THE USA
Geography and People
1.The United States of America (Since 1775)
2. The National Flag：
The Stars and Stripes(星条旗) OR popularly known as the Old Glory美国国旗的爱称
3. The National Anthem：The Star-Spangled Banner星条旗之歌
4. Capital City: Washington, District of Columbia (The District of Columbia was named after Christopher Columbus and the city Washington was named after George Washington. The city is governed directly by the Federal government. 哥伦比亚特区以克里斯托弗.哥伦布命名，华盛顿以华盛顿命名。这个城市是由联邦政府直接管辖的。)
⏹Famous architectures: U.S. Capitol Hill 国会山; Pentagon（五角大楼the U. S. Defen
Department and the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are in it）;
White Hou; Lincoln Memorial [mə'mɔːrɪəl]林肯纪念堂，etc.
5. Size：the 4th largest country in the world
6. Administrative Divisions: America consists of 50 states and a federal district, the District of Columbia. Two of the 50 states, Alaska and Hawaii, are parated from the continental America, which are the youngest states of the United States.
7. Largest state: Alaska (the 49th state )
Smallest state：Rhode island美国罗德岛州
Largest city: New Y ork
8. Landforms:Three major divisions
⏹East—highlands：（Appalachian Range阿巴拉契亚山脉）
⏹West—mountains：high plateaus['plætəʊ]高原
(Cordillera[,kɔːdɪ'ljeərə]山脉Range: the Coast Range-the Sierra Nevada-the Cascades-the Rocky M
ountains) 山脉范围：海岸山脉的林区的内华达州,Cascades-the 洛基山脉
⏹In between—a vast plain region一个广阔的平原地区: The Great Plains大平原
9. Highest point:
The Sierra-Nevada内华达山脉: Mount Whitney惠特尼峰4418m(14,495 feet)
the highest peak in the continental US（the highest peak of the USA is the Mount McKinley (20320 feet) in the south of Alaska）
Lowest point: Death Valley死谷: in eastern California, 85 meters below a level, the lowest point in the whole of N. America北美洲
10. Rivers
The Mississippi River, the most important and longest river in the US. This river is known to some native American Indians as ―the father of waters‖.父亲河
The Missouri River密苏里河:
Since the river runs through the dry west, it carries a large amount of topsoil表层土, so it is sometimes called as ―the Muddy泥泞的River‖.
一对一教英语11. The Great Lakes
⏹The Great Lakes are compod of five lakes: Lake Michigan['miʃiɡən]密歇根湖,
橘子的英文Lake Superior苏必利尔湖, Lake Erie['iəri]伊利湖,
Lake Huron['hjuərən]休伦湖and Lake Ontario[ɔn'tεəriəu]安大略湖.
⏹Among the five lakes, only Lake Michigan belongs to the US completely while the other four are shared by the United States and Canada.
⏹Lake Superior (82,414 km2 ), is the largest freshwater lake (by surface area) in the world.
12. Natural Resources
1) Large supplies of fresh water has played a very important part in America’s growth
2) Rich in lumber resources
3) The United States is also rich in mineral resources. ―Gold Rush‖: A rush of migrants [ 'maɪɡrənts ]移民者to an the western where gold was discovered in California in 1848
13. Principle Cities:
Now Y ork: The S tatue of Liberty a gift from the French people in 1886, was placed on Liberty Island，The United Nations headquarters stands along the East River at 42nd Street in the city. 联合国总部位于沿着城市东河的第四十二条街上
Philadelphia [ ˌfɪlə'delfjə ]费城the at of the Continental Congress大陆会议所在地.
⏹The First and Second Continental Congress (1774 and 1775-1776) and the Constitutional Convention制宪会议(1787) met in the city, which rved as the capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800.
⏹Independence Hall: It was in this hall that the American Declaration of Independence美国独立宣言was signed on July 4, 1776 and Constitution of the US was framed美国宪法框架
San Francisco: The Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest Chine ttlement in the US. The Golden Gate Bridge
Detroit底特律[dɪ'trɔɪt] ：the largest center of the automobile industry in the US and is known as“the Mo tor City”汽车城
Houston[ˈhju:stən]休斯顿: “Space City, USA.”太空城
14. Population Distribution人口分布: Uneven不均匀&High urbanization
15. From the “ Melting Pot大熔炉”--a country of many racial and ethnic[ˌeθnɪk]民族groups from different parts of the world , who came to the New World to ek for freedom in politics or religion.
