Unit One：The Country
1.How has climate affected the Southern way of life? Why are Southerners, in general, so conrvative?
Key Points:
投影机维修The South has mild winters and hot summers, making it an ideal place for agricultural industry.
怒放生命For a long time, southern agriculture was characterized by plantation economy, controlled by slave-owners and landed gentry class, who vested interest in plantation economy made them conrvative virtually in every aspect, politically, economically and socially.
Historically, the South was hierarchical in its social structure, giving ri to a caste system bad on black salves and indentured rvants, with big plantation owners sitting at the top.
The Southern slow-paced agricultural life has produced what people there call “the Souther
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n way of life”, which in principle, cherishes rural virtues, emphasizes community life, suspects modernization, and rejects moral sins..
2.Traditionally, New Englanders have always attached great importance to education. Why is that and what are the implications?
Key Points:
Education is important to Puritans as a way of eking truth from the Bible. It is true for both clergymen and laymen.
Education is important to the cultivation of republican virtues for public-minded New Englanders, who launched the public school movement as early as the early 19th century.
Education is believed to be the best vehicle for common people to realize their potential and ultimately their personal worth. Being a place that stress equality and democracy (as reflected in its town meeting and congregationalism), New England has always led th
e nation in making education available to all people across the board.
Education has developed rapidly in the area at all levels, from elementary- and condary-level education to college and university education, and from public to private education.
Unit Two: History
1.Throughout American history there have been many movements, such as the Temperance Movement, Anti-slavery Movement, Progressive Movement, Civil Rights Movement, and Feminist Movement. Pick one of them and discuss its significance in U.S. history.斡旋
Key Points: (answers can be found on the Internet easily)
The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure many of the ills of American society that had developed during the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century. The frontier had been tamed, great cities and business developed, and an ove
ras empire established, but not all citizens shared in the new wealth, prestige, and optimism. Progressivism was rooted in the belief, certainly not shared by all, that man was capable of improving the lot of all within society. As such, it was a rejection of Social Darwinism position taken by many of the rich and powerful figures of the day. Progressivism was also imbued with strong political overtones and rejected the church as the driving force for change. Specific goals included: The desire to remove corruption and undue influence from government through the taming of boss and political machines; the effort to include more people more directly in the political process; the conviction that government must play a role to solve social problems and establish fairness in economic matters.
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The success of Progressivism owed much to publicity generated by the muckrakers writers who detailed the horrors of poverty, urban slums, dangerous factory conditions, and child labor, among a host of other ills. The success were many, beginning with the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890). Progressives never spoke with one mind and differed sharply over the most effective means to deal wit
h the ills generated by the trusts; some favored an activist approach to trust-busting, others preferred a regulatory approach. The Progressive spirit also was evident in new amendments added to the Constitution, which provided for a new means to elect nators, protect society through prohibition and extend suffrage to women. Urban problems were addresd by professional social workers who operated ttlement hous as a means to protect and improve the prospects of the poor. However, efforts to place limitations on child labor were routinely thwarted by the courts. The needs of blacks s and Native Americans were poorly rved or rved not at all — a major shortcoming of the Progressive Movement.
Progressive reforms were carried out not only on the national level, but in the states and municipalities of the country as well. Prominent governors devoted to change included Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin and Hiram Johnson of California.
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Such reforms as the direct primary, cret ballot, and the initiative referendum, and recall were effected. Local governments were strengthened by the widespread u of trained pr
ofessionals, particularly with the city manager system replacing the all-too-frequently corrupt mayoral system.
2.牛排怎么煎Over the past quarter of a century, the United States is said to be engaged in a “Culture War”. What are the issues this war is about? What does the war say to us about contemporary American society?
Key Points (answer can be easily found on the Internet)
The expression came into u in 1991 in the United States with the publication of Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter, a sociologist at the University of Virginia. In it, Hunter described what he saw as a dramatic realignment and polarization that had transformed American politics and culture..
