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USA
1. Briefly introduce two cultural regions of the USA
- The South: is the fourth-largest continent.
+ Wet climate produces thick mixed forest and stands of mangrove trees
+ Rich soil, ideal for agriculture, attracted Europeans some of whom built large plantations
+ South America's primary mountain system, the Andes, is also the world's longest.
+ Some parts of the continent are now industrialized, with modern cities, but the people in rural areas still follow
an agricultural way and farming play an important role in the South's economy.
+ It is the cradle of the music such as: blue, jazz, break dance, ...
- The Northeast:
+ The Northeast region has broad valleys, rolling hills, and low mountains
+ The Appalachian Mountains are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, and it makes some area quite
rugged.
+ Some of the resources of the Northeast come from underground, like granite, marble, and coal.
+ The land in the lower part of the Northeast region is good for farming, but the upper part of the region does not
have much fertile land. The soil in that part is very rocky
+ The Northeast region has lots of forests, and logging is an important industry there
+ The Northeast is the center of commerce and fishing since colonial times
2. What is the “melting pot” and the “mosaic salad bowl” concerning the American culture?
- The term "Melting pot" is used to describe the mixing of different races and cultures in America.
- Generations of immigrants have melted together: they have abandoned their cultures to become totally
assimilated into American society. For example: The dominant culture (of Northern Europe) has been altered by
new immigrants settling in America
- The mosaic salad bowl concept suggests that the integration of the many different cultures of United States
residents combine like a salad, with people of different cultures living in harmony, like the lettuce, tomatoes and
carrots in a salad.
- Some people are inclined to see the United States as a ‘salad bowl’ where the various groups have remained
somewhat distinct and different from one another, creating a richly diverse country. For example: in Florida and
the Southwest, Spanish and Latin American settlements were established centuries ago, there is still a special
pride in maintaining their cultural traditions and the use of the Spanish language.
3. Who are the American people?
The American people are:
- The Native Americans is the first people on the American continent came from Asia. Native American is also
known as American Indians, Indians, Indigenous Americans, and other terms.
- The immigrants:
+ The British settled the Eastern part of North America at the beginning in the 1600s

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+ The African-Americans: from 1620 to 1820, the largest group of people to come to the US (8 million).
+ Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe: beginning in the 1820s, the number of immigrants coming to
the US began to increase rapidly. For the first half-century, most immigrants were from Germany, the UK, Ireland,
Sweden, and Norway
+ Hispanic-Americans: Hispanics are people of Spanish or Spanish-American origin.
+ Asian- Americans: in the 19th century, laws limited Asian immigration. The Chinese and Japanese come to
California and meet with widespread discrimination.
All of these above show motto "E Pluribus Unum" (from many, one). In fact, as the nation's population has grown
the motto has taken on meaning as well, reflecting the country's melting pot nature - out of many people, one
American people.
4. Mention the main reasons of the Civil War of the USA and its result.
- The American Civil War, fought between 1861 and 1865, was a war between the Northern United States (often
called the Union) and a group of Southern “rebel” states (often called the Confederacy). The main reasons for this
war include:
+ Sectionalism: resulted from the different economies, social structure, customs and political values of the North
and South.
+ Slavery: divided the US into 2 sections - the southern states, in which black slavery became the basis of the
economy, and the northern states, which chose to make slavery against the law.
+ The election of Abraham Lincoln: this was the final trigger for secession since Lincoln was Republican
opposed slavery. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course
toward extinction.
- After 4 years of warfare, mostly within the Southern States, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished,
and four million black slaves were freed. However, it didn't end the discrimination against black people - they
continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South.
5. What does the equality of opportunity mean in the American values?
- "Equality of opportunity" means that each individual should have an equal chance for success. For them, equality
means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity
thought an ethical rule. It ensures that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because
he or she was born into wealthy family, or lose because of race or religion.
- However, the price to be paid for this equality of opportunity is competition. If much of life is seen as a race,
then a person must run the race to succeed; a person has the responsibility to compete with others, even though
we know not everyone will be successful. The pressures of competition in the life of an American begin in
childhood and continue until retirement from work. Learning to compete successfully is part of growing up in the
United States, and competition is encouraged by strong programs of competitive sports provided by the public
schools and community groups. It's popular with both men and women.
6. Individualism is popular in the American culture. Explain?
- By limiting the power of the government and the churches, the early settlers created a climate of freedom. The
United States came to be associated in their mind with the concept of individual freedom. Scholar and outside
observers call this value individualism, but many Americans use the word freedom.

