英美文化概况考试简答题.doc

一美国the 3 branches of the U.S federal governmentthe legislative branch (立法机构) the executive branch (行政机构)the judicial branch (司法机构)(1) the legislative branch The legislative branch is made up of elected representatives from all of the states and is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes, declare war or put foreign treaties into effect. It consists of a Congress that is divided into two houses. 1）The House of Representatives （众议院）It comprises lawmakers who serve two-year terms. Each member represents a district in his or her home state. The number of districts in a state is determined by a count of the population taken every 10 years. 2）The Senate （参议院） It comprises lawmakers who serve six-year terms. Each state, regardless of population, has two senators. One-third of the Senate is elected every two years. The main duty of the Congress is to make laws, including those which levy taxes that pay for the work of the federal government. A law begins as a proposal called a bill. When both houses of Congress pass a bill on which they agree, it is sent to the president for his signature. Only after it is signed does the bill become a law.(2) The executive branchThe chief executive of the United States is the president, who, together with the vice president, is elected to a four-year term. Under a Constitutional Amendment （修正案） passed in 1951, a president can be elected to only two terms. The powers of the presidency are formidable:the chief formulator of public policy commander in chief of the armed forces proposes legislation to Congress veto any bill passed by Congress (The veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives. )has broad powers to issue regulations and directives regarding the work of the federal governments many departments and agencies. has the authority to appoint federal judges as vacancies occur, including members of the Supreme Court. (subject to confirmation by the Senate) appoints the heads and senior officials of the major departments of the government who collectively make up the presidents cabinet. (the large majority of federal workers, however, are selected through a nonpolitical civil service system. ) (confirmed by the Senate )primarily responsible for handling foreign relations can easily influence public opinion .(3) The judicial branch The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court with a chief justice and 8 associate justices. There are also 13 federal courts of appeal and 94 federal district courts. Federal judges are appointed for life, and can only be removed from office through the process of impeachment and trial in the Congress.The Supreme Court has the judicial review power (司法复审权), the power determining whether congressional legislation or executive action violates the Constitution（最高法院决定国会法案或行政法令是否违宪)The power of judicial review is not provided for by the constitution.Its the courts interpretation of its constitutional Role as established in the Marbury Vs. Madison case of 1803.（马伯里对麦迪逊案）“checks and balances (制约与平衡的原则)” The system of “checks and balances”of the three-part national government works to keep serious mistakes from being made by one branch or another.Examples:If Congress proposes a law that the president thinks is unwise, the president can veto it. That means the proposal does not become law. Congress can enact the law despite the presidents views only if two-thirds of the members of both houses vote in favor of it.The president has the power to make treaties with other nations and to make all appointments to federal positions, including the position of Supreme Court justice. The Senate, however, must approve all treaties and confirm all appointments before they become official. In this way the Congress can prevent the president from making unwise appointments.The idea of checks and balances was first provided in the Federalist Papers. 联邦党人文集二、美国两大政党Political parties There are two major political parties in US.One is the Democratic Party, which evolved out of Thomas Jeffersons party, formed before 1800. The symbol of the party is the donkey. The other is the Republican Party, which was formed in the 1850s, by people in the states of the North and West. The symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant.Political parties are organized groups of people who share a set of ideas about how the United States should be governed and who work together to have members of their group elected in order to influence the governing of the country. When members of a political party form a majority in Congress, they have great powers to decide what kinds of laws will be passed. Most Americans today consider the Democratic Party the more liberal party. The Democrats earned that reputation in the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression. Under President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal plan, Democrats set up government programs that provided paid employment for people building dams and roads and public buildings. The government under the Democratic Party established many other programs, including Social Security (社会保障制度), which ensures that those who are retired or disabled receive monthly payments from the government.Republicans place more emphasis on private enterprise and often accuse the Democrats of making the government too expensive and of creating too many laws that harm individual initiative. For that reason, Americans tend to think of the Republican Party as more conservative. Americans do not have to join a political party in order to vote or to be a candidate for public office. However, running for office without the money and campaign workers a party can provide is difficult. 