Sunny Colorado ,New Mexico and California ,along with numerous other states, are important testing grounds for solar energy.
THE WEST COAST VALLEYS
When Americans began to move to the Far West-before any gold discoveries in the region the entire Pacific Coast attracted them. Why did they come, these men ,women and children from the East? Why did they endure the frightful trials of the plains, the mountains, the deserts? Why did they want so much to move West?
The Americans came because they wanted more space, free land ,a freer life ,and perhaps a fortune, too.
The Pacific Coast ,from San Francisco to Seattle ,was first reached by English ,Russian and other explorers. Some established fur trading posts.
All three Pacific Coast states-Washington, California and Oregon –face toward the Orient. Cargoes of fish timber and fruit are shipped from the ports of San Francisco, Portland and Seattle to Asia. There is a large Chinese Community in San Francisco.
Quaint cable cars clang up and down its sleep hills and ships sail from the Pacific Ocean under the sweeping span of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay, one of the world’s finest land-locked harbors.
Seattle is the gateway to Alaska ,the 49th state. In order to get to Alaska a person must take a boat or airplane.
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The 50th state is Hawaii, it is a string of sun-drenched islands over 3.200 kilometers out in the Pacific Ocean from the coast of California. Pineapple plantation of Waikiki Beach are world famous. People living here speak of the rest of the US as the Mainland.
5. Бақылау сұрақтары:
The landmass of the USA
6. Лекция тақырыбына сәйкес СӨЖ тапсырмалары:
Why do Immigrants come to the USA?
7. Қажетті әдебиеттер:
1. Stevenson D.K American Life and Institutions
2. Tomakhin Y. Across the USA
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Лекция 11
1.Лекция тақырыбы: 1. Geographical position of the USA
2. Лекция жоспары:
1. The river
2. Nation of immigrants
3. Лекция мақсаты: АҚШ-тың иеліктері, олардың экономикалық маңыздылығын үйрету.
4. Лекция мазмұны: АҚШ-тың алты бөлшектерін талқылау, олардың географикалық жағдайы туралы әңгіме жүргізу.
THE RIVERS:
1.Mississippi
2.Missouri
3.Ohio
4.Columbia
5.Colorado
6.Rio Grande
The Mississippi is one of the world’s great continental rivers , like the Amazon in South America, the Congo in Africa ,the Volga in Europe, or the Ganges, Amur in Asia .Its waters are gathered from two-thirds of the United States and, together with the Missouri (its chief western branch),the Mississippi flows some 6,400 kilometers from its northern sources in the Rocky mountains to the Gulf of Mexico, which makes it one of the world’s longest waterways.
The Mississippi has been called the “father of waters”. Through all its lower course it wonders along ,appearing lazy and harmless.
Where the Missouri pours into the Mississippi from the West is colours the river deep brown with small pieces of soil. Father downstream, where the clear waters of the principal eastern tributary the Ohio join the Mississippi, evidence of the difference between the dry west and raining east becomes apparent. For kilometers ,the waters of the two rivers flow on side by side, without mixing. Those from the west are brown, they have robbed the soil in areas of vegetation. The waters from the east are clear and blue; they come from hills and valleys where plentiful forest and plant cover has kept the soil from being washed away.
Like the Mississippi, all the rivers in the east of the Rockies finally reach the Atlantic; all the waters to the east of the Rockies finally arrive at the Pacific. For this reason the crests of the Rocky Mountains is known as the Continental Divide. There are many places in the Rockies where a visitor may throw two snowballs in opposite directions and know that each will feed a different ocean.
The two great rivers of The Pacific side are the Colorado in the south ,and the Columbia, which rises in Canada and drains the North .In the dry western country ,both rivers ,very different in character ,they are vital sources of life. The Columbia ,wild in prehistoric times ,cutting and shaping the land,
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now flows with quiet dignity. But the Colorado is still a river of enormous fury-wild, restless and angry. It races and plunges, cutting deeply into the desert rocks. But even the furious Colorado has been dammed and put to work. All the farms and cities of the Southwestern corner of the country depend on its water.
The Rio Grande ,About 3.200 kilometers long, is the foremost river of the Southwest. It forms a natural boundary between Mexico and the US, which together have built irrigation and flood control projects of mutual benefit .
