WesternCivilization全英文西 (73).pdf

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1、8.2.The American RevolutionHi,everybody.This is the second part of Chapter 8the American Revolution.1.The United States of America often called the United States,America,and the States.In the US most of times American only means thepeople of their own country not including people of other North,Cent

2、ral,or South America.To them they are the only American,and Americameans their country alone.You may call this is a kind of American arrogance.The Encyclopdia Britannica lists the United States as the fourth biggest country at 9,525,067 square kilometers,but figure from the US StatisticsDivision and

3、 the CIA World Factbook is 9,833,517.Thus most people say China is number 3 but Americans think they are number 3.With apopulation of over 327 million,the U.S.is the third most populous country after China and India.It has 50 states including 48 contiguous States,and Alaska between Canada and Russia

4、,Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.The US capital is Washington,D.C.,and the largest city is New York.2.The national flag and national anthem both called The Star-Spangled BannerThe lyric was written by Francis Scott Key during War of 1812,a war of Americans fighting against the British invasion.On Septem

5、ber 3,1814,Key,a lawyer on behalf of government,was on a British Royal Navy ship outside Baltimore negotiating the exchange of war prisoners.He hadwitnessed the British ship bombarded the Fort McHenry during the whole night,the forts smaller flag continued to fly.By the dawn the flag hadbeen lowered

6、 but a larger flag had been raised.Inspired by this he wrote this poem.O say can you see by the dawns early light,What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming,Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,Oer the ramparts we watched,were so gallantly streaming?And the r

7、ockets red glare,the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave?lets listen to the anthem.3.Five symbols of American culture?The answer is:Statue of Liberty,Barbie D

8、oll,American Gothic,the Buffalo nickel and Uncle Sam.Ironically Americans are completely unfamiliar with the question,because this idea of five symbols only appeared and taught in some Chinese textbooks.The Mount Rushmore National MemorialA sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore ne

9、ar Keystone,South Dakota sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and hisson.They are 18 meters high,the heads of four presidents:George Washington,Thomas Jefferson,Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.4.Statue of LibertyAlso called Liberty Enlightening the World,It is a huge neoclassical copper

10、 statue on the Liberty Island in Upper New York Bay.It was a giftfrom France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the US.The sculptor was Bartholdi and the steel framework was built by Gustave Eiffel,theman designed the Eiffel Tower.The Statue is 93 meters high,her right hand holds a torch above he

11、r head,and her right hand carries a tabletbearing the adoption date of the Declaration of Independence,July 4,1776.Uncle Sam is the nickname of the United States.During the War of 1812 Samuel Wilson,a meatpacker from Troy,New York supplied meat forAmerican army.Wilsons packages were labeled“E.A U.S.

12、”“U.S.”stood for United States.One day somebody joked“U.S.”means UncleSam referring to Samuel Wilson.In 1917 artist James Flagg created a very famous poster.Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer with the caption IWant YOU for U.S.Army.You can see this poster in any army recruiting stations along the stre

13、ets across the America today.5.Thirteen British coloniesAs part of the British Empire,the Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the east coast of North America founded in the 17th and18th centuries.They had very similar political,constitutional,and legal systems,and were dominated by

14、 Protestant English-speakers.Their cultureeventually provided the language and the political and economic system that developed the future independent country,the United States ofAmerica.Lets look at the mapIn New England,we can see New Hampshire,Massachusetts,Rhode Island and Connecticut,and in the

15、 Middlethere were New York,Pennsylvania,New Jersey,Delaware,and Maryland.In the South there were Virginia,North-Carolina,south-Carolina andGeorgia.6.American Revolution1From the 1770s the British parliament passed laws ordering the Thirteen British colonies pay more taxes.No taxation without represe

16、ntationsoon became a slogan of the colonists in America against Great Britain.They believed that as they were not directly represented in the BritishParliament,any laws to levy taxes it passed affecting the colonists were illegal.Thomas Paine(1737-1809)was one of the Founding Fathers.His pamphlet Co

17、mmon Sense spread the ideas of revolution.There issomething very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.John Adams,the second president of Americasaid,Without the pen of the author of Common Sense,the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”The American R

18、evolution took place between 1765 and 1783.The Thirteen Colonies defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War(17751783)in alliance with France,won their independence.7.United States Declaration of IndependenceOn July 4,1776,at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia,The United States Declara

19、tion of Independence was declared.Every American canrecite this sentence:We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certainunalienable Rights,that among these are Life,Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.From this map you can s

