《英美社会与文化》复习题汇总.doc

期末复习题目汇总（答案不提供）I. Fill in the blanks.(History)1. Most people who came to the British colonies in the 1600s were _English_. Others came from The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. By 1690, 250,000 people lived in the _New World_. By 1790, there were 2.5 million people.2. The first settlements were along the Atlantic coast and on rivers that flowed into the ocean. In the Northeast, trees covered the hills and stones filled the soil, but water power was available. The Northeast was called New England, and it included Massachusetts, _Connecticut_, and _Rhode Island_. The economy was based on timber, fishing, shipbuilding, and trade.3. The ideas of _liberalism_ and _democracy_ are the basis of the U.S. political system. As the colonists built their new society, they believed more strongly in these ideas. Britains 13 colonies grew in population and economic strength during the 1700s. Although ruled by a distant government, the colonists governed many local affairs.4. The American Revolution and the war for independence from Britain began with a small fight between British troops and colonists on April 19, _1775_. The British troops left _Boston_, Massachusetts, planning to take weapons and ammunition from revolutionary colonists. At _Lexington_, they met armed colonists who were called _Minutemen_ because they could be ready to fight in a minute.(holiday)5. Valentines Day originated in the _Roman_ Era.6. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made the famous _I have a dream, the Nobel Peace Prize_ speech in 1963.7. Easter is an important _religious and social_ festival in Christian countries.8. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming _Mothers Day_ as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.9. _Independence Day_ is the National Day of US which is observed on July 4.10. Columbus Day celebrates _the discovery in America_ by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492.11. On_Halloween_, American children dress up in funny or scary costumes and go trick or treating by knocking on doors in their neighborhood.12. Thanksgiving Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in _November_.13. Earth Day is designed to promote _ecology_.14. Thanksgiving celebrates the first harvest feast between the Indians and the _Pilgrims_ during the settlers first year in America.(politics)15. The Congress in the United States is composed of the House of Representativesand the Senate; the Parliament in Britain is composed of the monarch, the House of Lordsand the House of Commons.16. The Three branches of the American federal government are the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch.17. In the United Kingdom, the Prime Ministeris head of government; in the United States, the Presidentis the head of government.18. The House of Lords in the United Kingdom consists of two very different types of members, the Lords Temporaland the Lords Spiritual.(economy)19. Two of the basic powers that government can wield in a tax foreclosure are taxation and eminent _domain_.20. Once the property becomes _delinquent_, the homeowner begins to receive letters from the lender requesting payment for the mortgage.21. _Real estate owned_ properties that revert back to the lender because of foreclosure (or deeds in lieu of foreclosure) are normally called REOs, or real estate owned properties.22. The sub-prime crisis, which has its roots in the closing years of the 20th century, became apparent in 2007 and has exposed pervasive weakness in financial industry _financial industry regulation_ and the global financial system.23. In recent months, we have taken steps to shore up the housing sector - including measures to help struggling homeowners avoid _foreclosure_ and keep their homes.24. Union contracts set both a wage floor and a wage ceiling. _Union contracts_ employers may not give productive workers pay raises outside those envisioned in the collectively bargained contract.25. The government should end the _interventions_ it has made since 2008, starting with abolition of the TARP program. It then should abolish Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and repeal all U.S. government regulatory measures that interfere with mortgage markets.26. Factor differences between Britain and U.S. resulted in Britain benefiting from its highly skilled _workforce_, two thirds of which were employed with companies staffed with less than 250 workers.27. Unlike Britain, the U.S. had a national, homogeneous market in which large corporations profited from economies of scale and mass production.28. The 1976 agreement with the monetary fund was not only seen as a national embarrassment, it remained a symbol of a country that, under various Labor governments, effectively lost control of the economy to militant trade unions, resulting in spiraling debt and rampant work stoppages that brought down Britain.(education)29. In the United States, if some of the students want to go to school during July or August, they could enroll in _summer_ sessions.30. Two oldest universities in Britain are _Cambridge_ and _Oxford_.31. The most famous public school in Britain is called _Eton (college) _.32. In the U.S., except kindergarten, there are two other classroom situations to which little children are introduced. They are _nursery school_ and _day-care center_.33. _American football_ is the college sport that often stirs up the most national interest in the United States.34. There are three forms of monetary assistance that college students receive. They are: _loans_, _scholarships_, and _part-time jobs_.