4.5.1　Background

In OETT，clusters like in honor of the，was built in／at the，was completed in and，the history of the，after a design by，it is one of often occur to give background information.These clusters aremainly related with the reason or time of architectures.TETT em ploys similar clusters such as was first built in，was built during the，built during the reign，and was com pleted in，has a history of.Besides，others clusters such as it is／was said that，is said to be／have，also known as the，is also knowas，used to be a are common in TETT.These clusters are supposed to introduce the history of tourist attractions.Take the frequently used pattern it is／was said that for exam ple.Usually，it is used to express an idea of university，regularity and generalization.Checked in COCA，a significant proportion of the expression is used in academic articles（academic articles 32%，magazine 19%，fiction 17%，spoken 17%and news 13%）.Undoubted ly，the constituent is rather formal，staying far away from the original purpose of tourism promotional texts to communicate with receivers.

Exam ple 14：

（1）At the foot of the hill are two fountainswhich jet two columns of water high into the air.It is said that on the ninth night of the ninth month of the lunar calendar，the em presswould mound the hill to enjoy the autumn scene.It is also believed that climbing to a high place on that day would keep people safe from contagious diseases.（TETT）(https://www.daowen.com)

It is／was said that and it is believed that help to narrate stories，especially fairy tales，which appear frequently in the original Chinese tourism publicity.

According to the researchers from University of Michigan，Asians and Americans see the world differently.Shown a photograph，Americans paid more attention to the object in the foreground of a scene，while Chinese spent more time studying the background and taking in the whole scene.Asians gave 60 percentmore information on the background and twice as much about the relationship between background and foreground objects as Americans，Nisbett said.The differences are determined by thought patterns—Americans think in a linear way，while Asians in a spiral way，which leaves traces in texts.Reflected in tourism promotional texts，there is more background information in TETT，butmore evaluation in OETT.