About the author

1. THE CULT OF ETHNICITY GOOD AND BADArthur Schlesinger,Jr. Elva

2. About the author • Arthur Schlesinger,Jr.,came into prominence in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy appointed him as special assistant for Latin American Affairs. A thousand Days,Schlesinger’s book on the Kennedy presidency,won a Pulitzer prize for biograph. A professor at the City University of New York,Schlesinger is widely recognized for his more than a dozen books on the American history.

3. Brief Introduction of The Essay • The author put forward a point of view that “Ethnic and racial diversity is more than ever a salient fact of the age” at the beginning so that to echo the theme-whether the cult ethnicity is good or bad.

4. According to the author, he considered the “ethnic and racial conflict” as a explosive problem of our time. On one hand,the cult of ethnicity had many healthy consequences . The American culture at last began to give shamefully overdue recognition to the achievements of groups subordinated and spurned during the high noon of Anglo dominance , and it began to acknowledge the great swirling world beyond Europe. Americans then acquired a more complex and invigorating sense of their world-and of themselves.

5. On the other hand, it also has unhealthy consequences . It gives rise to the conception of the U.S. as a notion composed not of individuals but of inviolable ethnic and racial groups. It rejects assimilation and in an excess of zeal well-intentioned people seek to transform our system of education from a means of creating “one people” into a means of promoting, celebrating and perpetuating separate ethnic origins and identities.

6. New Words and Phrases • Ethnicity: 种族特点、种族划分 • Cult：崇拜、一时的狂热 • Salient : prominent , striking 突出的 • Ideological : having assertions, theories, aims that constitute a political, social,and economic program意识形态的、思想体系 • Assimilated :absorbed into a culture tradition • Infusion : introduction, instillation灌输、激励 • Reconfigured :reshaped

7. Zeal :热情 • Multiethnic :多种族的 • Promiscuous :混杂的 • Invigorating :精神充沛 • Intermarriage :成功的完成、赢得 • Marvel at :对…感到诧异

8. My Thoughts About The Essay • Actually the phenomenon that the author wrote about is happened in the United States, but I really don’t think it is a “one country only” problem. At least the cult of ethnicity have broken up the nations like Soviet Union , India , Yugoslavia and many other countries as se all know.

9. Because there are countless people came form different background and religion now. living in the same locality. The ethnicity problem is becomind more and more important. It deserves our value. But it doesn’t mean the end of the world is coming although the ethnicity has brought us wars and even broken ups.

10. The cult of ethnicity can be also a good thing. What we should do is to remain optimistic and believe that it is just a rather superficial enthusiasm stirred by romantic ideologues. It can only represents the minority groups.

11. Other things we can do I think is to try to learn about each other. To learn more about the cultures of others and let more and more people know about yours. In this way to acoid the conflict between different ethnicities. In this way, we all can share the beautiful life together.

12. Thank you !