Every year the United Sates exports "cultural products" to the rest of the world while it only imports similar products from other countries equal to about one percent of the amount exported. Movies, for example, are one such 1 . The movie industry in countries like England and Italy is almost completely 2 on American exports. Both countries report that 85% to 95% of all movie tickets sold each year are for movies produced in the United States. Millions of people worldwide buy American pop, rap, and rock music. Billions of people drink Coca-Cola and eat McDonald's hamburgers. American software 3 the computer market.
Can all of the above products be called "cultural", however? That depends on how one 4 culture. Most people 5 culture into two forms: "high" culture and "low" culture. High culture is the kind produced by writers and 6 . It is more concerned with stimulating thought in the people who view or use it and does not 7 care how marketable people find it Low culture, 8 is viewed as a product usually for entertainment and is only as good as how well it sells. Because it is 9 by masses of people, this type of culture can also be called "mass culture". The 10 between low and high culture are not very clear.
Pierre Guerlain, a professor of English and American Studies in France, points out that when a cultural product is imported, the product cannot cover the existing culture, thus 11 it. The imported product is changed to adapt to the local context. Anyone who believes that a society which imports American products of mass culture will become a 12 of America is being naive (幼稚的).
America may seem to have the strongest hand in exporting cultural products, but there is a boomerang (相反的) 13 for being more of an exporter than importer. Because Europeans and Japanese import so many cultural products from the United States, they know a lot more about American culture 14 than Americans know about European or Japanese culture. It is a definite advantage for the Europeans and Japanese to be bilingual as well as bicultural. These countries can use their knowledge of American society and 15 to increase their chances of success in the American market.
