴儿时期被家庭采用的那些词的比例一样。当认真研究那些有机会自主发展的社会秩序时，这个比喻不过是一个精确的、实事求是的观察。个人的生活史首先是对他所在社区传统传下来的模式和标准的适应。从出生的那一刻起，他所生于其中的习俗就塑造着他的经验和行为。到他能说话时，他已是他的文化的小小产物；到他长大成人能参与文化活动时，它的习惯就是他的习惯，它的信仰就是他的信仰，它的不可能就是他的不可能。每个出生在他群体中的孩子都将与他共享这些，而出生在地球另一端群体中的孩子连千分之一也达不到。没有比理解习俗的作用这个问题更义不容辞的社会问题了。在我们了解其规律和差异之前，人类生活的主要复杂事实必定仍然无法理解。

只有在某些初步命题被接受之后，对习俗的研究才能有所收获，而其中一些命题曾遭到激烈反对。首先，任何科学研究都要求在它选择考虑的系列项目中不对任何一个给予偏袒的加权。在所有争议较少的领域，如对仙人掌或白蚁或星云性质的研究，必要的研究方法是将相关材料归类并注意所有可能的变异形式和条件。这样，我们学到了关于天文学规律或社会昆虫习性的一切知识。只有在人类自身的研究中，主要社会科学才用对一个地方变异——即西方文明——的研究来代替。

只要我们与原始人、我们与野蛮人、我们与异教徒之间的这些区别还支配着人们的思想，人类学从定义上就是不可能的。首先必须达到那种成熟程度，即我们不再把自己的信仰对立于邻国的迷信。必须认识到，这些基于相同前提（比如说超自然）的制度必须放在一起考虑，我们自己的制度也在其中。

## 六、语言点精讲

### 1. 写作手法：反转论证

- 开头：习俗被忽视
- 反转：习俗实际上是塑造个人最重要的力量
- 论证：杜威的比喻→排比递进→社会科学的偏颇

### 2. 逻辑结构

| 段落 | 主题 | 论证方式 |
|------|------|----------|
| 第一段 | 习俗的重要性 | 反转论证 |
| 第二段 | 习俗塑造个人 | 杜威比喻+排比 |
| 第三段 | 研究习俗的前提 | 科学方法论证 |
| 第四段 | 人类学的条件 | 历史+逻辑 |

### 3. 文化背景

- Ruth Benedict（1887-1948）：美国著名文化人类学家
- 《Patterns of Culture》（1934）是人类学经典
- John Dewey（1859-1952）：美国实用主义哲学家

### 4. 修辞分析

- "pristine eyes"——隐喻
- "edited by a definite set of customs"——拟物
- "its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs"——排比
- "our own belief against our neighbour's superstition"——讽刺

## 七、课后练习要点

1. **词汇练习**：掌握 aberrant、predominant、pristine、incumbent、vernacular 等核心词
2. **语法练习**：宾语前置；插入语；require that + 动词原形
3. **翻译练习**：注意杜威比喻的翻译；排比结构的处理
4. **写作练习**：模仿反转论证法，讨论一个被忽视的重要问题

## 八、本课小结

本课论述习俗在人类生活中的主导地位。核心观点：**习俗比个人行为更令人惊叹，它塑造了每个人的经验和信仰，研究习俗必须摒弃以西方文明为中心的偏见**。作者通过反转论证、杜威比喻和排比递进，有力地说明了习俗的决定性作用。语法重点为宾语前置和 require that + 动词原形。