T o the “Salad Bowl沙拉碗” -- However, this country is tolerant and allow people with different cultural background to keep their own distinct culture and custom.
16. The different ethnic groups:
Native Americans --American Indians
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (W ASPs) --- the dominant ethnic group占主导地位的民族Black People ----African American----the largest ethnic-racial minority group
Hispanics西班牙裔---- the largest ethnic minority
Asian Americans have always been a small community.
17. P.107
Immigration Act of 1924 (restrict further immigration particularly from Europe)
Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments《移民与国籍法修正案》
18. P.107 The dominant American culture
英文歌曲大全The dominant American culture is English-speaking, Western European, Protestant and middle-class in character. The first immigrants formed the land’s basic cultural values as freedom, equality and desire to work hard for a higher standard of living. (占美国文化主导地位的是说英语的人们，包括了西欧，新教和一些中产阶级。第一批移民形成了土地的基本文化价值观，自由，平等，渴望更高水平的生活。)
19. Festivals:
Independence Day：on the fourth Thursday in November (11月第四个星期四) Thanksgiving: on the 4th of July and is America’s patriotic [ˌpeɪtriˌɒtɪk] 爱国holiday 20. Media
Newspapers P.157
Television & Broadcast:
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) 国家广播公司
lam
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) 哥伦比亚广播公司
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) 美国广播公司
The Cable News Network（CNN）美国有线电视新闻网---- a cable television network
The V oice of America (VOA) 美国之声
American Economy
1. The United States, a highly industrialized and monopolized [məˌnɒpəlaɪz]垄断country, has experienced 3 stages in the development of its economy:
⏹ A. Commercial capitalism-dominant mode of production in the British colonies in the
17th century以英国殖民地的商业资本主义主导模式
⏹ B. Industrial capitalism工业资本主义
⏹ C. Corporate capitalism企业资本主义: The formation of the trust corporation marks the
beginning of corporate capitalism era or imperialism帝国主义[ɪmˌpɪəriəlɪzəm] era.
（托拉斯公司的形成标志着企业资本主义时代或帝国主义时代的开始）
⏹ D. Now the enormous, diversified [daɪ'vɜ:sɪfaɪd]多元化, multinational monopolistic
[məˌnɒpəˌlɪstɪk]垄断corporations dominate the US economy：
ITT国际电话电报公司(International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation)；
Dupont Chemical 杜邦化学公司；General Electric 通用电器公司；
General Motors通用汽车公司
2. Industries
Main industries: computers; electrical products; chemicals; food; beverage饮料；tobacco；petroleum products
Three Industrial Regions:
●The Industrial Northeast is the oldest and most important industrial region
●The South has now become the newly developed industrial region
●The West is an important mining area and is at prent the most rapidly growing
ction of the country.
3. Agriculture Agribusiness(农业企业)
①vastness of the land in part
②generosity [ˌdʒenəˌrɒsəti] 慷慨of nature
③large capital investments and increasing u of highly trained labor
④Biotechnology [ˌbaɪəʊtekˌnɒlədʒi]生物技术
⑤Computers
4. Foreign Trade：Why does America try to reduce trade barriers? P.146
To advance American’s economic development, enhance its domestic stability as well as relationship with other nations.
Political System
1. Government
The system of government is established on the basis of the Constitution of the US.
The Constitution was framed in Philadelphia[ ˌfɪlə'delfjə ]费城in 1787 and ratified in 1789. The Constitution follows two principles: the federal system and the ―paration of powers政权分离.‖ Federal System
⏹The US is a federal union of 50 states.
