大學(xué)英語畢業(yè)論文-Re-exploring-O.-Henrys-Short-Stories-A-Corpus-Based-Pilot-Study

Re-exploring

O.

Henry’s

Short

Stories——ACorpus-BasedPilotStudy【摘

要】本文試圖采用語料庫的方法從文體學(xué)視角分析歐?亨利小說集《四百萬》。研究揭示，通過語料庫軟件計算出的總體統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)，為有關(guān)歐?亨利小說廣泛認(rèn)同的文學(xué)闡釋提供了更為具體的描述基礎(chǔ)。在探討小說場景和基本主題方面，重現(xiàn)序列的搭配及頻數(shù)信息發(fā)現(xiàn)了前人并未關(guān)注過的語言學(xué)特征。Abstract：This

article

attempts

to

apply

corpus-based

method

to

a

stylistic

interpretation

of

O.

Henry’s

short

story

collection

The

Four

Million.

It

is

shown

that

the

overall

statistics

computed

by

corpus

software

has

provided

a

more

detailed

descriptive

basis

for

widely

accepted

literary

interpretations

of

his

stories.

In

terms

of

story

settings

and

general

themes,

the

collocation

and

frequency

information

of

recurrent

sequences

can

identify

valuable

linguistic

features

which

literary

critics

seem

not

to

have

noticed.

Key

words：corpus;

O.Henry;

setting;

theme1.Introduction

Henry

was

called

the

American

Guy

De

Maupassant.

Both

authors

wrote

twist

endings,

but

O.

Henry’s

stories

were

much

more

playful

and

optimistic.

Among

the

former

studies

on

O.Henry’s

short

stories,

there

is

consensus

that

O.Henry’s

works

are

generally

branded

with

such

features

as

surprising

endings,

use

of

coincidence

or

chance

to

create

humor,

ingenious

and

exquisite

layouts,

smile-in-tears

irony

and

so

forth.

Despite

the

detailed

literary

discussion,

little

work

has

been

done

to

reveal

its

linguistic

styles.

Nor

is

there

work

with

quantitative

data

as

convincing

evidence.

In

terms

of

the

established

description

of

his

style,

it

seems

unlikely

that

the

corpus-based

method

can

find

anything

original.

However,

the

stylistic

analysis

in

the

present

paper

aims

to

illustrate

the

value

of

corpus

empirical

method

in

exploring

the

literary

styles.

On

the

one

hand,

statistic

data

help

to

confirm

the

canonical

view

on

O.Henry’s

short

stories;

on

the

other

hand,

stylistics

is

related

to

linguistic

features

of

his

works.

2.Data

and

Methodology

This

paper

is

devoted

to

investigating

the

linguistic

styles

of

O.Henry’s

works

in

an

empirical

way,

applying

both

quantitative

and

qualitative

methods.

The

study

adopts

two

corpora.

One

is

O.Henry’s

book

The

Four

Million

(a

collection

of

stories),

published

in

1906,

contains

a

series

of

short

stories

which

took

place

in

the

New

York

City

in

the

early

years

of

the

20th

century.

The

computer

readable

versions

available

on

the

internet

are

used

to

set

up

a

minor

working

corpus

for

investigation

(/read/thefourmillion.html).

The

other

one

is

Brown

corpus

used

as

a

reference

corpus.

The

corpus

concordance

software

used

in

this

study

is

Wordsmith

tools.

Wordsmith

can

undertake

more

detailed

analyses

of

frequencies

of

concordance

items

and

extract

collocational

information.

By

use

of

corpora

software,

words

with

significant

keyness

in

the

book

The

Four

Million

will

be

sorted

out

first,

and

then

concordance

lines

with

a

keyword

and

its

collocates

will

be

extracted.

The

corpora

data

will

be

processed

by

statistical

instruments.3.Overall

StatisticsThe

overall

statistics

are

one

essential

starting

point

for

a

systematic

corpus-based

textual

analysis.

Wordsmith

Tools

are

used

to

provide

the

overall

statistics

of

the

two

corpora

and

comparison

is

made

as

shown

in

Table

3.1.

