英美文化概况-Lessen 11-20

Lesson 11 Geography : The Land

The continental U.S. is situated in the southern part of North America . Covers a total area of 9631420 square kilometers .The U.S. is the 4th largest country in the world in terms of area . Alaska in the largest state of the U.S. In area . The coast range , the cascades and the rocky mountains are the Cordillera range . The rocky mountains form the continental divide of the U.S. The highest peak in the continental U.S is contained in the sierra Nevada mountain range. Alaska was bought by the U.S from Russia after the end of the American civil war . The international rivers of the U.S include St. Lawrence , Rio Grande & river Columbia . River Hudson flows through New York city . Of the five great lakes ,lake Michigan is wholly within the U.S .

Niagara falls is located on the US-Canadian boundary between lake Erie and lake Ontario . Southern Florida has a semitropical climate . The coasts of Oregon Washington are among the rainiest places in the world . The Midwest of the U.S has a temperate climate . The Rockies are cooler or colder than other regions in the same latitude because of their high altitude .

The greatest wonder is found in the forests of sequoia and fir trees on the northwest coast of the U.S. The deposits of natural gas in the US rank the first in the world . About three quarters of the iron ore in the US comes from the lake superior region . The western mountain ranges are rich in nonferrous metal deposits in the US. The US capital , the white house & pentagon building are in Washington D.C.

The eastern part of the US consists of highlands formed by the Appalachian Mountain range . The two great plateaus west of the Rockies are : the Columbia plateaus & the Colorado plateaus . Mount witney is the highest peak in the US outside Alaska . Death valley is the lowest point in north America . The central part of the US is composed of vast plains .

New England states have a could climate . The Middle Atlantic states have a temperates and the south has a warm climate.

Lesson 12 Geography : The people

The US has long been known as a " melting pot " . Most Americans are of European origin . Originally , north America was sprinkled with more than 300 tribes of American Indians . The dominant ethnic group in the US today is WASPs ( White anglo-Saxon Protestants ) , the first colonial people in present day US ,from England ,Northern and Western Europe . The Hispanics constitute the largest ethnic-racial minority group in the US and black form the second . Race is different from ethnicity because its basis is skin color . The blacks are the very bottom of the society in the US . The state of California is the largest in population today .

Between 1820and 1980 the US admitted almost 50 million immigrants . People in the US have kept moving westward for reasons : fertile soil in the west ,good climate in the west & discovery of gold in the west .

Hispanics in the US speak Spanish . Today about 90% of Americans are church members in the US . Protestants outnumber other religious group in the US . Class in an objective reality in the US today . Much of America`s wealth is owned by a small number of the monopoly capitalists . There exists a strikingly wide gap between the wealthy and the poor . The poor exist in the US because its distribution of wealth is fundamentally unequal .

The solvency of the middle class in the US depends on the combination of personal income and credit borrowing . The black people in the US are descend from Negro slaves imported from Africa . Black people were declared free initially by Abraham Lincoln`s Emancipation Proclamation .

In the 19th century a large number of Chinese were shipped to America as " coolies " . The residents in Hawaii are mainly of Japanese descent , Caucasian & Polynesian background . In US individuals encounter not only oppression but also discrimination based on ethnicity and race . According to the 2007 estimation , the total population of the US is 301.139947 million .

Lesson 13 American Economy

The last stage that American economy has experienced is corporate capitalism . Commercial capitalism was established as the dominant mode of production in the British colonies in the 17th century . In the industrial capitalism stage American economy developed rapidly . Trust corporation first emerged in the late 19th century and the early 20th century . The division of labor in management meant that corporations power were no longer concerned primarily with problems of production .

Modern corporations in the United states are anything but competitive . The oldest and most important industrial region in the US is the northeast . The south of the US has now become the newly developed industrial region . The west of the US is an important mining area .

Los Angeles , san Francisco and Seattle are on the Pacific coast . At present the west is the most rapidly growing section of the US . Canned fish and lumber are the chief manufactured products of Alaska . The growing use of machines to perform routine tasks in every field has exacerbated unemployment . About 1/4 of the land area is farmed in the US . All states except Arizona of the following are in the corn Belt . The states of Kansas leads the US in the production of wheat . Automobile has provided America with a comfortable and convenient means of transportation . The rapid growth of US private investment abroad sine 1945 was facilitated by all the following : diplomatic pressure , military interventions and economic sanctions .

