北京理工大学美国社会与文化期末参考

美国社会与文化期末复习参考

1.How has Protestantism shaped basic American values?

2.What is the essence of the Protestant heritage?

3.What is the protestant heritage?

Protestantism gives American people the value of self-improvement, the belief of gaining material success through hard work and self-discipline, and the idea of volunteerism and humanitarianism.

4.What are the three branches of the federal government and their responsibilities?

5.What are the three branches of the U.S. Government? What are the responsibilities of each

branch?

Congress is the legislative branch and responsible for making laws. The president heads on the executive branch and carrying out the laws. The Supreme Court and lower national courts make up the judicial branch, which interpret the laws.

6.What is the Electoral College? How does it work?

It is a system for indirectly electing the president. The winner of the highest number of each state’s popular votes gets all of that state’s electoral votes. A person getting the highest number of electoral votes will become president.

7.Why are Americans suspicious of a strong government?

Because they think government is the natural enemy of individual freedom.

8.Why did the American Constitution adopt the policy of “separation of church and state”? Because the government was forbidden to establish a national church, in order that no denomination was to be favored over the others.

9.What are the two major political parties in the United States? What is the main difference in

their beliefs?

Republican Party believe in free enterprise system which favor little or no government regulation. Democratic Party believe in government regulated businesses to protect consumers and workers.

10.What are interest groups? What do interest groups do?

They are some groups of Americans with similar interests and often called lobbying groups. They demand new or protect existing government programs, regulations and benefits for their members’ interests.

11.What are the three values that are traditionally associated with the frontier heritage?

They are individualism, self-reliance and equality of opportunity.

12.How do you understand the saying “What’s above the ground is more important than what is

beneath the ground?”

It is an expression of individual freedom, self-reliance and equality of opportunity. What people could do in their own lifetime is more important than what their ancestors did.

13.What are the two types of “rugged individualists” in the frontier days?

One type is man against the wilderness in the early frontier. The other is man against man, which lasted from the 1860s until the 1890s.

14.What are the characteristics of the dominant American culture?

They are English-speaking, white people, Protestant and middle class.

15.Why do some people describe American culture as a “salad bowl”?

Because they think America culture is mixed by many cultures while at the same time they still retaining their own characteristics of immigrants’ origin.

16.What are the differences between the terms “Melting Pot,” “Salad Bowl” and “Mosaic”?

17.Can you explain the difference between a “melting pot” and a “salad bowl”?

“Salad bowl” means it is possible to be a part of America while at the same time retaining the values, customs, languages, and cultures of the immigrants’ origin.

“M elting pot” theory mea ns the whole nation is a large pot. All the culture that people brings into are melted together to form a new culture.

“Mosaic” means the individuals of different racial and ethnic groups are still distinct and recognizable, but together they created a picture of American.

18.What are the major reasons for the early settlers to move to the North America?

They came to America to avoid the religious persecution in England and to seek religious freedom.

19.Why have entrepreneurs become business heroes to American people?

20.Why have entrepreneurs become business heroes admired by American people?

Because they succeed in building something great from nothing. And they are self-made millionaires.

21.How does business competition reinforce other basic American values?

It protects individual freedom by cancel monopoly. And it encourages equality of opportunity and hard work.

22.Why are business institutions at the heart of American way of life?

Because people think business set the ideal of competition. And they expect for achieving the great American Dream and rising from poverty to great wealth.

23.What are the differences between public and private schools?

Public schools are government provided school that is free for all American