THE NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
Immigrants in US why they came, why they come. The United States has often called “a nation of immigrants”. There are two good reason for this. First, the country was settled ,built and developed by generation of immigrants. Secondly ,even today America continuous to take in more immigrants than any other country in the world. It is not surprising, that the US is counted as the most heterogeneous societies in the world. Many different cultural traditions, ethnic sympathies, national origins ,racial groups, and religious affiliations make up” we the people”
Nonetheless, it would be very misleading to view America simply as a collection of different immigrant groups and ethnic or religious loyalties. It is not true that there are more Irish ,more German, and more Puerto Ricans living in New York City than there are Dublin, Frankfurt or San Juan .Nor do most New Yorkers think of themselves primarily as Jews ,Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Italians, Germans or Irishmen.
The US is one of the few countries that has no “official” national language. English is the common language by use , but it is not the national language by law. About 30 million Americans speak a language other than English at home .This means ,for example that if you meet an American in New Mexico who speaks Spanish as his first language ,he could be a recent immigrant ,having arrived in the US only a few years ago ,or his grandparents could have arrived in the US a hundred years ago.
WHY THEY CAME, WHY THEY COME
Major changes in the Pattern of immigration have been caused by wars ,revolutions, periods of starvation ,persecutions, religious in toleration, and in short ,by any number of disasters which led people to believe that America was a better place to be. More than a million Irish ,for instance immigrated to America between 1846 and 1851 in order to escape starvation and disease in Ireland. During the same period large number of other Europeans lead political persecution. And in the 1870’s another wave of refugees left the political turmoil of eastern and southern Europe to seek freedom and a future in America. The largest streams of European immigrants came between 1900 and 1920,that is before, after and during World War 1.
At other times ,for example ,during the Depression and during World War II, smaller numbers of immigrants came to the US. Since the 1960s more and more people have seen the poverty and wars in Asia and Latin America in
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the hope of finding a better life in the US. There is ,of course, another side to Americans’ ethnic pluralism and racial variety ,one that Americans, more than any other people are aware of. The first slaves brought to what is today the United States arrived in Virginia on board a Dutch ship in 1619.On the eve of the American Revolution ,slavery was already firmly established in what was shortly to be the United States of the America .In 1776, probably about the fifth of all inhabitants in the British colonies in America were Negro Slaves.
Without a doubt the American immigration experience ,then and now ,is one of the most important factors in American life. All immigrants have contributed to the development of some ”typical” American characteristics. Among these are the willingness to take risk and to strike out of the unknown with independence and optimism. Another is patriotism for the many who feel that they are Americans.
5. Бақылау сұрақтары:
1.Northeast
2. Central Basin
3. Mountains and Deserts
4. Coast Valley
6. Лекция тақырыбына сәйкес СӨЖ тапсырмалары:
Climate and weather
Relief
7. Қажетті әдебиеттер:
1. Stevenson D.K American Life and Institutions
2. Tomakhin Y. Across the USA
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Лекция 12
1.Лекция тақырыбы: The structure of Government
2. Лекция жоспары:
1. A new nation
2. The constitution and the bills of right
3.The American system of government
3. Лекция мақсаты: АҚШ конституциясымен таныстыру. АҚШ-тың заң шығару, атқару биліктерімен таныстыру.
4. Лекция мазмұны: АҚШ Конгресі. Президент және оның қызметтерін үйрету.
“Americans are a nation born of an idea; not the place ,but the idea, created the United States Government.”
1. A NEW NATION
In 1776, the 13 British colonies in America came together ,stood up and told what was the world’s greatest power that from now on they would be free and independent states. The British were neither impressed nor amused and a bitter six-year war followed , the Revolutionary War(1776-1783)It’s hard to appreciate today ,over two centuries later, what a revolutionary act this was. A new republic was founded ,turning into reality the dreams and ideas of a few political philosophers. Americans broke with on age-old tradition and so sent shock waves back across the ocean; they decided that it was their right to choose their own form of government. Something new was under the sun :a system at government ,in Lincoln’s words, ”of the people ,by the people, for the people”
2. THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL RIGHT
The Constitution of the US is the central instrument of American government and the supreme law of the land. For 200 years, it has guided the evolution of governmental institutions and has provided the basis for political stability, individual freedom, economic growth and social progress.