The three stages that American economy has experienced in its development are commercial capitalism ,industrial capitalism and corporate capitalism . The US had surpassed great Britain in industrial production by the 1880s . Development of the American corporations begin in the 1870`s . In these giant corporations management was rationalized and centralized . Now the US economy is dominated by production ,strategies and consumption , monopolistic corporations . Automation and computerization have virtually brought about another revolution in US industrial in the 20th . Most of the important crop-growing areas of the US are in the central region .

The staple crops grown in the US are corn , wheat , with barely , oats and

rice ranking next in importance . The stock raising areas of the US are scattered in the neighborhood of the Great lakes , in the Corn belt and on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Range .

The airplane provides US with the fastest means of travel . In the US , railways are still important for carrying goods and are still operated by commercial companies .

Lesson 14 Political system : Government

The constitution of the US was framed in Philadelphia in 1787 . The president of the US exercises the executive power . The power of the US president has kept enlarging . President has the veto power in the US . Congress can veto the president`s vote by 2/3 vote of the full membership of both houses . Under the US constitution , the president has the power to sign an executive agreement with other nations without the consent of the senate. The constitution of the US says that only congress can declare war upon other nations .

The constitution of the US follows two principles : the federal system and " separation of powers ".The cabinet of the American government is made uo pf the heads of departments . The department of state is headed by the secretary of state . The heads of justice is headed by the attorney general .

The department of state advises the president on foreign relations . The secret service is part of the Treasury Department . FBI and federal prisons are among the responsibilities of the Department of Justice . The largest of independent agreement agencies is the postal service . A senate must be over 30 years old and must have been an American citizen for at least nine years . The number of representatives from each state is fixed according to the size of the population of the state has . Representatives in the US are elected every two years .

Impeachment of the president should be proposed by the house and decided on by the senate . In the process of an impeachment , the senates serve as the Jury .

Congress consists of the senate and the house of representatives . The national parks in the US are managed by the department of interior . Congress has the power to make any laws that are considered "necessary and proper " . The president of the Senate is the Vice-president and the presiding officer of the house is Vice-president . Today the real work of both house of congress is done in their committees . The Judicial branch of the US government is headed by the Supreme Court .

Lesson 15 political system : State Government and Party Politics

The legislature is the most important part of a state government . The state legislature usually consists of two houses except the state of Nebraska . The chief executive of a state is the governor . Judges of state courts are usually appointed officials . The state court system begins with purely local jurisdiction followed by a series of intermediate trial courts , then by appellate courts and finally by the state`s supreme court . The most popular kind of city government in the US is the mayor-council system . The federal party was led by Alexander Hamilton . The federal Party was in favor of friendly relations with England .

Two political parties emerged in the middle of the 19th century US over the issue of slavery . The party leader of a precinct is often called the precinct captain . The highest permanent organization of each party is the national committee . The general Election in the US is held every four years .

The national conventions of the two parties usually begin with the discussion and acceptance of the party platform . The US Election Day is set on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in October . The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of congressmen . The newly elected president takes up on January 20th of the next year .

Like the federal government , a state government is made up of three branches . The two types of juries utilized in the US are the grand jury and the petit jury . The decision for a trial is made by the grand jury , while the petit jury decides guilt or innocence . The three kinds of local governments under a state government are county governments ,city , town , or village government and local governments of districts set up for special purpose . At the primary stage of the general election , the voters elect delegates to the national conventions of the two parties in each state .

The American voters do not vote directly for the president but vote for the presidential electors . The party that wins a majority of the popular votes in the state on the Election day will get all the electoral votes of that state . The presidential candidate who gets the majority of the electoral votes is elected president of the US . If no candidate receive a majority of the votes of the electors , the house of representatives choose the president and the senate choose the vice-president .

In 1951 congress passed an amendment to the constitution to limit a president to two terms or to ten years successively in office . If a president dies or resigns or is removed from office , the Vice-president succeeds him.

Lesson 16 History : The Early Colonization

Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator . The New World discovered by Columbus was named after Amerigo Vespucci . The earliest British settlement on North America was Plymouth . The puritan`s settlement on North America was Plymouth . Connecticut , New Hampshire and Massachusetts are a New England colony . Georgia was the colony set up by Colonel James Oglethorpe in 1733 . In 1682 , a group of Quakers headed by William Penn set up the colony of Pennsylvania . Delaware wad first settled by people from Sweden .

