who are these people rushing by you on the street'? more than 200 million now call america "home," but most of them can trace their families back to other parts of the world. if you look at the names on shop windows,you will see that americans come from many different lands. the idea that these people, who once were strangers to the united states, have lost the customs and cultures of their original countries and have become "american" is not really true.

in fact. what exists in america is more often a kind of "side-by-side' living in which groups of people from other countries often have kept many of their customs and habits.they join the general american society only in certain areas of their lives such as in schools,businesses,and sports but they keep many of their own native customs and manners socially and at home. this living "side-by-side" has both advanrages and disadvantages. sometimes it may cause disagreements between groups whose ways of life are very different from one another. however, there are also great advantages that come from different kinds of cultures brought by settlers from other lands. there is great freedom of choice among ideas, dresses, food, and social customs in america. everyone can find some part of his or her familiar world in the united states.

移民之國(guó)

在街上匆忙與你擦肩而過(guò)的人是誰(shuí)?現(xiàn)在超過(guò)兩億的人把美國(guó)稱作他們的“家”，但他們中的大部分都能夠?qū)⒓易鍤v史追溯到世界上的其他地方。如果你看看商店櫥窗里的名字，你就會(huì)看到美國(guó)人來(lái)自于許多不同的國(guó)家。這些曾經(jīng)對(duì)美國(guó)一無(wú)所知的人已經(jīng)丟掉了自己國(guó)家的習(xí)俗和文化而變成了“美國(guó)人”，這種想法實(shí)際上并不正確。

事實(shí)上，現(xiàn)在美國(guó)存在的更是一種“并行的”生活方式，這種生活方式中，來(lái)自于其他國(guó)家的人群經(jīng)常保留著許多他們自己的風(fēng)俗和習(xí)慣。他們只是在生活的某些方面——例如學(xué)校、商業(yè)和運(yùn)動(dòng)——加入了一般美國(guó)社會(huì)，但在社會(huì)上家庭中他們還保留著許多自己國(guó)家的風(fēng)俗和禮儀。這種“并行的”生活方式既有利也有弊。有時(shí)它可能導(dǎo)致生活方式相去甚遠(yuǎn)的群體之間產(chǎn)生分歧。但是從其他國(guó)家來(lái)的定居者帶來(lái)不同種類的文化，這也有著巨大的優(yōu)勢(shì)。 美國(guó)在觀點(diǎn)、服裝、食物、社會(huì)習(xí)俗等問(wèn)題上有著巨大的選擇的自由。在美國(guó)每個(gè)人都可以在教堂、音樂(lè)、食物、國(guó)家組織或報(bào)紙中找到他或她所熟悉的那個(gè)世界的某個(gè)部分。

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