The former colonies ,now “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA «first operated under an agreement called the articles of Confederation (1781)
It was soon clear that this loose agreement among the states was not working well. The central, federal government was too weak ,with too few powers for defense, trade & taxation. In 1787,therefore delegates from the states met in Philadelphia .They wanted to revise the articles, but they did much more than that .They wrote a completely new document, the Constitution , which after much argument , debate and compromise was finished in the same year & officially adopted by the 13 states by 1790.
The American Constitution is the worlds oldest written constitution in force, one that has served as the model for a number of other constitutions around the world .
The Constitution, the oldest still in force in the world, sets the basic form of
government: three separate branches each one having powers (“checks & balances “) over the others. It specifies the powers and duties at each federal branch of government, with all other powers and duties belonging to the states .The Constitution has been repeatedly amended to meet the changing needs of the nation, but it’s still the “supreme law at the land”. All governments and governmental groups, federal state and local, must operate within its guidelines. The ultimate power under the constitution is not given to the President(the executive branch) or to the supreme Court(the judicial branch).Nor does it rest ,as in many other countries ,with a political group or party. It belongs to “WE THE PEOPLE”, in fact and in spirit.
In this way, Americans first took for themselves the liberties and rights that elsewhere were the privileges of an elite few. Americans would manage their own laws and of course ,they would make their own mistakes .
They stated in the first ten Constitutional Amendments, known together as the Bill of Rights ,what they considered to be the fundamental rights of any American .Among these rights are the freedom at religion, speech and press, the right of peaceful assembly , and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs. Other rights guarded ,the citizens against unreasonable searches ,arrests and seizures of property & established a system of justice guaranteeing orderly legal procedures .This included the right of trial by jury ,that is ,being judged by one’s fellow citizens .
The great pride Americans have in their constitution their almost religious respect for it comes from the knowledge that these ideas ,freedoms and rights were not given to them by a small ruling class. Rather they are seen as the natural “unalienable” rights of every American ,which had been taught for and won .They cannot be taken away by any government ,court & official or law.
The federal & state governments formed under the Constitution , therefore ,were designed to serve the people and to carry out their majority wishes(and not the other way around ) One thing they didn’t want their government to do is to rule them .Americans expect their government to serve them and tend to think of politicians and governmental officials as their servants. This attitude remains very strong among Americans today.
Over the past two centuries ,the Constitution has also had considerable influence outside the US .Several other nations have been their own forms of government in it. It’s interesting to note that Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution drafted the French declaration of rights when he returned to France . And the United nation Cuarter also has clear echoes of what once was considered a revolutionary document.
3.THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
The governmental system in the US.- federal state country and local are quite easy to understand ,that is ,if you grew up with them and studied them in school . One foreign expert complained ,for example that the complexity of just the cities political and governmental structure is “almost
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unbelievable. The “real Chicago,” he explained spreads over 2 states, 6 countries, 10 towns, 30cities, 49 townships and 110 villages. Overlaid upon this complex pattern are 235 tax districts and more than 400 school districts.
There are, however ,several basic principles which are found at all levels of American Government .One of these is the “ One person ,one vote” principle which says that legislators are elected from geographical districts directly by the voters. Under this principle ,all election districts must have about the same number of residents. Another fundamental principle of American government it that because of the system of cheeks and balances ,compromise in politics is a matter of necessity, not choice. For ex., the House of Representatives controls spending and finance, so the President must have its agreement for his proposals and programme . He cannot declare war, either ,without the approval of congress. In foreign affairs, he is also strongly limited . Any treaty must first be approved by the senate .If there is no approval ,there is no treaty .The rule is the president proposes, but Congress disposes .What a President wants to do, therefore, is often a different thing from what a President is able to do.
5. Бақылау сұрақтары:
1. A new nation
2. The constitution and the bills of right
3. The American system of government
6. Лекция тақырыбына сәйкес СӨЖ тапсырмалары:
Political system of the USA
7. Қажетті әдебиеттер:
1. Stevenson D.K American Life and Institutions
2. Tomakhin Y. Across the USA