研究奥巴马就职演讲中的美国价值观

1、AcknowledgmentsThanks for giving me this chance to achieve this paper and to make a conclusion for my four years university education. Through writing this paper, I have acquired more knowledge than I supposed.My sincere thanks are due to my supervisor ， Ms. Zou Qiangzhen, for helping me to clarify

2、my minds and strengthen the depth of my thinking.Here, I also want to give my thanks to other teachers and my classmates who gave me much help. Thank you!AbstractsBarack Obama is the first African American to have served as a president, as well as an outstanding orator. His inaugural addresses attra

3、cted much attention both abroad and at home ever since their delivery. He talks about American conditions in three waysindividual, society and country, and expresses his views on life, freedom as well as the pursuit of happiness. His addresses are not only the expression of sentences and the embodim

4、ent of internal thought, but also the side of American culture. The study of this paper is based on Obama s two inaugural speeches, and the paper specializes in analyzing the culture of American values that contained in these speeches. Due to the different systems of values between China and America

5、, on the one hand, researching on Obama s wonderful speeches can allow Chinese to have a better recognition and understanding of the concrete contents of American values. On the other hand, it contributes to a further comprehension of American society and culture and the promotion of mutual communic

6、ations and exchanges.Key Words: American values; freedom; culture 摘要 奥巴马是美国第一任非洲裔总统，也是一位杰出的演说家。他的就职演讲发表 后引起了国内外广泛的关注，他从个人、社会、国家三个方面讲了美国的形势 和国情，也表达了他对生存，自由的看法以及对幸福的追求。他的演讲不仅仅是言语的表达，内在思想的体现，更是美国文化的侧面体现。本文以奥巴马的两次就职演讲为研究对象，重点分析了演讲中体现出的美国价值观文化。由于 中美两国不同的价值观体系，研究奥巴马总统的精彩演说一方面有助于中国人 更好地认识，理解美国人具体的价值观内容。另一方

7、面有助于中国人进一步了解美国的社会和文化，增进彼此的沟通和交流 关键词：美国价值观；自由；文化ContentsTOC o "1-3" h z u 1. Introduction 12. Values and American Values 22.1 The Definition of Values 22.2 The Definition of American Values 23. American Values in Inaugural Speech of Obama 33.1 Pursuing Freedom 33.2 Emphasizing Equality 53.3

8、 Valuing Practice 73.4 Promoting Innovation 83.5 Advocating Fair Competition 93.6 Upholding Hard Work 104. Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 A Study on the American Values in Inaugural Speech of Barack Obama 1. IntroductionOn January 21st, 2013, Barack Obama delivered his second inaugural address to the

9、 American public as the President of the United States, and the first one was in 2009. Barack Obama is the first African American to have served as a president, as well as an outstanding orator. His inaugural addresses have attracted much attention both abroad and at home ever since its delivery. He

10、 talks about American situations in three ways individual, society and country. The subjects of his addresses are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness about Americans. These two speeches not only have a powerful persuasion but also give a full description of American culture. So it is necessa

11、ry to elaborate on Obama s speeches.Through the consulting a large number of literatures, relevant books and searching related content on the Internet, it can be seen in recent years that a lot of scholars have explored these two speeches from different aspects and got spectacular findings. Some sch

12、olars study Obama s inaugural speeches from the perspective of rhetoric. For example, Zheng Linlin studies the influence of Neo-Aristotelian rhetoric on Obama s speeches (6). Some scholars study the speeches from the perspective of language characteristics. Some scholars based on the theoretical fra

13、mework of functional linguistics, investigate the expression of interpersonal meaning in Obama s inaugural addresses as well as how interpersonal meaning contained in thesource speeches texts are converted into Chinese. In terms of functional equivalence, some scholars analyze Obama s speeches from

14、the perspective of literature. For example, Liu Qian study the feature of literary style of Obama s speeches (5). Some scholars discuss the cultural connotation implied in Obama s speeches, forexample, Wang Xuemei and Luo Lingzhi s paper titled Obama s Speech and American Culture, reveals American u

15、nique political system, traditional culture and values (80).But, from the above analysis, it can be found that few scholars make a full analysis of American values implied in Obama s inauguraladdresses. For this reason, this paper offers a discussion ofAmerican values that contained in Obama s inaug

16、ural addresses. With respect to the substance of American values, these are hard work, respect of freedom, attaching more importance to realities than vision, thinking highly of fair competition, enterprise and innovation, worship equality and personal struggle. For the feature of American values, w