Table

3.1

Comparison

of

Overall

Statistics

between

the

Two

Corporatext

file

in

text

types

(distinct

words)

type/token

ratio

(TTR)

standardised

TTR

standardised

TTR

basis

mean

sentence

length

(in

words)

mean

word

length

(in

characters)

word

length

std.dev.

Overall

of

Mini52,7708,2511646.971,000.001542.24Overall

of

Brown1,390,50547,146439.071,000.002352.52In

terms

of

the

number

of

tokens,

the

corpus

for

the

present

study

seems

rather

small

compared

with

that

of

Brown.

However,

the

observed

standardized

type-token

ratio

(TTR)

in

the

minor

working

corpus

is

higher

than

that

of

Brown.

The

higher

the

ratio

is,

the

more

lexical

variation

it

reflects.

The

result

is

not

quite

surprising,

for

the

fact

that

O.Henry

was

notable

for

writing

stories

with

a

diversity

of

expressions.

The

mean

sentence

length

shows

that

O.Henry

wrote

shorter

sentences

than

those

in

general

written

texts.

In

each

of

his

short

stories,

several

incidents

and

clues

are

condensed

into

merely

750

words

or

so.

Naturally,

sentences

in

shorter

length

can

deliver

new

information

in

a

flash

of

time.

It

takes

less

time

for

readers

to

follow

up

the

development

of

the

dramatic

plot.

Fundamentally

a

product

of

his

time,

O.

Henry#39;s

work

provides

one

of

the

best

English

examples

of

catching

the

entire

flavor

of

an

age.

Whether

roaming

the

cattle-lands

of

Texas,

exploring

the

art

of

the

‘gentle

grafter’,

or

investigating

the

tensions

of

class

and

wealth

in

turn-of-the-century

New

York,

O.

Henry

had

an

inimitable

hand

for

isolating

some

element

of

society

and

describing

it

with

an

incredible

economy

and

grace

of

language.

4.Keyword

Analysis

for

SettingsSetting

is

an

indispensable

constituent

for

story

telling.

Setting

basically

includes

several

closely

related

aspects

–

the

time

in

which

the

event

or

action

takes

place,

the

place

where

the

event

or

action

takes

place

and

social

environment

of

the

characters:

the

manners,

customs,

moral

values

that

govern

the

characters’

society.

In

the

present

study,

the

information

of

the

first

two

aspects

can

be

provided

by

sorting

out

the

keywords

of

the

texts

as

Table

4.1

shows.Indoor

places

room,

restaurant,

Bogle’s,

Cypher’s,

store,

flat,

door,

window,

dresser,

table,

skylight,

floor,

desk,bench,

street,

corner,

sidewalk,

Broadway,

avenue,

park,Denoting

timeevening,

night,

o’clock,

It

is

strikingly

interesting

that

two

out

of

three

keywords

explicitly

refer

to

the

time

at

or

after

sunset,

including

‘evening’,

and

‘night’.

More

interestingly,

almost

all

the

collocations

of

‘o’clock’

indicate

the

right

time

from

the

late

afternoon

till

the

late

night.

The

following

concordance

lines

provide

evidence.

1.s

were

few.

The

time

was

barely

10

o#39;clock

at

night,

but

chilly

gusts

of

wind2.ey

Donovan#39;s

paper-box

girl.

At

10

o#39;clock

the

jolly

round

face

of

"Big

Mike"3.heatres

are

stupid,

anyway."

At

11

o#39;clock

that

night

somebody

tapped

lightly4.ant

to

overshadow

her

friend.

At

4

o#39;clock

on

the

afternoon

of

the

third

day

M5.upper

windows

lighted?

Well,

at

6

o#39;clock

I

stood

in

that

house

with

the

youn6.a

strike-breaker#39;s

motor

car.

At

6

o#39;clock

the

waiter

brought

her

dinner

and

c7.e

to

thinking.

One

evening

about

6

o#39;clock

my

mistress

ordered

him

to

get

busy8.lar

and

eighty-

seven

cents?"

