美国是个大熔炉

America is a country of immigrants. Nearly the entire population can trace its origins to someplace outside of the U.S. The groups of people with the longest period of residence in North America are American Indians. It is believed that they migrated from Asia several thousand years ago. The next people to come to what is now the U.S. were Europeans. They came as colonists between 350 and 250 years ago. Many of these colonists came from England and settled along the Atlantic coast. Other colonists came from Spain and settled in Florida and in the southwestern part of the country. When the colonists had established themselves, large numbers of Africans were forced to come to North America as slaves. Through the 19th century, many immigrants came to the U.S. The earlier ones were largely from Ireland, Germany and other parts of western Europe. Later, many immigrants came from northern and southern Europe and from Asia. In this century many Eastern Europeans have come to the U.S. and more recently thousands of people from Southeast Asia and the Caribbean area have come to live in the U.S. These people have come to the U.S. for many reasons. Some came in order to make better lives for themselves in a new country. Others came so that they could worship their religions more freely. Many immigrants left their

homelands because of war, political unrest or bad economic and living conditions. Although most immigrants chose to come to the U. S. themselves, they often suffered hardships getting to the country. The conditions in which many people lived when they first arrived were very difficult. However, most immigrants managed to establish themselves and have good lives in the U.S. The U.S. today is called the melting pot since people who came from different countries have all become Americans.