American culture 1- Britain and American culture 英美文化教学课件.ppt

American Culture --KIKI. ZHANG Chapter 1 Atlantic to Pacific The US claims to be the greatest success story of the modern world: the richest, most inventive and most powerful country on earth. Despite polemicists who justly cite the destruction of Native American cultures, racism and imperialism at the top of a long list of wrongdoings, half the world remains in love with the idea of America. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the New Yorks World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, with highly publicized anthrax mailings, the entire USA has been on a state of alert. Full country name: The United States of America (USA) Population: 298,000,000 Area: 3,618,000 sq. miles (9,370,000 sq. km) Capital city: Washington, DC (pop: 570,000) Languages: English, plus many secondary languages, chiefly Spanish According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to 04/29/06 at 13:24 GMT (EST+5) is 298,624,138 COMPONENT SETTINGS FOR APRIL 2006 One birth every.................................. 8 seconds One death every.................................. 13 seconds One international migrant (net) every.... 3seconds Net gain of one person every............... 11 seconds Religion: Protestant (56%), Roman Catholic (28%), Jewish (2%), Muslim (1%) Government: Federal republic of 50 states President: George W. Bush GDP: US$9.3 trillion Annual growth: 4.1% Inflation: 2.2% Major industries: Oil, electronics, computers, automobile manufacturing, aerospace industries, agriculture, telecommunications, chemicals, mining, processing and packaging Major trading partners: Canada, Japan, Mexico, the EU The fourth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China, with an area of 9.37 million km2 The USA began as a nation in 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Natural environment It can be divided into three parts: the Eastern part, the Western part and the great central plain in between.