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Political Attitudes

It's often been said and does seem to be true: Americans seem almost instinctively to dislike government and politicians. They especially tend to dislike "those fools in Washington" who spend their tax money and are always trying to "interfere" in their local and private concerns. Many would no doubt agree with the statement that the best government is the one that governs least. In a 1984 poll, for example, only a fourth of those asked wanted the federal government to do more to solve the country's problems. Neighbourhoods, communities, and states have a strong pride in their ability to deal with their problems themselves, and this feeling is especially strong in the West.

Americans are seldom impressed by government officials (they do like royalty, as long as it's not theirs). They distrust people who call themselves experts. They don't like being ordered to do anything. For example, in the Revolutionary War (1776-83) and in the Civil War (1861-65), American soldiers often elected their own officers. In their films and fiction as well as in television series, Americans often portray corrupt politicians and incompetent officials. Anyone who wants to be President, they say with a smile, isn't qualified. Their newsmen and journalists and television reporters are known the world over for "not showing proper respect" to governmental leaders, whether their own or others. As thousands of foreign observers have remarked, Americans simply do not like authority.

Many visitors to the US are still surprised by the strong egalitarian tendencies they meet in daily life. Americans from different walks of life,

people with different educational and social backgrounds, will often start talking with one another "just as if they were all equal." Is everybody equal in the land that stated - in the eyes of God and the law - that "all men are created equal?" No, of course not. Some have advantages of birth, wealth, or talent. Some have been to better schools. Some have skins or accents or beliefs that their neighbours don't especially like. Yet the ideal is ever-present in a land where so many different races, language groups, cultural and religious beliefs, hopes, dreams, traditional hates and dislikes have come together.

All in all, what do Americans think of their system of government? What would "We the People" decide today? One American, a Nobel Prize winner in literature, gave this opinion: "We are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest, and inefficient, and at the same time we are deeply convinced that it is the best government in the world, and we would like to impose it upon everyone else."

Of course, many of today's 240 million Americans would disagree in part or with all. "Who is this one American," they might ask, "to speak for all of us?"

Unit VI

LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES Glimpses of American History

TASK 1 Listen to the tape and fill in the gaps with the words and expressions that you will hear. Retell the texts.



A. Flag Day

Flag Day, June 14, is the birthday of the American Flag. On this day in

1777 the Continental Congress (a)_____stating that the flag of the new

nation should contain (b)______(7 red ones and 6 white ones) to symbolize

the thirteen colonies and thirteen white stars, arranged (c)_____to symbolize

the (d) and (e)____of these colonies.

In 1776, after the colonies had (f)____their (g)_____from Great

Britain, George Washington and two other revolutionary leaders were

(h)____for task of designing a national flag. The colours they chose were red

for (i)_____, white for (j)______ and blue for (k)______ .

According to American legend, they brought their design to Betsy Ross, a young widow who was an excellent seamstress. She followed their sketch

exactly except for suggesting that the stars be (1)_____ rather than

(m)______. Because she made the first American flag, Betsy Ross's name is

still well-known to Americans. Her little home in Philadelphia has been (n)_____, and tens of thousands of tourists visit it each year.

The American flag has been (o)

__many times since Betsy Ross

made the original. Today the flag still (p)_____, in honour of the original

colonies, but now there are fifty stars. Because of its design, the American flag has been nicknamed "(q)______".


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 861


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