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I aim to reveal in terms of a general theory of interpretation the typical situation in which a stranger finds himself in his attempt to interpret the cultural pattern of a social group which he approaches and to orient himself within it. For our present purposes the term “stranger” shall mean an adult individual of our times and civilization who tries to be permanently accepted or at least tolerated by the group which he approaches. The outstanding example for the social situation under scrutiny is that of the immigrant, and the following analyses are, as a matter of convenience, worked out with this instance. But by no means is their validity restricted to this special case. The applicant for membership in a closed club, the prospective bridegroom who wants to be admitted to the girl’s family, the farmer’s son who enters college, the city-dweller who settles in a rural environment, the “selectee” who joins the Army, the family of the worker who moves into a boom town—all are strangers according to the definition just given,although in these cases the typical “crisis” that the immigrant undergoes may assume milder forms or even be entirely absent.
As a convenient starting point we shall investigate how the cultural pattern of group life presents itself to the common sense of a man who lives his everyday life within the group among his fellow-men. Following the customary terminology, we use the term “cultural pattern of group life” for designating all the peculiar valuations, institutions, and systems of orientation and guidance (such as the folkways, mores, laws, habits, customs, etiquette, fashions) which, in the common opinion of sociologists of our time, characterize—if not constitute—any social group at a given moment in its history. This cultural pattern, like any phenomenon of the social world, has a different aspect for the sociologist and for the man who acts and thinks within it. The sociologist (as sociologist, not as a man among fellow-men which he remains in his private life) is the disinterested scientific onlooker of the social world. He is disinterested in that he intentionally refrains from participating in the network of plans, means, and-ends relations, motives and chances, hopes and fears, which the actor within the social world uses for interpreting his experiences of it;as a scientist he tries to observe,describe, and classify the social world as clearly as possible in well-ordered terms in accordance with the scientific ideals of coherence, consistency,and analytical consequence.
The actor within the social world, however, experiences it primarily as a field of his actual and possible acts and only secondarily as an object of his thinking. In so far as he is interested in knowledge of his social world, he organizes this knowledge not in terms of a scientific system but in terms of relevance to his actions. This system of knowledge thus acquired—incoherent, inconsistent, and only partially clear, as it is—takes on for the members of the in-group the appearance of a sufficient coherence, clarity, and consistency to give anybody a reasonable chance of understanding and of being understood. Any member born or reared within the group accepts the ready-made standardized scheme of the cultural pattern handed down to him by ancestors, teachers, and authorities as an unquestioned and unquestionable guide in all the situations which normally occur within the social world. The knowledge correlated to the cultural pattern carries its evidence in itself, or, rather, it is taken for granted in the absence of evidence to the contrary. It is a knowledge of trustworthy recipes for interpreting the social world and for handling things and men in order to obtain the best results in every situation with a minimum of effort by avoiding undesirable consequences.
1.In what way does the immigrant’s predicament differ to that of the other “strangers”?
2.Why does the author use the word “peculiar” when describing the components of a “cultural pattern”?
3.According to the author, how does a sociologist examine “cultural patterns”?
4.According to the author, what effect do “cultural patterns” have on members of society?
5.Why are “cultural patterns” readily accepted by society?

问题1选项
A.The language barrier that hinders the immigrant’s acceptance in a new environment.
B.The immigrant experiences a distinctive acclimatization.
C.Psychological upset causes difficulty for the immigrant’s assimilation.
D.The immigrant begins with a “clean slate” whereas the others do not.
问题2选项
A.To point out the eccentricities of culture and tradition.
B.To say that the values of one culture are inferior to another.
C.To stress the importance of ritual and convention.
D.To reveal the outside perspective of an observer.
问题3选项
A.He develops a systematic approach to studying culture and displays no prejudice.
B.He believes that culture exhibits no consequence on human behavior.
C.He generates certain preconceptions before studying cultural patterns.
D.He scrutinizes the analogous patterns in a variety of cultures.
问题4选项
A.Cultural patterns are observed but frequently change.
B.Cultural patterns diverge from human’s primal instincts.
C.Cultural patterns create unfavorable outcomes.
D.Cultural patterns establish a behavioral norm.
问题5选项
A.They are customary and irrevocable.
B.They are carried from one generation to the next for cultural preservation.
C.They are tools of understanding and managing social interactions.
D.They are consistent therefore encouraging social convention.
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