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AMERICAN
CULTURE
Knowing More About
America

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malient Points On America

The United mtates is a varied land ± of

forests, deserts, mountains, high flat lands
and fertile plains.

A jet plane crosses the continental United

mtates from east to west in about five to six
hours.

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TIME ZONE

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malient Points On America ««

The Um has long been known as a ³melting

pot´
because many of its people are descendents
of settlers who came from all over the world.

The American people are always on the move

± from one part of the country to another,
from one city to another.

Today three out of four Americans live in

towns, cities or suburbs : over 57 million live
in rural areas.

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malient Points On America««

New York City is America¶s largest city.
Each city has a downtown and suburbs.

Downtown is where the largely affluent and

yuppie crowd stays. It is more expensive than
living in the suburbs though the suburbs
have large bungalows.

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malient Points On America««

New York City is America¶s largest city.

Chicago is the second largest city, Los

Angeles is third, and Philadelphia is the
fourth largest.

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malient Points On America ««

The nations capital, Washington D.C is

seventeenth in population. mpecially
planned and built as a national capital,
Washington was laid out by a French
architect in the 18th century.
A city of great beauty and a center of
world affairs, it is becoming a leading
cultural center.

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Americans spend money freely and make

purchases on credit when necessary to buy
things they want. Most pay off these debts on
a regular monthly basis.
The buying habits of Americans have
changed in recent years. mince World War II,
the demand for household goods has slowed
down. More money is being spent on
education, medical care, services, travel and
recreation while a smaller percentage of
income goes for food, clothing and
automobiles.
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The majority of Americans live in apartments

or individual houses that have electric lights,
central heating, hot and cold running water
and inside toilets.

Because of the general rise in family

incomes, factory workers, owners of small
businesses, school teachers and sales
personnel can be found in the same
suburban communities, in homes very much
alike.

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Americans take great pride in their schools
and want their children to have the best
possible education.
Only one percent of the population cannot
read or write.
New methods of instruction that encourage
children to develop their creative abilities are
being devised and tested in schools.
Today, there is a strong emphasis on
science, mathematics and foreign languages
and an effort is being made to broaden the
students¶ knowledge of other people and
cultures.
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Today, about half of the young people who

graduate from secondary school go to
colleges or universities.

The Americans popularly refer to even

colleges as  
 And instead of class or
division they call it ›
  

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Young people in America have a wide variety

of interests apart from their school
curriculum.

mchools offer a wide range of activities. Apart

from that most houses at least have a basket
ball court.

Also, most parks have tennis/squash/golf

facilities and taking-up a sport in Um is very
easy.

Many young people hold part-time jobs after

school hours. Thousands
p earn

 money
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delivering newspapers or being baby sitters.
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Majority of young Americans at the age of 18

get a car to drive which could be second
hand.

The loan systems are very comfortable for

people to buy homes and cars at an early
age.

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National Celebrations

Americans share three national holidays with many

countries: Easter munday, Christmas Day, and New Year¶s
Day.

Easter, which falls on a spring munday that varies from year

to year, celebrates the Christian belief in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. For Christians, Easter is a day of religious
services and a family gathering. Many Americans follow old
traditions of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving children
baskets of candy. On the next day, Easter Monday, the
president of United mtates holds an annual Easter egg hunt
on the White House lawn for young children.

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National Celebrations ««

Christmas Day, December 25, is another Christian holiday; it

marks the birth of Christ. Decorating houses and yards with
lights, putting up Christmas trees, giving gifts, and sending
greeting cards have become traditions even for many non-
Christian Americans.

New Year¶s Day, of course, is January 1. The celebration of

this holiday begins the night before when Americans gather
to wish each other a happy and prosperous new year.

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Political Parties And Elections ««

Americans regularly exercise their democratic rights by
voting in elections and by participation in political parties and
election campaigns. Today, there are two major political
parties in the United mtates, the Democratic and the
Republican. The Democratic Party evolved from the party of
Thomas Jefferson, formed before 1800. The Republican Party
was established in the 1850s by Abraham Lincoln and others
who opposed the expansion of salary into new states then
being admitted to the Union.

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Political Parties And Elections ««

The Democratic Party is considered to be the more

conservative of the two. Democrats generally believe
that government has an obligation to provide social and
economic programs for those who need them.

Republicans are not necessarily opposed to such

programs but
believe they are too costly to taxpayers. Republicans
put more
emphasis in the belief that a strong private sector
makes citizens less dependent on government.
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The American Economic mystem

The United mtates declared its independence in the year 1776,

the same year that mcottish economist Adam mmith wrote The
Wealth Of Nations, a book that has had an enormous
influence on American economic development. Like many
other thinkers, mmith believed that in a capitalist system
people are naturally selfish and are moved to engage in
manufacturing and trade in order to gain wealth and power.
mmith¶s originality was to argue that such activity is
beneficial because it leads to increased production and
sharpens competition.

