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USA
1. What are the melting pot and the mosaic salad bowl concerning the American culture?
- The term " Melting pot" is used to describe the mixing of different races and cultures in America.
- Generations of immigrants have melted together: they have abandoned their cultures to become
totally assimilated into American society. For example: The dominant culture (of Northern Europe) has
been altered by new immigrants settling in America

- The mosaic salad bowl concept suggests that the integration of the many different cultures of United
States residents combine like a salad, with people of different cultures living in harmony, like the lettuce,
tomatoes and carrots in a salad.

- Some people are inclined to see the United States as a ‘salad bowl’ where the various groups have
remained somewhat distinct and different from one another, creating a richly diverse country. For
example: in Florida and the Southwest, Spanish and Latin American settlements were established
centuries ago, there is still a special pride in maintaining their cultural traditions and the use of the
Spanish language.

2. Who are the American people?

The American people are:
- The Native Americans is the first people on the American continent came from Asia. Native American
is also known as American Indians, Indians, Indigenous Americans, and other terms.

- The immigrants:

+ The British settled the Eastern part of North America at the beginning in the 1600s

+ The African-Americans: from 1620 to 1820, the largest group of people to come to the US (8 million).

+ Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe: beginning in the 1820s, the number of immigrants
coming to the US began to increase rapidly. For the first half-century, most immigrants were from
Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway

+ Hispanic-Americans: Hispanics are people of Spanish or Spanish-American origin.

+ Asian- Americans: in the 19th century, laws limited Asian immigration. The Chinese and Japanese
come to California and meet with widespread discrimination.

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All of these above show motto "E Pluribus Unum" (from many, one). In fact, as the nation's population
has grown the motto has taken on meaning as well, reflecting the country's melting pot nature - out of
many people, one American people.

3. Summarize the American values.

- Individual freedom and self-reliance: freedom is the desire and the right of individuals to control their
own destiny without outside interference from the government a ruling noble class, the church, or any
other organized authority. However, to achieve "individual freedom" they need to be "self-reliant" -
achieving financial and emotional independence from parents. For example: Americans believe they
should take care of themselves and solve their own problems.
- Equality of opportunity and competition: Americans believe that each individual should have an equal
opportunity for success. They see life as a race to succeed with winners and losers, so they have a duty
to try. For example: Competition is encouraged by strong programs of competitive sports provided by
public schools and community groups.

- Material wealth and hard work: material wealth became important to Americans as they want to
improve their own lives or the lives of their children. However, to achieve material wealth Americans
must work hard to develop and profit from the abundant natural resources of the US. For example:
Americans take an average of only two weeks of vacation time a year. (Many Americans who could retire
at age 65 or 66 continue to work for more years.)

4. What is the Civil War? Mention the main reasons of the Civil War?
- The American Civil War, fought between 1861 and 1865, was a war between the Northern United
States (often called the Union) and a group of Southern “rebel” states (often called the Confederacy).
The main reasons for this war include:

+ Sectionalism: resulted from the different economies, social structure, customs and political values of
the North and South.

+ Slavery: divided the US into 2 sections - the southern states, in which black slavery became the basis
of the economy, and the northern states, which chose to make slavery against the law.

+ The election of Abraham Lincoln: this was the final trigger for secession since Lincoln was Republican
opposed slavery. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on
a course toward extinction.

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- After 4 years of warfare, mostly within the Southern States, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was
abolished, and four million black slaves were freed. However, it didn't end the discrimination against
black people - they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South.

