New Surfing The World 2010

Different Regions,
Chapter
2
Different Cultures
O wing to the diversity of the land and the historical

development of the Union, the USA can be divided into five
main regions.
T he West includes the Rocky Mountains States, the
Pacific States and the two separate states of Alaska and
Hawaii. The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand
scale. The region is crossed by the Rocky Mountains,
part of the mountain range that goes from Alaska to
MAP READING Tierra del Fuego. To the west of the chain the winds
from the Pacific Ocean carry rain and moisture to water
Look at the map of the USA and find out:
the land, while to the east the land is very dry, mainly
1. the names of the regions desert. In much of the West the population is sparse and
the federal government owns and manages millions of
2. the region where the following states are:
hectares of undeveloped land.
Massachusetts, Louisiana, Washington, Pennsylvania,
Now the second largest city in the nation, Los Angeles is
Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, California, Michigan, Nevada.
best known as the home of the Hollywood film industry.
Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles and the “Silicon
Valley” area near San José, California has become the
most populous of the US states. About one quarter of the
population are Hispanic. Some of them are the descendants
of old Mexican families who lived in California before 1850.
Others are immigrants from Mexico and countries of Central
and South America. Los Angeles – and Southern California
as a whole – bears the stamp of its large Mexican-American
population.
T he Southwest is a region of wide open spaces, amazing

canyons and spectacular sights. The magnificent Grand
Canyon is located in this region, as is Monument Valley, the
beautiful famous backdrop for many western movies.
Part 2 - The United States of America
The climate of the region is very dry and much of the land
used to be desert. However, as the settlers continued to
cultivate the desert, its size has decreased. Moreover dams
on the Colorado and other rivers have brought water to the
once small towns of Phoenix (Arizona) and Albuquerque
(New Mexico) allowing them to become metropolises.
More than 20% of all American Indians live there today,
particularly in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona.
Monument Valley is inside the Navajo Reservation, home
to the most populous American Indian tribe. To the south
and east, lie dozens of other American Indians reservations,
including those of the Hopi and Apache tribes.
118
includes: North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri
Nebraska, Kansas
T he Midwest is the heartland of America and the

center of its agriculture and industry. It was the land
of the pioneers who explored and settled the West. It was
T he Northeast is the region most closely linked to the
early history of the nation and its economic and cultural
development. It includes two sub-regions: New England
the land where the ‘Indians of the Plains’ lived and where and the Mid-Atlantic States.
the Indian wars were fought (see p. 133). New England does not have large expanses of rich
The states of the Midwest cover the northern central farmland or a mild climate. This part of the region has
part of the US between the Appalachian Mountains in broad valleys and rolling hills with a few low mountain
the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west. Most of ranges, part of the Appalachian mountains. It is the region
the region is flat or gently rolling land, called the Central that most looks like England and it is considered the most
Plains, which provides ideal conditions for large-scale sophisticated part of the US. Until well into the 19th century,
agriculture. New England was the country’s cultural and economic
The Mississippi River flows through this region and is a center.
great means of transportation (see p. 135). There are also Most of the land in Mid-Atlantic States is part of the
many natural resources such as coal and iron ore and many Coastal Plain that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean,
factories are located near the Great Lakes (see p. 128). but there are also some mountain ranges. It is a highly
“Tornado Alley” is an area of the US heart-land known industrialized area, but also attracts many tourists because
for its tornado activity owing to its climate and location. of its natural beauty.
New England includes 6 states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont
The Mid-Atlantic States include New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Washinghton DC
T he South is a beautiful land of gentle hills and river

valleys, which arouses memories of cotton fields and
black slaves, of blues singers and jazz players.
A large portion of the southeast is covered by the
Coastal Plains and mostly flat. The soil is rich and ideal for
Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures

agriculture, which has always been the basis of its economy.
Tobacco, cotton, and sugar were grown on large plantations
worked by slaves from Africa.
There are many rivers, oak and pine forests, and large
marshes such as the Everglades in Florida (see p. 95). The
Atlantic coast is known for its beautiful sandy beaches.
The region is part of the ‘Sun Belt’ and, owing to its warm
climate, many retired people from other parts of the US
have gone to live there.
The South has a special character that differs from the
other regions of the US. The pace of life is slower and people
show a more relaxed attitude towards life. In the ‘Deep
South’ people are traditionally very religious and mostly
conservative.
From August through November the region is frequently
hit by hurricanes.
EXPANSION - Tornadoes and hurricanes
includes West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, 119
Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia.
The Northeast
1. The Pilgrim Fathers celebrating Thanksgiving.
1. WARM UP!
Look at the US map on pages
118-119 and write a list
of the Northeastern states.
2. READING
Read pages 120-127 and make
notes on the states of the
Northeast. Then make a card
using the model below.
REGION ...............................................................
LAND ....................................................................
CLIMATE .............................................................
CITIES ....................................................................
HISTORY ..............................................................
ECONOMY ......................................................... 3. LISTENING TRACK 16
OTHERS ............................................................... Listen to the recording and write the list of the words missing in the text below.
1. religious; 2. sailed; 3. ship; 4. land; 5. founded; 6. poorly;
New England The Pilgrim Fathers

