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Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации Федеральное агентство по образованию

Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования

«Хабаровская государственная академия экономики и права»

И. А. Ковалёва

US: Culture. Society. People

Учебное пособие для студентов 1 – 2-го курсов неязыковых вузов

с расширенной сеткой часов по иностранному языку

Часть 1

Хабаровск 2008

2

ББК Ш 143.21

X 12

US: Culture. Society. People : учеб. пособие для студентов неязыковых вузов с расширенной сеткой часов по иностранному языку. Ч. 1 / сост. И. А. Ковалёва. – Хабаровск : РИЦ ХГАЭП, 2008. – 104 с.

Рецензенты : Т. Н. Лобанова, доцент каф. лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации ТОГУ, канд. пед. наук; Н. В. Барсукова, завкафедрой ин. языков ДВИМБ, доцент, канд. пед. наук

Утверждено издательско-библиотечным советом в качестве учебного

пособия

Учебное издание

И. А. Ковалёва

US: Culture. Society. People

Учебное пособие для студентов 1 – 2-го курсов неязыковых вузов

с расширенной сеткой часов по иностранному языку

Часть 1

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© Хабаровская государственная академия экономики и права, 2008

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Contents

Предисловие …………………………………………………………………… 4 1. Chapter 1 General Information ……………………………………………… 5

2.Chaper 2 Composition of the Country ……………………………………... 11

3.Chapter 3 The Founding of America ………………………………………. 47

4.Chapter 4 A Nation is Established …………………………………………. 63

5. Chapter 5 Founding Fathers ………………………………………………… 73

6. Chapter 6 Expanding the Nation …………………………………………… 79

7.Chapter 7 New Was, Old Waya in the New Nation ………………………… 82

8.Chapter 8 Civil War: a House Divided ……………………………………. 86

9.Chapter 9 The Years of Reconstruction (1865 – 1877) …………………….. 90

10.Chapter 10 Growth and Change ……………………………………………. 97

11.Chapter 11 Frontier Heritage ……………………………………………….. 100

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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Учебное пособие «US: Culture, Society, People» предназначено для студентов 1 – 2-го курсов неязыковых вузов с расширенной сеткой часов по ИЯ. Пособие разработано в контексте социокультурного подхода к обучению ИЯ и направлено на 1) развитие способностей студентов использовать ИЯ как средство образования и самообоазования в области культуроведения и лингвострановедения с опорой на ранее сформированные знания и умения; 2) формирование у студентов социокультурных стратегий в контексте «диалога культур».

Данное пособие состоит из двух частей, 22 разделов (глав), включающих аутентичные культуроведческие тексты по географии, экономике, культуре США. Материалы знакомят студентов с традициями, национальными чертами характера, выдающимися людьми, а также с наиболее интересными и специфическими особенностями истории и современной жизни этой страны.

Предлагаемые проблемные задания (проблемные вопросы, ролевые игры) способствуют развитию и совершенствованию навыков чтения и неподготовленной речи; умению проводить аналогии, противопоставления, сравнения между фактами и реалиями родной и американской культур.

В результате изучения курса студенты научатся воспринимать и критически оценивать материал, выражать свои собственные суждения в устной и письменной форме, использовать справочную литературу.

Данное пособие предназначено для самостоятельной работы студентов, а также может быть использовано на занятиях в аудитории.

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Chapter 1 General Information

US STATISTICS

Official name: the United States of America.

Form of government: Federal Republic with two legislative houses (Senate [100]; House of Representatives: [435])

Head of state and government: President.

Capital: Washington, D.C.

Official language: none.

Official religion: none (Religious affiliation: Protestant 57.9%, Roman Catholic 21.2%, other Christian 6.5%, Jewish 2.1%, Muslim 1.9%, nonreligious 8.7% other 2.0%). Monetary unit: dollar (which is divided into 100 cents ($1.00=100cents. US dollars come in one-dollar, five-dollar, ten-dollar, twenty-dollar, fifty-dollar, and one hundreddollar denominations. Coins are also used and come in quarters ($.25), dimes ($.10), nickels ($.05), and pennies ($01).