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Political Parties And Elections ««

As a result, goods circulate more widely and at lower prices,

jobs are created, and wealth is spread. Though people may
act from the narrow desire to enrich themselves, mmith
argued, ³an invisible hand´ guides them to enrich and
improve whole of society.

Most Americans believe that the rise of their nation as a great

economic power could not have occurred under any other
system except capitalism, also known as free enterprise after
a corollary to mmith¶s thinking: that government should
interfere in commerce as little as possible.

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The mtock Market
Very early in American history, people saw that they
could make money by lending it to those who wanted to start
or expand a business. To this day, small American
entrepreneurs usually borrow the money they need from
friends, relatives, or banks.
Larger businesses, however, are more likely to acquire
cash by selling stocks or bonds to unrelated parties. These
transactions usually take place through a stock exchange, or
stock market.
Europeans established the first stock exchange in
Antwerp, Belgium, in 1531. Brought to the United mtates in
1792, the institution of the stock market flourished, especially
at the New York mtock Exchange, located in the Wall mtreet
area of New York City, the nation¶s financial hub.
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Newspapers

The top five daily newspapers by circulation in 1995 were

the Wall mtreet Journal(1,823,207), UmA Today (1,570,624),
the New York Times(1,170,869), the Los Angeles Times
(1,053,498), and the Washington Post (840,232). The
youngest of the top five, UmA Today, was launched as a
national newspaper in 1982 after exhaustive research by
the Gannett chain. It relies on bold graphic design, color
photos, and brief articles to capture an audience of urban
readers interested in news´bites´ rather than traditional,
long stories.

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Magazines

Magazines on virtually any topic imaginable have appeared,

including Tennis, Trailer Life, and Model Railroading, Other
magazines have targeted segments within their audience for
special attention. TV Guide, Time , and Newsweek, for
example, publish regional editions. meveral magazines are
attempting to personalize the contents of each issue
according to an individual reader¶s interests.

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Television: Beyond The Big Three

Three privately owned networks that offered free
programming financed by commercials - NBC, CBm, and ABC
- controlled 90 percent of the TV market from the 1950s to
the 1970s. In the 1980s the rapid spread of pay cable TV
transmitted by satellite undermined that privileged position.
By 1994, almost 60 percent of American households had
subscribed to cable TV, and non-network programming was
drawing more than 30 percent of viewers. Among the new
cable channels were several that show movies 24 hours a
day; Cable News Network, the creation of Ted Turner, which
broadcasts news around the clock, and MTV, which shows
music videos.

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Television: Beyond The Big Three ««
In the meantime, a fourth major commercial network, Fox,
has come into being and challenged the big three networks;
several local TV stations have switched their affiliation from
one of the big three to the newcomer. Two more national
network - WB and UPN - have also come along, and the
number of cable television channels continues to expand.

There are 335 public television stations across the United

mtates, each of which is independent and serves its
community¶s interests. But the stations are united by such
national entities as the Public Broadcasting mervice, which
supplies programming.

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mTATE CAPITALm ««««««.
Alabama - Montgomery Louisiana - Baton Rouge
Alaska - Juneau Maine - Augusta
Arizona - Phoenix Maryland - Annapolis
Arkansas - Little Rock Massachusetts - Boston
California - macramento
Michigan - Lansing
Colorado - Denver
Florida - Tallahassee Minnesota - mt. Paul
Georgia - Atlanta Mississippi - Jackson
Hawaii - Honolulu Missouri - Jefferson City
Idaho - Boise Montana - Helena
Illinois - mpringfield Nebraska - Lincoln
Indiana - Indianapolis Nevada - Carson City
Iowa - Des Moines New Hampshire - Concord
Kansas - Topeka New Jersey - Trenton
Kentucky - Frankfort New Mexico - manta Fe
New York - Albany

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mTATE CAPITALm
New Carolina - Raleigh Tennessee - Nashville
North Dakota - Bismarck Texas - Austin
Ohio - Columbus Utah - malt Lake City
Oklahoma - Oklahoma Vermont - Montpelier
City Virginia - Richmond
Oregon - malem Washington - Olympia
Pennsylvania - Harrisburg West Virginia -
Rhode Island - Charleston
Providence Wisconsin - Madison
mouth Carolina - Wyoming - Cheyenne
Columbia
mouth Dakota - Pierre

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