• 出版社: 上海外语教育出版社; 第1版 (2014年4月1日)2016年印刷
• 外文书名: American Culture and Society
• 丛书名: 《普通高等教育"十一五" 规划教材·新世纪高等院校英语专业本科生系列教材(修订版)
• 平装: 412页
• 语种： 简体中文, 英语
• 开本: 16
• ISBN: 9787544632812, 7544632814
• 条形码: 9787544632812
• 商品尺寸: 26 x 18.4 x 2 cm
• 商品重量: 662 g
• 品牌: 上海外语教育出版社

《普通高等教育"十一五" 规划教材·新世纪高等院校英语专业本科生系列教材(修订版):美国文化与社会(第2版)》按照教学大纲提出的培养目标、课程设置、教学要求和教学原则精心设计，凝聚海内外英语专业教育界专家学者的智慧，反映英语专业教育、科研的新成果。基于广泛的市场调研、详尽的需求分析和严谨的科学判断，梳理现有教程，优化教材结构，更新教学方法和手段，强化学生综合能力的培养。专业技能、专业知识、相关专业知识的完美匹配，帮助学生打下扎实的语言基本功，增强其分析问题、解决问题的能力，提高专业素质和人文素养，使学生真正成为国际化、创新型、高素质的英语专业人才。

文摘

The variations in temperature within the United States have had amarked effect on the country's economy and living standards. Forinstance, there is a long crop-growing season along the southeast coastwhere cotton is the principal product. This is also true in several smallstrips and pockets to the west where crops like grapes grow well duringa large part of the year. In some of the cooler climates or in climateswhich combine coolness and humidity, animals and produce such asapples, wheat, and corn thrive, giving the United States a wide rangeof agricultural products. 
The Soil 
As for the soil and what grows on it, the American endowment isgreat. Of its 1.9 billion acres of land, nearly a fifth ( 4 million) is usedfor crops, about a half (9 million) for pasture and grazing, and lessthan a third (6 million ) is farm, woodland and forest. Despite thedenuding of the Great Forest, there are still big timber stands on thePacific Coast: in California, Washington, and especially Oregon.There are 9-feet-high cornfields in Iowa and a vast stretch of wheat landon the Great Plains from Texas through Minnesota. There are thecotton and tobacco fields of the South and the lush valleys of the Pacificslope. Because of the vast stretch of arable land, together with theapplication of advanced science and technology in farming industry, theUnited States is now one of the leading exporters of agriculturalproducts in the world. 
When early voyagers approached the land that is now the UnitedStates, they noticed a sweet and surprising "land smell," a clue thatthey were near the shore. This "land smell" came from the great,thick forest that covered all the eastern part of the country and stretchedabout 1,600 kilometers westward until it met the tall grass of theprairies. No one knows just why the woods ended where they did, orwhy the tall grass of the prairies -- the wide rolling and almost treelessplains- began at that point. The reason still remains shrouded inmystery, for the eastern part of the prairies' tall grasslands have soil thatsupport tree life. One explanation has it that the Indians burned off theforest in order to force game animals out to the hunters.