英美概况部分重点术语2.doc

英美概况重点术语213) Service industriesService industries are industries that sell a service rather than make a product. Service industries range from banking to telecommunications to the provision of meals in restaurants. As more and more people are employed in service industries in the US, it is sometimes said that the US has moved into a post- industrial era. 14) Manifest DestinyThe beliefs that Americans are Gods chosen and that American people have a special destiny under God. 15) Laissez FaireLaissez Faire is an economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws. 16) Higher education in AmericaIn America, higher education refers to education on the college level. American higher education includes four categories of institutions. They are the university, the four-year undergraduate institution (the college) the technical training institution and the two-year or community college. Some are supported by public funds and some by private funds. Many universities and colleges have won reputations for providing their students with a higher quality of education. The great majority are generally regarded as quite satisfactory.17) Affirmative action programAffirmative Action Programs were first advocated by some colleges in the 1960s. The purpose of the programs was to equalize educational opportunities for all groups and to make up for past inequality by giving special preference to members of minorities seeking jobs or admission to college.18) The civil rights movementIt is one of the most important of all social movements in the 1960s in America. Rosa Parks spontaneous action in 1955 was believed to be the true beginning of the civil rights movement. The black students sit-in at a department lunch counter in North Carolina touched off the nationwide civil rights movement. During the first half of the decade, civil rights organizations like the SNCC, CORE, and SCLC struggled for racial integration by providing leadership, tactics, network and the people. In the latter half of the decade, some black organizations changed their nonviolent tactics, and emphasized on more radical means to end discrimination and raised the self-image of the blacks. The civil rights movement produced such great leaders as Martin Luther King. Jr., and Malcolm X, who inspired a generation of both blacks and whites to devote their lives to fighting for racial equality in the US.19) Martin Luther King, Jr.A black Baptist minister, he was the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. To promote his philosophy of nonviolent protest against segregation and other kinds of social injustice, King organized a series of marches, including the march on Washington of August, 1963, when King delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech. As a civil rights leader, King worked not only to end racial discrimination and poverty, but also to raise the self image of the blacks. Due to his strong belief in non-violent peaceful protest, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in the city of Memphis in April 1968.20) CountercultureIn the wake of the Free Speech Movement and the New Left, there appeared a phenomenon that historians called the counterculture. The counterculture rejected capitalism and other American principles. They had morals different from those taught by their parents. Some groups of youth tried to construct different ways of life. Among the most famous were the hippies. They sought new experience through dropping out, and drug taking. But it was music, rock music in particular, that became the chief vehicle for the counter cultural assault on the traditional American society. The counterculture exerted a great influence upon peoples attitude toward social morals, marriage, career and success.21) White-collar crimesWhite-collar crimes are those committed by higher income groups such as the crimes of fraud, false advertising, corporate price fixing, bribery, embezzlement, industrial pollution, tax evasion and so on. Yet the statistics provided by the FBI tend to overlook white-collar crimes. In fact, white-collar crimes are often ignored by law enforcement agencies. Some sociologists argue that the higher classes may actually have a higher rate of crime than the lower classes.22) The containment policyThe US put into effect the containment policy in the late 1940s. By containment, the US meant that it would use whatever means, including military force, to prevent the Soviet Union from breaking out of its sphere of influence. In order to contain communism, the US fought two was in Asia: the Korean War and the Vietnam War.23) Sep11 terrorist attackOn Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four American passenger planes, two smashing into the World Trade Towers, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth one smashing into the fields in Pennsylvania as a result of the struggle by the passengers. 3000 innocent lives were lost in the terrorist attacks. The whole world was shocked, and Anti-terrorism became a priority on the agenda of the majority of the countries all over the world.24) The Bush Doctrine (the strategy of preemtion)In an address delivered to the West Point graduates, President Bush, for the first time, put forward the strategy of preemption. By preemption, the US means that when it determined that a country which is repressive and hostile to the US has acquired or produced weapons of mass destruction or has the potential to have such weapon, the US should use force to remove this threat to US security and should not wait till the danger becomes imminent or until the US is attacked. This has come to be known as the Bush doctrine.25) NBANBA stands for National Basketball Association. Founded in 1950, it is the association of professional teams in the United States. It has two divisions: the Eastern Division and Western Division.26) BluesBlues refers to a type of slow, sad music from the Southern US, from the city of New Orleans. The Blues if derived from a blend of field chantey and spiritual-a form of hymn singing prevalent in African-American Christian churches. The tradition of the vocal ballad usually accompanied by a guitar, also contributed to the blues form. The music of the blues has a peculiar, poignant sadness. Thy lyrics of the blues pieces are sardonic filled with wry, self-deprecating humor.27) Louis ArmstrongBorn in New Orleans in 1901, Louis Armstrong learned to play the cornet since his children. After an apprenticeship in several bands in New Orleans, he joined a jazz orchestra in Chicago, where he set the style later identified as the Chicago style. In 1924, he went to New York where he was involved in small groups to record music. He organized the Hot Five and Hot Seven and made a series of recordings which reflected the Roaring Twenties life in Chicago. Armstrongs career as a jazz musician continued well into the 1930s and the 1940s. He is now remembered as Americas foremost jazz musician.28) Industrial Revolution in AmericaAfter independence, America was principally an agricultral country. The Industrial Revolution in England brought many changes to American industry between 1776 and 1860. One key development was the introduction of the factory system. A second