Of the 13 British colonies only Connecticut and Rhode Island were self-governing colonies . The central colonies are a region of small farms , cosmopolitan and Tolerant in religion . The southern colonies developed a plantation system with the exploitation of slave labor . In the 13 colonies , the black people were enslaved .

The earliest inhabitant in America were American Indians ,who had come over from Asia by crossing the land bridge across the present Bering strait . Influenced by Marco Polo`s famous travel book ,kings ,lords and merchants in western Europe were eager to find sea routes to the far East . In the early colonization of Americas , Portugal set up colonies in Brazil , while Spain explored and colonized much of south America ,and Mexico . The French built settlement along the St Lawrence river and in the Five great lakes region . The two joint-stock companies set up in England in 1606 were : Virginia Company of Plymouth , Virginia Company of London . The first English colony set up in May 1607 was called Jamestown . In 1620 , a group of puritans sailed for America on a ship called the Mayflower . They called themselves Proprietary . Together with those who arrived later ,they set up four colonies , which they called New England . The New England Colonies become a center for lumbering ,shipping and fishing. The central colonies become a region of small Farms .

In terms of their political administration , the thirteen British colonies can be divided into three types : the royal colonies , the proprietary colonies and the self-governing colonies .

Lesson 17 History : American Revolution

The French and Indian War was a war fought between the French and the English . As a result of the French and the Indian War , the French lost all land in North America . In the 18th century , people in Europe began to believe that natural laws guided the universe . John`s belief : Man`s knowledge is from observation and experiment , Man`s knowledge is from the reflection by the mind . Man`s knowledge is acquired from experience of live senses . Reason led Locke to condemn absolute government .

Benjamin played an important role in exemplifying the Enlightenment in America to his countrymen . The Quartering act and the Stamp Act passed by British parliament in 1765 . Names given to an America revolutionary organization : sons of Liberty , committees of Correspondence and the stamp congress . The intolerable Acts do include : the Boston port Act , the Massachusetts government act and the Administration of Justice Act .

The second continental congress was held in Philadelphia . Karl Marx called the Declaration of Independence the first declaration of the rights of the individual . The victory at Saratoga was a turning point of the America war of Independence . The constitutional convention was held in Philadelphia in May 1787 . James was known as the "Father of the the constitution ."

After the French and Indian war , the English colonist in north America wanted more freedom in politics , trade and commerce ,while England wanted more taxes . The Enlightenment in America provided the colonist with a theoretical and philosophical weapon against the British rule . After the French and Indian war , the British government practiced the policy of mercantilist in the colonies . By practicing such a policy , the British ruling class tried to monopolize the markets and to hold back the development of manufacturing in the colonies . One of the Navigation acts provided that only British owned ships could carry colonial goods to British Possessions .

The British government developed a system of external taxation after the failure of the program of internal taxation on the 13 colonies . The motto of the colonies was "NO taxation without representation . The Declaratory of act passed by the British government declared that the British government had the right to pass any economic laws it desired .

The US purchased Louisiana territory from French in 1803 . In 1819 , the US "purchased " Florida from Spain after having occupied it for several years . The US annexed the the Mexican territory of Texas in 1845 . The US forced England to cede the Oregon region ( includes Washington , Idaho , Oregon ) in 1846 . In 1867 ,the US purchased the territory of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands from Czarist Russia . By the mid-19th century , the territory of the US had reached over 9 million quare kilometers , about 10 times the size of the total area of the original 13 states . By the late 19th century , the US had finished its territorial expansion in the continent .

The American industrial revolution began in the year of 1807 with its textile industry . During the period of some 20 years before the outbreak of the Civil war , the industrial north needed free labor , while the south needed slave labor . The northerners wanted a high tariff , while the southerners wanted a low tariff . When the south found itself outnumbered in the house of representatives , the southerners tried to keep the number slave states equal to that of free states so that the southern senators could not be outvoted by the northern senators . So in this case slavery become a political issue .

The novel Uncle Tom`s cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe . The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 extended the idea of Popular sovereignty . In 1857 , the supreme court was ruled in the Dred Scott case that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional .

The republican Party was formed in the year of 1854 . In February 1861 , 6 of the slave states that had seceded from the Union formed the confederate State of America , and elected Jefferson Davis their president . The American Civil war began on April ,1861 when the rebels fired on Fort 12 , summer . On September 22, 1862 Lincoln issued the Emancipation proclamation . On April 9 , 1865 , after the fall of Richmond , General Lee of the south surrendered to General Grant of the north at Appomattox court house , and the war ended . The American civil war is also called the Second American Bourgeois revolution . At the end of the American Civil war , the black people were not emancipated at all .

The means taken by the Lincoln Administration in 1862 to change the situation and win the civil war : the passage of the Homestead Act , the issuing of the Emancipation proclamation , the allowance of Negroes to join the union army .

By the year of 1894 the US had become the world leading industrial country . The emergence o trusts suggested the shift of the US from competitive capitalism to monopoly capitalism . The Jungle was a story about the

meat-packing plants in Chicago . On May 1, 1886 , works went on simultaneous strikes in Chicago and other large cities . The US states looked greedily at Asia Latin America after it completed its territorial expansion on the continent . The first Pan-America Conference was convened in the year of 1889 .

In order to grab Cuba , the US went into war with Spain in 1898 . As a result of the war , Spain ceded Cuba ,Puerto Rico Guam and the Philippines to the US . In 1902 the US began to negotiate with Columbia for the site of the Panama Canal . In 1844 US imperialism invaded China and compelled the Qing Dynasty to sign the unequal Treaty of Wangxia . In 1858 US imperialism advocated an " Open door " policy , in an attempt to seek equal privileges in China along with other foreign powers .

The US entered the first World War in April 1917 . The 14-point program proposed by president Wilson included freedom of the seas , disarmament and the establishment of the League of Nations . The Japanese attacked pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7 , 1941 . In the first two decades after WW

II ,the US government adopted a policy of Cold War and " containment " in its relationship with the soviet Union . The policy was later replaced by the policy of contention for world hegemony . President Nixon visited China in February 1972 . In the year of 1979 the US established diplomatic relations with China . The US Imperialism was marked by highly developed industry , high concentration of capital and overseas territorial expansion . " Yellow dog " contrat was used to restrict the formation of workers`unions . The

Spain-American war strengthened the US interventions in the Far east . In the late half of the 19th century , China was the main objective of the US overseas expansion . Industrial boom , Organized gangsterism and smuggling of liquor . Were the characteristic of the " roaring 20`s " . The US foreign policy in the 1930`s may be termed " the policy of non-entanglement "

Destroying crops , Adopting the " good neighbor policy " towards Latin American countries and launching public works were the measures of the New deal .

Lesson 20 American Education

In 1647 , Massachusetts passed a law required every town to provide children with schools and schoolmasters . The founding fathers of the US laid down principles and institutions of education which still flourish . In America , there is not one but 50 educational systems . Before the civil war , America often asserted that parents alone had the right and responsibility to determine the extent to which children needed formal schooling .

On the state level , educational policy is generally the responsibility of a state board of citizens . Local control of education in the southern states is usually through countries . Most states have separate university boards for the administration of higher education . Most states boards are appointed by the state legislature or governor ,but a few are elected . States-run universities are financed at least 2/3 by state and federal grants with students paying the balance in the form of tuition and other fees . America education is mainly classified into elementary ,secondary and higher . Elementary and secondary education covers 12 years from age 6 through 18 . In spite of the shift in emphasis on the goal of a sense of responsibility to that of autonomous individuals , both teachers and students have before them the 4 sets of general goals , namely academic ,vocational ,social and personal . Secondary education in the US takes place in a variety of Junior and senior high

schools .which can be distinguished as vocational , technical and academic high schools .

It is the faculty of the colleges and the universities that decides who shall be taught and for how long , what shall be taught and how , and who shall have the right to teach . According to their year of study , undergraduate students are called freshmen , sophomores , juniors and seniors respectively . During the first two years of years of study , college students take survey

courses ,which are taken as introductory courses for more specialized courses . Midyear exams are given at the end of a term when the subject matter carries over to the next semester . The number of credits for a course depends on how many hours of a lectures . Class meetings , laboratory work , etc . , are offered each week .

During the third and 4th years of college ,students concentrate most of their courses in one subject , which is known as a major . American education was rooted from the beginning in the old world experience . The letters set up Harvard college in 1636 . American education came into its own with the achievement of independence . Of the founding fathers , Thomas Jefferson contributed most to American educational philosophy and practice .