Беликова Е.К., Саратовская Л.Б. - The United Kingdom and United States of America in Past and Present (1268141), страница 44
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Even if they go by plane, when theyarrive, they often rent a car (fly-drive).American society’s dependence on automobiles creates a lot of typicalproblems, such as air-pollution, the growing accident rates, traffic jams.Cities, towns and states spend tremendous resources constantly repairingand expanding their streets, roads, and highways. As some roads havebeen expanded to their limit, there is nowhere to go but up, so in someplaces “double-decker” appeared, that is, two-tiered highways.As the automobile plays such a large part in American life, it has a greatimpact on American economy.
Now the manufacture of automobiles inAmerica is becoming more and more international. Japanese companieslike Honda and Toyota do not just sell cars in America; they have theirown plants where they build them. The major American automobilecompanies, such as Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler have also formedvarious kinds of partnerships with Japanese and German manufacturers.In addition to the traditional sedans, station wagons, and sports cars,different kinds of jeeps and vans have become especially popular inrecent years.Some Americans take special pride in their cars.
They give them specialnames (John, Marietta, etc.), wash and wax them regularly. Othersconstantly trade and buy them. Whatever an American’s attitude towardcars, it is unlikely that he or she will do without it.172National SymbolsOne feature of American life that some European observers oftencomment on is the frequent display of flags and other national symbols inthe U.S. The pride of Americans of their country is perhaps not muchdifferent from that in other nations, but it seems more apparent.
The‘Star-Spangled Banner” and the flags of the states are found in manyplaces and displayed on many occasions, including even demonstrationsagainst the government. Advertisements, too, sometimes cater to a sharedsense of national pride. To Americans, patriotism is largely a naturalresponse to the nation’s history and its ideas. Immigrants who apply afterfive years of residence to be naturalized and become American citizensmust prove that they know the national symbols and support theConstitution of the USA.1. Answer the questions:1 .Why is it so difficult to make generalizationsabout American character? 2.
What is the main idea of the “Melting pot”? 3.What are the most distinctive American characteristics from your point of view?4. What can you say about American social life? 5. Why Americans areAmericans so much involved in volunteer work? 6. Why do so many Americanparents think that part-time jobs are “good for their kids”? 7. What is the impactof cars on the US economics? 8. What are the main demands for an immigrant tobe naturalized and become an American citizen?2. Speak about recent changes in American lifestyle according to themodels: Now that VCRs have come in drive-ins are getting out; Now thatcompact discs have come in records have gone out; Economy cars-big cars;push-button-telephones-dial telephones; aerobics-jogging; canned and frozenfood-traditional cooking; wash and wear clothes-ironing; credit cardscheckbooks; checkbooks-cash.3.
Match the names in the left part with the definitions in the rightone:Car park 1) a window that you drive up to and get your banking problems done;Parking meter2) a special area for parking cars;Parking lot3) a multi-stored building for parking cars;Parking ticket4) a place where people can watch movies staying in the cars;Drive-in theater5) a metal box on a stick to drop the money for parking;Drive-in bank6) a document for paying a parking penalty;Drive-in food stand 7) a window that you drive up to and buy some food.4.Discussion problems: 1..The American Frontier and American character;2.Compare typical English and American characters. Which traits are in commonand which are different? 3. American houses and homes; 4.
American societyand cars.173CHAPTER IX.CULTURAL LIFERead the following words:To pull the leg- обманутьgospel -евангелиеProgenitor- источник, прародительat large- в общем, в целомTo steer boats - управлять лодкамиspiritualism- спиритизмExpatriate - эмигрироватьunconventional-нетрадиционныйTo shuttle- перемещатьсяto enchant – очароватьEnsuing - вытекающий, последующийnourish- питатьIt is common to divide the US cultural history into three broad stages.The first stage stretches from colonial times until about the Civil war.
Inthis period, American art, architecture, music and literature were stronglyinfluenced by European ideas and traditions. What was fashionable orpopular in London, Paris, Rome or Vienna usually set the pattern forBoston, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. Some of the colonialpainters, like other craftsmen, came across the sea to try their luck. A fewAmerican painters of that time among them Benjamin West,Washington Allston, John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart stillconsidered themselves largely as part of European tradition.Gradually America was becoming subject and substance of separateartistic creation.
Through the Colonial period and for the first half centuryof the Republic, American painting was dominated by portraiture.Painting portraits was the way an artist could make at that time a living.Like the 17th century European portraitists, the American artists left richinformation about their time. Portraits became documents detailingfurniture, costumes, jewelry, and implements of their occupation.Unfortunately there were few history paintings of good quality recordingthe Revolution, except some made John Trumbull After the invention ofcamera in 1839 the proportion of portraits dropped and the Civil Warwas best recorded by its photographers except for the genre pieces of lifedone by Eastman Johnson and Winslow Homer.The Second period after the Civil War saw two new genres inAmerican painting, the creation of works, which described Americanlandscapes and the everyday life of people, depicted mostly by a Russianartist Pavel Svirin. Scores of street scenes, gatherings in village taverns,political rallies, poor women’s kitchens, factory workers, Black slaveswere already on canvases.If genre art was nourished by political and social forms, landscapepaintings owed much to romantic poetry of William Cullen Bryant and174books by James Fennimore Cooper.Landscapes were merged withscenes of the migrants crossing the plains and mountains in their wagons,with Indians, buffalo and death often in the background.
Among theAmerican artists of that period one can mark Winslow Homer andThomas Eakins.A landmark in the history of American painting was made by theArmory Show of 1913 Sixteen hundred paintings by more than 300Americans artists were shown there, representing some new genres likethe Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and the Cubists. Later on with theDepression, many American artist of different sties depicted the strikers,the unemployed, the Blacks, all those whose lives were crushed by theeconomic disasters. R. Marsh was dealing with urban poor, Ch.Burchfield and E. Hopper with dreary working class identical houses.Like scientists many of highly creative artists were driven to Americaby the Second World War.
In the 1950-60s abstract expressionism, popart, minimal art and photo-realism became quite common in the USA.Some of the artists associated with such movements are Close, Davis, deKooning, Demuth, Dine, Estes, Hanson, Johns, Kline, Lichtenstein,Motherwell, Oldenburg, Pollock, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Rothko,Segal and Warhol.By the 60-70s New York had become one of the art capitals of theworld. Now in New York alone there are around 12000 artists andsculptors, around 400 art galleries and hundreds of exhibitions and showseach season. Among the great New York museums there are theMuseum of Modern Art (MOMA) which houses the most completecollection of modern art in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,the Guggenheism, The Cloisters with its fine medieval collection, theBrooklyn Museum, the Frick Collection, the Nation Museum ofDesign, the Museum of American Indian, the American raft Museumand the Whitney Museum of Modern Art.
Besides New York, Chicagois often associated with art and modern architecture. Chicago is the citywhere several important artists live. Some of them, like Mies van derRohe or Philip Johnson, did much to influence modern design. InChicago there is also the museum of Louis Sullivan, called “the father ofthe skyscraper”.LiteratureLike in art, American literature of the first generations was stronglydependent on British traditions and books brought from there. Before the175Revolution and after it many revolutionary-minded Americans viewedliterature and art as the means of independence and demanded to lay thefoundations of national American literature.
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