Major English- speaking countries: a survey(英语国家概况) Answer the following questions briefly(简要地回答以下的问题) 1. What are the five famous symbols of American culture? Answer: The statue of liberty. Barbie. American Gothic. The buffalo nickel. Uncle Sam
2. Why do we call American agriculture is “agribusiness”? Answer: The term is coined to reflect the large-scale nature of agriculture enterprise in the modern US economy.
3. In American immigration history what caused the first Chinese come to the USA in the nineteenth century? Answer: They came initially in the gold mines and later, in building the transcontinental railroad.
4. In terms of linguistics what is RP in London, the UK? Answer: RP is “received pronunciation”, which is considered to be spoken in the upper sociality of London. It is treated as the Standard English in the UK.
5. Why most Britons are inclined to the system of monarchy instead of an immediate implementation of democracy? Answer: F or many Britons, the queen’s symbolic functions are crucial to th e “Britishness”of Britain, it is believed that the monarchy will not be abolished anytime soon, and will continue to wield important emotional and persuasive powers.
6. British population suffered from drastic drop in the 14th century and the 19th century respectively because of two natural disasters. What are they?
Answer: They were Black Death, and potato famine. In the 14th century and the 19th century respectively.
7. What problems does the American economy have today? Answer: There are two major problems. One is stagnation. The other is the increasing foreign debts and trade deficit.
8. What is “check and balance” in American politics? Answer: The government is divided into three branches the legislative. The executive and the judicial. Each has part of powers but not all the power. And three branches are thus in balance. This is called “checks and balance”.
Noun explanations(名词解释)
1. Lake poets
Answer: English poets at the turn of the 19th century who lived in the lake district of England and was inspired by it to create romantic works. The three poets of the lake school were William Wordsworth. Samuel T aylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.
2. Hung parliament
Answer: Sometimes, the result of a general election may be a “hung parliament”, where no one part y has an overall majority.
Then a minority or coalition government would have to be formed between a numbers of parties.
3. Square mile
Answer: T he bank of England, chartered in 1694, is the country’s central bank. Although previously nationalized, it became independent of government in 1997, being the only bank that now sets interest rates and issues banknotes in England and Wales. 4. SAD
Answer: The frequent drizzles and gloomy skies in winter are so depressing that people tend to suffer the so-called seasonal affective (SAD), characteristics of which include fatigue, low spirits, sluggishness and inability to carry out normal routine.
5. New Deal
Answer: The new deal is a term for the domestic reform programme of the administration of Franklin D Roosevelt. The deal is generally considered to have consisted of two phases. The first phase (1933-1934) attempted to provide recovery and relief from the great depression through programmes of agricultural and business regulation, inflation and price stabilization. The second phase of the new deal (1935-1941), while continuing with relief and recovery measures, provided for social and economic legislation to benefit the mass of working people.。