1、american society and culture 美國(guó)社會(huì)與文化american beginning: i. resident:i. the first people to live in north america came from asia between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago. at that time, north america and asia were connected by a land bridge. these people may have been following herds of buffalo or woolly m

2、ammoths. they eventually spread throughout canada and the united states.ii. indian nations and tribes: eventually north america became populated by many different tribes of people. these tribes lived in most areas of the country, adapting to the local land and climate. many lived in mountainous regi

3、ons, others on plains. they hunted, fished, and where soil permitted they planted crops and farmed the land.iii. three great civilizations: aztec/ incas/ maya ii. discovery of new land:i. background ii. dramatic changes iii. protest an and puritan iv. the pilgrims settlement iv. north american colon

4、ies v. the american revolution u.s.a. a new nation:1.the louisiana purchase: in 1803, the united states bought the louisiana territory from france. james madison, the u.s. secretary of state, paid 15 million dollars for the land. the louisiana territory included much of what is now central united st

5、ates. it stretched from new orleans in the south to the canadian border in the north. and it stretched from the the mississippi river on the east to the rocky mountains on the west. 2. events of the california gold rush james marshall discovers gold at sutters sawmill gold rush starts to attract peo

6、ple from around the world california becomes a state gold becomes more scarce development of better mining techniques population of california exceeds 300,000 sacramento becomes the california state capital discovery of silver in nevada ends the california gold rush3. the civil war: the civil war sp

7、lit the nation. it was the most bitter conflict within the united states. the source of the conflict between the north and the south resulted from fundamentally different ways of life. economy in the south was heavily based on agriculture and growing cotton. the north was heavily industrialized with

8、 factories and manufacturing being central to the economy. growing and harvesting cotton required large numbers of workers. this work force was made up of about 4 million slaves. by the 1800s, the african slave trade had become illegal. but existing slaves were not freed. men and women of the north

9、pushed to completely abolish slavery. the south feared that losing the slaves would have a severe economic impact on cotton plantations. abraham lincoln was against slavery. when he was elected president in 1860, seven southern states left, or seceded, from the united states. they formed the confede

10、rate states of america. on april 12, 1861, southern confederate forces captured fort sumter in south carolina. four more states seceded, and the civil war began. the civil war consisted of more than 50 major battles and 5000 minor battles. in less than 5 years, more than 600,000 men were killed and

11、hundreds of thousands of others were wounded. the union army with more soldier and resources eventually overcame the confederate army. on april 9, 1865, general lee surrendered his confederate troops. the war was over. five days after the surrender treaty was signed, president abraham lincoln was as

12、sassinated by a southern sympathizer.the political system in the united states:i. origins: after years of struggle and numerous battles in the late 1700s, the united states finally succeeded in breaking from the british empire and became the first colonial possession to achieve independence from the

13、 mother country. separation from england created an immediate problem to the newly born nation.revolution, the source of political authority had rested in allegiance to the monarch in england. now, with that allegiance no longer in existence, what source could the new nation draw on for its legitima

14、cy? this juridical dilemma was solved by fifty-five men. who, in the summer of 1787, gathered in the city of philadelphia to draw up the constitution of the united states of america. ithe articles of confederation(聯(lián)邦條款）after the war of independence was won, the new nation of the united states was or

15、ganized under the agreement of the articles of confederation with a weak national government called the congress. each state had its own government, made its own laws and handled its internal affairs. the states did not cooperate with the congress and with each other. the congress had no power to fo

16、rce any state to contribute money to the national government and the congress could not tax any citizen either. as a result, the articles of confederation failed.ii the making of the u.s constitutionthe articles of confederation failed. the congress decided to hold a constitutional convention to rev

17、ise the articles of confederation. the delegates from 12 states (rhode island refused to participated) gathered in philadelphia in 1787 and end up in writing a new constitution and set a federal system with a strong central government. the constitution provided that an election of the president woul

18、d be called for, federal laws would be made only by a congress made up of the house of representatives and the senate and a supreme court would be set up. this new constitution was finally approved by the majority of the citizens in over 9 of the 13 states and was officially put into effect in 1787

19、) * a federal system is one in which power is shared between a central authority and its constituent parts, with some rights reserved to each. * to protect citizens from tyranny, a bill of rights was added to the constitution in 1791.iii the 3 branches of the u.s federal government - the legislative

20、 branch is made up of elected representatives from all of the states and is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes and declare war or put foreign treaties into effect. it consists of a congress that is divided into the house of representative and the senate. the house of repr

21、esentatives has 435 members who serve two-year terms. the senate comprises 100 lawmakers who serve six-year terms. each state, regardless of population, has two senators. - the executive branch is the president, who is elected to a four-year term. a president can be elected to only two terms accordi

22、ng to an amendment passed in 1951. the president can appoint federal judges as vacancies occur. he is the commander in chief of the armed forces. the president has other broad authorities in running the government departments and handling foreign relations. - the judicial branch is headed by the sup

23、reme court with a chief justice and 8 associate justices. the federal courts have jurisdiction over cases arising out of the constitution and other cases which do not arise out of individual states. the supreme court has the judicial review power, the power determining whether congressional legislat

24、ion or executive action violates the constitution. * system of checks and balances (制約與平衡的原則) of the three-part national government works to keep serious mistakes from being made by one branch or another.iv the bill of rights (another basic foundation in the u.s constitution )- consists of the first

25、 10 amendments which were added to the constitution in 1791. the bill of rights was passed to guarantee freedom and individual rights such as freedom of speech, the right to assemble in public places, the right to own weapons and so on. * there were 16 other amendments to the constitution as of 1991

26、. so, there are 26 amendments to the u.s constitution. v two major political parties:- the democratic party, which is thought to be more liberal and the symbol of which is the donkey (under president franklin roosevelts new deal, democrats set up government programs that provided paid employment for

27、 people building dams and roads and public buildings and social security社會(huì)保障制度, which ensures that those who are retired or disabled receive monthly payments from the government ) - the republican party, which is believed to be more conservative and the symbol of which is the elephant.（republicans p

28、lace more emphasis on private enterprise and often accuse the democrats of making the government too expensive and of creating too many laws that harm individual initiative.）* americans do not have to join a political party in order to vote or to be a candidate for public office. however, running fo

29、r office without the money and campaign workers a party can provide is difficult (若沒(méi)有錢(qián)和政黨所能提供的選舉活動(dòng)者們，想要競(jìng)選職位是很難的)american economy:i. why the us became a wealthy nation the beliefs, determination, and hard work of the early settlers were equally important. in the early years of the us, wealth and soci

30、al position were not permanently determined at birth. the ideal of equality of opportunity in america made the level of material wealth of both the rich and the poor much less certain at any time, the rich might lose some of their wealth, and the poor might increase theirs. therefore, all classes in

31、 american society though about protecting their material possessions and looked for ways to acquire more. because this was so important to both the rich and poor, the entire population joined in the great task of increasing the nations material abundance as quickly as possible. in the process of cre

32、ating a land of abundance, americans began to judge themselves by materialistic standards. unlike may countries, where the love of material things was seen as a vice, a mark of weak moral character, in the us it was seen as a virtue: a positive incentive to work hard and a reward for successful effo

33、rts. traditionally, the people of the us have been proud of their nations ability to produce material wealth so that they could maintain a high standard of living. this helps explain why americans use materialistic standards not only to judge themselves as individuals but also to judge themselves as

34、 a nation.question one：what are the three values are strengthened by the abundant natural resources of the us? equality of opportunity/ material wealth/ hard work question two: the explosion of the internet has prompted some to ask whether similar restrictions should be placed on this medium. should

35、 it be regulated? if so, how? a) industrial revolution in americab) service industries - industries that sell a service rather than make a product，which now dominate the economy. service industries range from banking to telecommunications to he provision of meals in restaurants. as more and more peo

36、ple are employed in service industries in the us, it is sometimes said the us has moved into a post-industrial era(后工業(yè)時(shí)代)c) free enterprise自由經(jīng)濟(jì)(lack of government oversight政府不干預(yù)) - people in the united states made money by lending it to those who wanted to start of expand a business, which led to th

37、e creation of an important part of the current economic scene（經(jīng)濟(jì)環(huán)境）: the selling of stock(買(mǎi)賣(mài)股票), or shares, in a business.-stock - when starting or expanding business, corporations need to borrow money. they may issue stocks for people to buy. when people buy stock, they become part owner of the com

38、pany. if the company makes a profit, they receive a share of it. likewise, if the company loses money, the stockholders will not make a profit or the value of their shares will dropthey lose money. therefore buying stock is a risk. * the best-known stock exchange is the new york stock exchange(紐約證券交

39、易所), located in the wall street area of new york city, the nations largest city and a major business center.d) the roots of americas affluence- bountiful resources, the geographical size of the country and population trend (us is the 4th in the world in terms of land area and size of population ) -

40、religious, social and political traditionse) agribusiness 農(nóng)業(yè)產(chǎn)業(yè): because american agriculture is big business, people coined the term agribusiness to reflect the large-scale nature of agricultural enterprises in the modern us economy. the term covers the entire complex of farm-related business, from

41、the individual farmer to the multinational maker of farm chemicals. it also includes farmer cooperatives, rural banks, shippers of farm products, commodity dealers, firms that manufacture farm equipment, food-processing industries, grocery chains and many other businesses.f) migrant workers: many bi

