赏析The-‘liveliest’-city-in-Japan

Nov.2008,Volume6,No.11(SerialNo.62)US-ChinaForeignLanguage,ISSN1539-8080,USA25ContrastsinHiroshima:The‘liveliest’cityinJapanSONGYan,DONGYESheng-shi(CollegeofForeignLanguages,ShandongUniversityofScienceandTechnology,Shandong266510,China)Abstract:Hiroshima:The‘liveliest’cityinJapan,apieceofwritingtakenfromAdvancedEnglish,isfullofexplicitandimplicitcontrastsonthethreelevelsofculture,psychologyandwritingrespectively.Thepapermakesadetailedanalysisonthecontrastsandisintendedtorevealtheimpliedconflictsinside.Itishopedthatreaderscanlookbackonhistoryfromanewperspective.Keywords:contrasts;conflicts;history1.IntroductionAccordingtoitsdefinition,contrastrefersto“thestateofbeingstrikinglydifferentfromsomethingelse,typicallysomethinginjuxtapositionorcloseassociation”(Oxford,1998,p.399)or“adifferencebetweenpeople,ideas,situations,things,etc.thatarebeingcompared”(Longman,2004,p.340).Iftwothingscontrast,thedifferencebetweenthemisveryeasytoseeandsometimessurprising.Therefore,itisoftenusedasanimportantwritingtechniqueinmuchliteraturetocreatevividimagesandexertdeepimpressionsonreaders.NoonewilltalkaboutJapanwithoutmentioningoneofitslargestcities—Hiroshima.Andinfactwhatmakesthecityworldfamousisthehistoricatomicbombardmenttherein1945.TurningbacktothattragicpageinJapanesehistory,whatshallwesay?Howshouldwefeel?Hiroshima:The‘liveliest’cityinJapanismorethananexcerptfromaradioprogram.NorisitsimplyashortpieceofdescriptioneditedinthetextbookofAdvancedEnglish.Inthisshortbutthought-provokingpieceofwriting,ifwereadbetweenthelines,wewillbeabletodetectadiversityofcontrastsandinterpretstrongconflictsinit.Aswillbeshowninthefollowinganalysis,itisthesecontrastsandconflictsthatservethewriter’spurposetomakeusreflectonhistory.2.Contrastsondifferentlevels2.1CulturallevelGreatdifferencesarereflectedinmanyaspectstoshowtheconflictsbetweencultures.2.1.1BetweenlanguagesThewritingbeganwiththeauthorarrivingatthecityofHiroshima.Whenthetrainslippedintoastopatthestation,theauthorheardamaninstationuniformshoutingsomething.“Ididn’tunderstandwhathewassaying.Firstofall,becausehewasshoutinginJapanese”.Thewriter,anAmericanjournalist,arrivedinJapanwithoutknowinganyJapanese,whichmightmakehisstaydifficult.Tooursurprise,laterwefindthatmanypeople,includingthemayorofHiroshima,governmentofficers,andeventaxidriversspoketovisitorsinEnglish.ThecontrastbetweenJapaneselanguageandEnglishlanguageisnoticeableinthefirstplace,whichindicatesthatSONGYan,deputydeanandassociateprofessorofCollegeofForeignLanguages,ShandongUniversityofScienceandTechnology;researchfield:appliedlinguistics.DONGYESheng-shi,M.A.,lecturerofCollegeofForeignLanguages,ShandongUniversityofScienceandTechnology;researchfield:appliedlinguistics.ContrastsinHiroshima:The‘liveliest’cityinJapan26Japanese,fromtopleadersdownontoordinarypeople,arereadytoacceptnewthingsfromtheoutsideworld,includinglanguage.2.1.2BetweenoldandnewInHiroshima,whatthewritersawwas“Littlegirlsandelderlyladiesinkimonosrubbedshoulderswithteenagersandwomeninwesterndress”and“TheratherarrestingspectacleoflittleoldJapanadriftamidbeigeconcreteskyscrapers”,whichsymbolicallyimpressesusthatinHiroshima,thetraditionalstyleandwesternstyleexistsidebyside.ThisisanothersigntoshowthatJapanesepeopleareopen-mindedenoughtoabsorbthemodernworld.2.1.3BetweenJapaneseandwesternetiquetteWaitingtomeetthemayorofHiroshima,theauthordescribedinhumoroustoneshowhefelt:“…treadingcautiouslyonthesofttatamimattingandexperiencingatwingeofembarrassmentattheprospectofmeetingthemayorofHiroshimainmysocks”and“Everyonebowed,includingthewesterners”.Thisindicatesthatthewesternvisitors,facedwiththeJapanesewayofdoingthings,haveto“doastheRomansdo”althoughtheyexperiencedtheembarrassmentresultingfromculturaldifferences.ThiscontradictingfeelingtellsthereadersthatwhileJapanesetrytoadaptthemselvestothemodernworld,theyarealsotryingtointroducethemselvestotheworld.Bytheabovecontrasts,thewriteroffersapictureoftheconflictsinJapanesesocietywheretraditionandfashion,oldandnew,eastandweststrugglewitheachotheratthesametimetheyexistsimultaneously,creatingtheimpressionthatJapanesepeopletreattraditionalorhistoricalandmodernthingswithdifferentviews.2.2PsychologicallevelDifferentpeopleholddifferentviewsontheissueofhistory.Thecontrastsarevisiblenotonlybetweendifferentnationsbutalsoamongthesamenation.2.2.1BetweenAmericanandJapaneseWiththerhetoricalquestion“WasInotatthesceneofthecrime?”onhisarrivalinHiroshima,thewriterconveyedthathewastorturedbyaguiltyconscience,whereas“TheJapanesecrowddidnotappeartohavethesamepreoccupationsthatIhad.”Intherestaurant,“ThefewAmericansandGermansseemedjustasinhibitedasIwas”withthemayorrepeatedlyreferringtothename“Hiroshima”.“Therewerefreshbows,andthefacesgrewmoreandmoreserious”and“thecompanymoreandmoreagitated”.However,atlast,themayorcametothetopic—“Seldomhasacitygainedsuchworldrenown…,atownknownthroughouttheworldforits—oysters”.Here,thewriterusestheliterarydevice—anti-climaxtoexpressthesurpriseandsatirecausedbythesharpcontrastbetweenwhattheAmericanvisitorswerethinkingaboutandwhattheJapa