外教社会全面贯彻教育部关于《大学英语课程教学要求》的精神,策划推邮适合各高校师生选用的大学英语提高阶段实用型选修课系列教材,包括语言技能类、应用类、语言文化类和专业英语类等课程。
本书是讲授如何进行跨文化交际的一本教科书;以东西方文化差异产生碰撞案例为轴线,通过阅读与课堂讨论,让学生掌握东西文化沟通的一些**知识。本教材可以:
帮助学生提高英语表达能力。通过阅读与讨论,①学会如何更细腻地表述自己人的思想。②学会如何在讨论中有效地传递自己的思想。帮助学生培养良好的跨文化交际习惯和技能。帮助学生了解西方文化的一些基本特征及跨文化交际的基本概念。帮助教师增进对跨文化交际、对其学生的文化,以及对自身文化教育的理解。
本教材因着生课堂讨论,不仅适用于跨文化交际课程,也适用于口语训练课程。

Acknowledgements
To the Teacher: Teaching Encounters with Westerners
Unit 1
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Suggesting Possibilities
ENCOUNTER: The Taxi
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Intercultural Communication and Understanding Westerners
LETTER TO FRAN: Not Eating
FRAN'S RESPONSE: Not Eating
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Individualist and Collectivist Cultures
Unit 2
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Different Degrees of Probability
ENCOUNTER: The Gift
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Interpreting What Foreigners Mean
LETTER TO FRAN: A Helping Hand
FRAN'S RESPONSE: A Helping Hand
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Public and Private Behavior
Unit 3
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Making and Qualifying Generalizations
ENCOUNTER: Mistakes
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Generalizations and Stereotypes
LETTER TO FRAN: Who Pays?
FRAN'S RESPONSE: Who Pays?
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Difference in Rank and Power
Unit 4
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Feelings and Parts of Speech
ENCOUNTER: The Invitation
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Stress in Intercultural Encounters
LETTER TO FRAN: The Shopper
FRAN'S RESPONSE: The Shopper
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Western Communication Styles
Unit 5
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Asking Personal Questions
ENCOUNTER: Living Together
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Projected Cultural Similarity
LETTER TO FRAN: The Goodnight Kiss
FRAN'S RESPONSE: The Goodnight Kiss
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Conformity in Western Cultures
Unit 6
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Challenging Assumptions
ENCOUNTER: Grandma
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Ethnocentrism
LETTER TO FRAN: Cars
FRAN'S RESPONSE: Cars
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Family Relationships in the US
Unit 7
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Acknowledging Other Points of View
ENCOUNTER: The English Club
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: In-Groups and Out-Groups
LETTER TO FRAN: Critics
FRAN'S RESPONSE: Critics
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: In/Out-Groups in Collectivist and Individualist Cultures
Unit 8
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Conceding a Point
ENCOUNTER: Borrowing
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: War Stories
LETTER TO FRAN: Exceptions
FRAN'S RESPONSE: Exceptions
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Dealing with Conflict
Unit 9
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Checking and Clarifying
ENCOUNTER: Left Out of the Conversation
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Being an Effective Intercultural Communicator
LETTER TO FRAN: An American Friend
FRAN'S RESPONSE: An American Friend
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Friendship Patterns
Unit 10
LANGUAGE TOOLS: Clarifying Your Point
ENCOUNTER: Grades
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION READING: Giving the Benefit of the Doubt
LETTER TO FRAN: Out of the Nest
FRAN'S RESPONSE: Out of the Nest
CULTURE DIFFERENCE READING: Advice for Communicating with Westerners