At

7

o#39;clock

the

coffee

was

made

and

the

frying-9.ging

mistress.

It

was

most

times

7

o#39;clock

when

he

returned

in

the

evening.

At10.coddled,

praised

and

kissed

at

7

o#39;clock.

Art

is

an

engaging

mistress.

It

wa11.We

were

married

last

evening

at

8

o#39;clock

in

the

Little

Church

Around

the

Cor12.ew

samples

this

morning.

It#39;s

9.45

o#39;clock,

and

not

a

single

picture

hat

or

pi13.g

happiness

to

your

son."

At

eight

o#39;clock

the

next

evening

Aunt

Ellen

took

a14.by

we

moved

out,

for

#39;twas

eleven

o#39;clock,

and

stands

a

bit

upon

the

sidewalk15.d

you

burn

your

hand,

Dele?"

"Five

o#39;clock,

I

think,"

said

Dele,

plaintively.16.be

happening?"

asked

Ikey.

"Nine

o#39;clock,"

said

Mr.

McGowan.

"Supper#39;s

at

se17.ook

to

make

him

think

it!"

At

nine

o#39;clock

Dulcie

took

a

tin

box

of

crackers

a18.he

announced.

"It

was

exactly

ten

o#39;clock

when

we

parted

here

at

the

restauraFurther

observation

of

the

file

names

in

the

corpus

leads

to

a

conclusion

that

all

stories

except

one

happened

to

take

place

from

dusk

to

the

late

night.

Is

there

any

coincidence?

Perhaps

in

the

daytime

the

common

masses

in

New

York

were

excessively

busy

with

worrying

about

their

means

of

livelihood.

Only

after

work

or

after

supper

did

they

have

time

to

take

part

in

some

social

activities,

such

as

‘dinner’,

‘ball’,

‘café’,

‘park’,

and

‘play’

which

appear

in

the

context

of

the

three

temporal

keywords.

This

is

a

reflection

of

social

and

cultural

contexts

at

the

early

1920s

in

America.

People,

whether

poor

or

rich,

would

like

to

take

a

cup

of

coffee

in

a

café

or

have

a

glass

of

drink

at

a

pub.

Young

girls

dreamed

of

dancing

with

their

beloved

partners

at

the

ball

of

the

lower

class.

The

noun

keywords

about

the

physical

places

where

the

events

took

place

can

be

roughly

grouped

into

two

types:

indoor

places

and

outdoor

places.

Some

unexpected

incidents

might

happen

in

a

‘room’,

‘restaurant’,

‘flat’,

‘store’,

or

on

the

second

‘floor’,

or

even

near

a

‘dresser’,

‘table’

and

‘desk’

inside.

They

are

such

common

and

everyday

places

that

one

can’t

expect

any

conspicuous

incident

to

happen

at

these

places.

However,

the

author

was

wise

enough

to

arrange

his

unusual

stories

in

quite

ordinary

settings.

Other

adventures

might

be

experienced

at

the

‘street’,

‘corner’,

‘sidewalk’,

or

at

the

Second

‘Avenue’,

or

even

on

the

‘bench’

in

a

little

‘park’.

In

O.Henry’s

stories

there

were

no

places

of

imposing

scale

or

unique

style.

But

they

were

places

perfectly

matched

with

the

stories

of

the

common

people.

Whether

in

the

indoor

places

like

‘restaurant’,

‘store’

and

‘flat’,

or

at

the

outdoor

places

like

‘street’,

‘corner’

and

‘sidewalk’,

there

embedded

some

unknown

possibilities

for

the

coming

events.

It

was

at

these

inconspicuous

and

ordinary

places

that

the

unexpected

and

accidental

coincidences

took

place

all

the

time.

O.Henry

is

good

at

writing

about

ordinary

people

in

everyday

circumstances.

He

is

quoted

as

once

saying,

‘There

are

stories

in

everything.

I’ve

got

some

of

my

best

yarns

from

park

benches,

lampposts

and

newspaper

stands.’A

range

of

frequent

noun

keywords

help

to

figure

out

the

major

themes

in

O.Henry’s

works.

