The Growth of Cultural Consciousness1. The first stageNo u

In this section you will hear a talk. You will hear the talk ONCE ONLY. While listening, you may look at ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure the word(s)you fill in is(are)both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.
    You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.
     (a thirty-second interval)
    Now listen to the talk. When it is over, you will be given TWO minutes to complete your work.
                    The Growth of Cultural Consciousness
    Good morning, everyone. Today I will focus on the issue of cultural understanding.
    With the increasing globalization, the world becomes really small nowadays. Then if we want to understand a foreign culture very well, what should we do? And what kinds of process will we experience before we achieve that goal? The answer is not very difficult to imagine. Just like learning a language, developing cultural understanding occurs step by step over time. So, in order to make a clearer explanation about the process, the five stages of cultural understanding are presented here.
    Stage One: No understanding. This level involves no awareness of the new culture. The point is quite easy to see. For a person who has few chances to get contact with other cultures, a new one sometimes might as well be like something from an unknown planet in outer space. The person does not know anyone from the culture and has encountered few, if any, basic facts about the culture. So, naturally, the person certainly has no way to understand that culture at all.
    Stage Two: Superficial understanding. This level involves awareness of very superficial aspects of the foreign culture. At this stage of cultural awareness, the person knows a few basic facts of the new culture. These facts stand out and often serve as the basis of stereotypes. However, stereotypes are offensive because they imply that all people from a certain culture have the same characteristics. At this stage of cultural awareness, when stereotypes are keenly felt, the person is highly ethnocentric, that means the person just focuses on his or her own culture as the norm of what is "right" , comparing the new culture with the " better" culture back home.
    Stage Three: Growing understanding and possible conflict. At this stage the learner begins to be aware of more subtle, sometimes less visible, traits in the foreign culture. He or she is still ethnocentric, home culture-oriented, comparing the culture that is " new" to his or her " old" home culture — and usually feeling that his or her own culture is much better. I think some of you, as English majors, may have the exact same experiences when you come to be familiar with your foreign teachers or friends. You do appreciate some of their cultures, but you just can’t accept them from the bottom of your heart.
    Stage Four: Greater intellectual understanding. At this stage, the learner begins to comprehend intellectually the people in the foreign culture, yet there is still little emotional empathy, that is, they just cannot really feel the same way the members of other cultures feel. The learner begins to shed ethnocentrism a little bit and starts to understand the new culture more deeply. The comfort level is higher, and the person does not complain extensively about cultural differences. That makes a big sense in the process of cultural understanding.
    Stage Five: True empathy and cultural respect. This level is the highest one of cultural awareness. To attain this level, the learner must actually live in the foreign culture for some time. At the fifth stage, unlike the previous stages, the learner does not just see things intellectually from the viewpoint of the culture some or most of the time. Instead, he or she actually feels part of the culture, respects the culture fully, and empathizes emotionally with those who have lived all their lives in that culture. By doing so, the person, in a real sense, achieves a true cultural understanding.
    In summary, today’s lecture is centered on the stages in the growth of cultural consciousness. I hope the lecture will be helpful in your nurturing of cultural awareness. Thanks for your patience.