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B) The American national character

Almost every nation has a reputation of some kind. The English are said to be prim, the French are considered full of life, the Finnish are believed to be taciturn, the Spanish are known to be proud, the German — pedantic, the Russian — hospitable, etc. What is a typical American?

Many think Americans are open-hearted, straightforward, cheerful, relaxed and tough. It seems to come from the westerns idealizing “macho-men”. A macho-man is a physically tough and rugged guy standing alone. He can meet all the dangers of life and is strong enough to protect not only himself. And this beloved character lives on in detective films, thrillers and melodramas.

The idea of a strong, freedom-loving person stems from lin­early stages of American history when the first immigrants stepped on American soil. They came with the aim of becoming free, independent and happy. They wanted to obey no one, neither government nor church. They looked for individual freedom, equality and prosperity for everyone, regardless of back ground and birth. But first they had to settle in the unexplored land, develop it by conquering the wilderness which had many dangers, including the hostile Indians. It was only natural that in those conditions people respected the ability to win, to be energetic. They valued what a person can do by himself, not the kind of family he had come from. They also prized the ability to invent and experiment, overcoming difficult obstacles, with no tools at hand, but one’s head and hands. This led to another American trait, a sense of optimism that every problem has a solution.

Americans are sociable and hospitable people. Being invit­ed to theatres, dinners, sport meetings, motor trips, etc., the Americans are on “first name” terms with the people they meet; they all show the keenest interest in people’s affairs and ask to let them know if they can be of any help.

Americans love children, animals, mother, work, the flag, excitement, jazz, noise, nature, shows, fast motion sports, shapely women and muscular men, beefsteak and ice-cream.

All immigrants have contributed to the development to some typical American characteristics. Among these are the willing­ness to take risks and to strike out for the unknown with inde­pendence and optimism. Another is the patriotism of those who are Americans by choice.

One of the most important values and beliefs of any American is his toughness which comes from his sense of individual freedom. The pioneers who lived on the frontier had a hard life, so they had to be tough and self-reliant.

The Americans consider that persons must rely on themselves, otherwise they risk to lose their freedom. They must come to both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early as possible, usually by the age of 18-21. So, self-reliance is one of the traits and moral values supposed to be obligatory to a true American. It designates the ability of succeeding on one’s own. The favourite sayings of the Americans are: “Life is what you make it”, “Actions speak louder than words” and “Pull yourself by the bootstraps”.

Another national value accounts for their confident and un­affected manners. It’s the old belief that everyone in America has equal opportunity to succeed, an equal chance to success. This value is supposed to have been particularly true at the times of settlers’ moving west to make a new beginning. The differ­ences in wealth between rich and poor were little at that time, so one’s fortune depended only on one’s industry. And if every­body had chance to better his living conditions, then everybody’s duty was to try, which led to the overall competition with one another. And up to now people who compete successfully are honoured and called “winners”. Those who do not like to com­pete and are failures are dishonoured and called “losers”. Most of Americans believe that competition and desire to win are healthy and desirable.

In spite of the fact that society can’t consist only of winners the Americans are optimistic. This trait proceeded from a “can-do” spirit of earlier settlers which had to be inventive experi­menters and had come to believe that every problem has a so­lution: a difficult problem can be solved immediately, an impossible one may take a little longer.

It goes without saying that one more, not less important value of the Americans is material wealth. Most Americans believe that wealth is a reward for hard work and that it is possible to have a good standard of living if a person works hard. The great American dream “from rags to riches” is still alive by far. It goes on attracting immigrants from all over the world.

You can often hear of the Englishman’s “reserve”, how he likes to “keep himself to himself”, and how on a long railway journey, with four Englishmen in the carriage, often there won’t be a word spoken during the whole journey. That isn’t the case in America. The Englishman thinks it is a bad manner to ask personal questions. The American doesn’t feel that at all. Dur­ing a short drive in New York the taxi driver will tell you all about himself, his wife and his family. He will inquire where you have come from, what your job is, how you like America and how long you are staying in New York.

The Englishman prizes privacy, the American prefers socia­bility. The Englishman’s suburban house has its little garden with a hedge or a fence all round it to shut him off from his neigh­bours. The American houses have no hedges or fences separat­ing them from the pavement or from each other. The American in his home doesn’t object to being seen by everyone — he ac­tually likes it. And in case someone asks him if he doesn’t some­times like privacy, the American will answer, that if he wants privacy, he goes to bed.

The well-mannered Englishman at table holds and keeps his knife in his right hand, his fork in his left, cuts his meat and presses his vegetables on to his fork. The well-mannered American first cuts up all his meat, then places his knife down on the right of his plate, takes his fork in his right hand and with his fork lifts the food to his mouth. He will have his coffee (generally with cream) half-way through his dinner before the pudding. The Englishman drinks his coffee (usually black) after the dinner. Andof course, Americans are coffee-drinkers rather than tea-drinkers.

In Europe there are people who have lived in the same house and have been in the same job for twenty, thirty, forty years and who would hate to pull up their roots and change to something new. That’s not the American way of life. They love change, they call it “the spirit of adventure”. They like to move away, to change homes and jobs. They throw away old things, having none of the Englishman’s sentimental love for things because they are old.

Many Americans are greatly impressed with mere size; to them “bigger” and “better” seem to mean the same thing. The Cathedral in New York is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world; the finger of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour is eight feet long and forty people can stand inside its head; the Rockefeller Centre has hanging gardens which are four times the size of the famous hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the Sev­en Wonders of the ancient world.

 

 




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A) British way of life. The British character. Leisure activities. | Languages in Britain and the USA.

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