To

better

investigate

what

these

noun

keywords

reveal,

it

is

necessary

to

further

categorize

them

according

to

their

denotations.

The

following

Table

5.1

shows

the

categorization.

Table

5.1

Frequent

Noun

Keywords

in

the

minor

corpusDenoting

people

Genders

Professions

Characteristics

Man,

lady,

girl,

Miss,

Mr.,

Missis,policeman,

palmist,

waiter,

broker,

lumberman,

typewriter,cosmopolite,

friend,

longnecker,

prince,

gentleman,cab,

fare,

hat,

cents,

twenty,

odour,

coat,

cigar,

dollars,

dandelions,

two,

doggie,

card,

clock,

cards,

umbrella,

money,

art,

adventure,

hop,

leaf,

Rubberneck,

dinnerNoun

keywords

can

expose

explicit

topics

rather

than

the

underlying

themes

in

the

texts.

As

seen

in

Table

5.1,

a

majority

of

nouns

are

used

to

denote

people,

either

distinguishing

the

characters’

genders

or

professions

or

describing

their

special

traits.

It

is

notable

that

such

professions

were

usually

taken

up

by

people

in

the

middle

or

lower

social

classes.

Only

a

few

of

them

were

lucky

enough

to

make

their

fortune

and

control

their

own

lives;

whereas

most

of

them

who

earned

their

mere

living

were

controlled

by

their

miserable

fates.

Most

of

O.

Henry#39;s

stories

took

place

in

the

New

York

City,

and

dealt

for

the

most

part

with

ordinary

people:

clerks,

policemen,

and

waitresses.

It

is

the

author’s

rich

life

experiences

and

burdens

of

life

pressure

that

became

the

source

of

depicting

such

a

variety

of

professions.

Another

larger

group

of

noun

keywords

denoting

things

are

scattered

in

different

stories.

They

are

closely

related

with

the

theme

of

each

story;

therefore,

it

is

unlikely

to

make

any

generalization.

However,

the

concordance

lines

of

the

numeral

words

‘twenty’

and

‘two’

sorted

out

some

distinctive

collocational

sequences

that

attract

our

attention.

Both

frequently

co-occur

with

temporal

nouns.

In

the

case

of

‘twenty’,

more

than

40

per

cent

of

its

occurrences

(nineteen

out

of

42

frequencies)

are

accompanied

by

temporal

words,

such

as

‘years,

minutes,

hours,

days,

seconds’.

The

word

‘two’

is

also

likely

to

appear

with

temporal

nouns,

such

as

‘weeks,

hours,

days,

years,

minutes’.

Such

sequences

of

numbers

and

temporal

nouns

indicate

that

most

of

O.Henry’s

short

stories

develop

for

a

short

period.

Some

events

took

weeks

or

days

to

develop,

and

other

anecdotes

might

come

to

an

end

in

a

moment.

As

discussed

above,

the

longest

passage

of

time

turns

out

to

be

‘twenty

years’,

which

is

entirely

related

with

the

story

‘After

Twenty

Years’.

This

reflects

another

realistic

feature

that

in

his

stories

events

usually

happened

at

a

specific

time.

The

merits

of

concrete

description

of

time

shorten

the

distance

between

the

characters

inside

the

story

and

the

readers

outside.

There

is

true

love

in

his

stories.

‘Love’

as

one

keyword

stands

out

to

praise

the

touching

true

love

between

a

destitute

couple.

Either

in

‘The

Gift

of

the

Magi’

or

in

‘A

Service

of

Love’,

the

couple

in

the

humble

circumstance

helped

and

loved

each

other

unselfishly

and

wholeheartedly.

Their

perfect

and

innocent

love

bound

up

in

the

fetters

of

money

seemed

even

more

impressive

and

moving.

6.Conclusion

Through

corpus-based

method,

stylistics

of

O.Henry’s

one

collection

of

short

stories

has

been

explored.

As

Stubbs

(2005:

21-22)

proposes,

‘…

observational

data

can

provide

more

systematic

evidence

for

unavoidable

subjective

interpretation’.

