演示文稿1 美国概况 教学课件.pptx

1.Some Key PointsColonisationPilgrims PuritansManifest DestinyThe FrontierThe American DreamSlavery Seeking the true religion, the Puritans fled England and in America attempted to create a nation of saints or the “City Upon A Hill”, an intensely religious, thoroughly righteous community designed to be an example for all of Europe. Manifest Destiny is the historical belief that the United States was destined and divinely ordained by the Christian God to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean.The Frontier was the term applied by scholars to the impact of the zone of unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of Europeans. That is, as pioneers moved into the frontier zone they were changed significantly by the encounter. The American Dream is the freedom that allows all citizens and most residents of the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard work and free choice. 2. KEY POINTSJames Fenimore Cooper created a character in his books called Hawkeye. He is the mythic hero, the true democrat who, because he is (as D. H. Lawrence has described him) a saint with a gun, will right wrongs and avoid evils when possible.This character becomes the pattern for the mythic western hero, the cowboy, the frontiersman, the hero of so many cowboy movies and TV shows.He is a vital part of American mythology and American culture.American Westerns of the 1940s and 1950s emphasize the values of honour and sacrifice. Westerns from the 1960s and 1970s often have a more pessimistic view, glorifying a rebellious anti-hero and highlighting the cynicism, brutality and inequality of the American West. When the popularity of television exploded in the late 1940s and 1950s, westerns quickly became a staple of small-screen entertainment. A great many B-movie Westerns were aired on TV as time fillers, while a number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right.James Fenimore Cooper has rightly been ca