The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China

Neurasthenia (shenjing shuairuo) and depressive disorder are medical issues that have given rise to disputes in China for more than 20 years. Since the 1980s, the once ubiquitous diagnosis of neurasthenia in China was rapidly substituted by depressive disorder in the clinical context. Globally, the metamorphosis from neurasthenia to depressive disorder heralded the triumph of scientific rationality, which identifies neurasthenia as a categorical fallacy. In China, however, neurasthenia retained social and cultural significance; thus, it has become a contestable discourse in relation to depressive disorder. By examining the health reporting of both discourses over a decade, this study explicated how neurasthenia and depressive disorder were represented in a popular health newspaper in China. The content analysis showed that neurasthenia is a more culturally and everyday embedded discourse closely associated with Chinese medicine and laymen’s discourse, while depressive disorder is more associated with Western medicine and the professional discourse. The differentiation of two sets of medical discourse evinces that despite the ostensibly prevailing scientific rationality in media health reporting, cultural rationality is deeply embedded in communicating mental health issues with the lay public. It further suggests the significance of investigating the social and cultural expression of mental illnesses in China.     

How U.S. and Chinese journalists think about plagiarism

A comparison of 1,096 professional journalists in China and the United States on attitudes toward attribution and plagiarism reveals Chinese journalists were more likely to see attribution as a practice to be embraced regardless of career longevity and culture, suggesting journalistic norms are more important than a collectivist orientation. Attribution was more likely to be embraced by those who see principles as more important than expediency, affirming research that plagiarism is hardly a monolithic concept. Overall, journalists in the two nations did not vary significantly in their attitudes toward plagiarism, despite vast differences in culture and politics as well as evidence that in some other fields China is more accepting of reusing material without attribution. The data show that among journalists, attitudes toward plagiarism are shared across national boundaries, reinforcing related research showing that a journalism culture exists and is shared at least in part across national boundaries.     

Information-seeking behavior of economics graduate students: If you buy it,will they come?

The information-seeking behavior of social science graduate students has been the subject of many studies, but none have concentrated only on the economics graduate student population and their unique needs. The purpose of this focus group study was to use group discussions to understand the actual online behavior of graduate economics students when conducting research. The results provide insight and information about the skills and characteristics of economics graduate students, their first steps in conducting research online, their use of publicly available and library resources, challenges to finding information, and resources used to overcome these challenges.     

Worn Grooves

Drawing from visual, material and written archival sources, this article critically explores some of the functions, uses and perceived values of recorded sound during the First World War and in its aftermath. An instrument of communication as well as commemoration, the gramophone helped bridge geographical (and, in some cases, cultural) distances between the home front and the rear, providing civilians with the fleeting illusion of presence, proximity, or even sentimental communion with the front. The article analyses (a) the affective and connective, but also propagandist, values of commercial wartime recordings as they circulated between the home and the front, (b) the popular notion of gramophones as regulatory instruments of civilisation, (c) the commemorative exploitations of recorded sound in the interwar period. The article focuses on the British experience, contrasting it with examples drawn from French and German experiences.     

文学翻译中文化因素的把握——杨宪益、戴乃迭所译《儒林外史》点评

文学翻译中对文化因素的把握是一个重要问题。本文从这一角度出发,对清朝吴敬梓所著《儒林外史》和杨宪益、戴乃迭夫妇的英译本进行比较,指出译文在文化因素的把握处理方面有几个值得再加斟酌之处,并予以分析说明,以期在文学翻译中文化因素能得到进一步的重视及更为妥善的处理。     

谈中西文化差异与翻译策略

语言是文化的载体,承载着丰富的文化信息。因此,翻译不仅是语言代码之间的转换,还是一种跨文化的交际活动。译者在进行翻译时要根据中西文化之间的差异选择有效的翻译策略,以实现译文与原文的语用等效。     

意象的传译

意象是文学理论的重要概念之一。在翻译的过程中,语言的转化只是表层,忠实地再现、传递源语中文化意象的异质性才是翻译的实质。在当前国际文化交流日益扩大和多元化的语境中,对源语中文化意象进行传译具有特殊的重要意义。     

发展乡村旅游是社会主义新农村建设的重要途径

乡村旅游是当前和未来一段时期内我国社会主义新农村建设的重要组成部分。分析了乡村旅游与社会主义新农村建设的良性互动关系,提出了立足长远、科学规划、合理布局、突出本土化、走特色化道路、不断创新的发展乡村旅游事业的具体对策,旨在促进乡村旅游的可持续发展。     

ASEB栅格分析法在银川市郊区旅游市场实证分析中的应用

对银川市郊区旅游市场的实证分析建立在问卷调查的基础之上,基于第一手的游客调查资料,运用ASEB栅格分析法,通过研究和实证分析,发现并解决银川市郊区旅游市场的行为特征及供给双方可能存在的问题。     

论长株潭一体化中的湘潭城市旅游形象定位

注重城市特色,塑造城市形象,是当今城市建设中十分引人注目的课题。长株潭一体化中的长沙、株洲城市形象的成功定位,为湘潭城市旅游形象定位提供了借鉴。根据城市旅游形象定位的原则,在分析了湘潭地脉和文脉特征的基础上,提出了湘潭市旅游形象定位的具体方案。