Different

from

the

former

studies

on

O.Henry’s

works,

the

present

paper

has

attempted

to

delay

interpretation

and

prolong

analysis,

giving

weight

to

quantitative

investigation.

The

keywords

and

concord

functions

of

Wordsmith

Tools

attribute

to

find

out

or

reconfirm

some

unique

features

of

O.Henry’s

works.

The

paper

has

come

to

the

following

conclusions:（1）The

higher

TTR

in

the

working

corpus

proves

O.Henry’s

lexical

diversity

and

witty

narration.

The

shorter

mean

sentence

length

reveals

that

his

stories

progress

rapidly,

and

show

a

rigid

economy

of

words,

which

are

customarily

short

–

most

of

the

stories

run

about

eight

hundred

words.

（2）The

frequent

noun

keywords

give

a

clue

to

the

setting

of

O.Henry’s

short

stories.

The

temporal

keywords

tell

that

all

but

one

story

happened

in

the

evening

and

the

duration

of

time

was

not

long.

Some

accidents

even

took

place

in

a

few

hours.

The

location

keywords

denote

several

ordinary

places

in

a

city

where

something

accidental

might

occur

with

the

author’s

witty

arrangement.

（3）Another

group

of

noun

keywords

casts

light

on

the

general

themes

of

O.Henry’s

short

stories.

Some

identify

people

by

revealing

their

genders,

professions

and

characteristics.

Others

identify

things

that

give

information

of

the

themes

of

stories.

This

is

a

tentative

study

of

corpus-based

stylistic

analysis

on

O.Henry’s

one

collection

of

short

stories.

The

basic

statistic

information

computed

by

Wordsmith

Tools

can

help

reassess

subjective

assertions

in

stylistic

criticism.

A

corpus-based

further

study

is

expected

to

explore

his

styles

in

terms

of

perspective,

characterization

and

language

features.

What

is

more,

the

corpus-based

method

can

be

introduced

into

literature

class

to

help

students

generalize

the

unique

features

of

an

author

in

terms

of

stylistics.

[1]

楊大中.‘荒寂森林和熔巖沙漠’的寫照—?dú)W?亨利都市系列小說簡論[J].外國文學(xué)研究,1991.[2]

阮溫凌.人性藝術(shù)的動情力—?dú)W?亨利小說餐館與玫瑰藝術(shù)賞析[J].

名作欣賞,1992.[3]

Burrows,

J.

F.

Computation

int[4]

<ST1:CITY&NBSP;W:ST="ON"><ST1:PLACE&NBSP;W:ST="ON">Hoover,

D.

L.

Statistical

stylistics

and

authorship

attribution:

an

empirical

investigation

[J].

>Literary

and

Linguistic

Computing,

2001,

16:

421-44.University

Press,

1997.

[6]

Sinclair,

J.

M.

The

Linguistic

Basis

of

Style

[A].

In

H.

Ringbom

(ed.)

Style

and

Text.

<ST1:CITY&NBSP;W:ST="ON"><ST1:PLACE&NBSP;W:ST="ON">Stockholm:

Sprakforlaget

Skriptov

AB

&

Abo

Akademi,

1975.[7]

Tabata,

T.

Narrative

Style

and

the

Frequencies

of

Very

Common

Words

[J].

>English

Corpus

Linguistics,

1995,

2:

91-109.

[8]

Wynne,

M.

Stylistics:

Corpus

Approaches

[A].

In

K.

Brown

(ed.)

Encyclopedia

of

Language

and

Linguistics

(2nd

ed.).

Oxford:

Elsevier,

2006,

pp.

