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1、Melting pot is a place where immigrants of different cultures or races form an integrated society. It is a concept that a number of ethnic groups, cultures and religions in a society will fuse together to produce new cultural and social forms. The idea was common in the USA in the first half of the
2、twentieth century, and it is exemplified in the motto on American coinage epluribus Unum: one out of many. The founding of the USA was not the end of migration; instead, it was the beginning of it. New settlers kept coming into the new country. In the 19th century, large numbers of immigrants came f
3、rom Europe. Migration from other continents like Asia and Latin America belongs to a later and the present time. People entered the new land for various reasons. Some came just for a better life or future, some came to escape religious discrimination or political or economic disasters, and some othe
4、rs came as the result of brain drain. In the long run, America became the famous “melting pot”to us today. The immigrants, the newcomers, brought with them their own language and cultures. Most of them were very keen to become Americans, and leave the old life behind. Becoming an American meant lear
5、ning to use English. So they learnedsome quickly and well, some slowly and badly, and some not at all! However, their children, sent to English speaking schools, all learnt English, and their children grew up with English as their mother tongue. English was the official language, the national langua
6、ge. English was as American as the flag and the national anthem. At the history of the United States indicates that this country has often been called a melting pot, where various immigrants and ethnic groups have learned to work together to build a unique nation. Even those original Americans, the
7、Indians,probably walked a land bridge from Asia to North America some thousands of years ago. So, who are the real Americans? The answer is that any and all of them are! Moreover, no matter where you come from, could also become an American should you want to. Then you would become another addition
8、to Americas wonderfully rich nation of immigrants.The United States is currently shifting from being a nation of immigrants of mainly European origins to one of immigrants from other parts of the world, such as Asia and Latin America.The number of recent immigrants has increased rapidly. They desire
9、 to escape economic hardship and political oppression in their native countries as well as the desire to seek a better education and a more prosperous life in America, the land of opportunity.Although there are frequent conflicts between the cultures they have brought with them from the old country
10、and those found in America, most immigrants learn to adapt to and love their adopted land.Americans have also learned much from the customs and ideas of the immigrants and theyare often influenced by them in subtle and interesting ways. Immigrants bring their native cultural, political, and social p
11、atterns and attitudes, varied backgrounds, as well as their ethnic arts, sports, holidays,festivals, and foods. They have greatly enriched American life.For immigrants from all parts of the world, the United States has been a melting pot, in which the foreigners have sometimes remained culturally an
12、d linguistically inwhat they were in their native lands even as they move toward becoming citizens of the United States, a country whose people share a common cultural outlook and set of values. The melting pot does not melt away all recollections of another way of life in another place-nor should i
13、t. On the contrary, immigrants should maintain the languages, skills, religions, customs and arts of their own heritage, even while they are working towards entering the mainstream of American culture. What are the historical reasons for the unique position of English in USA? In the sixteenth centur
14、y, English, one of the Germanic groups of Indo-European languages, was the national language of England, used by a few million speakers living in the British Isles. Early explorers and settlers took it with them to the New World, as indeed other European settlers took their languages. When the Unite
15、d States of America gained independence of British rule, English became its official languages, and served as a new national American language for immigrants from many countries of the world having many mother tongues. English is the language of power, of privilege and opportunity, It became in the half century since the Second World War, a lingua franca of international communication; the language of science and technology, of international business, and of many enterprises right across national borders.