17、e can conclude that it is widely inclusive confluence, and more or less been influenced by their religious beliefs.America emerged from 13 British colonies at that time, but now it is a developed country on a globe scale, an internationally political and cultural force and a leader in scientific res

18、earch and technological innovations. So this paper probes into American values in Obama s inaugural speeches can allow Chinese to have a better recognition and understanding of the concrete contents of American values. In addition to, it contributes to a further comprehension of American society and

19、 culture and the promotion of mutual communications and exchanges 2. Values and American ValuesIn order to have a deep understanding of American values embodied in Obama s inaugural speeches, it is necessary to have a clear idea what are values and what are American values.1.1 The Definition of Valu

20、esValues are the basic criteria that people use to measure something.They are the way of thinking, the reflection of a nation straditional culture and psychological quality. The natural and social environment where people live, as well as people s social status and living conditions, all of those de

21、termine what kind of values peoplehave. People living in the same environment will form similar values. So every society has its own values which are accepted by the whole public. In light of ethics, values refer to the degree of significance of something or some behavior, with the aim of determinin

22、g what is best behavior or what is best way to live. Values are characterized by objectivity, subjectivity, socially historical attribution and multiple dimensions. Values dominate people s faith,attitude, outlook and behavior, but they are of relative stability and durability. People s values are r

23、elatively stable in specific locations, at particular times, under given conditions. For example, people always have their own rules to comment on something. Their views will not change unless the conditions vary. Of course, with the change of their economic status, life values and world outlook, pe

24、ople s values are in development (Wang 81).Values vary from person to person. Everyone has his own values because everyone has his own life experience and social background. Personal values provide an internal reference for what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable and constr

25、uctive.Values generate behavior and influence the choices made by an individual. Values relate to the norms of a culture, but they are more global and abstract than norms, values are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile.Values have a close relationship with cultures, culture is the

26、sum of material civilization and spiritual civilization created by a country or a nation during the process of social development.Values are the reflection that people have for social existence, which belong to spiritual wealth. Therefore, the formation of values is based on different cultural backg

27、rounds. Different cultures reflect the different values. Making a deep analysis of values is helpful for knowing more about one culture.1.2 The Definition of American ValuesAmerica, due to its much shorter history, vast land area, multiple races and beliefs, forms its own unique values. The contents

28、 of American values include the following:Upholding hard work refers to fight for individual and country with the aim of leading better life.Pursuing freedom means personal freedom is protected by some laws and country s freedom maintains by its prosperous national strength and powerful military for

29、ce.Valuing practice refers to American public think highly of realities more than words, they will make a choice according to the specific conditions .Emphasizing equality means every citizen is treated equally whether he is from the streets of Detroit to the hill of Appalachia or the quiet lanes of

30、 Newtown.Promoting innovation means to improve, it can be easily seen in America, for instance, presidential election and a large amount of inventions.Advocating fair competition means American will struggle to get what he want, they believe that competition can produce challenge and pressure, which

31、 are beneficial to their enterprise and economy.3. American Values in Inaugural Speech of ObamaAmerican values are best embodied in Obama s two inaugural speeches. Unlike Chinese, America is mainly a nation of immigrants, its values owed to much its history, ideology, politic and so on. As a consequ

32、ence of these factors, this research itself is enormous, abundant and complex. So the author introduces these items respectively, for the purpose of giving a full discussion of American values from Obama s inaugural speeches. Through the overall analyses, it is easy for people to master the literal

33、meanings to a deep degree.3.1 Pursuing Freedom Obama said:Freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by his people here on earth, preserving American individual freedom ultimately requires collective action. We do not believe that in United States, freedom is reserved for the lucky. Americans ac

34、t on behalf of those who long for freedom.From these sentences, one of American values can be found, which is pursuing freedom. In American opinion, God created freedom and everyone should work hard for it. It is necessary for them preserve freedom. It can be seen that in America freedom receives se

35、rious attention. In addition, throughout American history, it can be seen that freedom is often repeated in political speeches, such as inconstantKennedy s inaugural address in 1961. Political figuresevocation of freedom in public discourse signifies the importance of freedom. Obama is a Protestant

36、believer, and over 60% of Americans are said to be Protestant believers. The Protestants hold their belief that man is created by God. Now, with the development of society, the religious beliefs of Americans have become stronger and stronger (Zhou 73). Every Sunday morning, all over America, people

37、pour into the churches. Though there are few who stay away from church, half of Protestants are active church members. William Penn left for North America in 1681, where he founded a colony in todayPennsylvania. He also established a liberal government, argued that the settlers could enjoy religious