(religion)35. Freedom of religious belief or non-belief is provided in _the Bill of Rights_ in the Constitution.36. In the US, religious instruction in public schools is _against the Constitution_ according to a ruling by the Supreme Court.37. The two Protestant denominations, _Baptists_ and _Methodists_ are by now regarded as wholly American.38. In the US, the largest single religious group is that of _Roman Catholics_. The largest Protestant group is _Baptists_. Next to that Protestant sect is _Methodists_. A very small and select Protestant group is _Quakers_.39. The first Catholic president is _John F Kennedy_.40. In England, four-fifths of the people except the Catholics go to church. Yet _half_ of American Protestants are active church members.(national characters)41. Immigrants flooding into the United States in the 17th, 18th and much of the 19th centuries were mainly from _northern_ and _western Europe_.42. People who came to the New World prior to the founding of the United States are called “_early immigrants_”, while those who arrived in America before 1880 are referred to as “_old immigrants_”.43. _Black_ people constitute the largest ethnic-racial minority group in the US today.44. That “All men are created equal” is from the document _the Declaration of Independence_.45. The cultural diversity in the US finds its best expression in the well-known term _melting pot_.46. The British national characteristic of _Irish national identity_ finds its expression in the fact that many British people still prefer to have a fireplace in their living room, and still adhere to the Monarchy.(mass media)47. British National Broadcasters can be divided into two types: 1) Public Broadcasting, such as the famous _BBC_, which was founded in 1922; and 2) Private Broadcasting, such as _ITV_, _Channel 4_, and _Channel 5_.48. British public broadcasting should serve the purpose of _entertaining_, _informing_ and_educating_ the nation.49. The most striking characteristics of magazine development in the U.S. during the twentieth century was a trend toward _specialization_, _changing lifestyle_ and _shifting economic conditions_ in the decades following World War I influenced magazine development.(leisure and entertainment)50. In early America, leisure was values with_ suspicion_ and _little value_.51. The American puritans extreme emphasis placed on work and the detestation of idleness were supported by _Puritan theology_, which gave moral sanction to economic necessity.52. Contemporary Americans believe that leisure should be more than a _restorative_ for work; it should be viewed as an _important_ part of modern life and be regarded as a _worthwhile_ end or goal in and of itself.53. In Great Britain, Pubs usually have two separate rooms: the _public_ bar and the _lounge_bar.(social problems)54. _Poverty_ reemerged as a social program in the 1960s and was perceived as a condition that represented a glaring gap between American _ideals_ and _reality_.55. Drug abuse is a social problem because it has a wide range of social costs. It is closely related with _crime_, _automobile_ accidents. It has serious effects on individuals _physically_ and _mentally_, and the _economic_ losses caused by drug abuse are great.56. British conservative known to the world, but British teenage _pregnancy_ rate unexpectedly is highest in the world.II. True or false statements.1. Thomas Paine, a radical political thinker, argued for independence and against hereditary monarchy in his pamphlet Common Sense.2. Thomas Jefferson was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence.3. The British soldiers were also called Roundheads.4. Thomas Jefferson was the commander-in-chief of the colonial army.5. The Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1777, announced the birth of a new nation.6. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 in Britain.7. Many people now refer Washingtons Birthday as Presidents Day and consider it a day honoring all American presidents.8. The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 by President John F. Kennedy.9. Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on May 1st.10. Boxing Day actually has nothing to do with boxing.11. Both Britain and America have a written constitution. In Britain, there is no Bill of Rights to guarantee the individual rights of every citizen, while in America there is one.12. The General Election in Britain takes place every four to five years, while the presidential election in America takes place every four years.13. In the United States, both the president and the senators can serve at most 8-year terms.14. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. It consists of nine Justices: the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed with the consent of the Senate.15. In the United Kingdom, implementation of the Ministers decisions is carried out by a permanent politically neutral organization known as the civil service. The independence and professional of the British civil service is a fundamental feature of the British political system.16. According to Josh Rosner, co-author of Reckless Engagement, there was a symbiotic relationship between Wall Street and the GSEs and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the largest buyers of sub-prime securities the Wall Street was bundling, packaging and selling themselves.17. An abundance of cheap credit makes borrowing money easy for banks and causes them to go crazy with leverage.18. U.S. corporate tax rate, currently the second highest in the developed world, must be hiked to restore U.S. competitiveness.19. Although Britains domestic market was smaller, consumer demands were much less heterogeneous than in the U.S. due to cultural factors and wage inequality.20. As the lesson of Britains crisis in 1976 demonstrates, good intentions are not enough to offset a loss of international investor confidence.21. About half of income of British universities is provided by the State.22. The “eleven plus” is the exam taken by children in their last year at primary school.23. An American college student should maintain a low C average in order to remain in school.24. In order to attend college, a high school student in the U.S. must pass the college entrance examination.25. Since World War II, one of the most dramatic developments in U.S. higher education has been the ever-rising cost.26. Religion in America has been identified with an oppressive or dominant social class or set of political institutions.27. There are more than a hundred other Protest sects, many of them hardly known to anyone except their own members, but with a combined membership of more than twenty million. They express variety, rather than doctrinal shism.28. The largest single religious group is that of Roman Catholics, More than one-quarter of all Americans are now of the Roman Catholic faith, and the majority of these are descendants of immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia.29. It is probably safe to say that the Orthodox Church members are more outside the main stream of American social and religious life, or less assimilated, than members of other religious bodies.30. It is still considered unlikely that a Jew could be elected as President of the United States, because of the strong built-in prejudices of the Protest majority.31. Black people constitute the largest ethnic racial minority group in the U.S. today.32. The frontier experience shaped, to a large extent, the American National character.33. Phrases like “from rags to riches” clearly demonstrate the American belief in the myth of American Dream.34. The sentence “an Englishmans home is his castle” suggests that conservatism is a part of the British national character.35. The British geographic separation from the European continent helped shape the British sense of aloofness from strangers.36. In Britain, the greater part of most peoples leisure time is spent in the home.37. As for British people, the working class considers the home as a private place while the middle class regards it as a social zone.38. People who play Bingo consider themselves to be gamblers.39. Many Americans prefer leisure activities that require a high level of physical exertion.40. As for American people, the effects of pre-industrial Puritanism are still rather profound in the contemporary society.41. New figures show the number of children and teenagers taken to hospital after drinking alcohol has gone up by nearly a third.42. Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”43. Poverty in the United States does not simply mean that the poor do not live quite as well as other citizens. Poverty can also mean low self-esteem, despair, and stunting of human potential.44. Britain has the lowest divorce rate and smallest proportion of lone parents in Europe.45. A survey reported by OECD says that the health of British teenagers ranks the last one among all the OECD member countries, because of smoking, drinking and teenager pregnancy.III. Short-answer questions.1. What do you know about the Declaration of Independence?2. What are the distinctive features of middle colonies of the 13 colonies?3. What are the distinctive features of the Southern colonies of the 13 colonies?4. Can you briefly introduce the traditions of Thanksgiving Day?5. What does Easter celebrate and how do people celebrate it?6. Can you list four basic principles that the American Constitution of 1789 is built on?7. What are the two dominant political parties in the United States and the three dominant political parties in the United Kingdom?8. What are the causes of the sub-prime (mortgage) crisis in the U.S.?9. What solutions are needed to restore the U.S. to a free economy?10. What is the greatest argument about public schools in Britain?11. Why are day-care centers in large demand in the U.S.?12. Many Americans are religious without concerning themselves doctrine. Use what you have learned to illustrate this point.13. What is the major difference in religious observance between Americans on the one hand, and the English and the Swedish on the other? How do you account for the difference?14. Why are there so many free choices in religion for Americans? Why is there no fierce religious struggle in the US as it often happens in Europe?15. Briefly explain “mobility” as one of the American national characteristics.16. What is the “American Dream”?17. What are the differences between “a bowl of salad” and “a melting pot” as metaphors of the American society?18. Give some examples of Quality Newspapers (at least 4) and Popular Newspapers (at least 5) in Britain.19. What are the