II. Include the information about the prominent people of the epoch it into your portfolio :

Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller.

III. Complete the sentences.

1. The American West is both … .

2. In people’s minds, it was a place that promised … .

3. One reason Westerns are popular movies is that they show … .

4. Besides farms, there were many … .

5. … became a major source of food for eastern and northern cities.

6. Western ranches usually hired cattle drivers called … .

7. Some cattle were transported by train to northern cities like Chicago, … .

IV. Discuss the following questions in small groups.

1. What American Westerns have you seen?

2. What do they show you about the way people lived in the West?

V. Match the columns to learn the authors of important American inventions.

First workable steamboat              Samuel Colt

Cotton gin                                      Vannevar Bush

Revolver                                              Elias Howe

Sewing machine                             John Gorrie

Refrigeration                                       John Fitch

Typewriter                                     Eli Whitney

Telephone                                      John Bardeen

Machine gun                                        Christopher Sholes

Aeroplane                                       Alexander Bell

Computer                                       John M. Browning

Transistor                                       Wright Brothers

VI. Study the excerpt from the famous specch of President Lincoln and find the definition of the democratic government. Translate the excerpt into Russian.

Forescore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nations, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our pooor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we have highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

UNITED STATES IN THE 20^TH CENTURY

Two World Wars

The United States is considered a world power because of its military strength. In the twentieth century it was involved in a number of wars, all outside the United States. When World War I started in Europe in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Americans felt safe on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but American ships taking supplies to Britain and France were attacked by German U-boats (submarines). In 1917, President Wilson decided to enter the war against Germany. Two million American soldiers went to war, and 125,000 died. In 1918, Germany was defeated by the United States and its allies, Italy, France, and Great Britain.

In 1939, another world war started in Europe. President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to keep the United States neutral, but finally declared war on Japan after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , on December 7, 1941. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Millions of Americans became soldiers, and 250,000 were killed. World War II ended in 1945.

The Cold War

    After World War II, international relations were dominated by two power blocks, headed by the United States and the communist Soviet Union. In this “Cold War” America and the Soviet Union did not fight each other; instead they tried to limit each other’s influence around the world. Both countries also kept large stocks of nuclear weapons.

In 1962, the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. President John F. Kennedy demanded that the Soviets removed them. For ten days, the world waited until the Soviets agreed to take the missiles away.

When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, Americans were sent to South Korea as United Nations soldiers. Fifty thousand of them died before an armistice was signed in 1953. From 1965 to 1974, the US fought against communist North Vietnam’s attempt to take over South Vietnam. At first, most Americans supported this, but later many began to demonstrate against the war as more and more American soldiers were killed. Sixty thousand US troops died, but the United States could not defeat the guerilla forces of North Vietnam.

The end of the Cold War came when the Americans and the Soviets signed arms-control treaties in the late 1980s, and the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

Neighbors

There are 35 countries in the modern Americas: 22 in mainland North, Central, and South America, and 13 Caribbean States.

The economic and military power of the United States means that it has a lot of influence over its neighbors. It has aided several Central American governments in fighting against radical anti-government factions, and secretly gave arms to the Contra guerrillas to fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Since the 1980s, US soldiers have invaded for a short time the Caribbean states of Grenada (1983), Panama (1989), and Haiti (1994), to change the government or the head of state.

Cultural Background

The Great Depression (Великая депрессия) – the crisis of 1929-1932, which came as a result of a long period of over-production by the nation’s factories and farms, and speculative mania among the middle and wealthy classes.

The New Deal («Новый курс») – the introduction of the government planning into the economy (1933-1938) set by the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Peace Corps («Корпус мира») – a government program started by President John F. Kennedy. This program has sent thousands of Americans to many developing countries to help build schools, hospitals and roads, plant better crops, teach at schools, train doctors and nurses.

Civil Rights Movement (Движение за гражданские права) – the national campaign by Africal Americans for equal rights, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. The campaign included boycotts, the actions of freedom riders, and in 1963 a march to Washington led by Martin Luther King.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Мартин Лютер Кинг младший) (1929-1968) – the most important leader of the US civil rights movement. In 1963, he led abour 250000 people on a protest march to Washington D.C., where he made his famous «I have a dream» speech at the Lincoln Memorial. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1964. He was murdered four years later in Memphis, Tennessee. His birthday, 15 January, is an official holiday. One famous excerpt from the speech goes: «I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal.»

Watergate Crisis («Уотергейтский кризис») – a scandal which led to President Nixon’s resignation in 1974. it started during the 1972 election campaign. Some Republicans formed a committee called the Committee to Reelect the President. This committee hired burglars to steal secret information from the Democratic campaign headquarters in a building complex called Watergate in Washington, D.C. The burglars were caught.