Demography population: (2000) 281,421,000. Sex distribution (1998) male 48.93%; female 51,07%.

Urban-Rural: (1996): Urban 76.4%; Rural 23.6%.

Life expectancy at birth: (1995): White male 73.4 years; Black and other male 67.5 (50 years; White female79.6 years; Black and other female 75.8 (5) years.

Child poverty rank: (2006) 22; percent 22.4.

Average household size: 2.5. Income equality rank: 71.

GDP growth rates: (2006) 3.6% (China 8.0%; Russia 5.5%)

Welfare: Public spending (2005) 35% of GDP (Britain 43%); Healthcare system rank: 37; no universal guarantee; 45million uninsured.

Education: 2.6% (Europe 1.1% of GDP; (adult “functional” literacy: 85%.

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountains majesties Above the fruited plain.

America, America, God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, From sea to shining sea.

(From the song America the Beautiful)

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The United States territory consists of three separate parts, different in size, natural features, level of development and population: the main part, or mainland (the United States proper); Alaska and Hawaii. Stretching 4,500 kilometers from east to west and 2,500 kilometers from north to south, the mainland mass of the United States offers almost every variety of climate and physical feature. Including the states of Alaska (the biggest state in the USA) and Hawaii, the country covers an area of more than 9 million square kilometers (the main part, the United States proper occupying 7,800,000 square kilometers). Hawaii is lying in the Pacific 3,200 kilometers from mainland, and Alaska 3,170 kilometers (by the Alaskan Highway through Canada) to the northwest. The mainland borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It is washed by the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the Gulf of Mexico in the southeast.

The coastline length of the United States proper is 22,860 km. The Atlantic coast is mostly lowland and greatly indented. The Pacific coast is mountainous, in the northern part cut by numerous fiords.

Relief. About half of the US territory is covered by plateaus and mountains. The eastern part is occupied by the Appalachian Mountains, which in the north come close to the Atlantic coast and in the south are separated from it by the Atlantic Lowland. West of the Appalachians, stretch the Central Plains, the Great Plains (deeply cut plateau with the heights of 500-1500m), and the flat Mexican Lowland with swamps and marshes. The western part, including Alaska, is made up of high mountain ranges, tablelands and plateaus of the Cordilleras with heights of up to 3000-5000 m. The highest peaks of the USA are Mount McKinley (6193m) in Alaska and Mount Whitney in California (4,390km). On the territory of the USA proper, the mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountains – the long backbone of the continent - stretch in the north-south direction. West of the Rockies lie the volcanic Columbia Plateau, the Great Basin (a desert tableland with the Death Valleythe lowest point in the country, 85m below sealevel), the Colorado Plateau. Typical for this area is the alternation of mountain ranges up to 4,500m with numerous deep river canyons. Because of its unusual and varied natural beauty, much of this mountain and desert region has been preserved unspoiled in national parks – Yellowstone (Wyoming) and Death Valley (California).

Climate. Being crossed by mountain ranges from north to south, the USA is unprotected from blasts of cold air from the north and warm air from the south. This is the cause of great fluctuations of temperature. The United States is mostly situated in the temperate and subtropical zones enjoying moderate climate. Alaska lies in the subarctic and arctic zones. The climate of the Atlantis coast is continental-marine with cool summers and rather warm winters. The southern part of Florida and Hawaii are situated

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in the tropical zones with the monsoon subtropical climate which is also typical for the Pacific coast of California. The US occupying a vast territory, it is natural that a great diversity of climatic conditions can be observed in different parts of the country. The highest temperatures are observed in the Death Valley (up to 56 C).

Inland Waters. The longest river in the United States (and the longest in the world) is the Mississippi River with its west tributary Missouri (7,300 km long). The Mississippi River flows south and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The other tributary of the Mississippi is the Ohio River. Another important river in the USA is the Hudson River which empties into the Atlantic at New York. In the west of the country, the Columbia River and the Colorado River flow through deep canyons and are cut by numerous rapids which makes them a good source of electric power. World-famous is the region of the Great Lakes – a system of five lakes - in the north-east of the US bordering Canada. The lakes are joined together by natural channels. The Niagara Falls situated on the short Niagara River, are famous worldwide. The waters of the Great Lakes have their outlets into the Atlantic Ocean by the St. Lawrence River, flowing mostly across Canada.