42、g farms hire temporary workers only for a specific choresuch as picking crops. many of these seasonal workers travel from farm to farm, staying only until the crops are picked. religion in the u.s.:世界性三大宗教為基督教、伊斯蘭數(shù)和佛教。1.the three faiths in the u.s：- 1. protestant (over 60% of americans are said to b

43、e protestant believers. )- 2. the catholics: the catholic church is the largest single religious group in the u.s. more than 25% of all americans are now of the roman catholic faith. the majority of the catholic are descendants of immigrants from ireland, italy and poland. they have the main strengt

44、h in the east coast.- 3.the jewish: more liberal protestant and jewish clergymen joined non-believers in maintaining that abortion is a basic right for women.（自由清教徒和猶太教牧師加入到信仰者之列，堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為流產(chǎn)是婦女的一項(xiàng)基本權(quán)利) * by the 1950s, the above three faiths model of american religion had developed. 2.characteristics of a

45、merican religious belief:-1. the bill of rights of the u.s. constitution provides that there is no state religion and that church and state must be separated. (沒(méi)有國(guó)教及政教分離) -2. american religious beliefs continue to be strong with social progress. -3. in the united states, every church is a completely

46、 independent organization and concerned with its own finance and its own building. there has been little concentration on doctrine or religious argument such as in european history. * in the u.s., people go church mainly for the following reasons: (1) for having a place in community (2) for identify

47、ing themselves with dominant values(使自己和社會(huì)的主流價(jià)值觀保持一致) (3) for getting together with friends. education in the u.s:american education system: the education system of the united states is large and complex.1.the goal of education -to achieve universal literacy and to provide individuals with the knowl

48、edge and skills necessary to promote both their own individual welfare as well as that of the general public.普及教育，并使每個(gè)人掌握必要的知識(shí)和技能。這不僅能提高人的福利，同時(shí)也改善了公眾的福利。 2. expenditure of education -about 85% of american students attend public schools supported by american taxpayers. religious instruction is not gi

49、ven in public schools. in public schools where public taxes are involved, spending and the school curriculum, teacher standards and certification are guided by boards of education (policy makers for schools) at the state or district level. -the other 15% attend private schools, for which their famil

50、ies choose to pay special attendance. 80% private schools in the u.s. are run by churches, synagogues(猶太教教學(xué)) or other religious groups. religious teachings are a part of the curriculum. private schools that meet state standards use the fees they collect as they think best. -the combined expenses of

51、both education systems, public and private, exceed $190000 million a year. (1900億美元) 3. different education laws for different states -every state in american has its own laws about education and all states require young people to go to school. thus every child in america is guaranteed up to 13 year

52、s of education. each state have the right to provide for the education of its people. (州政府有權(quán)管理本州的教育) -the age limits vary: 32 states require attendance to age 16; 8 to 18; etc. 4. several levels of schooling-elementary school/grammar school 1）usually grades kindergarten through 8 - k-8 2）in some pla

53、ces: k-6 3）sometimes grades 4,5,6 called middle school) 4）teach mathematics, language, arts, social studies and some other subjects -secondary school1）generally grades 9-12, popularly called high school 2）in many districts, grades7-9 are called junior high school 3）when grades 7-9 are included with

54、the 10th, 11th and 12th grades, all six are said to a senior high school-higher education -it refers to american education on the college level. it includes 4 categories of institutions. they are (1)the university, (2)the four-year undergraduate institution (the college)(四年制本科學(xué)院), (3)the technical t

55、raining institution(技術(shù)培訓(xùn)學(xué)院) and (4) the two-year or community college（兩年制社區(qū)學(xué)院）. some are supported by public funds and some by private funds. many universities and colleges have won reputations for providing their students with a higher quality of education. the great majority are generally regarded

56、 as quite satisfactory. a few other institutions provide only adequate education. -in order to go to university, secondary school students must (1) have high school records (2) recommendations from their teachers (3)get good scores in the scholastic aptitude test. (sats學(xué)習(xí)能力傾向測(cè)試-指根據(jù)美國(guó)大學(xué)入學(xué)考試委員會(huì)編的試題進(jìn)行的

57、高等學(xué)校入學(xué)前的預(yù)測(cè)性測(cè)驗(yàn)) (4)make good impressions during the interviews.-every year more than 3 million students graduate from secondary schools, only about 1 million students go on for higher education. -public and private colleges depend on three sources of income: student intuition, endowments(捐贈(zèng)gifts made

58、 by wealthy benefactors慈善家) and government funding. harvard, princeton and yale universities get very large endowments, more than 1000 million dollars each. -degrees and trends in degree programs:-the undergraduate student gets a bachelors degree after earning a certain number of credits (120) in four years of college. the other two higher degrees are masters degree and doctors degree. -during the 1970s and 1980s, there was a trend away from the traditional liberal arts. many students were choosing major fields that would prepare them for specific