大学英语Reading Book1 Unit4 Wang Hongquan.pptVIP

UNIT FOUR AMERICAN DREAM Unit Four American Dream ? Cultural 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. Immigrants: 移民, 侨民 Apart from Native Americans — Indians — who were living in North America when people first arrived there from Europe, almost 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 dangerous and lived in crowded buildings. But slowly they improved their lives and many wrote home to encourage others to come. So this is why so many people choose to move to the US for their dreams. ?Depression days（line 10): 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 businesses and banks failed and millions of people lost their jobs. President Franklin D. Roosevelt improved the situation with his New Deal(新政)policy, but the Great Depression （大萧条）was only ended by industrial production for the war. Text Organization Part One (paras 1—29): With determination and with help from Mr. Crawford, Tony achieved his dream of owing his own farm. Part Two (paras 30—33): Tony’s career set the author thinking about why and to what degree he had be