Natural Resources. The country is rich in coal (the Cordilleras, The Kansas City Region, Birmingham and Pittsburgh), iron (the Great Lakes, the Pittsburgh, Birmingham and Philadelphia areas) and oil, silver and gold (California, Texas).

Questions

1. How many separate parts does the USA consist of? What are these parts? 2. What is the area of the main part of the USA? Is bigger or smaller than that of Russia? 3. What are the highest peaks of the United States? Where are they? 4. What river does the USA “share” with its north neighbor? 5. How does the relief of the USA tell on the climatic conditions? 6. What effect does the geography of a country have on its people? 7. Does your country have different climates? 8. What effect does climate have on the lifestyles of the people in your country?

NATIONAL MAKEUP OF THE USA

The United States has often been called “a nation of immigrants.” There are two good reasons for this. First, the country was settled, built and developed by generations of immigrants and their children who come from all corners of the world. Secondly, even today America continues to take in more immigrants than any other country in the world. Their citizenship is not derived from race or culture but from place of birth or by free choice.

Ethnic Groups and Minorities The United States is a nation of diversity. About onequarter of Americans trace their dominant ancestry to Great Britain. Half are descended

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from other European nations. The remainder are descended from Hispanics, Africans, Asians and Native Americans (about 1,5million). According to the Census Bureau (2003), US population by race and ethnicity is represented by 68% of White, 14% of Hispanic(native-born7,7%; foreign-born 6,2%). Black make up 12% of US population, Asian- 4%. Ethnic groups (there are over a hundred of them) share specific racial or physical traits, speak their own language or practice a distinctive religion. They are also bound to one another by common traditions and values, by their own folklore and music. Most members of ethnic groups long established in the USA have lost much of the distinctiveness of their culture. They speak only English and think of themselves as “plain Americans”. Many retain their language and cultural and family traditions. For 300 years, the coming of different groups to the United States has involved their struggle to make a living and to be accepted as equal partners in American life. Many immigrant groups have moved from a position of disdained outsider to one of full participation in social, economic and political life; some other groups have yet to complete this journey. The Irish, the Italians and the Germans, as well as the Catholics and the Jews, who faced hostility and discrimination for decades, overcame these barriers and became fully integrated into national life.

Some ethnic groups, however suffer disadvantages which continue to keep them from freely participating in some areas of professional and cultural life. Racial prejudice and discrimination against Blacks, Chinese, and Native Americans has often meant that many members of those groups have been forced to live and work in narrow sectors of American life.

Beyond their common struggle for success in an alien world, the various Asian American ethnic groups are not homogeneous. Japanese Americans in college today are the second and third generations of their families born in the USA. Chinese Americans in college today range from individuals whose families have lived here for five generations (the first Chinese immigrant arrived in 1820) to the children of educated urban Chinese newcomers. These individuals are American by birth, outlook, training, and philosophy, and are influenced only peripherally by ancestral traditions. This is not wholly true of the offspring of recent arrivals in the USA. Many are strongly influenced by the ancient legacy of their parents, whose traditions emphasize family solidarity, discipline, hard work, and schooling. A traditional emphasis on hard work and willingness to undertake the most menial jobs to get ahead are perhaps the most obvious characteristics of the more recent immigrants. Asian American immigrants usually move into the economy through small business enterprises – In New York City, Korean Americans operate more than half of the small family-owned grocery stores. The Asian Americans whose families have been living in the USA for several generations are

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aware that they have often to work harder to overcome the hurdles of racism and ethnic discrimination. Even after six generations American citizens of Asian descent are still identified as Asian Americans, and they believe that they are not fully accepted as Americans. (Americans of European descent are usually referred to as Americans after a single generation, while Americans with an African background have only recently chosen to be called African Americans.)

