Contributions to civilization.

LECTURES IN AMERICAN STUDIES

LECTURE 11

THE GENERAL OUTLINE, INCLUDING GEOGRAPHY

11.1. General description: what comes to mind first?

11.1.1. The United States of America, commonly called the United States or simply America (which is not correct, of course, but nobody cares), lies in the central part of the North American continent with the Atlantic Ocean to the East, the Pacific to the West, Canada to the North, and Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to the South. The United States covers an area of 9,6 million square km. It has a population of about 300 million people. The states form a federation, each state being different from another in size and population. The largest states in area are Alaska, Texas, and California. The smallest state is Rhode Island. The state with the largest population is California followed by Texas, and New York. Only 480,907 people live on the plateaus and rugged mountains of Wyoming, the least populous state.

11.1.2. The scenery of the United Sates is as varied as the size of its states. There are great rivers, the longest being the Mississippi with its west tributary the Missouri. World-famous is the region of the Great Lakes, situated in the north-east of the United States bor­dering Canada. It is a system of five great lakes (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario) joined together by natural channels. The Niagara Falls, great rapids situated on the short Niagara River joining Lakes Erie and Ontario, are famous all over the world.

The country was one of the first to establish national parks on a large scale. A number of picturesque areas have become national parks such as Yellowstone National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Rocky Mountains National Park in the Rocky Mountains area; Yosemite National Park on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; Grand Canyon National Park etc. There is a place that associates with US leadership,Mount Rushmore. Architect Borglum covered the face of Mount Rushmore with the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

11.1.3. American lifestyle is associated with large modern cities. The most well-known of these are New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattleand a number of others. The capital Washington DC has a lot of symbols of the country such as the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the White House and many others. Another symbol of the USA is the Statue of Liberty located on an island in New York Harbor.

11.1.4. Still, a great proportion of the country consists of open land dotted with farm-houses and small towns. In some regions small communities are still provincial. The usual town of average size, in any part of the United States, has its "main street", with the same types of stores selling the same products. Every town has the same type of drug-store and supermarket. 'One-storied' America still exists.

Contributions to civilization.

11.2.1. From the very beginning of the formation of the new nation and through all American history there were outstanding political leaders and social reformers. George Washingtonis one of them.He wasthe commander-in-chief of the colonial forces during the War of Independence and first President of the United States. Another prominent figure in American leadership is Abraham Lincolnwho abolished slavery and reunited the country leading the North against the South during the Civil War.

11.2.2. Every year millions of Americans and foreigners visit the US capital, and many of them pass fascinating hours there viewing such historic treasures as the Wright brothers' first airplane, Alexander Graham Bell's prototype telephone, and a wealth of American and foreign art at various museums scattered around the city. Few of these people remember that art, liter­ature and science developed in America in conditions such as existed in no European nation. Instead of a civilized society inhabiting the same region for cen­turies, here was a group of colonies drawn from many countries. Thus, the American art, science and litera­ture have absorbed and assimilated many different influences in their development.

11.2.3. America has also given the world a number of brilliant inventors with interests in diverse scientific fields. An important milestone is connected with the name of inventor Thomas Alva Edison who produced the first electric light bulb, phonograph, and many other inventions, thus stimulating a rapid growth in American science and technology. In fact, making inventions seems to be ingrained in the American national character. The fathers of the nation Benjamin Franklinand Thomas Jeffersonwere both inventors, too.

In more recent times, the first electronic computer was put to work in the United States some sixty years ago. The computer revolution began in the USA. The person who led human civilization along a new path at the end of the XX century was Bill Gates who created the software without which it is impossible to imagine modern computing. He is chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, Internet technologies for personal and business computing.

11.2.4.When the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in 1957 the Americans understood that they cannot stay away from the space programs. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy set a task for the country: to land a spaceship on the moon by 1970. This program was called Project Apollo. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 achieved the his­toric goal. The American spaceship landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong,commander of the ship, be­came the first person to walk on the moon's surface. His historical words are well-remembered today, "it's one small step for a man, but a giant leap for mankind". Today, the Space Shuttle program is being successfully carried out by international crews.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 850