Read More

Text B Fiive Famous Symbolls of Ameriican Cullture

1．First read the following questions and then use the scanning technique to find the answers.

1)The Statue of Liberty was built to honor the friendship between ____and the United States.

A.the United Kingdom

B.Germany

C.France

D.Canada

2)Which of the following statements about Barbie is NOT true?

A.The original model for Barbie was a German doll and it was actually a joke gift for adults.

B.Since her introduction in 1959, Barbie has become very popular in the U.S.A.

C.Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, was introduced in 1961 and named after Barbara's brother.

D.The Handlers are all very pleased with the Barbie doll.

3)The painting“American Gothic”is an often-copied interpretation of the solemn pride of American____ .

A.Bankers

B.Farmers

C.Clergymen

D.Workers

4)The most enduring portrait of Uncle Sam actually resembles____ .

A.Sam Wilson

B.Brother Jonathan

C.James Flagg

D.Grant Wood

2．Fill in the blanks with proper prepositions after careful reading of the text.

1)Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was working____ an enormous project called Liberty Enlightening the World.

2)Ruth came up____ the idea for Barbie after watching her daughter play with paper dolls.

3)While white people had previously been used as models____ most American coins, famed artist James Earle Fraser went____ tradition by using three actual American Indians as models for his creation.

4)Nan later remarked that the fame she gained from American Gothic saved her____ a very boring life.

The Statue of Liberty

In the mid-1870s, French artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was working on an enormous project called Liberty Enlightening the World, a monument celebrating US independence and the France-America alliance.At the same time, he was in love with a woman whom he had met in Canada.His mother could not approve of her son's affection for a woman she had never met, but Bartholdi went ahead and married his love in 1876.

That same year, Bartholdi had assembled the statue's right arm and torch, and displayed them in Philadelphia.It is said that he had used his wife's arm as the model, but felt her face was too beautiful for the statue.He needed someone whose face represented suffering yet strength, someone more severe than beautiful. He chose his mother.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on an island in Upper New York Bay in 1886.It had his mother's face and his wife's body, but Bartholdi called it“my daughter, Liberty”.

Barbie

Before all the different types of Barbie dolls for sale now, there was just a single Barbie.Actually, her name was Barbara.Barbara Handler was the daughter of Elliot and Ruth Handler, co-founders of the Mattel Toy Company.Ruth came up with the idea for Barbie after watching her daughter play with paper dolls.

The three-dimensional model for Barbie was a German doll—a joke gift for adults described as having the appearance of“a woman who sold sex”.Mattel refashioned the doll into a decent, allAmerican version—although with an exaggerated breast size—and named it after Barbara, who was then a teenager.

Since her introduction in 1959, Barbie has become the universally recognized Queen of the Dolls.Mattel says that an average American girl owns ten Barbie dolls, and two are sold somewhere in the world every second.

Now more than sixty years old, Barbara, who declines interviews but is said to have loved the doll, may be the most famous unknown figure on the planet.Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, was introduced in 1961 and named after Barbara's brother.The real Ken, who died in 1994, was disgusted by the doll that made his family famous.“I don't want my children to play with it, ”he said in 1993.

American Gothic

Grant Wood instantly rose to fame in 1930 with his painting“American Gothic”, an often-copied interpretation of the solemn pride of American farmers.The painting shows a serious-looking man and a woman standing in front of a farmhouse.He was strongly influenced by medieval artists and inspired by the Gothic window of an old farmhouse，but the faces in his composition were what captured the world's attention.

Wood liked to paint faces he knew well.For the grave farmer, he used his dentist, a sour-looking man.For the woman standing alongside him, the artist chose his sister, Nan.He stretched the models'necks a bit, but there was no doubt they posed for the portrait.Nan later remarked that the fame she gained from“American Gothic”saved her from a very boring life.

The Buffalo Nickel

Today, American coins honor prominent figures of the US government—mostly famous former presidents.But the Buffalo nickel, produced from 1913 to 1938, honored a pair of connected tragedies from the settlement of the American frontier—the destruction of the buffalo herds and the American Indians.

While white people had previously been used as models for most American coins, famed artist James Earle Fraser went against tradition by using three actual American Indians as models for his creation.For the buffalo on the other side, Fraser was forced to sketch an aging buffalo from New York City's Central Park Zoo since buffalo no longer wandered about the great grasslands.Two years later, in 1915, this animal was sold for $100 and killed for meat, a hide, and a wall decoration made from its horns.