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- Individualism means Americans can do anything they want to do and control their own destiny without outside
interference from government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority. They are
guaranteed the freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion by the government.
- They do not like to have controls placed on them by other family members, and the primary responsibility
American family is not to advance family as a group, either socially or economically. For example, young
Americans are encouraged by their families to make such independent career decisions, or to find a husband or
wife on their own.
7. What is the American dream? It is still a dream today for many people? Explain.
- The early immigration into the USA because America is "the land of opportunity". American Dream is the dream
of land where all people can succeed here. From rags to riches - anyone can become rich, famous and powerful.
People can have rewards if they have skills and efforts. Through hard work, courage and determination, one can
achieve prosperity. The American Dream is deeply rooted in American society. Several cities have pointed out
that this dream is not attainable to all because of the inequality rooted in class, race and ethnic group. However,
there are still many people believe in American values. Because everyone has a chance to compete successfully,
they believe they can achieve their material wealth through hard work.
- It's still a dream today for many people because in America, people have the role of social class in the pursuit
of happiness. They are free about speech and religions and they have equality in sex. Nevertheless, American
dream now face some challenges. The most typical one is equality of opportunity and competition. Equality of
opportunity has not meant equality of results or attainment. If a number of people have the same opportunity to
succeed, some may succeed more than others. This traditional interpretation was challenged by affirmative action
programs giving racial and ethnic preferences to blacks, Hispanics and other minorities. For example, Supreme
Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice who was helped by affirmative action.
8. Summaries The Civil Right Movement in the USA.
The Civil Right Movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s
for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. In 1954 the Supreme Court declared that racially
segregated education was unconstitutional. Black leaders were encouraged to seek an end to all segregation. The
most prolific leaders were Martin Luther King Jr. - wanted greater assimilation of black people and Malcolm X -
blacks from white culture. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn't end discrimination against
blacks. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 forbade discrimination in public places and by any program that
receives federal government funding. The law guaranteed equal employment for black workers and required
universities to recruit black students. Black people have gained freedom from segregation and the right to vote.
The Civil Right Movement helped to assimilate blacks into larger American culture and improved blacks’
situation in the USA. They are now mayors of major cities, members of Congress and their dream come true when
Barack Obama became the first black American president in 2008.
9. In your opinion, does the American culture influence other cultures in the world? Explain and provide
examples.
In my opinion, the American culture tremendously influences other cultures all around the world through a mixed
variety of aspects, especially through language, films and food.
- Language: A constant stream of American TV, films, songs, computer games and websites have spread
American words and expressions far beyond its borders. The most obvious example is the expression “OK",
adopted by languages everywhere.

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- Films: Through American movies, especially Hollywood movies, there is an appearance of cultural imperialism
where it encourages the consumerism trend around the world. For example, the culture of eating low carp food in
American movies caused the popularity of McDonald's, KFC, pizza, etc.
- Food: Fast food franchises with their standardized menus, restaurant layouts, and operating procedures influence
habits of other nations' people. For instance, American-style food, especially fast food, has changed the way
people eat in other parts of the world. It is now more common to eat with your hands in Asia.
10. Briefly introduce the political system in the USA
- The American Government is divided into 3 branches: Legislative branch consists of Congress with main
function is to make laws. Congress has 2 parts are the House of Representatives (435 representatives) and the
Senate (100 senators); Executive branch has President is the head and the function is to administrate the laws;
and Judicial branch with the function is interprets the laws and makes sure that new laws are in keeping with
the Constitution. Each branch controls over the other branches. This is to prevent any one branch from having too
much power (and threatening the freedom of citizens)
- A system of checks and balances ensures that no branch can abuse its power. Congress and the President are the
most powerful branches. The constitution gives each branch the power to stop another from acting alone. The
constitution also includes a Bill of Rights that serves to protect individual freedoms.
11. Main features in the United State education
Educational institutions in the United States reflect the nation's basic values, especially the ideal of the equality
of opportunity. Americans believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to get a good education. They
reaffirmed the principle of equality by making schools open to all Americans and by financing the schools with
tax money collected from all citizens. The educational ladder concept is an almost perfect reflection of the
American ideal in individual success based on equality of opportunity and on "working your way to the top". In
the United States, there are no separate public educational systems with a higher level of education for the wealthy
and a lower level of education for the masses. Rather, there is one system that is open to all. Individuals may
climb as high on the ladder as they can. The abilities of the individuals, rather than their social class, are expected
to determine how high each person will go. Although the great majority of children attend the free public school,
about 10% choose to attend private schools. The majority of these are religious school that are associated with
particular churches and receive financial support from them. A major purpose of these schools is to give religious
instruction, which cannot be done in public school. Furthermore, they believe that these schools are safer and
have higher academic standards than the public school.
12. Why is the frontier heritage related to the American values?
- The frontier was very important in shaping American value - the image of the frontier as a symbol of being a
true American. Today, there is more awareness of what really happened during the settlement from East to West
across the American continent, which lead to the settlers believed that it was their" manifest destiny" to control
all of the land. Besides, displaced Native Americans were placed into reservations. Many Americans are still
inspired by the frontier culture. This was responsible for many of today's American values. For example, they
work hard such as cutting down forests, building towns and cities, and make competition such as gold rush, land
rush. Individualism, self-reliance and equality of opportunity were all important attributes for people on the
frontier. The value of "individual freedom" also developed at this time because there was no "establishment" to
control what people could do. Many people in Western states still value individual freedom very highly.

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