country of immigrants
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
在街上匆忙與你擦肩而過的人是誰?現在超過兩億的人把美國稱作他們的“家”，但他們中的大部分都能夠將家族歷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，你就會看到美國人來自於許多不同的國家。這些曾經對美國一無所知的人已經丟掉了自己國家的習俗和文化而變成了“美國人”，這種想法實際上並不正確。
事實上，現在美國存在的更是一種“並行的”生活方式，這種生活方式中，來自於其他國家的人群經常保留著許多他們自己的風俗和習慣。他們只是在生活的某些方面——例如學校、商業和運動——加入了一般美國社會，但在社會上家庭中他們還保留著許多自己國家的風俗和禮儀。這種“並行的”生活方式既有利也有弊。有時它可能導致生活方式相去甚遠的群體之間產生分歧。但是從其他國家來的定居者帶來不同種類的文化，這也有著巨大的優勢。 美國在觀點、服裝、食物、社會習俗等問題上有著巨大的選擇的自由。在美國每個人都可以在教堂、音樂、食物、國家組織或報紙中找到他或她所熟悉的那個世界的某個部分。