《英语本科毕业论文美国人无根性的历史根源及其对美国人生活的影响.doc》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《英语本科毕业论文美国人无根性的历史根源及其对美国人生活的影响.doc（24页珍藏版）》请在三一办公上搜索。
1、本科毕业论文 美国人无根性的历史根源 及其对美国人生活的影响学生姓名： 学生学号： 院（系）： 外国语学院 年级专业： 2003级英语本科1班 指导教师： 二七年五月The Historical Resource of the Americans Rootless Characteristic and Its Influence on Their LifeChen JiaUnder the Supervision ofJiang LuSchool of Foreign Languages and CulturesPanzhihua UniversityMay 2007ContentsAbstr
2、act.IKey Words.I摘要.II关键词.IIIntroduction.1I. The Rootedness of Americans.2A. The Native Americans.2B. The European Immigrants.2C. The African Immigrants.4D. The Asian Immigrants.5E. The Jewish Immigrants.5II. The Rootlessness of Americans.5A. Territorial Expansion.6B. The Main Culture of the United S
3、tates.7C. Non-mainstream Culture.8III. The Influence of Rootlessness on Americans Life.10A. Liberty and Democracy.11B. Equality.11C. Individualism.12D. Free Movement.12E. Optimism and Pragmatism.12F. Innovation.13G. Adventure.13H. Diversity of Names.14I. Various Languages.14Conclusion.15Acknowledgem
4、ents.16Notes17Bibliography18AbstractThe United States of America is a country with a history of over 200 years. But it develops so quickly. It is partly because of the rootlessness of American people. America is an immigration country. Most of Americans are immigrants. Their roots are in Europe, Asi
5、a, Africa and other places in the world. So they are rootless. Referring to the rootlessness of Americans, it is necessary to discuss their rootedness. Americans also have their roots. They bring their own cultures, religions, customs, ideas, and manners of doing things and the like. And they make t
6、hem prosperous. The United States is a nation created by immigrants, and immigrants continue to affect the nation greatly. It forms a unique culture. By the reason of the rootlessness of American people, many kinds of different cultures coexist at the same time in the United States. America becomes
7、a “melting pot.” And American people explore westward and migrate westward constantly. It makes American culture have affinity for its openness: open land, open society, open court, open competition, open debate, open dialogue and so forth. The rootlessness has much influence on American society. Di
8、fferent cultures affect Americans in many fields, and push the country forward continuously.Key WordsRootlessness; immigration culture; influence摘 要美国仅仅只有两百多年的历史，但其发展的速度如此之快，令人瞠目结舌, 部分原因就是美国人的无根性。美国是一个移民国家。绝大部分的美国人都是来自其他国家的移民。他们的根都不在美国本土。所以，我们说美利坚民族具有无根性。提到美国人民的无根性就必然要提到他们的有根性。美国人民仍然有根，他们的根在欧洲、亚洲和非洲
9、等等。他们移民来到美国时，带来了他们自己的文化、宗教、习俗、思想和做事的方式，并且将此发扬光大。美国是一个由移民所创造的国家，而且这些移民在很大程度上不停地影响着美国，所以，这形成了一种独特的文化。由于美利坚民族的无根性，多种不同的文化在美国同时存在与发展，美国变成了一个“大熔炉”。美国人民不断地向西拓展和移动，这使得美国文化有很强的开放性：开放的土地，开放的社会，开放的法庭，开放的竞争，开放的争论，开放的语言等等。无根性对美国社会有着巨大的影响。在各个方面，不同的文化影响着美国，将美国向着前方不断地推进。关键词无根性; 移民文化; 影响Introduction The United Stat
10、es is the only superpower in the world. Although it just has a history of over two hundred years. It is in a leading position of the western world for a long term after World War . It has an important influence on the fields of world politics, economy; technology and so on. After the Soviet Unions d
11、isintegrating, its leading position has been strengthened. It has carried forward the great achievements of the Enlightenment Movement in 18th century and the Industrial Revolution in 19th century. The country has also seized the challenge of over 200-year global immigrations, and become the stronge
12、st in the world within about 100 years. It is the marvelous spectacle in the history of world culture.The United States maybe means the union of various nations and races. And actually it is a country with so many nations and races from the world. American culture is deeply influenced by the spirit
13、of Christianity. And it is mixed with different cultures of global immigrants and their wisdom together. Because of large quantity of immigration America has formed its pluralistic culture. It has many outstanding characteristics.One of the most marked characteristics is the rootlessness of American
14、 people. American people are consisted of many immigrants from many different nations. They dont have roots in America. They migrate to America, and at the same time they bring their own cultures and manners of life to America. Then American people melt these cultures away and form their own feature
15、s.Although American people have no roots in the United States, they have their roots in many other countries, such as Britain, Germany, Italy, China, India, and so on. Their original cultures are also brought to America.The rootlessness of Americans has a deep influence on America. America is a nati