5. What does the equality of opportunity mean in the American values?

- "Equality of opportunity" means that each individual should have an equal chance for success. For
them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other
words, equality of opportunity thought an ethical rule. It ensures that the race for success is a fair one
and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into wealthy family, or lose because of
race or religion.
- However, the price to be paid for this equality of opportunity is competition. If much of life is seen as
a race, then a person must run the race to succeed; a person has the responsibility to compete with
others, even though we know not everyone will be successful. The pressures of competition in the life
of an American begin in childhood and continue until retirement from work. Learning to compete
successfully is part of growing up in the United States, and competition is encouraged by strong
programs of competitive sports provided by the public schools and community groups. It's popular with
both men and women.
6. Individualism is popular in the American culture. Explain.
- By limiting the power of the government and the churches, the early settlers created a climate of
freedom. The United States came to be associated in their mind with the concept of individual freedom.
Scholar and outside observers call this value individualism, but many Americans use the word freedom.
- Individualism means Americans can do anything they want to do and control their own destiny without
outside interference from government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority.
They are guaranteed the freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion by the
government.
- They do not like to have controls placed on them by other family members, and the primary
responsibility American family is not to advance family as a group, either socially or economically. For
example, young Americans are encouraged by their families to make such independent career decisions,
or to find a husband or wife on their own.
7. What is the American Dream? Is it still a dream today for many people? Explain.
- The early immigration into the USA because America is "the land of opportunity". American Dream is
the dream of land where all people can succeed here. From rags to riches - anyone can become rich,
famous and powerful. People can have rewards if they have skills and efforts. Through hard work,
courage and determination, one can achieve prosperity. The American Dream is deeply rooted in
American society. Several cities have pointed out that this dream is not attainable to all because of the
inequality rooted in class, race and ethnic group. However, there are still many people believe in
American values. Because everyone has a chance to compete successfully, they believe they can achieve
their material wealth through hard work.
- It's still a dream today for many people because in America, people have the role of social class in the
pursuit of happiness. They are free about speech and religions and they have equality in sex.
Nevertheless, American dream now face some challenges. The most typical one is equality of
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opportunity and competition. Equality of opportunity has not meant equality of results or attainment. If
a number of people have the same opportunity to succeed, some may succeed more than others. This
traditional interpretation was challenged by affirmative action programs giving racial and ethnic
preferences to blacks, Hispanics and other minorities. For example, Supreme Court Justice Sonia
Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice who was helped by affirmative action.
8. Summarize the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.
The Civil Right Movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and
1960s for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. In 1954 the Supreme Court
declared that racially segregated education was unconstitutional. Black leaders were encouraged to seek
an end to all segregation. The most prolific leaders were Martin Luther King Jr. - wanted greater
assimilation of black people and Malcolm X - blacks from white culture. The Civil War had officially
abolished slavery, but it didn't end discrimination against blacks. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965
forbade discrimination in public places and by any program that receives federal government funding.
The law guaranteed equal employment for black workers and required universities to recruit black
students. Black people have gained freedom from segregation and the right to vote. The Civil Right
Movement helped to assimilate blacks into larger American culture and improved blacks’ situation in the
USA. They are now mayors of major cities, members of Congress and their dream come true when
Barack Obama became the first black American president in 2008.
9. In your opinion, does the American culture influence other cultures in the world? Explain and provide
examples.
In my opinion, the American culture tremendously influences other cultures all around the world through
a mixed variety of aspects, especially through language, films and food.
- Language: A constant stream of American TV, films, songs, computer games and websites have spread
American words and expressions far beyond its borders. The most obvious example is the expression
“OK", adopted by languages everywhere.
- Films: Through American movies, especially Hollywood movies, there is an appearance of cultural
imperialism where it encourages the consumerism trend around the world. For example, the culture of
eating low carp food in American movies caused the popularity of McDonald's, KFC, pizza, etc.
- Food: Fast food franchises with their standardized menus, restaurant layouts, and operating
procedures influence habits of other nations' people. For instance, American-style food, especially fast
food, has changed the way people eat in other parts of the world. It is now more common to eat with
your hands in Asia.
10. Briefly introduce the political system in the USA.
- The American Government is divided into 3 branches: Legislative branch consists of Congress with
main function is to make laws. Congress has 2 parts are the House of Representatives (435
representatives) and the Senate (100 senators); Executive branch has President is the head and the
function is to administrate the laws; and Judicial branch with the function is interprets the laws and
makes sure that new laws are in keeping with the Constitution. Each branch controls over the other
branches. This is to prevent any one branch from having too much power (and threatening the freedom
of citizens)

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- A system of checks and balances ensures that no branch can abuse its power. Congress and the
President are the most powerful branches. The constitution gives each branch the power to stop
another from acting alone. The constitution also includes a Bill of Rights that serves to protect individual
freedoms.
11. Mention some main features in the American education.
Educational institutions in the United States reflect the nation's basic values, especially the ideal of the
equality of opportunity. Americans believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to get a good
education. They reaffirmed the principle of equality by making schools open to all Americans and by
financing the schools with tax money collected from all citizens. The educational ladder concept is an
almost perfect reflection of the American ideal in individual success based on equality of opportunity
and on "working your way to the top". In the United States, there are no separate public educational
systems with a higher level of education for the wealthy and a lower level of education for the masses.
Rather, there is one system that is open to all. Individuals may climb as high on the ladder as they can.
The abilities of the individuals, rather than their social class, are expected to determine how high each
person will go. Although the great majority of children attend the free public school, about 10% choose
to attend private schools. The majority of these are religious school that are associated with particular
churches and receive financial support from them. A major purpose of these schools is to give religious
instruction, which cannot be done in public school. Furthermore, they believe that these schools are
safer and have higher academic standards than the public school.
12. Why does the frontier heritage influence the American values?
- The frontier was very important in shaping American value - the image of the frontier as a symbol of
being a true American. Today, there is more awareness of what really happened during the settlement
from East to West across the American continent, which lead to the settlers believed that it was their"
manifest destiny" to control all of the land. Besides, displaced native Americans were placed into
reservations. Many Americans are still inspired by the frontier culture. This was responsible for many of
today's American values. For example, they work hard such as cutting down forests, building towns and
cities, and make competition such as gold rush, land rush. Individualism, self-reliance and equality of
opportunity were all important attributes for people on the frontier. The value of "individual freedom"
also developed at this time because there was no "establishment" to control what people could do. Many
people in Western states still value individual freedom very highly.

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