A Lecture on USA.docVIP

A LectureBackground to the USA 美国背景------ By Li Yanping Chapter 1 America, Americans, American English and the Independence DayPart 1 Gateway to the USA 进入美国的大门Perhaps no single monument in the USA is as famous as the Statue of Liberty. Standing on a small island in New York Harbor, the crowned lady, holding high in her right hand the torch of freedom and in her left hand a tablet which is said July 4 th,1776, is a symbol of American democracy. She is immense. She is 151ft. high and the pedestal on which she stands is almost as much. An lift takes visitors to the top of the pedestal, around which a balcony runs. A spiral staircase goes up to the crown, and another to the torch. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the USA from France in 1886, as a mark of friendship and also in memory of the aid France gave the Americans during the American Revolution.Part 2 Blacks and Whites 黑人与白人Although no longer slaves after Civil War, American blacks took no significant part in the life of white America except as servants or laborers. Many thousands of them emigrated from the war-ravaged South to the North from 1865 to 1915 in the hope of finding work in the big industrial cities. Whole communities of blacks crowded together into ghettos in New York City, Chicago and Detroit, where once the poor white immigrants had lived. These ghettos, neglected by the city authorities, became slums. The schools to which black children went were hopelessly inadequate. Unemployment in black ghettos remained consistently higher than in white communities.Part 3 American English and British English 美国英语与英国英语Written English is more or less the same in both Britain and the USA, and in everyday speech the two peoples have little difficulty in understanding one another. In fact, the Americans have exported a large number of their words and phrases to Britain---through literature, the movies, TV, American soldiers during both world wars, and tourists. Some of the words that Americans now u