英语翻译
Lesson 10 The People of the United States
(Adapted from This is America)
For over 200 years,visitors to the United States have been trying to explain
what makes Americans different from the people of other countries.
Few have succeeded,
because the Uited States is not like every other country in the world.
It is a nation of nations.
But who were the earliest Americans
And how did the population come to be so mixed
The "first Americans" were the Indians.
At the time of the discovery of America,
there were about 500 000 of them in the land.
But when the settlers came,
they killed many of the Indians and drove the rest to the west.
After the American Revolution
people from other countries came in great numbers.
Unit 1890 most of them came from the countries of northern and western Europe.
After 1890 the majority of the newcomers came from southern and eastern Europe.
Not all of the people came to the land of their own free will.
The poor and unemployed were forced to move from their villages
and leave for America.
people in prison for political or religious words and deeds
were given the choice to stay in prison
or leave the country for the new land.
And several thousand African Negroes were brought in to be sold as slaves.
The newcomers brought with them not only different ways of life,
but also with something else--willing hands to build railroads,
dig mines,plow fields,and make steel.
The United States could not have become a great advanced country
without the labor of the newcomers.
Without them,too,the United States would be poorer in art,
music,theater,and science.
The United States is truly a nation of nations.
Americans are proud of it.
The Latin expression on the Great Seal of the United States reads in English
"Out of Many,One".
The meaning of the expression
is that Americans set up a single national government
in 1787 by uniting thirteen separated states.
But the words also have come to mean
[03:47.76]that an American people came out of the peoples of the whole world.