Part 1. Government
In 1776, the thirteen weak British colonies came together, stood up, and told that from now on they would be free and independent states. The British were neither impressed nor amused, and a bitter seven-year Revolutionary war followed. A new republic was founded, turning into reality the dreams and ideals of a few political philosophers. The former colonies, now “the United States of America,” first operated under an agreement called the articles of Confederation (1781). This loose agreement was not working well. The central, federal government was too weak, with too few powers for defense, trade and taxation. In 1787, delegates from the states met in Philadelphia and wrote a completely new document, the Constitution, which after much argument, debate, and compromise was finished in the same year and officially adopted in 1789.
The Constitution sets three separate branches, each one having powers (“checks and balances”) over the others. The ultimate power under the Constitution is not given to the President (the executive branch), or to the Congress (the legislative branch), or to the Supreme Court (the judicial branch).
The Constitution has been repeatedly amended to meet the changing needs of the nation. The first ten Constitutional Amendments are known as the Bill of Rights (1791). They are considered to be the fundamental rights of any American. Among these rights are the freedom of religion, speeches, and the press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs. Other rights guarded the citizens against unreasonable searches, arrests, and seizures of property, and established a system of justice guaranteeing orderly legal procedures. All these are seen as the natural “inalienable” rights of every American.
American governmental system comprises federal, state, county, and local levels. One of the basic principles at all levels of American government is “one person, one vote.”
Congress is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 100 Senators, two from each state. One third of the Senators are elected every two years for six-year terms of office. The House has 435 members elected every two years for two-year terms. They represent the population of “congressional districts” into which each state is divided. The number of representatives from each state is based upon its population. For instance, California with the largest population has 52 Representatives while Delaware has only one.
The President of the US is elected directly by voters (as Senators and Representatives) every four years to a four-year term of office with no more than two full terms allowed. In any case, the President’s policies (proposals and programs, treaties, declaring war etc) must be approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate before they are up and running. In domestic as well as foreign affairs the President can seldom count upon the automatic support of Congress. Therefore he must be able to convince the Representatives and Senators of his point of view. He must bargain and compromise.
Within the executive branch, there are a number of executive departments (currently – of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, and Veteran Affairs. The head of each department (called Secretary) is appointed by the President with the Senate’s approval. None of these Secretaries can be serving in Congress or in other part of the government. They are Presidential assistants and advisers – “the President’s Cabinet.”
There has always been a battle between federal and states’ rights because of traditional American distrust of a too powerful central government. The US Constitution limits the federal government to only very specific powers (e.g. the FBI is limited to handling very few federal crimes, for instance kidnapping). The federal government sets laws concerning working conditions, transportation, wages, and working hours, environmental protection laws and equal employment laws (which are among the strictest in the world!).
Each state has its own state police and its own criminal laws, marriage and divorce laws, driving laws and licenses, drinking laws and voting procedures. Each city has its own police force. Neither the President nor the governor of the state has direct power over it. Other areas which are also concerns of cities, towns and villages are opening and closing hours for stores, street and road repairs, architectural laws, exercising censorship of books, newspapers, magazines and films, and other regulations. Most states and some cities have their own income taxes, laws on owning a gun, laws about drug use, capital punishment (36 states have death penalty while other 14 do not), abortion, and homosexuality.
Tasks
1. Read and translate the text;
2. Give the summary of the text;
3. Retell the text as if you were:
1) a politician/representative;
2) the President of the US;
3) the Senator;
4) a member of “the President’s Cabinet”;
5) a mayor of an American city;
6) historian.
Part 2. Economy
Today with only about 5 % of the world’s population and 6 percent of its land area, the US produces around 25 percent of the world’s industrial products, agricultural goods, and services retaining the largest share of the world market. Its gross national product (GNP) has more than tripled since the end of the Second World War. America remains the world leader in many areas, for instance, biochemical and genetic engineering, airspace research and development, communications, computer and information services, and similar high-technology (hi-tech) fields. In such areas American companies are faced with intense competition. Similarly, many countries now have their own silicon valleys, but the first and biggest computer research and production area is still Silicon Valley, near San Francisco, where some 4,000 hi-tech firms are located.
Having less than 2 percent of America’s total population involved the US is also the world’s leading agricultural nation. It is the biggest supplier of grains growing wheat, corn (maize), cotton, oats and sorghum. American farmers and ranchers account for 14 percent of the world dairy products, 17 % of meats, 27 % of vegetable fats and oils, and 53 % of soybeans.
America’s economic vitality, spirit of enterprise and initiative, constant willingness to experiment and find new solutions to old problems have played an important role. American government has always encouraged citizens to vigorously pursue their economic interests.
More than half of all working Americans are in white-collar jobs. Over 15 million Americans own their own businesses and more than three times that number are part-owners of businesses and industries through stock. American blue-collar worker is among the highest paid in the world.
Tasks
1. Read and translate the text;
2. Give the summary of the text;
3. Retell the text as if you were:
1) an ordinary citizen of the US;
2) historian;
3) a farmer;
4) a businessman.
Part 3. American people
The United States has often been called “a nation of immigrants.” First, the country was settled, built and developed by generations of immigrants and their children. Secondly, even today America continues to take in more immigrants than any other country in the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that the US is counted among the most heterogeneous societies in the world with many different cultural traditions, ethnic sympathies, national origins, racial groups, and religious affiliations. Nonetheless, it would be very misleading to view America as simply a collection of different immigration groups and ethnic or religious loyalties. In fact, 91.4 % of all Americans in 1990 were born in the US. Those tens of millions of Americans who proudly acknowledge their ethnic roots are still more American than they are Irish, Korean, Chinese, Puerto Ricans, Italians, Lebanese, or Filipino. What they have in common is more significant than what makes them, as Americans, different from one another.