20、ee the signing of the document.8.Five figures.You can see there were five figures standing in front were members of the Committee of Five who drafted the document.Youcan see John Adams,Thomas Jefferson and this old one,Benjamin Franklin.9.The signing of the United States Constitution on September 17

21、,1787.It came into force in 1789.10.This is the Preamble,a brief introduction of the ConstitutionWe the People of the United States,in Order to form a more perfect Union,establish Justice,insure domestic Tranquility,provide for thecommon defence,promote the general Welfare,and secure the Blessings o

22、f Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,do ordain andestablish this Constitution for the United States of America.Separation of powersFrench political philosopher Montesquieu(1689 1755)was one of the foremost supporters of separating the legislature,the executive,and thejudiciary.His opinions influ

23、enced the Founding Fathers in drafting the United States Constitution.According to the US Constitution,the federalgovernment is divided into three branches.11.Legislative branch.Congress has the sole power to make laws.The Congress has two chambers:the lower chamber House ofRepresentatives and the u

24、pper chamber Senate.Seats in the House of Representatives are appointed among the states by population,asdetermined by the census conducted every ten years.Todays Congress has 435 members called Congressman,and there are 100 senators,twofrom each state.Executive branch.This branch carries out laws.T

25、he President is the head of state and head of government who directs the executive branch ofthe federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.The current president Donald John Trump is the 45th president of thecountry.Judicial branch.The Supreme Court and inferior courts have

26、the power to evaluate laws by deciding cases.The judges must be appointed by thepresident with the advice and consent of the Senate.12.Since 1789 the Constitution has been amended 27 times;The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendmentsThe First Amendment protect the religious right and freedom of sp

27、eech,often called the first right:Congress shall make no law respecting anestablishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;or abridging the freedom of speech,or of the press;or the right of thepeople peaceably to assemble,and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.P

28、eople against the gun control always say they have the second right.The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and beararms:A well regulated Militia,being necessary to the security of a free State,the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,shall not beinfringed.13.Most people a

29、gree that the four greatest U.S.presidents are Washington,Jefferson Lincoln and Roosevelt.George Washington was the Father of His Country,the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.He was commander in chief ofthe Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and led them to

30、victory over the British.Washington also presided at theConstitutional Convention of 1787,which established the new federal government.Thomas Jefferson was the third president from 1801 to 1809,an icon of individual liberty,democracy,and republicanism.He was the principalauthor of the Declaration of

31、 Independence.In 1803 he organized the Louisiana Purchase,a huge territory bought from Napoleon,almost doublingthe countrys territory.In the Jefferson Memorial today we can see some engravings of Jefferson quotes.The most important one:I have swornupon the altar of God eternal hostility against ever

32、y form of tyranny over the mind of man.14.Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.Lincoln was a Republican;he led the Union throughthe Civil War,preserved the Union,abolished slavery,strengthened the federal government,and modernized the economy.Lincoln

33、s House2Divided Speech:A house divided against itself,cannot stand.I believe this government cannot endure,permanently,half slave and half free.His Gettysburg Address:that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation,under God,shall have a new birth of freedom and thatgovernment of the pe

34、ople,by the people,for the people,shall not perish from the earth.Franklin Delano Roosevelt often referred to by his initials FDR.He was the 32nd president from 1933 until his death in 1945.He was aDemocrat,won a record of four presidential elections and died before the end of the third term.He led

35、the country get out from the GreatDepression,and during the World War II he led America allied with Britain,France,Soviet Union and China defeated the fascism.He proposedfour fundamental freedoms that people everywhere in the world ought to enjoy:Freedom of speech,Freedom of worship,Freedom from wan

36、tand Freedom from fear.His best quote:The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.15.I am teaching a class American Culture in my university,and Im writing a book American Culture:Dream and Reality.The history of theUnited States is full of glories but it also has a dark even bloody side.American

37、dream is beautiful but the reality may be not.China and US dontneed only look at the bad side of the coin and point fingers at each other.We better be friends and partners instead of enemies.In Chinese citiesyou never live far away from McDonalds or KFC and in any American supermarket you were alway

38、s surrounded by a lots of things made inChina.China and the US are the number 1 and number 2 biggest economies in the world.The globalization has already made the two countriescloser and more interdependent.President Xi Jinping said:“The vast Pacific Ocean has enough space to accommodate the two big nationsof China and the US.”16.Key Word:Lets look at the key words from this part.The key words:The Star-Spangled Banner,Declaration of Independence,Separation of powers,Bill of Rights,Thomas Jefferson,FDR.Now we finish the second part of Chapter 8.3