上外全新版大学英语综合教程讲义-book4-unit4

Book 4

Unit Four Multicultural Society

Text A America As A Collage

The first 2 class periods

Ⅰ Listening material:

George Bush delivered a dogged state-of-the-union address on Tuesday, January 23rd, it was no easy task. Facing the Democrat-controlled Congress he tried to sell a distinctly unpopular message on Iraq. He stood at the podium with the third-worst approval rating of any post-war president when giving the annual speech.

Like the other two—Harry Truman in 1952 over Korea and Richard Nixon in 1974 over the recent memory of Vietnam—Mr. Bush is weighed down by an unpopular war. Some 65% of Americans now disapprove of the job he is doing, and 51% do so strongly.

After listening to the material above, students are required to answer the following questions:

Q1: What kind of address did George Bush delivered?

Q2: Was his address on Iraq inspiring and accepted by the Congress?

Q3: George Bush was regarded the third-worst approval rating of any post-war president, then who were the first-worst and the second-worst post-war presidents?

Q4: How many Americans now disapprove of the job he is doing, and how many do so strongly? Keys to the questions:

No. 1 George Bush delivered a dogged state-of-the-union address.

No. 2 Of course not. It is a distinctly unpopular message.

No. 3 They are Harry Truman and Richard Nixon.

No. 4 Some 65% of Americans now disapprove of the job he is doing, and 51% do so strongly.

Ⅱ Background information:

①Traditionally the United States has been described as a melting pot, a place where the precious

identities of each immigrant group are melted down to create an integrated, uniform society.

Since the 1960s, many Americans have rejected the melting pot metaphor in favor of the image of the mosaic, a picture crated by assembling many small stones or tiles. In a mosaic, each piece retains its own distinctive identity, while contributing to a larger design. Advocates of the mosaic metaphor assert that it better represents the diverse multicultural society of the United States. Collage is an artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color. Today, many Americans value their immigrant heritage as an important part of their identity.

②According to the 2000 census to Los Angeles’ popula tion, the following table shows:

The table indicates that in America, whites take up less than fifty percent, that is, whites are not as many as colored people. The rest can be done in the same way: the United States has been shaped