16、on of over 100 ethnic groups. So many immigrants from different countries brought their cultures and manners of life. It affects Americans life in many fields and makes American people have some unique features.I. The Rootedness of AmericansFor many years in history the United States has been likene
17、d to a “melting pot.” It means that as immigrants from different regions and cultures come to live in the United States, their old manners of life melt away and they become a part of the American culture. The United States is thus compared to a big pot of soup that has bits of the flavor from each d
18、ifferent culture. 1(P167) The US population is characterized by multiplicity in terms of composition. Americans are curious about every new thing, and absorb it very fast. And Americans love freedom. America professes that it is the most democratic and liberal country in the world. All these phenome
19、na above are expressions of American rootlessness.Why do we say that Americans are rootless? It is well-known that the United States is an immigration country. Essentially most of its people are immigrants from other parts of the world. Their mother country is not the United States. So we say Americ
20、ans are rootless. It is one of outstanding characteristics of Americans. Referring to the American rootlessness, it is necessary to talk about their roots first. Many Americans have roots in Europe, Africa and Asia, except the Native American Indians. These immigrants consist of the present American
21、 nation. Of course, these immigrants have also brought their own cultures from their mother countries. A. The Native AmericansBefore the establishment of the United States, the Native Americans are American Indians. And they just occupy a small proportion of American population. A number of historia
22、ns believe that the first American Indians were hunter gathers from Asia. They followed mammoth and went into North American.1(P256) In order to survive, these Americans Indians began to learn to hunt and established base camps. Gradually they began to develop agriculture. They raised corn and other
23、 crops. They dispersed throughout the continent and developed their own brilliant civilizations-Maya Civilization, Aztec Civilization and Inca civilization.B. The European ImmigrantsThe European immigrants are the largest resource of Americans.1. The Spanish and the PortugueseAfter the discovery of
24、the New World by Columbus in 1492, the Spanish and the Portuguese began to immigrate to the New World. Dreams of wealth and glory propelled the Spanish to explore there. But the Spanish Empire started to sink into its slow decline. As a result, the Spanish failed to colonize the North America. A few
25、 of them still settled there.2. The English The English immigrants were the largest group and their culture became the main culture there. There were 13 English colonies in North America. All the colonies were founded on the land granted by the English monarch and the colonists were still regarded a
26、s English subjects.Also propelled by the desire for profits, the chartered companies with support of the English Government induced people who were not satisfied in Europe to immigrate to America. In 1607, the first successful English colony in North America was planted in Virginia.2(P168) After the
27、 rest 12 colonies were established by the English one after another, these English colonists began to live in the colonies and explore there.The governors of England encouraged foreign expansion as a way of easing religious disputes and economic distress in England. So generally the colonists could
28、be divided into two kinds. One was those who migrated to the New World to seek for religious freedom, and the other one was those who dreamed of becoming wealthy.The first kind of English colonists established colonies such as Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island Colony, New Hamps
29、hire Colony, Pennsylvania and New England and so on. The founders of these colonies moved to the North America to escape religious persecution. They established new communities based on their own ideas without any religious press, such as the Pilgrims. In 1620, a group of Puritans and some other peo
30、ple, 102 in all left England for the New World on the ship of Mayflower. On November 21, they Mayflower landed and then found Plymouth colony.1(P261) They marked a new epoch in the history.Many colonies were established to be religious independent. People there had freedom of religion and did not ne
31、ed to conform to the Church of England. Their seeking for freedom of religion was the rudiment of American worship of freedom.These Puritans suffered from terrible hardships when they explored the colonies. So in the process of their subsistence, they formed characters of being brave and hardworking
