美國概況（一）
概述 General Introduction
1. Introduction(簡介)
1）Official Name (官方國名）
The United States of America (美利堅合眾國）
The United States of America is also called the States, the US or Uncle Sam.
2）American National Flag (美國國旗）
American national flag was originally t on July 14th, 1777. It consisted of 13 stripes, which reprented the original 13 states. Now there are 50 stars on the flag reprenting America’s 50 states. In addition, there are three colors: white, red and blue.
3）Location (地理位置）
The United States is a country in the Western Hemisphere. It consists of 48 contiguous states on the North American continent, Alaska, and Hawaii. The continental United States lies in central North America with Canada to its north, Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to its south, the Atlantic Ocean to its east and the Pacific Ocean to its west. The two newest states Alaska and Hawaii are parated from the continental United States: Alaska borders on northwestern Canada, and Hawaii lies in the central Pacific.(美國位于西半球,北美洲中部，由50個州組成, 領土還包括北美洲西北部的阿拉斯加和太平洋中部的夏威夷群島。美國北與加拿大接壤，南靠墨西哥灣，西臨太平洋，東瀕大西洋。）
4）Population (人口）
America is the third most populous country in the world after China and India. The population of the United States is a bit more than 272 million, about 13% of which are Black, 12% are Hispanic (拉裔美國人）, 4% are Asian and the rest are White Americans. (美國人口排名世界第三，僅次于中國和印度。）
2. Geographical Regions (地理區域)
1）New England States
Much of the land is mountainous. New England is called the birthplace of America. It was the chief center of the American War of Independence.
It is also well known for its position in education, with many universities located there such as Yale, Harvard, and Massachutts Institute of Technology. New Englanders were originally known as Yankees (美國佬）. (新英格蘭是美國的發源地，美國獨立戰爭爆發于此。耶魯、哈佛、麻省理工大學都坐落于此。）
2）Middle Atlantic Coast States
The nation’s capital city Washington D.C. is located there, so is New York.(華盛頓和紐約坐落于此。）
3）Middle Western States
It lies in the north part of the United States. The humid continental weather makes the Midwest America’s most important agricultural area.
It is also the country’s leading center of heavy industry.
Chicago, the largest and busiest port on the Great Lakes, is the largest industrial and commercial center of the area.
Detroit is known as the automobile capital of the world.
(這里是美國農業和重工業中心。芝加哥是這里的工商業中心，底特律是世界“汽車之都”。）
4）The South
The South is rich in mineral resources. It now contains 90% of the American textile industry. (這里有豐富的礦產資源。）
5）The American West
It can be divided into three parts: the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains and the Intermountain Basin and Plateaus. It is not heavily populated and labor is scarce.
Colorado has been called the steel city of the west. Denver is the largest city of the Great Plains, and it is also known as recreation center. (科羅拉多市被稱作“西部鋼城”， 丹佛市是大平原地區最大的城市, 也是著名的旅游區。）
There are many famous national parks in Rockies, such as Yellowstone National Park (黃石國家公園）, Rocky Mountain National Park (落基山國家公園） and Glacier National Park (冰川國家公園）. The Grand Canyon (大峽谷） in north western Arizona is one of nature’s most impressive sights.
6）The Pacific Coast
Los Angeles is the Pacific Coast’s largest and busiest commercial city; San Francisco is the cond largest city in California.
7）Alaska (阿拉斯加）
Alaska, which occupies the north western corner of North America, extends northward into the Arctic Circle (北極圈). It is a frontier state rich in natural resources, which include minerals, forests, fisheries and wildlife. Today, oil is the most valuable mineral produced in Alaska. It is parated in the west from Russia’s Siberia (西伯利亞） by the Bering Strait (白令海峽）. Inuits (因紐特人）, who are often called Eskimos (愛斯基摩人）, live in Alaska.
8）Hawaii (夏威夷）
Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean. It has a humid tropical climate and fertile soil. Mauna Loa (莫納羅亞山）, the world’s largest active volcano, is located in Hawaii. Sugar cane and pineapple are Hawaii’s two main crops. Tourism is Hawaii’s most important industry. Honolulu (火奴魯魯）is the capital of Hawaii.(夏威夷首都是火奴魯魯，支柱產業是旅游，甘蔗和菠蘿是主要作物。）
3. Important American Cities (美國主要城市)
1）Washington D.C.(華盛頓）
美國首都華盛頓， 位于美國東北部，全稱“華盛頓哥倫比亞特區” (Washington D.C.) ，是為紀念美國開國元勛喬治·華盛頓和發現美洲新大陸的哥倫布而命名的。華盛頓在行政上由聯邦政府直轄，不屬于任何一個州。
華盛頓是美國的政治中心，White Hou (白宮）、Capitol (國會大廈)、美國最高法院以及絕大多數政府機構均設在這里。國會大廈建在被稱為“國會山”的全城最高點上，它是華盛頓的象征。
華盛頓有許多紀念性建筑。例如Washington Monument (華盛頓紀念碑）、杰弗遜紀念堂和林肯紀念堂。
2）New York City (紐約市）
紐約市坐落在世界上最大的都會區——大紐約都會區的心臟地帶，是國際級 的經濟、金融、交通、藝術及傳媒中心，更被視為都市文明的代表。此外，由于聯合國總部設于該市，因此被世人譽為“世界之都”。
紐約是美國最大城市及第一大港，也是世界第一大城市，它一直是世界上最重要的商業和
金融中心。紐約市是一座全球化的大都市，也是世界級城市。紐約在全球的媒體、政治、教育、娛樂以及時尚界有著舉足輕重的地位。紐約與英國倫敦、日本東京并稱為世界三大國際都會。
