1. What are the reasons which might contribute to an increase of intercultural contacts in the world?Nowadays, the increasing trend of intercultural contacts can be ascribed to four main factors: the advancement of technology, immigration, economic globalization and the emergence of multiculturalism.A. With the development of technology, the transportation systems and communication systems have witnessed great advancement. Trips once taking days are now measured in hours, making it possible for people to go to anywhere of the world in one day, and thus speeding up intercultural contact. Moreover, the advanced communication technologies, such as Internet, mobile phones and cable TV transmission equipment, have give people access to sharing and exchanging information and ideas instantaneously.B. Changes in population migration have also contributed to the development of increasing intercultural contact. Pursuing a better job or endeavoring for a better life, people from all over the world leave their country while bringing their own culture, habits, language and so on to the other.C. Economic globalization is another factor for increasing intercultural contacts. With the accelerated trend of economic globalization, the world we lived in is more and more i nterdependent and interrelated. And each country’s economy is tied to the economy of other countries. Therefore, the intercultural contacts between regions, countries and continents are inevitably increased.D. Multiculturalism is the view that the various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest, describing the coexistence of many cultures in alocality, without any one culture dominating the region. Therefore, with the increasing of the trends of multiculturalism, the communications between regions and cultures will inevitably strengthened and increased.2. What are characteristic of communication and culture common to all human beings?Although communications are different from one another in their forms and norms, all communication systems around the world share certain characteristics.A. Indirect: one characteristic of communication is that people can only obtain messages from other’s words and behaviors instead of obtaining from the mind of others.B. Interactive: Communication takes place between at least two individuals, and each one in a communication process will affect or be affected by the other’s words or behaviors, and as a consequence, he/she will immediately modify or alter his/her responses either in words, tones, gestures, and so on.C. Dynamic: as all communication processes and their consequences are affected by the specific time, place, occasion and the number of people with their particular rules, values, customs, and so on, the communication can be perceived as an ongoing and ever-changing activity.D. Self-reflective: as human beings have a unique ability to think about themselves, to watch how they define the world, and to reflect on their past, present, and future, all forms of communication will inevitably involve and enhance this kind of activity, and thus endowed itself the self-reflective nature.Cultures, like communication, vary according to different history, geography, religion and world views, but they still share certain features.A. Invisible: as we refer to a certain culture, we often mean the world views, perceptions, values, attitudes and preference beneath all the phenomena in that culture, which are all intangible object to human beings.B. Learned: culture is not a procession that we inherited from out parents or forefathers, but is gradually acquired after birth by the influence of the traditional patterns and standards in the community we living.C. Ethnocentric: Each culture has its religion, myth and legends which convince every generation that they are special, powerful and intelligent and are thus capable of great achievements. Such pride helps to bind people in a society together to strive for ever greater accomplishments.D. Integrated: Culture is a complex and inclusive system in which all components, such as values, norms, perceptions and rules, are interrelated. And any change in one aspect of the culture will affect many other aspects.3. How are culture and language related to each other?A. Language is a guide to social reality. Language does not merely serve to allow us to describe what we see as reality, but language also shapes the way we see this reality.B. Language can record cultureLanguage can record the development of a society. People can learn culture left behind by their ancestors through language, and leave their culture to descendantsthrough language. For example, if we want to know the Chinese culture 1000 years ago, we can research the records of that time. Therefore through language, civilization passes over from generation to generation. The society will then make progress step by step.In fact, we can know other cultures by reading books. We don't need to go to go abroad to know about cultures of foreign countries. Language brings us convenience to learn different cultures.C. Culture affects languageFrom the definition of culture, we know that culture includes geography, religion, tradition, custom, value and so on. In fact, culture often affects language through them.Every nation lives and works in a certain natural environment, which is reflected by its language. People from different regions may have different languages. They use different words, metaphors to express their views towards their environment.Nearly every nation has its religion. Religion is an important part in culture. Many daily used words are from religion. For instance: Adam's apple (喉结); my rib(我妻); Judas's kiss(背叛)。