第2部分美国文化第1章从大西洋到太平洋I.Explain the following in English:1.New England【答案】(1)New England refers to the north-eastern six states:Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Connecticut,Massachusetts and Rhode Island,an area running from the Canadian shore to New York.(2)This area resembles old England in many ways.(3)Some of the earliest settlement in American history was in this area.(4)In general,this part of the country is small-scale,long-established and urban.2.The Mid-Atlantic area【答案】Pennsylvania is the main part of the mid-Atlantic area,which includes New Jersey and Maryland,bounded at the south by the Potomac River.This is the clearest dividing-line in the United States,because across the river is the south.3.The South【答案】(1)It refers to the area across the Potomac River and southwards down the Atlantic coast.(2)This was slave-owning area before the Civil War and mainly produced tobacco and cotton.(3)Economically these states are notoriously backward,but more recently there has been an industrial development,helped by federal plans and hydro-electric power.4.Washington,D.C.【答案】Washington,D.C.,formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington,“the District”,or simply D.C.,is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July16,1790,approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country’s East Coast.As permitted by the U.S.Constitution,the District is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and is therefore not a part of any U.S.state.5.New York City【答案】(1)It is the commercial capital of the United States.(2)It is at the southernmost tip of the New York State.(3)It is composed of five boroughs:Manhattan,Brooklyn,the Bronx,Richmond and Queen’s,with Manhattan Island as its center.(4)It is well-known for such places as Wall Street,the Empire State Building, Harlem and Central Park.6.The Middle West【答案】(1)It describes the north-eastern part of the central plain,or the north-eastern quarter of the United States except for the states close to the Atlantic.(2)In terms of political geography,it refers to these states:Illinois,Michigan, Indiana,Wisconsin and Ohio and so on.(3)First developed for farming,these states include huge,sparsely-populated open spaces.(4)Chicago and Detroit are two of the big industrial cities in this area.7.The Great Plain states【答案】The plains run from the Gulf of Mexico in the south up to the Canadian border and beyond-an endless open space comparable with Siberia.Few places in the world can compare with these great plains for uniformity and monotony,and they are only part of a continuous system which goes northwards to the barren lands of the Arctic.8.The western states【答案】It consists of11states:Montana,Wyoming,Colorado,New Mexico,Idaho, Utah,Nevada,Arizona in8states plus the3states of Pacific coast:Washington, Oregon,and California.II.Fill in the blanks:1.The Republic of the United States consists of_____states with_____states at the time of independence,_____continental states which have been added since independence,_____and_____which were granted statehood in1959.【答案】fifty,thirteen,thirty-five,Alaska,Hawaii【解析】美国目前有50个州。
美国刚独立时只有13个州。
后来又多扩展了35个州。
阿拉斯加和夏威夷是在1959年成为美国的州的。
2.The largest state in terms of area is_____and the largest state in terms of population is_____.【答案】Alaska,California【解析】美国面积最大的州是阿拉斯加州，人口最多的州是加利福尼亚州。
3.In the United States,there are four time zones from east to west:1_____,2_____,3 _____,4_____.【答案】Eastern standard time,central standard time,mountain standard time, Pacific Standard Time【解析】东部时区、中部时区、山地时区、太平洋时区是美国从东到西横跨的时区。
4.New England consists of these six states:_____,_____,_____,_____,_____and_____.【答案】Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Connecticut,Massachusetts and Rhode Island【解析】新英格兰指的是东北部的六个州：缅因州，新罕布什尔州，佛蒙特州，康涅狄格州，马萨诸塞州和罗得岛，该地区从加拿大海岸延伸至纽约。
5.The Mid-Atlantic States refer to these five states:_____,_____,_____,_____and_____.【答案】New York,Pennsylvania，New Jersey，Delaware，Maryland【解析】大西洋中部州区包括纽约州、宾夕法尼亚州、新泽西州、特拉华州和马里兰州。
6.The dividing line between the north and the south is_____River,with the city_____on the border between the two parts.【答案】Potomac，Washington D.C.【解析】美国南北方的天然界河是波托马克河，美国首都华盛顿就在这条河附近。
7._____mountains run from far south in Georgia northwards to_____and_____.【答案】Appalachian,Vermont and Canada【解析】阿巴拉契亚山脉从南到北直到佛蒙特州和加拿大。
8.The_____mountains are situated in the east and the_____mountains are in the west.【答案】Appalachians,Rocky【解析】阿巴拉契亚山脉在美国东部，落基山脉在美国西部。