美国文化与社会

Terms and Definitions (5 points each): WASP

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, commonly abbreviated to the acronym WASP, is a sociological and cultural ethnonym that originated in the United States and Canada.

The term originated in reference to white North Americans of British descent, who were Protestant in religious affiliation. It initially applied to people with histories in the upper class Northeastern establishment, who were alleged to form a powerful elite.

The original WASP establishment created and dominated the social structure of the United States and its significant institutions when the country's social structure took shape in the 17th century until the 20th century.

Exodus

The action and the phenomenon of leaving one’s native country to settle abroad.

American Exceptionalism （美国例外论）

American exceptionalism refers to the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries. In this view, America's exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming \"the first new nation,\" and developing a uniquely American ideology, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. This observation can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the United States as \"exceptional\" in 1831 and 1840. Historian Gordon Wood has argued, \"Our beliefs in liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being. 第二个答案：

Every American who ever lived, with the exception of one group, was either an immigrant himself or a descendant of immigrants。American exceptionalism refers to the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries. America's exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming \"the first new nation,\" and developing a uniquely American ideology, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire.

Homestead Act （宅基地法）

The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to “improve” the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land. After 5 years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be acquired after only a 6-month residency and trivial improvements, provided the claimant paid the government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, Union soldiers

第 1 页 共 6 页

美国文化与社会

could deduct the time they had served from the residency requirements.

Immigration Quotas The so-called quota immigration, the United States immigration law refers to immigrants each year to obtain immigration permit number set has certain places, thereby limiting immigration to increase blindly. In fact this is a planned migration patterns. The United States immigration numbers, as long as the immigration law control limits, can get a visa, but more than the prescribed quota restrictions, it must be according to the application of time sequence queue, until the quota.

American Nativism （本土主义）

Nativism is an ideology that combines xenophobia with ultrapatriotic nationalism. The xenophobia appears as a fear of or disdain for people or ideas that are seen as foreign, strange, or subversive.

This finds expression in a form of nationalism that doubts the suitability for citizenship (or even residency) of those suspected of being unable or unwilling to function as loyal and patriotic Americans.

Consumerism

Consumerism is the promotion of the consumer’s interest. Consumerism is a social and economic order based on fostering a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen. Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization The term \"consumerism\" is also used to refer to the consumerist movement, consumer protection or consumer activism,In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption.

Cultural pluralism （文化多元性）

Cultural pluralism is a concept that is often heard in discussions about the Americanization of immigrants. Cultural pluralism emphasizes the mutual respect between the various groups in a society for one another’s cultures, a respect that allows minorities to express their own culture without suffering prejudice or hostility. In addition, cultural pluralism involves the mutual exchange of cultural content and assumes that ethnic groups have the right to preserve their cultural heritages and also to contribute to American civic life.

Forty-niners

The gold-seekers, called “Forty-niners”, often faces substantial hardships on the trip. While

第 2 页 共 6 页

美国文化与社会

most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from latin American, Europen, Austraila, and China.

The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a small settlement to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California.

Constitution was written and California became a state in 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850. The Gold rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands and gold mining caused environmental harm.

Chinese Exclusion Act After the United States acquired California in 1848, a large number of Chinese emigrated to the Pacific Coast, where they provided cheap labor for the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Anti-Chinese feeling steadily increased during the 1860s and 1870s as American workers found themselves competing unsuccessfully with Chinese laborers for jobs. The U.S. government responded by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The act prohibited Chinese immigration for ten years.The law was repealed during World War II.

Little Rock Nine （由于民权运动黑白学生之间的斗争）

The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School，another name was “little rock central high”，in the school there were 9 black student，the white student couldn’t accept it。The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were prevented from entering the racially segregated school, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch.

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. New England is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York.

New England also a concept of culture, New England took lead in American literature, philosophy, and education. It played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery. It was the first region of the Unites States of the transformed by Industrial Revolution. Today, New England is a major center of education, high technology, insurance, and medicine.

The American Dream

The American dream is an ideal that has been present since American literature’s onset. Typically, the dreamer aspires to rise from rags to riches, while accumulating such things as love, high status, wealth, and power on his way to the top.

第 3 页 共 6 页

美国文化与社会

The dream has had variations throughout different time periods, although it is generally based on ideas of freedom, self-reliance, and a desire for something greater. The early settlers’ dream of traveling out West to find land and start a family has gradually transformed into a materialistic vision of having a big house, a nice car, and a life of ease. In the past century, the American dream has increasingly focused on material items as an indication of attaining success.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. This article is about the severe worldwide economic downturn in the 1930s. For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation).

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century.

Pilgrim Fathers （英国清教徒）

Pilgrim Fathers is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. Their leadership came from the religious congregations of Brownist English Dissenters who had fled the volatile political environment in the East Midlands of England for the relative calm and tolerance of Holland in the Netherlands. Concerned with losing their cultural identity, the group later arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North America. The colony, established in 1620, became the second successful English settlement (after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607) and later the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in what was to become the United States of America. The Pilgrims' story of seeking religious freedom has become a central theme of the history and culture of the United States.

“The Intellectual Declaration of Independence”

was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837. it is called “The Intellectual Declaration of Independence”. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to regard the world. Sixty years after declaring independence, American culture was still heavily influenced by Europe, and Emerson, for possibly the first time in the country's history, provided a visionary philosophical framework for escaping \"from under its iron lids\" and building a new, distinctly American cultural identity.

第 4 页 共 6 页

美国文化与社会

Rearranging (1 point each) （排序）

从远至近的顺序：

Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World 哥伦布发现新 1492

George Washington became president of the United States 华盛顿当选总统 17 Louisiana Purchase 购买路易斯安那州 1803

The second War of Independence 第二次战争 1812-1815 The American Civil War 美国战争 1860-18

Emergence of installment plan 分期付款计划的出现 1920 First credit card 第一张信用卡 1949 The Kitchen Debate 厨房辩论 1959 911 2001

Barack Obama was elected president of the United States 奥巴马选举总统 2008 U.S. apologizes for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act 美国排华法案道歉 2011

Listing (2 points each)（写五个）

Great Lakes

Lake Superior Lake Huron Lake Michigan Lake Erie Lake Ontario

Five culture symbols of the United States

Statue of Liberty Buffalo Nickel Uncle Sam

American Gothic Barbie Dolls

Ivy League

Brown University Columbia University Cornell University Dartmouth College Harvard University

University of Pennsylvania Princeton University Yale University

Thirteen original colonies when the nation was founded

第 5 页 共 6 页

美国文化与社会 New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia

North Carolina South Carolina Georgia

Great American Presidents

George Washington Thomas Jefferson Monroe

Abraham Lincoln Theodore Roosevelt Wilson

Franklin Roosevelt John F. Kennedy

Ten Core Democratic Values

第 6 页 共 6 页