When civilizations clash
文明冲突定义新世界 作者：21ST 时间：2009-01-07
来源：21世纪英文报第786期
英语词汇解析
affiliation 从属关系
antagonism 对抗
counter 对抗
counterproductive 起反作用的
embed 使融进
expire 期满
hawkish 强硬派的
Hindu 印度的
hybrid 混合物
ideology 意识形态
Islamic 伊斯兰的
moderate 温和的
Nazism 纳粹主义
offensive 进攻
Orthodox 东正教的
resolution 解决
Sinic 中国的
vacuum 真空
Yugoslavia 南斯拉夫
BONUS
Here are the key words in the reports on the Israel and Hamas conflict.
air assault
空中打击
air strike
空袭
barrage
弹幕射击
civilian casualtie
平民伤亡
death toll
死亡人数
firepower
火力
ground assault
地面进攻
missile
导弹
offensive
进攻
rocket
火箭炮
operation
行动
SAMUEL Huntington, an American political scientist, argued as early as 1993 that people's cultural and religious identities would be the primary source of conflict in the 21st century. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is a perfect illustration of his point of view.
Huntington, who died last week at 81, achieved fame for his "clash of civilizations" theory. He argued that fights in the new century would be different from those between ideologies, particularly Nazism and Communism, in the 20th century.
"My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states," he said last year, after retiring from his six decades of teaching at Harvard University.
In 1993, Huntington published an article titled The Clash Of Civilizations? in the magazine Foreign Affairs. It prompted immediate controversy, as many had predicted the end of world wars after the Cold War peace resolution.
In his article, Huntington identified eight major civilizations in the world, including the Western, Chinese, Japanese and Islamic civilizations. The West, he said, was "at its peak". He argued that its efforts to promote the values of democracy and liberalism as universal values would only lead to countering responses from other civilizations.
The clash of civilizations would, Huntington suggested, be acted out most violently between the West and the Islamic civilization. But Islam's problems would not just be with the West. Violence would also occur between Muslims and other civilizations, such as the Jews in Israel.
Religion and culture create boundaries
Huntington divided the world into eight major civilizations:
1. Western: centered on North America and Europe
2. Latin America: includes Central America and most of South America
3. Orthodox: includes most of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia
4. Sinic: located chiefly in China, Korea and Singapore
5. Hindu: located chiefly in India and Nepal
6. Japanese: a hybrid of Chinese civilization and older civilizations in northeast Asia
7. Islamic: located chiefly in the Middle East and north West Africa
8. African: located in most parts of Africa
Lines of miscommunication
Emerging conflict between civilizations as predicted by Huntington. Greater line thickness represents a more conflictual relationship.
|