三、美国改革独立宣言The American Revolution1. The causes:(1) By the early 1760s, the 13 English colonies in North America had developed a similar American pattern in politics, economy and cultural life and enjoyed the same frontier environment. The English people and Europeans had become Americans and they were ready to separate themselves from the Old World. (2) In 1756, England and France began to fight the Seven Years War, Britains victory in the war led directly to a conflict with its American colonies. The British government began to charge new taxes (*the stamp tax印花税, the tea tax, etc.) The colonial Americans insisted that they could be taxed only by their own colonial assemblies. No taxation without representation was their rallying cry. The colonists refused to obey the British laws, so British soldiers were sent to Boston.(3) In1773, the “Boston Tea Party ” tossed British merchants tea into Boston harbor. (4) The Americans disobeyed the Intolerable Act passed by British Parliament and boycotted British trade.On April 19, 1775, the first shot was fired when 700 British soldiers went to capture a colonial arms depot in a small town of Concord near Boston. Thus the American War of Independence began. And it ended in 1781.In 1781, the War of Independence came to an end with the victory of North Americans.The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 and Britain had to recognize the independence of the United States.The Declaration of IndependenceIt was mainly drafted by Thomas Jefferson and was adopted by the Congress on July 4, 1776, when the people of 13 English colonies in North America were fighting for their freedom and independence from the British colonial rule. The document declared that all men were equal and that they were entitled to have some unalienable (不可剥夺的) rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It also explained the philosophy of governments: the powers of governments came from the consent of the governed and the purpose of governments was to secure the rights mentioned above. The theory of politics and the guiding principles of the American Revolution mainly came from John Locke, an English political philosopher in the 17th century.四、Invasions: British history has been a history of invasions. The Romans were the first to invade England. The Romans lived in Rome, a city in the centre of Italy. They came for riches. In 55BC, Julius Caesar invaded Britain for the first time but later withdrew. In 43AD, the Emperor Claudius made a successful invasion, which started the nearly-400-years (43 AD to 410 AD) Roman occupation of Britain (England & Wales only). The influence of the Romans :Language：Latin Christianity Laws and a legal system The next to invade were three Germanic tribes called the Angle, Saxon, and Jute (the Anglo-Saxons) in 410 AD. One of the best-known English legends derives from this time. In the 5th century AD, it is said that King Arthur united the British, and drove the Saxons back. Contributions made by the Anglo-Saxons to England: Anglo-Saxon invaders became the forefathers of the English, the founders of “Angle-land” or “England” (Despite the fact that contemporary English people think of King Arthur as their hero, really he was fighting against them). They brought in Old English, which became the official language of the nation. Vikings invasion: From the late 8th century on, raiders from Scandinavia, the ferocious Vikings, threatened Britains shores. They settled in northern and eastern England. There remains today a cultural division between northerners and southerners, which not consciously “Dane” Versus “Saxon” . By then the English hero - King Alfred the Great was truly English (Anglo-Saxon), who fought against the Vikings. Alfred defeated the invading Danes and came to an agreement with them. Thereafter, the Danes controlled the north and east of England, while Alfred ruled the rest. The next invaders were the Normans, from northern France, who were descendants of Vikings. Under William the Conqueror, they crossed the English Channel in 1066, and in the Battle of Hastings, defeated an English army under King Harold. This marks the last invasion. William took the English throne, and became William I of England. The Tower of London, a castle in the centre of London which he built, still stands today. The Normans did not settle England to any great extent: rather they imported a ruling class - a Norman (French-speaking) aristocracy ruling a largely Saxon population (English-Speaking). It is this situation which produced another of Englands heroic legends. This is the legend of Robin Hood. The Consequences of the Norman Conquest:William the Conqueror confiscated almost all the land and gave it to his Norman followers. So the feudal system was completely established in England.Relations with the Continent were opened. Norman-French culture, language, manners, and architecture were introduced.五、Puritanism教义They denied the Pope and argued that everyone must read the Bible in order to find Gods will and establish a direct contact with God. They believed that human beings were predestined by God before they were born. Some were Gods chosen people while others were damned to hell. The sign of being Gods elect was the success in his work or the prosperity in his calling. Therefore, everyone must work hard, spend little and invest for more business. Working hard and living a moral life were their ethics. The influence of Puritanism on American culture Americans have viewed their country as a great experiment, a worthy model for other nations. This sense of mission has been very strong in the minds of many Americans. New England also established a strain of often intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adulterers, other religious believers different from themselves.The Puritans believed that governments should enforce Gods morality. The American values such as individualism, hard work, respect of education owe very much to the Puritan beliefs.六、美国教育目的Purpose ；The goal is to achieve universal literacy and to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote both their own individual welfare as well as that of the general英国教育The purpose is not only to provide children with literacy（three Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic） and the other basic skills but also to socialize them.七、英美政治比较.The role of the monarchy today君主: