《走进美国》徐小佳编|(epub+azw3+mobi+pdf)电子书下载

图书名称：《走进美国》

【作　者】徐小佳编

【丛书名】人文素质教育丛书

【页 数】 333

【出版社】 武汉：武汉大学出版社 , 2017.04

【ISBN号】978-7-307-17468-9

【价 格】39

【分 类】美国-概况

【参考文献】 徐小佳编. 走进美国. 武汉：武汉大学出版社, 2017.04.

图书封面：

图书目录：

《走进美国》内容提要：

《走进美国》作为人文素质丛书之一，重点介绍了美国的历史与文化，其内容涵盖美国的政治体制、人文特征、自然特征、教育体制、宗教信仰、经济贸易、社会福利、传统习俗、生活方式、礼仪举止、休闲娱乐、文学艺术等方面。

《走进美国》内容试读

Chapter I

A Brief History of the United States

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1.1 Discovery of the New World

The New World is one of the names used for the western hemisphere,specially the

Americas (including nearly islands such as those of the Caribbean and Bermuda).Theterm originated in the early 16 th century after European made landfall in what would laterbe called the Americas in the age of discovery,expanding the geographical horizon ofclassical geographers,who had thought of the world as consisting of Africa,Europe,and

Asia,collectively now referred to as the Old World (aka Afro-Eurasia).The Americaswere also referred to as the "fourth part of the world".

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Chapter I A Brief History of the United States

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Pre-Columbian Era

The first Americans came from Asia,beginning as early as thirty thousand years ago,over a land bridge that formed at the Bering Strait during the Ice Age'.The newimmigrants were hunters and gatherers,and over a period of fifteen thousand years variousgroups spread over the American continents.By the time of the European "discovery"ofthe New World,there were perhaps as many as 100 million Native Americans,the vastmajority living in Central and South America.

Some of the first sedentary societies of North America were created by groups knownas the Mound Builders,believed to be the ancestors of the Creeks,Choctaws,and

Natchez.The mound building societies formed enormous earthworks into various shapesand sizes.Some mounds featured multiple terrace levels on which hundreds of houses werebuilt.The largest known mound had a base that covered nearly fifteen acres and rose to aheight of one hundred feet.While circles,squares,and octagons were the most commonmound shapes,some patterns resembled creatures such as hawks,panthers,or snakes.

Many believe that the different shapes were religious signs or territorial markers fordifferent tribes.

In South America,where the climate varies from cold mountain peaks to steamy rainforests,the Incas ruled much of the western coast.Perhaps more than 12 million peoplecontributed to the creation of sprawling cities,terraced farmlands,extended roadways,and golden palaces.The Inca Empire covered nearly 2,500 miles and included regions ofpresent-day Columbia,Ecuador,Peru,and Argentina.Although,like other native

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1.1 Discovery of the New World

peoples throughout the Americas,they did not have their own written language or the useof the wheel,the Incas were extremely intelligent engineers.They built huge stonestructures without mortar and designed suspension bridges that crossed deep mountainvalleys.

Their well-organized political structure and close-knit hierarchical society enabled the

Incas to become the largest civilization in South America by 1500.Like that of the Aztecempire2,the Inca Empire was essentially a coalition of tribes.However,unlike thestrong-handed rule of the Central American culture,the Incas allowed local groups togovern regions independently.Each tribe gave its allegiance to the ruler,the Sapa Inca,whom they believed was the descendant of the sun-god.In return for their cooperation,the people were treated well and accepted into the paternalistic Incan society.

The majority of the Native Americans that inhabited South and North Americarespected their land and often paid tribute to gods to bring them bountiful harvests andprotection.However,little did they know that their way of life would change drasticallyonce European explorers set foot on the American Continent?

Christopher Columbus

During the middle Ages,Europeans knew little,if anything,about the existence ofthe Americas.In Europe,territorial battles between Christians and Muslims dominatedmuch of the period between the 11th and 14th centuries.By the middle of the 15thcentury,Europeans had grown accustomed to avariety of exotic Asian goods including silk,drugs,perfume,and spices.However,Muslimforces controlled key passageways to the east andforced European tradesmen to pay huge sums fortheir ways.European consumers tired of theincreasing prices and demanded faster,lessexpensive routes to Asia.During this era,ascity-states and emerging nations fostered a new-found enthusiasm for expansion and exploration,

Christopher Columbus was born in the Italianport of Genoa.The son of a wool-comber,

Columbus spent his youth learning his father'strade.By his teenage years,he became aseaman and took part in voyages to England and

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Chapter I A Brief History of the United States

Ireland with Portuguese mariners.