38、 freedom, people were not born sinful, anyone could get some land without paying. These loose immigrant policies attracted thousands of people who were tired of religious persecution all over the world. Penn s experientialpolicies had great impact on American culture, American founding fathers such

39、as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were influenced greatly by William Penn s experiment.Obama said, “ The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob, founding fathers gave to America a republic, a government of the people,

40、 by the people and for the people. ” These sentences show that the origin of American s freedom can date back to 1776. As is illustrated in founding creed of America, Americans hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable right to pursue their li

41、berty. First of all, theAmericans realized their country s freedom. In 1773, a group of American patriots launched the “ Boston Tea Party ” , in the First Continental Congress in 1774, the colonial leaders opposed British oppression in the colonies, they urged Americans to resist British trade. Beca

42、use patriots could not put up with British colonial rules any longer, they refused to submit to the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain. They were eager to set up their own government that secures their rights. There was a great surge of patriotic feeling among members of American colonial

43、society (Zhang 10). In their opinion, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed people. So American Revolution began in April 1775, for the purpose of pursuing sheer freedom. The War of Independence came to an end in 1781 with thevictory of Nor

44、th Americans. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 and Britain had to recognize the independence of the United States. North Americans gained freedom in politics, a new Constitution of the United States was created.The theory of politics and a guiding tenet of the American Revolution derive from J

45、ohn Locke, an English philosopher in the 17th century known as the “ Father of Liberalism. ” He explained his position as follows:whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, andto institute a new government, laying its f

46、oundation on such principles, and organizing its power in such form, as to them shallseem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. (qtd. in Wang and Zhu 42).These principles imply that Americans think highly of citizen sfreedom, so they will make effort to sustain their freedom. Each time A

47、mericans gather to inaugurate a president mean that they bear witness to the enduring strength of their Constitution. Bill ofRights guarantees freedom and individual rights and bans interference with lives of individuals by the government.Obama said, “ we know that America thrives when every person

48、can find independence and pride in their work. ” This sentence means personal freedom is emphasized in America. Freedom signifies citizenship as measured by civil and political rights for voters, that is to say, the ability to make one s own decisions. Personal freedom is also related to the backgro

49、und that their ancestors immigrated to new continents, in search of new hunting grounds or refuge from pursuing enemies. Their spirit of initiative partly contributes to theAmerican s distinct personal freedom. In American s mind, personal freedom is their divine right, when they are young, they sho

50、uld have the freedom of receiving education. They have the freedom of voting when their ages are proper enough by the laws. As for the affairs of state, and public affairs, they should be allowed to give their opinions freely, namely free speech. As for personal prospects, they should have the right

51、s to change their jobs and whether or not choose a job. In addition, they should have the right to choose a spouse, religious belief, and decide where they want to settle down. Americanfeel free to disagree with each other at any time, that kind of freedom is even a source of pride for many.However,

52、 American was disciplined that they should respect other sfreedom and right from a young age, it means that to some extent restrict own freedom. Due to preventing the society from being disorders and keeping in order is crucial to the development of society, hence individual freedom is limited and c

53、ontrolled to a certain degree. Its standard is anyone could not hinder other sfreedom when enjoy own freedom. Laws, regulations and rules stand on behalf of the minority s purpose and will in whole society, and it must be adhered and stuck to in appropriate scope once it has gained legal authority.U

54、nluckily, in history, a unique American phenomenon was that Negroes were bought to be as slaves, so their freedom was destroyed cruelly. On the one hand, the English and other Europeans went to North America in search of freedom. But on the other hand, these very white people who were seeking and fi

55、ghting for their own freedom deprived black Africans of their freedom. George Washington was a great fighter for American freedom, and Thomas Jefferson was a chief author of the Declaration of Independence, and yet both of them were slave owners, each with over 200 black slaves.3.2 Emphasizing Equal

56、ityObama said, “ the God give promise that all men are equal and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.For we,the people, understand that a country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it . ” From the word “ every ” we can learn tha

57、t person has equal opportunity generally in America. It can be seen that in America all people s equality wereemphasized. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American philosopher, said that how to think, what kind of life. Their modes of thinking have a significant influence on their life. As American founding

58、documents illustrated, all men are created equal, Obama also repeated this sentence in the speech. There are some examples to illustrate this value.The earlier colonists of America mostly came from middle class and low class. They didn t tend to distinguish people s class strictly, though the influe

59、nce of European hereditary tradition and rank view still remained in society, the American gradually paid little attention to it. Besides, American continents was newly opened up, abundant natural resources provided the diligent worker with the prosperity of future life, it promoted the concept to be equal to a higher degree. Nonetheless, every general statement about