英语国家社会与文化入门下册的答案
UNIT 3
1.What is an American?
He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. ... Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. ... The American is a new man, who acts new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.
4 . In what way did Puritanism influence American culture?
A. Today, Puritans are no longer in existence. But their legacies are still felt in American society and culture. For example, the Puritans hoped to build "a city upon hill" an ideal community.Since that time, Americans have viewed their country as a great experiment, a worthy model for other nations. This sense of mission has been very strong in the minds of many Americans.
B. The Puritans also have left rich cultural heritage to future Americans. The American values such as individualism, hard work, respect of education owe very much to the Puritan beliefs.
Unit4
3.What are some of the major powers of each of the three branches of the U.S. government? How are the three branches supposed to check and balance each other?
A 1.-- the legislative branch is made up of elected representatives from all of the states and is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes and declare war or put foreign treaties into effect. It consists of a Congress that is divided into the House of Representative and the Senate. The House of Representatives has 435 members who serve two-year terms. The Senate comprises 100 lawmakers who serve six-year terms. Each state, regardless of population, has two senators. 2.--- the executive branch is the president, who is elected to a four-year term. A president can be elected to only two terms according to an amendment passed in 1951. The president can appoint federal judges as vacancies occur. He is the commander in chief of the armed forces. The president has other broad authorities in running the government departments and handling foreign relations.
3.--- the judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court with a chief justice and 8 associate justices. The Federal courts have
jurisdiction over cases arising out of the Constitution and other cases which do not arise out of individual states. The Supreme Court has the judicial review power, the power determining whether congressional legislation or executive action violates the Constitution.
B. 1.If Congress proposes a law that the president thinks is unwise, the president can veto it.
2. If Congress passes a law which is then challenged in the courts as unconstitutional, the Supreme Court has the power to declare the law unconstitutional and therefore no longer in effect.
3. The president has the power to make treaties with other nations and to make all appointments to federal positions, including the position of Supreme Court justice. The Senate, however, must approve all treaties and confirm all appointments before they become official. In this way the Congress can prevent the president from making unwise appointments.
4. What is the Bill of Rights? Do you think that it was necessary to write the Bill of Rights explicitly into the U.S. Constitution?
The Bill of Rights: the first 10 amendments, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were added within two years of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. These amendments remain intact today, as they were written
two centuries ago. The first guarantees freedom of worship, speech and press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs. The Bill of Rights and subsequent constitutional amendments guarantee the American people the fullest possible opportunity to enjoy fundamental human rights.
UNIT 6
1. In what way do you think that religious freedom was a historical necessity in the United States?
1.By the middle of the 18th century, many different kinds of Protestants lived in America.
2.. The Great Awakening of the 1740s, a "revival" movement that sought to breathe new feeling and strength into religion, cut across the lines of Protestant religious groups, or denominations.
3.A few Americans were so influenced by the new science and new ideas of the Enlightenment in Europe that they became deists, believing that reason teaches that God exists but leaves man free to settle his own affairs.
4.The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbade the new federal government to give special favors to any religion or to hinder the free practice, or exercise, of religion.
3 What promotes the diversity in American religion?
1. The United States has always been a fertile ground for the growth of new religious movements. Frontier America provided plenty of room to set up a new church or found a new community.
2.Many religious communities and secular utopias, or experiments in new forms of social living, were founded in 18th and 19th century America.
3. Americans with different religions live together under the same law.
4.The religious beliefs of Americans continue to be strong with social progress.
5. In the United States every church is a completely independent organization, and concerned with its own finance and its own building.
6. Continuous immigration.
UNIT 8
3.What are the major characteristics of education in America?
1. About 85% of American students attend public schools (schools supported by American taxpayers). The other 15% attend private schools, for which their families choose to pay special attendance fees. Four out of five private schools in the United States are run by churches, synagogues or other religious groups. In such schools, religious teachings are a part of the curriculum.
2. Each of the 50 states in the United States has its own laws regulating education. From state to state, some laws are similar; others are not. Education in the United States was to remain in the hands of state and local governments.
3. Americans have a strong tendency to educate their children about major public concerns—problems such as environmental pollution, nuclear issues, neighborhood crime and drugs.
Unit9一（1）the Civil Rights Movement, the Youth Movement, the Anti-War Movement, Free Speech Movement, Counter Culture, Women's Liberation Movement.
（2）1. During World War Two, many American Negroes had a teste of life outside the South. They knew that life in the segregated South, where Negroes were prevented from working at good jobs and getting good education, was not the American way of life.
2. Women earned less money and had fewer opportunities to advance than men working in the same jobs, or they became housewives, isolated at home with their children.
3. Many young people resented traditional white male values in US society.
4. When the US army began to fight in Vietnam, many people thought the war was wrong. They did not understand why US troops were fighting in Asia.