北京自考英语专业论文考试辅导资料(社会与文化部分范文印刷版).docxVIP

On Characteristics of American ImmigrationSince the arrival of the first Spanish settlers in the late 16th century, some 70 million immigrants have come to what is now the United States, described by some scholars as a “Salad bowl”, owing to its great cultural differences. The given material shed light on some major characteristics of American immigration in terms of ethnic diversity, immigrants’ contribution and US government policy on immigration.First, the United States has attracted immigrants from practically all over the world, with Europeans dominating the immigrant population for about 400 years-a pattern only began to change during the second half of the 20th century. During the colonial period, the largest single component of immigration was English. Some came in search of economic improvement and others in pursuit of religious freedom. This period also witnessed the largest scale of African salve trade, when Africans made up more than a third of all immigrants to the United States before 1810. In the 19th century, Irish, German and Scandinavians constituted the 3 largest ethnic groups,although each had unique driving factors. The root causes of Irish migration were mass poverty, underdevelopment and a burgeoning population, worsened by the great famine. The major push factor for German immigration was the modernization of its economy which dislocated millions of Germans. As for Scandinavians, they were driven to migrate by expanding populations and a shortage of arable land. Although there were other ethnic groups, such as Chinese arriving during the gold rush, immigrationbefore 1950s was dominated by Europeans. However, during the second half of the 20th century, immigrants from Asia and Americas outnumbered those from Europe.Second, over the centuries immigrants have made tremendous contributions to the growth and development of the United States. In the early years, they were builders of the new nation. For example, Irish labor had done most of the dig