223-5.TheComparisonofFamilyEducation英語畢業(yè)論文----中美家庭教育的比較[Abstract]Inthelastfewyears,withthedevelopmentofdiatheticeducationhasstrickenrootintotheheartsofthepeople,thefamilyeducationhasbeenahotspotofsociety,inwhichtensofthousandsoffamilies#39;vitalbenefitsandurgentneedlie.Because,goodfamilyeducationiscloselyrelatedtochildren#39;squalityandbehaviour,andrelatedtothefutureofourcountry.Atpresent,thesituationoffamilyeducationisgood,largenumberofparentsandschoolshavecreatedsuccessfulexperience,evenmanyparentsstudythefamilyeducationknowledgeinitiatively,theeducationalideahasundergonetheprofoundchange.Nevertheless,thefamilyeducationisstillaweaklink,particularly,AstheWesterneducationalthoughtispenetratingthroughtheEastandfacingthetraditionalandmodernthoughtaboutfamilyeducation,theChineseparentsaretornbetweenthetwochoices.Therefore,developingfamilyeducationiseitheranopportunity,orachallenge.Moreover,ChineseandtheWesternfamilyeducationeachhasitsowngoodpoints,butindifferentaspects,theeducationalmethodsaredifferent,soweneedtounderstandthedifferencesbetweenChineseandWesternfamilyeducation,makeupforone#39;sdeficiencybylearningfromothers#39;strongpoints,andpushforwardthefamilyeducationalmodernizationinstantaneously,inthatcase,Chinawillhavetheinestimableprospects.[keywords]familyeducationchinaandthewesttraditiondifferencecomparison[摘要]近幾年來，隨著素質(zhì)教育的深入人心，家庭教育已經(jīng)成為當(dāng)今社會關(guān)注的一個熱點，是千萬家庭的切身利益和迫切需求所在。因為，良好的家庭教育直接關(guān)系到了孩子的素質(zhì)和品行，更關(guān)系到祖國的未來。就中國目前來看，家庭教育的發(fā)展態(tài)勢良好，一大批家長、學(xué)校創(chuàng)造了成功的經(jīng)驗，更有許多學(xué)生家長主動學(xué)習(xí)家庭教育知識，教育觀念發(fā)生了深刻變化。但是盡管如此，家庭教育仍是一個薄弱環(huán)節(jié)，尤其是隨著西方教育思想的傳入，中國家長面對傳統(tǒng)與現(xiàn)代家教思想，表現(xiàn)出無所適從的無奈。因此，對于開展家庭教育，既是機(jī)遇，又是挑戰(zhàn)。而且，中西家庭教育各有千秋，在不同方面，教育方法也不同，所以我們就需要深刻了解中西家庭教育的差異，取長補(bǔ)短，并且不失時機(jī)地推進(jìn)家庭教育現(xiàn)代化，這樣中國的未來才具有不可估量的發(fā)展前景。[關(guān)鍵詞]家庭教育，中西，傳統(tǒng)，差異，比較Fromancienttimestomoderntimes,familyeducationhasbeenplayinganimportantroleinthenationaleducationalcause.Agreatman-XiaopingDengsaid,“Thebasisofacountry#39;smodernizationliesintalents,thebasisoftalentsliesineducation,andthebasisofeducationliesinfamily.Chinaisacountrywithemphasisonthehomeeducation.Theoutstandinghomeeducationinthedeepeducationculture.”Thefamilyeducation,theschooleducationandthesocialeducationarethethreebigpropsofeducation.Theyareindispensable.Nowadays,increasingattentionhasbeenpaidtofamilyeducationbythemodernsociety,anditgetsahotspotofsociety,whichiscloselyrelatedtotensofthousandsoffamilies#39;vitalbenefitsandurgentneed.Atpresent,familyeducationmaintainsagoodmomentumofgrowthinChina.ItgetsmoreandmoreimportanttoChinesefamilies.Throughouttheages,manymenofinsightworkdelightlyinthefieldofhomeeducation,andaccumulatequitesubstantialachievements.AndChinaisanorientalcountrywithalonghistory,itsdeepeducationalcultureincludestheelementsofexcellentfamilyeducation.Asweallknow,China’sancienteducatinalthoughtwantthroughtheancientfamilyeducationalfield.