history of the United States

A look at the history of the United States indicates that this country has often been called "a melting pot", where various immigrant and ethnic groups have learned to work together to build a unique nation. Even those "original" Americans, the Indians, probably walked a land bridge from Asia to North America some thousands of years ago. So, who are the real Americans？ The answer is that any and all of them are！ And you, no matter where you come from, could also become an American should you want to. Then you would become another addition to America's wonderfully rich "nation of immigrants".

The United States is currently shifting from being a nation of immigrants of mainly European descent to one of immigrants from other parts of the world, such as Asia and Latin America. The number of recent immigrants has skyrocketed. They desire to escape economic hardship and political oppression in their native countries as well as the desire to seek a better education and a more prosperous life in America, "the land of opportunity". Although there are frequent conflicts between the cultures they have brought with them from the "old country" and those found in America, most immigrants learn to adjust to and love their adopted land.

Americans have also learned much from the customs and ideas of the immigrants and are often influenced by them in subtle and interesting ways. Immigrants bring their native cultural, political, and social patterns and attitudes, varied academic and religious backgrounds, as well as their ethnic arts, sports, holidays, festivals, and foods. They have greatly enriched American life.

For immigrants from all parts of the would, the United States has been a "melting pot" in which the foreigners have sometimes remained culturally and linguistically what they were in their native lands even as they move toward becoming citizens of the United States, a country whose people share a common cultural outlook and set of values. The melting pot does not melt away all recollections of another way of life in another place——nor should it. On the contrary, immigrants should maintain the languages, skills, religions, customs and arts of their own heritage, even while they are working towards entering the mainstream of American culture.

纵观美国历史，就可见这个国家经常被称为"一个熔炉"，在此，各种移民和种族团体学会了共同建设一个独特的民族。甚至那些"本土的"美国人——印第安人，也可能是几千年以前，从亚洲走过大陆桥来到北美洲的。所以，谁是真正的美国人？答案是他们中的任何一个人都是！无论你来自何处，如果你想成为美国人，就会成为美国人；你就会变成这个极其富有的"移民之国"的一个新份子。

美国现在正由主要是欧洲血统移民的国家变为世界上其他各洲，如亚洲、拉丁美洲移民的国家。最近移民的数字急剧增长。 他们希望摆脱在本国的经济困难、政治压迫，并在美国这片"充满机遇的土地上"寻找更好的教育和更富裕的生活。尽管他们从"故国"带来的文化与美国文化之间往往会产生冲突,但是多数移民还是学会了适应并热爱他们所归化的土地。

美国人从移民的风俗和观念中也学到了很多东西，并且在极其细微和有趣的方面受到了它们的影响。移民们带来了他们本族的文化、政治以及社会模式和态度，不同的学术和宗教背景，以及他们种族的艺术、体育、节日和饮食。这些极大地丰富了美国人的生活。

对于世界各地的移民而言，美国已经是一个"熔炉"，在这个熔炉中，甚至当外国人快要成为美国（一个其人民有着共同的一套文化观和价值观的国家）公民时，他们从文化和语言上仍然是在他们本国的样子。这个熔炉没有、也不应该熔掉对另一个地方的另一种生活方式的记忆。相反，即使移民们努力地要进人美国文化主流之中，他们也应保存自己遗产中的语言、技能、宗教和艺术。