当那一天来临合唱:有介绍美国的英文文章吗

1National flag:The flag of the United States consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies. The United States flag is commonly called "the Stars and Stripes" or "Old Glory," with the latter nickname coined by Captain William Driver, a Salem, Massachusetts shipmaster.

2.The National Anthem :"The Star Spangled Banner"

2.International allegiences
Because of the size and large population of the country, America is often described as a nation of joiners who tend to self-associate with non-familial groups. Individuals tend to perceive themselves as "free agents" rather than bound by family or clan ties.

Group allegiances are sometimes regional, but can also be related to a professional or fraternal organization. For example, residents of North Carolina are proud to be "Tar Heels," Indiana residents are "Hoosiers" and Texans are notorious for an especially prominent state pride often compared to nationalism. Many cities have a strong sense of civic identity, often reinforced by an innocuous but deeply felt rivalry with another local city. An example of such a rivalry exists between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. A strong rivalry that continues to this day involves the cities of Boston and New York, which is centered around the historic baseball rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Recent immigrants tend to congregate with other immigrants from their country of origin, often establishing neighborhoods (sometimes called ethnic enclaves) in cities with popular names like "Chinatown", "Poletown", or "Little Saigon." Second- and third-generation descendants of immigrants tend to have looser affiliations with their ethnic groups.

America has tens of thousands of clubs and organizations, and if a group has a charitable or service orientation, Americans may volunteer their time through those groups. Examples of these groups include the Rotary Club, the Boy Scouts of America, Little League, etc.
3 Food
A hamburger is a famous food in the United States.
Enlarge
A hamburger is a famous food in the United States.

The types of food served at home vary greatly and depend upon the region of the country and the family's own cultural heritage. Americanized versions of these cultural foods, such as American Chinese cuisine, sometimes appear. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to that of their country of origin. Families that have lived for a few generations in the U.S. tend to eat some combination of that and the food common to the region they live in or grew up in, such as New England cuisine, Midwestern cuisine, Southern cuisine, Tex-Mex cuisine, and Californian cuisine.

4.Popular culture

The United States is known around the world for the films, shows, and musical performances that it produces. The biggest centers of popular American culture are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Florida, and Las Vegas. Smaller venues such as Branson, Missouri and Nashville have become popular, but most cities host travelling productions of popular Broadway shows.

5.Education

In the American educational system children are generally required to attend school from the age of five or six until age 16, with the majority continuing until they are at least 17 or 18, or have graduated from high school. The public education systems vary from one state to another but generally are organized as follows:

* Age five: Kindergarten
* Ages six-11: Elementary school. Children start in grade 1 and advance to grade 5 or 6.
* Ages 12-14 or 11-14: Junior high school or middle school (usually grades 7-8 or grades 6-8, respectively).
* Ages 14-18: High school (usually grades 9-12 or 10-12, depending on whether the community uses middle schools or junior high schools).

The entire span of primary and secondary education, from Kindergarten to grade 12, is often abbrieved in the US as K-12 or K12, which in spoken American English is rendered as "K through 12" or "K 12."

Additionally, many children attend schools before they reach the age of five. These pre-schools are often private and not part of the public educational system although some public school systems include pre-schools.
Work and jobs
An American highway in Atlanta, Georgia
Enlarge
An American highway in Atlanta, Georgia

Most people commute to work using automobiles rather than mass transit; the effect of the automobile on the United States and its prominence in American life cannot be underestimated.

Most jobs are based on a 40-hour work week; that is, five days (Monday through Friday), eight hours per day. The United States has minimum wage laws requiring a minimum wage for many employees, though a number of employment sectors are excluded. Minimum wage differs from state to state; some states have higher minimum wages than the wage mandated by the federal government.

Vacations are usually two weeks. Other company benefits may include sick days and/or personal days. Americans usually retire at the age of 65, but may retire earlier if their pension plans/financial status permits it.
[edit]

Housing

Immediately after World War II, Americans began living in increasing numbers in the suburbs, belts around major cities with higher density than rural areas, but much lower than urban areas. This move has been attributed to many factors such as the automobile, the availability of large tracts of land, the increasing violence in urban centers (see white flight), and the cheapness of housing. These new single-family houses were usually one or two stories tall, and often were part of large contracts of homes built by a single developer. The resulting low-density development has been given the pejorative label "urban sprawl."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_culture#Body_contact_and_expression

http://www.hbej.com/factbook/print/us.html
上有，还有地图