大学英语一概要.ppt

Unit 4 American Dream Tony Trivisonno’s American Dream Frederick C. Crawford Culture Notes American Dream: the belief of Americans that their country offers opportunities for a good and successful life. For minorities and immigrants, the dream also includes freedom and equal rights. Depression days: the period of severe economic failure in most countries of the world that lasted from 1929 until World War II. It began in the US when the New York Stock Exchange fell on 29 October 1929, known as Black Tuesday. Many business and banks failed and millions of people lost their jobs. President Franklin D. Roosevelt improved the situation with his New Deal policy,but the Great Depression was only ended by industrial production for the war. Culture Notes Immigrants: Apart from “Native Americans”--- Indians--- who were living in North America when people first arrived there from Europe, all Americans have ancestors who were immigrants. In the US the word immigrant is often used with a positive meaning. People are proud to say that their ancestors were immigrants who came with very little and built a better life for themselves. Most Americans have a clear idea of what life was like for the immigrants: they left home because they were poor and thought they would have better opportunities in the US. For them the American dream was that talent and hard work could take them from log cabin to White House . Once in the US, life was not easy. Many immigrants had to work for little money in factories where conditions were hard and dangers and lived in crowed buildings. But slowly they improved their lives and many wrote home to encourage others to come.  Text Analysis This text, like Text A in unit 1, employs time words and phrases in narration. Time words serve as transitional devices by which an author switches from one event to another. The latter event may take place either before or after the forme