1、最新高级英语视听说教程第二册听力文本Book 2 Chapter 1 The PopulationToday were going to talk about population in the United States. According to the most recent government census, the population is 281,421,906 people. Now this represents an increase of almost 33 million people since the 1990 census. A population of ov
2、er 281 million makes the United States the third most populous country in the whole world. As you probably know, the Peoples Republic of China is the most populous country in the world. But do you know which is the second most populous? Well, if you thought India, you were right. The fourth, fifth,
3、and sixth most populous countries are Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan. Now lets get back to the United States. Lets look at the total U. S. population figure of 281 million in three different ways. The first way is by race and origin; the second is by geographical distribution, or by where people li
4、ve; and the third way is by the age and sex of the population.First of all, lets take a look at the population by race and origin. The latest U. S. census reports that 75.1 percent of the population is white, whereas 12.3 percent is black. Three percent are of Asian origin, and 1 percent is Native A
5、merican. 2.4 percent of the population is a mixture of two or more races, and 5.5 percent report themselves as “of some other race”. Lets make sure your figures are right: OK, white, 75.1 percent; black, 12.3 percent; Asian, 3 percent; Native American, 1 percent; a mixture of two or more races, 2.4
6、percent; and of some other race, 5.5 percent. Hispanics, whose origins lie in Spanish-speaking countries, comprise whites, blacks, and Native Americans, so they are already included in the above figures. It is important to note that Hispanics make up 12.5 percent of the present U.S. population, howe
7、ver. Finally, the census tells us that 31 million people in the United States were born in another country. Of the 31 million foreign born, the largest part, 27.6 percent are from Mexico. The next largest group, from the Philippines, number 4.3 percent.Another way of looking at the population is by
8、geographical distribution. Do you have any idea which states are the five most populous in the United States? Well, Ill help you out there. The five most populous states, with population figures, are California, with almost 34 million; New York, with 21 million; Texas, with 19 million; and Florida,
9、with 16 million; and Illinois with 12.5 million people. Did you get all those figures down? Well, if not, Ill give you a chance later to check your figures. Well, then, lets move on. All told, over half, or some 58 percent of the population, lives in the South and in the West of the United States. T
10、his figure, 58 percent, is surprising to many people. It is surprising because the East is more densely populated. Nevertheless, there are more people all together in the South and West. To understand this seeming contradiction, one need only consider the relatively larger size of many southern and
11、western states, so although there are more people, they are distributed over a larger area. To finish up this section on geographical distribution, consider that more than three-quarters of the people live in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Houston. That means that only 2
12、0 percent, or 2 out of 10 people, live in rural areas. An interesting side note is that some 3,800,000 U.S. citizens live abroad, that is, in foreign countries.Before we finish today, I want to discuss the distribution of the U.S. population in terms of age and sex. Just for interest, would you say
13、there are more men or more women in the United States? Well, according to the 2000 census, there are more women. In fact, there are more than five million more women than men in the U.S. population. If we consider that more males than females are born each year, how can this difference be explained?
14、 Well, for a variety of complicated reasons that we cant go into here, there is a progressively higher death rate for males as they get older. This is seen in 2003 life expectancy figures: the life expectancy for women is 80.4 years whereas for men it is only 74.5 years. I dont know how these life e
15、xpectancy figures compare to those in your countries, but statistically women generally live longer than men worldwide. Now, to finish up, lets look at the average age of the whole population. Overall, the average age of the population is increasing: from 33.1 years in 1990 to 35.3 years in 2000. Th
16、e average age has been slowly, but steadily, increasing over the past several decades. This trend toward a higher average age can be explained by a decreasing birth rate and an increasing life expectancy for the population as a whole. Well, Id like to investigate these two subjects further, but I se
17、e our time is up, so well have to call it quits for today. You may want to pursue the topic of the aging U.S. population further, so there are some suggestions at the end of the lesson to help you do so. Thank you.Chapter Two Immigration: Past and PresentThe act of immigrating, or coming to a new co
18、untry to live, is certainly nothing new. Throughout history, people have immigrated, or moved to new countries, for many different reasons. Sometimes these reasons were economic or political. Other people moved because of natural disasters such as droughts or famines. And some people moved to escape
19、 religious or political persecution. No matter what the reason, most people do not want to leave their native land and do so only under great pressure of some sort, but a few people seem quite adventuresome and restless by nature and like to move a lot. It seems both kinds of people came to America
20、to live. The subject of immigration is quite fascinating to most Americans, as they view themselves as a nation of immigrants. However, the early Britons who came to what is today the United States considered themselves “settlers” or “colonists,” rather than immigrants. These people did not exactly
21、think they were moving to a new country but were merely settling new land for the “mother country.” There were also large numbers of Dutch, French, German, and Scotch-Irish settlers, as well as large numbers of blacks brought from Africa as slaves. At the time of independence from Britain in 1776, a
22、bout 40 percent of people living in what is now the United States were non-British. The majority of people, however, spoke English, and the traditions that formed the basis of life were mainly British traditions. This period we have just been discussing is usually referred to as the Colonial Period.
23、 Today, were a little more interested in actual immigration after this period. Lets first look at what is often called the Great Immigration, which began about 1830 and ended in 1930. Then lets consider the reasons for this so-called Great Immigration and the reasons it ended. Finally, lets talk abo
24、ut the immigration situation in the United States today,As I said, well begin our discussion today with the period of history called the Great Immigration, which lasted from approximately 1830 to 1930. It will be easier if we look at the Great Immigration in terms of three major stages, or time peri
25、ods. The first stage was from approximate1y 1830 to 1860. Now, before this time, the number of immigrants coming to the United States was comparatively small, only about 10,000 a year. However, the rate began to climb in the 1830s when about 600,000 immigrants arrived. The rate continued to climb du
26、ring the 1840s with a tota1 of 1,700,000 people arriving in that decade. The rate continued to climb, and during the 1850s 2,600,000 immigrants arrived. During this first stage of the Great Immigration, that is, between the years 1830 and 1860, the majority of immigrants came from Germany, Great Bri
27、tain, and Ireland. Now lets consider the second stage of the Great Immigration. The second stage was from l860 to 1890, during which time another 10,000,000 people arrived. Between l860 and 1890 the majority of immigrants continued to be from Germany, Ireland, and Great Britain. However, during the
28、second stage, a smaller but significant number of immigrants came from the Scandinavian nations of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The third stage of the Great Immigration, which lasted from 1890 to 1930, was the era of heaviest immigration. Between the years l890 and l930, almost 22 million immigrants
29、arrived in the United States. Most of these new arrivals came from the Southern European countries of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain and the Eastern European countries of Poland and Russia.Now that we know something about the numbers and origins of immigrants who came to the States during the Gr
30、eat Immigration, lets consider the reasons why most of these people immigrated to the United States. Why did such large numbers of Europeans leave their homes for life in an unknown country? It would be impossible to discuss all the complex political and economic reasons in any depth today, but we c
31、an touch on a few interesting facts that might help to clarify the situation for you. First of all, one of the most important reasons was that the population of Europe doubled between the years 1750 and 1850. At the same time that the population was growing so rapidly, the Industrial Revolution in E
32、urope was causing widespread unemployment. The combination of increased population and the demand for land by industry also meant that farmland was becoming increasingly scarce in Europe. The scarcity of farmland in Europe meant that the abundance of available land in the growing country of the Unit
33、ed States was a great attraction. During these years, the United States was an expanding country and it seemed that there was no end to land. In fact, in 1862, the government offered public land free to citizens and to immigrants who were planning to become citizens. In addition to available farmland, there were also plentiful jobs during these years of great
