新编英美概况——名词解释(美国部分)

国家概况

1.From “a Melting Pot” to “a Salad Bowl”

Though the days of mass immigration are probably over, the influence of the movement will never be erased. Americans have adopted many of the customs and ideas of the immigrants as their own; each wave of immigration left its impact and distinctive contribution to the building of the nation and the evolution of American life. While at the same time each ethic group keeps its own religious and cultural institutions; teach their own language, customs as well and observe their own festivals. They have never been “melted”in the real sense but have kept the feature of “A Salad Bowl” which means many different elements are combined into

a whole, meanwhile each ingredient retains its individual identity.

2.The New Deal

The Definition:

Between 1933 and 1938, innovative measures were taken in the U.S. to deal with the Great Depression, to protect the American capital system and to save the US democracy. The economic and social policies of the Roosevelt Administration were collectively known as “the New Deal”.

The Detailed Contents (Just for reference):

One part of the program was to promote recovery from the depression.

Another was to supply relief to the needy.

A third part was to stabilize the national economy to prevent severe economic crisis in the future.

The Significance:

Only after the outbreak of World War II was the economic crisis totally solved for the war triggered the huge needs for industrial and agricultural productivity. However, the New Deal helped to limit the impact of later recessions and the United States has experienced no return to the national nightmare of Great Depression since the New Deal.

3.The Welfare State

In order to relieve poverty, cut unemployment, and speed economic recovery during the Great Depression, Congress in 1935 enacted the Social Security Act, which contained three major programs: a retirement fund, unemployment insurance, and welfare grants for mothers, children, elders, and the disabled.

Roosevelt declared that the day of great private fortunes was ended. Instead , wealth must be better distributed. Every citizen must be guaranteed “a proper security, a reasonable leisure, and a decent living throughout life.” These programs began what is now referred to as a welfare state.

4.Separation of powers

Separation of powers means constitutional divisional of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In America, this means more than allocating legislative power to Congress, executive power to President and judicial power to the Super Court. It also means giving each branch constitutional and political in dependence and checks and balances that ensure each of the three branches a sufficient role in the actions of the others so that no one branch may dominate the others. The branches must work together if government business is to be performed.

5.America Dream:

The term means different thing to different people. It is usually associated with the aspiration of most people: peace, prosperity, personal ownership of property, personal liberty, and the belief that individuals are free to achieve any goals, to accumulate material wealth, to live any lifestyle, central to America dream is the notion that America is the land of opportunity for the enterprising. Any competitive, practical go-getter can make a fortune, or build a dream home. its focus is primarily self-centered, materialistic , pragmatic, and individualistic.

6.Mayflower Compact

In 1620 a tiny ship called the "Mayflower" sailed from England for the New World. About half of the members of the ship were Pilgrims who were the first group of Puritans to settle in North America. During the trip, they were far away Virginia and the Pilgrims decided to set up their own government. They wrote a now famous agreement called the "Mayflower Compact". In this compact they agreed to stick together to abide by majority rule, and to have a right to choose their own leader. This was the beginning of the US democracy.

7.The Tea Act

In 1773, in order to help the British East India Company out of its financial embarrassment, the Tea Act began. It relieved the company of the necessary of paying duties on its tea exported to America, which was believed as a monopoly by American colonists. They therefore decided to take action against the Act. On the evening of December, in Boston, a group of angry colonists, known as the Boston Tea Party, dressed themselves up as Indians and boarded the three company ships and dumped all the tea into the harbor. The British Parliament took immediate action to punish the American colonists who were unified to resist the government. That finally triggered the outbreak of American Revolution.

8.Monroe Doctrine

After James Monroe was elected as the 5th US president in 1816, he bought Florida from Spain in 1819, peacefully resolved the problem of the admission of Missouri to the Union as a slave state. His popularity survived mainly for his foreign policy usually known as the Monroe Doctrine. The Doctrine, announced in 1823, included four points. First, the United States would not interfere in the affairs of the colonies still owned by European nations in the New World. Second, any effort on the part of European nations to extend their system to the portion of the