Uncle Sam

Fourteen-year-old Sam Wilson ran away from home to join his father and older brothers in the fight to liberate the American colonies from the British during the American Revolution.At age 23, he started a meatpacking business and earned a reputation for being honest and hard-working.

During a later war in 1812, Wilson gained a position inspecting meat for US Army forces, working with a man who had signed a contract with the government to provide meat to the army.Barrels of meat supplied to the army were stamped“EA-US”identifying the company(EA)and country of origin (US).According to one story, when a government official visited the plant and asked about the letters, a creative employee told him that US was short for“Uncle Sam”Wilson.Soon soldiers were saying all Army supplies were from“Uncle Sam”.

After the war, a character called Uncle Sam began appearing in political cartoons, his form evolving from an earlier cartoon character called Brother Jonathan that was popular during the American Revolution.Uncle Sam soon replaced Brother Jonathan as American's most popular symbol.The most enduring portrait of Uncle Sam was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in his famous army recruiting posters of World Wars I and II.That version—a tall man with white hair and a small white beard on his chin, a dark blue coat and a tall hat with stars on it—was a self-portrait of Flagg.

Text C Morall Vallues iin Ameriican

1．First read the following questions and then use the scanning technique to find the answers.

1)Americans still believe that“honesty is the best policy”.The well known legend about and the cherry tree teaches this value clearly.

A.Abraham Lincoln

B.George Washington

C.Thomas Jefferson

2)The Rabbit and the Turtle is a story from Aesop's fable, which teaches the virtue of .

A.modesty

B.tolerance

C.perseverance

3)The story of The Good Samaritan from the Bible describes a man who showed .

A.compassion

B.responsibility

C.affection

2．Moral values in America are like those in any culture．In fact, many aspects of morality are universal．Can you find some Chinese stories and traditions that teach similar moral values?

Do Americans have any morals? That's a good question.Many people insist that ideas about right and wrong are merely personal opinions.Some voices are calling Americans back to traditional moral values.William J. Bennett, former U.S.Secretary of Education, edited The Book of Virtues in 1993 to do just that.Bennett suggests that great moral stories can build character.The success of Bennett's book shows that many Americans still believe in moral values.But what are they?

To begin with, moral values in America are like those in any culture.In fact, many aspects of morality are universal.But the stories and traditions that teach them are unique to each culture.Not only that, culture influences how people show these virtues.

One of the most basic moral values for Americans is honesty.The well known legend about George Washington and the cherry tree teaches this value clearly.Little George cut down his father's favorite cherry tree while trying out his new hatchet.When his father asked him about it, George said, “I cannot tell a lie.I did it with my hatchet.”Instead of punishment, George received praise for telling the truth.Sometimes American honesty—being open and direct—can offend people.But Americans still believe that“honesty is the best policy.”

Another virtue Americans respect is perseverance.Remember Aesop's fable about the turtle and the rabbit that had a race? The rabbit thought he could win easily, so he took a nap.But the turtle finally won because he did not give up.Another story tells of a little train that had to climb a steep hill. The hill was so steep that the little train had a hard time trying to get over it.But the train just kept pulling all the while saying, “I think I can, I think I can.”At last, the train was over the top of the hill.“I thought I could, I thought I could.”chugged the happy little train.

Compassion may be the queen of American virtues.The story of“The Good Samaritan”from the Bible describes a man who showed compassion.On his way to a certain city, a Samaritan man found a poor traveler lying on the road.The traveler had been beaten and robbed.The kind Samaritan, instead ofjust passing by, stopped to help this person in need.Compassion can even turn into a positive cycle.In the fall of 1992, people in Iowa sent truckloads of water to help Floridians hit by a hurricane.The next summer, during the Midwest flooding, Florida returned the favor.In less dramatic ways, millions of Americans are quietly passing along the kindnesses shown to them.

In no way can this brief description cover all the moral values honored by Americans. Courage, responsibility, loyalty, gratitude and many others could be discussed.In fact, Bennett's bestseller—over 800 pages—highlights just 10 virtues.Even Bennett admits that he has only scratched the surface.But no matter how long or short the list, moral values are invaluable.They are the foundation of American culture—and any culture.