32、. On the 4th Thursday in November, people celebrated Thanksgiving Day with a feast to thank God for his protection.Most of puritans migrating to the North America were wealthy and well-educated. And Puritanism required all of its followers to read and study the Bible. So puritans placed great import
33、ance on education and founded the most famous college of the world- Harvard College in 1636.New England has been regarded as the stronghold of the mainstream culture and the cradle of American democracy. The New Englanders mostly belong to the puritan group in religion. Their values include the beli
34、ef in hard work, thriftiness and accumulation of wealth, self-government of America, which were to be further developed by the frontiersmen during Americans territorial expansion.The other kind of colonists went to the New World on the purpose of plundering the Indian gold and jewelry. They sought f
35、or jewelry with their golden dream, but they just got desperation. They got strong resistance from the Indians, so they had explored by themselves to accumulate wealth. They began to introduce technologies of agriculture, industry and commerce by growing corn, and then they started to plant tobacco
36、and cotton to make money. They became the early plantation advocates. And they need labors to work for them, so a large number of indentured servants and black slaves migrated to the New World.3. The Germans and the Irishmen A Few Germans and Northern Irish men immigrated to the North America to esc
37、ape religious persecution. They belonged to American national minorities. They pushed the migrant flood to a high point later. Also they played an important part in American Europeanization.All these immigrants were the inhabitants of the 13 colonies. Gradually, they formed a common national conscio
38、usness .They wanted to develop their own industry and business. And because of their past experience, they wanted to be independent strongly. So, when the English government took further steps to strengthen its control over the 13 American colonies, the colonies united together to struggle against t
39、he English government. The war of independence broke out. And the 13 American colonies got the final victory. America became an independent country and established its national government.C. The African ImmigrantsThe black was one of the largest resources of immigrants. They mostly were sold to Amer
40、ica as slaves. Negro slavery began in English-American colonies soon after the first permanent settlement was founded in Virginia.The early colonists found that a major problem confronting them in the New World was the lack of labor. It required the labor of many hands to fell trees and make clearin
41、gs for crops. European slave traders began to capture or buy the blacks along the west coast of Africa and then transported them to the slave market in the colonies. Black slaves were sold by auction. The first group of 20 unwilling black new comers was shipped from Africa to Jamestown, Virginia, in
42、 1619.1(P311) They were sold at rather low price. Before long, black slavery became common in the colonies. Since then large numbers of black people had streamed into the New World as slaves.The Black slaves lived a hard life. Slaves were considered as property, known as “property in slaves.”1(P311)
43、 They could be bought and sold, even used to settle a debt. Theywere forced to work day and night.D. The Asian ImmigrantsMost Asian immigrants were cheated to come to the New World. The colonists lied to them that they could make much money and find gold mines there. The New World was described to b
44、e a promised land. The Asians believed their words and went to the New World with their golden dreams, such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean.Large quantities of immigrants from the Southeast Asia moved to the New World after the end of the Vietnam War. Most of them were refugees.E. The Jewish Immigra
45、ntsThe Jewish people migrated to the New World to escape from religious persecution. In Europe, they were considered as pagans. The Europeans hated them very much. Jewish people were persecuted and killed by them. So the Jewish people streamed into the New World.II. The Rootlessness of AmericansAmer
46、icans rootlessness means Americans have no roots in America and they just live there. Comparatively speaking, they are rootless. To some extent rootlessness endows American people with character of aggression. As the national sense of American people grew up, they became eager to expand their role in the New Worl