[“FamilyInstructionofYan”,ZhituiYan,SouthernandNorthernDynasties]Forexample:moralinstructionsfirst;therespectforold;thecarefortheyoung;thecultivationofmoralcharacter;examplesetting;thedeterminationofbeingstrong;learnedprofoundknowledge,carefulconsideration;andsoon.Theseoutstandingthoughtsaregobacktoancienttimes.Nevertheless,therearestillalotofproblemsemergingoutinthatfamilyeducation,whichisstillweak.Theeducationexpertconcerned,whomadethelong-termpursuitofinvestigations,thoughtthat2/3familyeducationisimproper.Alltheanalysisjustifiestheconclusion:thefirst,malignanteventseruptunceasingly.Itnotonlyindicatestheimportanceoffamilyeducation,butindicatestheimportanceandnecessityofcarryingonscientificfamilyeducation;thesecond,incurrenthomeeducation,thereisstillerroneouszone.Itmaybesummarizedas“threeexcess”and“oneexcessiveheight”:thatis,quitesomeparentsareexcessivelyconcernedwiththechildren,excessivelyreatrainandnosedintothechildren#39;saffairs,excessivelychatterandcriticizethechildren,andsomethingexcessiveisexpectedofthechildern.Theseproblemsareinneedofimmediatesolution;Thethird,underthemarketeconomycondition,thereisthemultipleconceptofvalue,theonlychildcommunitygrowsaswellasthedivorcefamiliesincreaseandsoon,allthisbringsaboutmanyunprecedentednewsituationsandnewproblems;Thefourth,ruralpopulationaccountfor80%,thecountrysidehousingdisperses,theconditionisbad,guardian#39;sculturalqualityissomewhatlow,thecountryside#39;sfamilyeducationhasbecomethekeyanddifficultpointndevelopingfamilyeducation.Andatthesametime,withthedevelopmentofeducationalcause,WesterneducationalthoughtspenetrateslowlythroughtheEast.Whenfacingthetraditionalandmodernthoughts,chineseparentsareatalossastowhattochoose.Therefore,directingatsomebadphenomena,weregarditasnecessarytomakeacomparisonbetweenchinesefamilyeducationandwesternfamilyeducation.But,beforethecomparison,weneedtoknowaboutthesocialbackgroundofChinaandWesternCountries.Asweallknow,ChinaisasocialistcountryandmostWesterncountriesbelongtocapitalistcountries.And,theyhavedifferenthistoryandcultures.ChinaadvocatesConfucianismandthewesterncountriesadvocatetherevivalofliteratureandart.Butthemostimportantpointisthattheirattitudetowardsthepositionoffamilyinstitution#39;spositionisalsodifferent.Inchina#39;straditionalfamily,parents#39;authoritativeconsciousnessplaysaleadingrolewhilewesterncivilizationsmainlyemphasizestruggle,equality,democracyandhumanrightshomeOfcourse,homeeducationisakindofhumanity#39;seducationalpractice.ChinaandtheWesternfamilyeducationhavemanythingsincommon.Generallyspeaking,itcanbesummedupasfollows1st,emphasisislaidonfamilyeducation.Nomatterwhichcountryyoucomefrom,whatnationalityyoubelongtoallthinkthefamilyisaperson#39;sfirstschool,andtheparentisthefirstteacher.EitherChinaorWesterncountries,eithertheancienttimesorthemoderntimes,familyeducationisalwaysinthemostfundamentalposition.2nd,familyeducationshouldbestartedsincechildhood,performthedutypromptly.FamilyinstructionofYansaidthat,“Theparentsshoulddothemissionarywork,whentheinfantisyoung.Judgingfromhisfacialexpression,weknowwhetherheisangryorhappy,thengiveinstructions.”[“FamilyInstructionofYan”,ZhituiYan,SouthernandNorthernDynasties]Because“it’seasytoconcentrateachild’sattention.Afterhegrowsup,hisattentioniseasilydispersed,soachildmustbecaughtearly.”Deweyalsothoughtthefamilyeducationshouldbeexecutedearly.3rd,parents#39;unsuilableroledivisionineducationbringsaboutsomebadresults.EitherinChinaorintheWestmotherisalmostdescribedinmanyculturesasthemainfosterer,andthenfatherplaysonlyapart.Thefatheristhemainundertakerwhoteachesthechildtoknowtherationalityeducation.Motherisresponsibleforchild#39;sfoodanddrinkindailylife,thematerialguarantee,theemotionalsatisfactionandsoon,isalsothemainundertakerofchild’semotionalcultivation.Itsresultisthatthechildholdshisfatherinaweandvenerationandcausesthepoorrelationbetweenchildandfather,andthusaffectschild#39;sperfectdevelopment.4th,payattentiontothetrainingthechildren’slongingforknowledge,valuereading.TheChineseparentsofancienttimes,fullyrealizedthistruth,theyguidedthechilderninreadingtheFourBooksandtheFiveClassicswhentheyareyoung,allthevariousschoolsofthought,stimulatedtheirdesireforseekingknowledge.Thewesternparentsalsofocusonfamilyreading.Thechildernmustlistentosectionofstoriesbeforesleeping,andthisisafinetraditionofWesternfamilyeducation.5th,attachimportancetoteachingbypersonalexampleaswellasverbalinstruction.Theparentsarechild#39;smodels,usuallyasimplemovementismoreeffectivethantheinculcationoftenthousandinstructions.However,thetraditionalfamilyeducationinChina,onaccountoftherespectivedifferencesinmoreaspectsisdifferentfromthatintheWest.Theyhavetheirowncharacteristicsbetweenregionsandcultures.Tobeginwith,thetendencyofeducationisdifferent.TheChineseparentslayemphasisonsocialenlightenment,ignorethegrowthofchildren.TheChineseparentstakethesocialcompatibleenlightenmentseriously,butoftenneglectthedevelopmentofchildren#39;scharacteristics,theyoftentrainthechildrenunderestablishedforms,andlaydownthebroadroadfortheirgrowth.Thewesternparentsprovidethechildrenaenvironmentforgrowthresistanttothem,andfostertheirtenaciousindividualityandthegoodconduct,andtheychoosetheirideaandwayofcultivationaccordingtothechangeofsocietyandthecharacteristicofchildrenphysicalandmental.Secondly,thevalueoffamilyeducationisdifferent.ThefunctionofChina’sfamilyeducationisforcedbytheChina’straditionalculture.TheChinesetraditionalConfuciancultureemphasize“thecultivationofone’smoralcharacter,therunningofone’sfamily,theadministrationofastate,thepeaceandsecurityoftheworld”.Inthisdirectionalthought,thefamilyeducationisbestowedonthedirectsocialsignificance.Inaddition,theChinesetraditionalculturealsoregardsthefamilyeducationandchildren#39;sindividualgrowthasthedirectcorrelativecausesandeffects.TheChineseparentscareaboutthereputationineducatingthechild,thinkingeducatingthechildtobecomeausefulpersonistheirachievement,butifnot,theparentsfeelshameful.Theeducation#39;sgoalisforearningtheirliving,forhonor.Thewesternfamilyeducationisdifferentfromchinaintheeducationalgoal.Educationisnotthepreparationforearningtheirliving,butforsurvival.“Thelearnededucation”theyemphasizehasthevalueofmoldingone’smind,onekindofvaluewhichhasnothingtodowiththeutilityortheoccupationconsiderationPerhapsmanyChineseparentsdenythispoint,andthinkthatIamtalkingnonsenseanddonotrespecttheelder.Butthefactisactuallyso.Asisknown,theparentsusuallydiscusstheirownchild,andcompareotherchildwiththeirownchild.Especially,thechild#39;sstudyisconsideredastheobjectofcomparison.Ihaveaneighbor,whosechildjustgoestotheelementaryschool.Butthechildhascarriedhisbigbagtomakeuphislessoneverydayandeverywhere.Because,myneighborhadchatswithhisfriendoneday,andhisfriendtoldhim,hischild,whohadnotgonetoschool,couldknow300ChineseCharacters,butalsocouldreadtheancientpoetry,andletthechildperformonthescene.Toldofthis,myfriendwasstimulated.Duetohischildissameagewiththatchild,hewas