Lesson Two

1. Lesson Two The Cultural Tip of the Movie

2. Forrest Gump is a journey of an American man through four decades of American history. The movie has Southern life, the Civil War, college football, graduation ceremony,Vietnam War, hippies, and building a million-dollar business from scratch.

3. Cultural tip 1: the southern life • Alabama

4. The Civil War • With the election of the anti-slavery Republican candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, the Southern states decided they had to take action in order to protect their own interests. Some southern states, including Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas sent delegates to Montgomery（蒙哥马利）, Alabama and on February 8, 1861 adopted a provisional constitution for the newly formed Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was chosen as the President for a six-year term of office.

6. Nathan Bedford Forrest(1821-1877) • Nathan Bedford Forrest was the only soldier to rise from the rank of private to general during the U.S. Civil War. Forrest is best remembered for the combination of brilliant military leadership and his bravery in the battlefield. His subordinates feared him (he shot those who ran away), as did his enemies (he rarely lost a fight).

7. Following the war, he went on to found the Ku Klux Klan. Late in life, however, Forrest abandoned racial hatred and called for black political advancement. Forrest is a complex and compelling man who was arguably the Civil War's most remarkable soldier. Forrest once summed up his military theory as "Get there first with the most men."

8. With his guerrilla tactics Forrest revolutionized the way armies fought, but he was never fully accepted by his fellow generals because of his lack of military education. Overall, this is one of the Civil War's most controversial generals.

9. Cultural tip 2: The Cat King

11. Elvis Presley • Elvis Presley was the first real rock and roll star. A white southerner singer, Presley brought together music from both the white and the black. • Presley performed this music with a natural hip swiveling sexuality that made him a teen idol and a role model for generations of cool rebels.

12. Presley was repeatedly dismissed as vulgar, incompetent and a bad influence. However the force of his music and image signaled to the mainstream culture it was time for a change.

13. Cultural tip 3:The Football Spirit

15. No sport reflects the American value system like football. Visitors to the United States need only watch a game or two to learn all they need to know about the American way of life and the beliefs, attitudes, and concerns of American society..

16. Football and American Identity examines the social conditions and cultural implications found in the football subculture, represented by core values such as competition, conflict, diversity, power, economic success, fair play, liberty, and patriotism

17. football as a game, as a business, and as a reflection of the diversity in American life. Football and American Identity also addresses the relationship between football and the media, with much of the game’s income generated by advertising and endorsements, and examines the presence of crime in football culture.

18. Sports spirit and business codes • A person who wants to talk business with an American will do better if he is knowledgeable about the sports of baseball, basketball and football, because American businessmen often encode their meanings in metaphors and images from these sports. For them, his work is like a game he is trying to win.

19. Sports metaphors in everyday American speech • You have to keep your eye on the ball if you want to stay in the game. • Dropped the ball: failed to do what needed to be done • On the ball: alert, active, and smart • Drop back and punt: give up the present strategy and try something else

20. To score points: to make a favorable impression on someone • To play ball: to go along with, to cooperate • To throw a curve: to do something unexpected • To play hard ball: to be tough and unscrupulous

21. To cover the bases: to take everything into consideration • Can’t get to first base: unable to complete the first step toward a goal • To hold the line: to be firm, to b e uncompromising • To strike out: to fail

22. Cultural tip 4: Graduation ceremony • A picture

23. The graduation ceremony is regarded as very important in the United States. All your family members are invited to take part in it and share your happiness. If your parents live in the other countries, the university will write a letter to the American embassy in your country and inform the ambassador the date of your graduation ceremony.

24. Emotional Americans • Forrest’s mother cannot help crying when Forrest graduates from college. • The Americans are very emotional and they like to show their feelings overtly. • When a friend is going to marry, they may appear ecstatic; • When their beloved passes away, they may cry desperately in front of people;

25. Cultural tip 5: The Vietnam War

29. The statistics • the 2 million-plus Americans who went to Vietnam, the 1.6 million who served in combat, the 300,000 physically wounded, the many more who bore psychological scars, the 2,387 listed as "missing in action," and the more than 58,000 who died.

32. Vietnam War’s Impact • The Vietnam War caused a loss of pride and self-confidence in a people that liked to think of the United States as invincible. • the estimated $167 billion spent on the war

33. Distrust on Government • The United States also paid a high political cost for the Vietnam War. It weakened public faith in government, and in the honesty and competence of its leaders. • A high degree of suspicion of and distrust toward authority of all kind characterized the views of an increasing number of Americans in the wake of the war.

34. The veterans

36. Virtually nothing was done to aid veterans who needed assistance. Then a torrent of fiction, films, and television programs depicted Vietnam vets as drug-crazed killers, as vicious executioners in Vietnam and equally vicious threats at home.

37. Not until after the 1982 building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., did American culture acknowledge the veterans’ sacrifice and suffering, and conclude that most of them had been good soldiers in a bad war.

38. Hippies • Pictures of Jenny and her friends

40. Hippies

42. Definition • let’s see what defines a hippie. Some say it’s the way people dress, and behave, a lifestyle. Others classify drug users and rock 'n' roll fans or those with certain radical political views as hippies. The dictionary defines a hippie as one who doesn’t conform to society’s standards and advocates a liberal attitude and lifestyle.

43. Jenny, the bewildered girl, is never content with what she gets. After graduation from college, she left Forrest for some distant dreams that always disturbed her: money, fame, and ultimately, the meaning of living. She became a naked nightclub singer, a girlfriend of that abusive hippie activist and a typical woman of that remarkable era.

44. Sino-American Relationship

46. In April, 1971, the US National team of table tennis at the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in Japan expressed to the Chinese national team that they hoped to visit China. On April 6,the Chinese Table Tennis Association issued an invitation to the US table tennis team.

47. On April 14, Premier Zhou Enlai met with all the members of the US table tennis delegation. Zhou said: "By visiting our country you have opened the gate for the exchanges between the people of the two nations. We believe that a friendly exchange will win approval and support from both the Chinese and American peoples."