The invention of the printing press around this time made information sharing mucheasier.Journals described the experiences of many explorers,including the travels of

Marco Polo'to Asia almost three hundred years earlier.Europeans were captivated by hisdescriptions of incredible wealth and golden pagodas.

Columbus,too,became caught up in the excitement and read many books onnavigation and geography.He eventually devised a plan to find a westward route to Asia.

In 1484,he presented his plan to King John II of Portugal but was denied financialsupport.He spent years asking the rulers of various countries,including France and

England,for assistance before Spain's Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand finally agreedto help.The monarchs wanted desperately to spread Christianity throughout the world andincrease the Spanish presence over that of Portugal.Of course,the opportunity to acquiregold and riches greatly influenced their decision as well.

In 1492,acting on behalf of the Spanish crown in search of shorter routes between

East and West,the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus sailed west from Europe andfound the new continent.The tribal people who lived there then were what Columbuscalled Indians.They are thought of as the "the first Americans".The first successfulEnglish colony was founded at Jamestown,Virginia,in 1607.Between 1607 and 1733,the British established 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast.

After-reading Questions

1.What's the meaning of the New World?

2.Who first came to America?

3.Use your own words briefly to summarize when and how the New World discovered?

1.2 The War of Independence

The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783),also known as the American War of

Independence and the Revolutionary War in the United States,was the armed conflictbetween Great Britain and thirteen of its North American colonies.Early fighting tookplace primarily on the North American continent.

Causes of the War

The first series of wars of independence that ended European control of both North and

South America.The conflict between Britain and her American colonists was triggered by

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1.2 The War of Independence

the financial costs of the Anglo-Frenchwars of the previous thirty years,inparticular the Seven Years War (1756-1763).A principal theatre of conflict hadbeen in North America,where it was feltthat the colonials had failed to play theirpart either financially or in the fighting.

In the years immediately after the war,the army in North America consumed 4%

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of British government spending.This cost,combined with the victories over theFrench had increased British interest in

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their colonies.Ironically,those victories

had also removed one element tying the Americans to Britain-fear of Frenchstrangulation.In 1756,the French held Canada,the Ohio Valley and the Mississippi,isolating the British colonies on the eastern seaboard.By 1763 that threat had beenremoved.

The next increase in the tension came in 1765 with the Stamp Act and a trade actknows as the Sugar Act.The Stamp Act was a direct tax,levied on the paper requiredfor legal transactions and on newspapers.The Stamp Act caused hostility in the colonies.

In Britain they were considered to be subordinate to Westminster on all issues,in thecolonies a new theory emerged that the Westminster Parliament had control over imperialissues,but not over colonial taxation.Combined with a boycott of British goods,the riotscaused by the Stamp Act caused the fall of the government of Lord Grenville.The newgovernment of Lord Rockingham repealed the Stamp Act in 1766,but at the same timepassed a Declaratory Act confirming Parliamentary authority over the colonies.

Nobody was punished for the Boston Tea Party and in 1774 Parliament ordered

Boston harbor closed until the destroyed tea was paid for.It then passed the Massachusetts

Government Act to punish the rebellious colony.The upper house of the Massachusettslegislature would be appointed by the Crown,as was already the case in other coloniessuch as New York and Virginia.The royal governor was able to appoint and remove at willall judges,sheriffs,and other executive officials,and restrict town meetings.Jurorswould be selected by the sheriffs and British soldiers would be tried outside the colony foralleged offenses.These were collectively dubbed the Intolerable Acts by the Patriots.

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Chapter I A Brief History of the United States

Outbreak of the War

The first shots of the war were fired in Massachusetts.Here the most rebellious of thecolonies was faced by General Thomas Gage.On 19 April 1775 Gage dispatched a columnto seize an arms cache thought to be at the town of Concord,only 16 miles from Boston.

Unluckily,at Lexington the British encountered a small force of American militia.It isnot known which side fired the first shots of the war,but the militia withdrew and theBritish continued to Concord.However,it was the return to Boston that revealed the scaleof the revolt and the weakness of the British position.Outnumbered by hostile forces,theBritish column was being slowly destroyed by sniping until it met up with a relief force at

Lexington and was able to return relatively safely to Boston.On April 19,1775,twosides faced off in initial skirmishes near the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and

Concord,marking the beginning of the American Revolution.

End of the War

On 15 June 1775 George Washington was appointed commander of the new

Continental army.At the start of 1776 Tom Paine published Common Sense.Thischallenged the idea that reconciliation with Britain was possible and instead spoke outstrongly for the idea of independence.On 4 July 1776,the Congress passed the

Declaration of Independence,drafted by Thomas Jefferson.On the same day when

Washington and his army received the news,they were greatly encouraged,although theywere facing the difficult situation.The American army finally defeated the British and won

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