The US is often called the “melting pot” because some of many nationalities and ethnic groups assimilated having largely lost or intentionally given up their many of those specific markers which would make them different from their neighbors. Other Americans maintained much of their ethnic identities. In this sense, US society has been linked to a “salad bowl.” Perhaps a better metaphor for American society than either “the melting pot” or “the salad bowl” would be that of a “pizza”. The different ingredients are often apparent and give the whole its particular taste and flavor, yet all are fused together into something larger.
A majority of Americans are white and claim their European ancestry. Hispanics are the largest minority. They make up 21 % of the total population of 81 million people. Hispanics are followed by Blacks with 16 %. It is estimated that some 20 million people in the US may have some Indian blood. More than 8 million Americans chose to give their ancestry as “American Indian” in the 1990 Census. A little over 400,000 American Indians live on reservations but no Indian has to stay on a reservation. Since 1927, all American Indians have been citizens of the US.
Part of being an American is not being, and not wanting to be, typical. General statements about American lifestyles are frequently resented by Americans. Generalizations e.g. that Americans are incurable optimists are usually not welcomed, even if they are basically accurate. There are at least two generalizations that can be safely made. First, Americans tend to be trend setters in lifestyles. And, secondly, what is thought to be typically American today probably won’t be so for a long.
Three American “national characteristics” which are most frequently mentioned are a friendliness to people, a strong sense of community and neighborliness, and a great informality.
Tasks
1. Read and translate the text;
2. Give the summary of the text;
3. Retell the text as if you were:
1) ethnography researcher;
2) a person, immigrated to the US two years ago;
3) young American;
4) American citizen who has European ancestry;
5) Hispanic;
6) Afro-American.
Vocabulary
Part 1
1) weak – (Ant. – strong) слабый
2) agreement – (to operate under ~, loose ~) договоренность, соглашение
3) to defend – защищать, defense – защита;
4) to tax – облагать налогом, taxes (n) - налоги, taxation - налогообложение
5) former – (Ant. – latter) бывший
6) to adopt (a document/the Constitution) – принять (документ, конституцию)
7) branch – ветвь, legislative ~ – законодательная, executive~ – исполнительная, judicial ~ – судебная;
8) “checks and balances” – система сдерживания и противовесов
9) ultimate – максимальный/последний/конечный
10) supreme – верховный, ~ Court, ~ Law
11) to amend – вносить поправку, amendment – поправка
12) to guard against smb./smth – защищать от, оберегать от
13) unreasonable searches – незаконный обыск
14) to seize, seizures of property – опись имущества
15) to establish a system of smth./rules and regulations etc. – установить систему правил, положений и т.д.
16) inalienable – неотъемлемый
17) to comprise – составлять, включать в себя
18) county – округ
19) vote (v, n) – голосовать/голос, voter – избиратель
20) term – срок/условие (напр. контракта)
21) instance, for instance – например
22) to propose – предлагать, proposal – предложение
23) treaty – соглашение, договор
24) to approve – (approval) одобрять
25) to be up and running – продолжать работать/функционировать
26) affairs – дела, domestic~ – внутренние дела, foreign~ – международные отношения
27) to convince – (Syn. – to assure, to persuade) убеждать/уверять
28) to bargain – (bargain (n)) заключить сделку/договориться/торговаться
29) to appoint – (appointment) назначать
30) to trust – (trust (n), distrust, trustful, trustworthy) доверять
31) to kidnap – (kidnapping) похищать
32) to handle a problem/a crime/ a case – рассматривать проблему и т. д.
33) to exercise censorship – применять цензуру
34) income tax – подоходный налог
35) capital punishment = death penalty – смертная казнь
Part 2
1) to retain – вмещать, держать
2) a share of market – доля рынка
3) gross national product (GNP) – валовой национальный продукт, gross domestic product – валовой внутренний продукт (GDP)
4) to compete – (competition, competitor, competitive) конкурировать
5) to face smth. – (to be faced with smth) сталкиваться с чем-то
6) to supply – (supply (n), supplier) снабжать
7) to account for – нести ответственность/отвечать/принимать во внимание/ приходиться на долю/объяснять
8) to pursue – преследовать (цель)/искать/добиваться
9) vital – важный, насущный, необходимый, Syn. – crucial, vitality – живучесть
10) enterprise – предприятие, entrepreneur – предприниматель
11) stocks – акции, Syn. – shares, stockholder/shareholder – акционер/держатель акций, stock – запас/фонд, share – доля
Part 3
1) heterogeneous – (Ant. – homogeneous) многонациональный
2) affiliation – принадлежность
3) misleading – вводящий в заблуждение
4) loyalty (loyalties) – верность, преданность, лояльность
5) to acknowledge – допускать, признавать, подтверждать
6) root – корень, roots – происхождение (корни)
7) common – общий, to have smth. in common with smb./smth.– иметь что-либо общее с кем-либо/чем-либо
8) significant – значительный, важный, существенный
9) to assimilate – сравнивать, уподоблять
10) intention – (intentional / unintentional, intentionally / unintentionally) стремление, цель, намерение
11) to give up – (Syn. – abandon) отказаться, отменить
12) apparent – несомненный, видимый
13) to fuse – (fusion) объединять(ся)
14) majority – (Ant. – minority) большинство
15) ancestry – происхождение, ancestor – предок
16) census – перепись, ~Bureau
17) to resent – негодовать, возмущаться, обижаться
18) to cure – (Syn. – treat, cure/treatment (n)) излечивать, incurable -- неизлечимый
19) to be welcomed – быть желанным, долгожданным
20) trend – общее направление, тенденция.