Black Americans only now are beginning to overcome the effects of 250 years of slavery. Since the 1950-60s, Black Americans have been moving into the mainstream of American life. Race is no doubt still a factor in American culture. But the 2008 presidential campaign with an African-American presidential candidate winning in predominantly, overwhelmingly white states turned out to be a huge moral test for the country which proved that America is hungry for changes; it has the power to change things.

Hispanics are now the fastest growing minority group in the USA. In 1900 only 500,000 Latinos lived in the country. The number today? More than 40 million. This ongoing gain in population – by 2100, one in three Americans will be Latino – has sparkled rise in political power. 10 states hold 80% of the US Latino population. In California, a percentage of Hispanic population is 22%, in New Mexico32%, in Texas 21%, in Florida 15%.

Future success in raising the economic level of Blacks and other minorities depend largely on the growth of the economy. People conflict and prejudice increases when economic life falters, because people see themselves as competing for the same scarce resources, such as jobs. The social drama of the struggle for equality and acceptance will continue, as it has for over 300 years. As always, the leading roles in this drama will be played by ethnic groups, old and new.

It’s not surprising that the US is counted among the most heterogeneous societies in the world. Nonetheless, it would be very misleading to view America simply as a collection of different immigrant groups and ethnic or religious loyalties. Those tens of millions of Americans who proudly acknowledge their ethnic roots are still more Americans than they are Irish, Lebanese, Puerto Ricans, or Filipino. What they have in common is more significant than what makes them, as Americans, different from one another. A strong tie binds Americans together – a sense of national identity – of “being an American.”

THE “AVERAGE AMERICAN”

The term “American” is commonly used as an adjective and nationality for the people who live in the USA. The variety of ethnic identities, experiences, and cultural choices that have gone into making Americans is so complex, however, that describing the

“average American” is very difficult. Most Americans may be White, but Americans are

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not “normally” White. Most (85.3%) Americans are Christians, but America cannot be called “a Christian country.” And a majority of Americans might still claim European ancestry, but this description also does not define Americans in general. Neither, in fact, does language. The USA is one of the few countries that has no “official” national language. English is the common language by use, but it’s not the national language by law. About 32 million Americans speak a language other than English at home. If you meet a man in New Mexico who speaks Spanish as his first language, he could be a recent immigrant, having arrived in the USA only a few years ago, or his grandparents could have arrived in America a hundred years ago. It could also be that his ancestors had been living in the area years before the thirteen British colonies were established on the East Coast. A so called foreign accent does not necessarily mean that an individual is (or even was) a foreigner.

“MELTING POT,” “SALAD BOWL,” or “PIZZA”?

Of all many different nationalities and ethnic groups which have gone into making of America, some have quickly assimilated. They have largely lost or intentionally given up many of those specific markers which would make them much different from their neighbors. This process of assimilation, or Americanization – becoming part of the “melting pot” – has characterized the immigrant experience in American history, at least for most Europeans. In this sense, there is some truth in the statement, recently made by a European politician, that “what in United Europe is still theory, can be seen in the USA in practice.”

Other Americans have, while becoming American in other ways, maintained much of their ethnic identities. In this sense, US society has been likened to a “salad bowl”. It does not follow, however, that these Americans are any less aware or proud of their American nationality. Japanese-Americans provide a well-known example. Although their loyalty in WWII was doubted by many other Americans, as a group they became the most highly decorated American soldiers fighting in Europe. Perhaps a better metaphor for American society than either “melting pot” or the “salad bowl” would be that of a “pizza” (which has become, by the way, the single most popular food in

America). The different ingredients are often apparent and give the whole its particular taste and flavor, yet all are fused together into something larger.

Still another factor to consider in describing “the American” is that the face of America is constantly, and often very rapidly, changing. It is estimated that by the year 2050, for instance, Hispanics (term indicating all Spanish-speaking Americans, such as Mexican-

Americans or “Chicanes,” Cubans, Puerto Ricans, etc.) will be the largest “minority” in the USA. They will than make up 21% of the total population (81 million), followed by

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