大学生英语
⏹The federal system means that the states have the right to lf-government. In other words, there is a division of powers between the federal government and the state government
Separation of Powersadaptive
disappointed
⏹A division of powers among the three branches of the federal government:
⏹The legislative branch-Congress-the legislative power
⏹The executive branch-The President-the executive power
⏹The judicial branch-The Supreme Court-the judicial power
⏹Independent of each other, but each checks the other two so that no one can get all the power. ----Separation of Powers or ―Checks and Balances‖政府机关彼此之间的相互制衡
2. Congress: the Legislative Branch
⏹Powers: Congress has the power to check the other two branches of government: the
executive branch and the judicial branch. It has the power to make any laws that are considered ―necessary and proper.‖
⏹Two parts of it: & The Hou of Reprentatives
The Senate
Senator: 2 for each state
President of the Senate: Vice President of the US
Powers: ratify all treaties with foreign countries, and approve the President’s nominees for high level official positions
The Hou of Reprentatives
Fixed at 435 in total
Powers: propo bills for raising money; Impeachments should be propod by the Hou but decided on by the Senate
3. The Executive Branch
⏹The President: The head of the state, the head of the government & the
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.All the government department, agencies and offices are led by the President and are responsible to him.
⏹The Cabinet, made up of the heads of the government departments, only advis the
guy是什么意思President and does not make any decisions. The President is free to consult or ignore their advice
⏹The Veto Power of the President
The President has a veto [ˌvi:təu]否决权power over bills pasd by Congress.
(If a bill is vetoed by the President and returned to Congress, it can be pasd again by a two-third vote of the full membership of both hous of Congress. With this power he can easily reject any bill he dislikes. )
4. What is the relationship between the president and the congress?
⏹In theory, Congress and the President are independent of each other. Their relationship is
one of ―checks and balances,‖ that is, the powers of one limit tho of the other. But in reality, there is clo cooperation between the two branches of government.
5. Impeachment
洪恩在线翻译
Under the Constitution a sitting President may be removed from office before his term expires only by impeachment process whereby the Hou of Reprentatives, upon sufficient evidence, brings a ―bill of impeachment‖ approved by two-thirds of its membership. Next comes a trial in the Senate, with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as the judge and the Senators as the jury. （根据宪法，现任总统可能被免职之前他的任期届满的众议院弹劾过程，在足够的证据，使一个―比尔弹劾‖由其成员的三分之二的批准。下一步是参议院的审判，最高法院首席大法官和陪审团的首席法官。）
Andrew Johnson安德鲁·约翰逊---- failed
Nixon尼克松: the Watergate scandal水门事件---- resigned
Bill Clinton比尔∙克林顿---- failed
6. The Federal Court System: the supreme court最高法院, the courts of appeals上诉法院, the district courts区法院
The Judicial Branch of the government is headed by the Supreme Court政府司法部门由最高法院领导.
The powers of Supreme Court:
①to interpret laws解释法律
②to hear appeals from any federal court laws听取任何联邦法院的上诉
③to hear appeals from the state court cas that involve the Constitution or national laws
审理涉及宪法或国家法律的国家法院的上诉
④may declare a law unconstitutional可以宣布一项法律违宪
⑤may declare a presidential act unconstitutional可以宣布一个总统法案违宪story什么意思
It has the Power of Judicial Review司法审查权– interpret the Constitution and declare a law pasd by Congress to be ―unconstitutional违宪‖.
7. The Party Politics
⏹The Federal Party and The Democratic- Republican Party were the oldest parties in
American history
⏹Two Political parties emerged over the issue of Slavery
Democratic Party 民主(1828) -keep the slave system
Republican Party共和(1854) -abolish the slavery system (Abraham Lincoln)
⏹Two Parties Today: Democratic Party (donkey [ˌdɔŋki]驴), Republican
Party(elephant)
8. Presidential Election
controlled and managed by: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party
5 steps in choosing a President
⏹1 The Primary: election of delegates to the national conventions of the two parties in each state from February to June of the Election Y ear每一个国家的代表参加二月至六月的选举年的全国代表大会的代表
⏹2 The National Conventions: 1 discussion and acceptance of the party platform, a very general statement of the party’s policy for both domestic and foreign affairs ; 2 choo the presidential and vice presidential candidates 1讨论和接受党的纲领，对党的政策的一个非常一