7. winter; 8. help; 9. advice; 10. beans; 11. catch; 12. turkeys;
13. invited; 14. God; 15. holiday; 16. character; 17. work;
18. infl uence; 19. history; 20. literature.
N ew England has played a very

special role in US history. It
is where the Puritans first settled in
T he Europeans who founded the
first colony in New England were
the Pilgrim Fathers. Many of them were
The next year, after their first harvest,
the colonists (13) ... their Native American
friends to a great feast to thank (14) ...
the 1600s, where some of the first Puritans who had to leave Europe to for their survival. This was the
colonies were founded and where the escape (1) ... persecution. first Thanksgiving, which is still
American Revolution began. It also 843 Inacres of green
September in the
1620, citymen,
102 center. It is not only aa national
women park, but (15)
also ...
aninopen-air
the US.museum
and a concert hall and it also hosts a zoo of 6.5 acres.. It is possible to have a picnic here.
made an important cultural contribution and children (2) ... from the port of The Pilgrim Fathers were men of great
with the creation of a distinctive Plymouth (England) on a (3) ... called the faith and strong (16) ... . They regarded
American literature in the first half of Mayflower. The ocean crossing was terrible strict moral probity and hard (17)... as basic
the 19th century. Some of the oldest and many people died. Two months later values . They exerted a considerable (18) ...
universities in the US are Harvard the Mayflower crew sighted (4) ... off Cape on American life and (19) ... , and played
(1636) in Massachusetts, Yale (1701) in Cod, Massachusetts, and in December the an important part in the formation of the
Connecticut and Brown (1764) in Rhode travelers settled down and (5) ... Plymouth American spirit, (20) ... and education.
Island. Colony. However, the story of the Pilgrim
New England is a beautiful area At first life in the new land was very hard: Fathers and the foundation of Plymouth
with hundreds of lakes and rivers, a it was very cold, they were (6) ... equipped, Plantation is a mixture of both history
rocky and winding coast, thousands of and food was scarce. Half the people died and myth. There is not just one report
islands, and many beautiful small towns. during the (7) ... .The others survived thanks but different points of view about the
It is famous for its lobsters, fishing and to (8) ... from local American Indians. They settlement of New England and the
shipbuilding and produces most of the gave the colonists seeds and (9) ... on how evolution of Indian/White relations in the
country’s blueberries and cranberries. and where to plant corn, pumpkins and (10) New England colonies.
The cranberry industry is the leading ... . They showed them how to (11)... fish and
agricultural foodcrop in Massachusetts. hunt deer and (12) ... . EXPANSION - New England and
the Pilgrim Fathers
120
Tour A tour of Massachusetts
C ranberries are one of the

indigenous fruit of North
America. They are mainly used for
Walden Pond, near Concord. Orchard House, Concord, was the juice and sauce. The plants are
The famous writer Henry David home of the novelist Louisa May grown on marshy land and the
Thoreau lived on the shore of the Alcott and her family. It’s where
pond for two years (1845-47) and she wrote and set her novel Little red berries are picked during the
wrote an account of his experience Women. Concord has a remarkably
rich literary history. months of September and October.
in his famous book Walden, or Life
in the Woods. At harvest time the fields are flooded
so that the cranberries are loosened
Salem’s fame is based on the and then collected with special
1692 witch trials, when 150 rakes: it’s a beautiful sight when the
people were imprisoned and 19
were hanged. fields turn into crimson lakes!
3
Salem
The House of
the Seven Gables 4
1 Walden Pond 5
Concord Boston
6
Orchard House 2 Cambridge
7 Plymouth
The House of the Seven Gables,

Salem. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born
in Salem, and his famous novels The
Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of
the Seven Gables (1851) are inspired by
puritan New England.
B oston is the capital of

Massachusetts and the largest
town in New England. It is the most
‘European’ of the American cities. It
was founded by the English colonists
in 1670 and played an important Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures
part in the American Revolution.
Afterward, its merchants began to
build large fortunes through foreign
commerce and shipbuilding became
an important industry. In the first
Harvard, the oldest university in
the US, is located in Cambridge, half of the 1800s Boston became
as well as the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT).
an exclusive town with a number of
important, wealthy, well-educated
Protestant families who provided the
political and intellectual leadership
of the nation. In the early 1990s also
Plymouth is where the Mayflower The Boston John Hancock Tower some Catholic descendants of Irish
with the Pilgrim Fathers landed was designed by the famous immigrants, such as the Kennedy
in 1620. architect I.M. Pei. Its glass curtain
walls provide an amazing effect of family, became prominent in the
changing light. As the day changes political and cultural life of the town.
the colors of the sky show different
reflections on each side.
121
The Mid-Atlantic states
T he Mid-Atlantic region is the most industrialized area of the US and is among the
most densely populated with 20% of the US people living there. It was settled by
millions of Europeans who made of it what became known as the ‘melting pot’.
The region’s largest states, New York and Pennsylvania, became centers of heavy
industry (iron, glass and steel). This area is also a world center for trade and has great
shipping ports. The region includes some of the most famous American cities such as
New York, the nation’s largest city, its financial hub and cultural center, Philadelphia
(Pennsylvania), where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution
was written (see p. 98), and Washington (D.C.), the nation’s federal capital.
2. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was one of the
Founding Fathers of the United States of America and
the most famous American after George Washington.
Philadelphia 3. Philadelphia, historic Independence Hall.
P hiladelphia, the city of ‘brotherly love’ (from Greek), is the nation’s fifth city by
population, with 1,5 million people. Nearly half of them are African American.
The city has the second largest Italian population in the nation.
Philadelphia was the political and social center of the original 13 colonies and the
first capital of the US in 1774. Independence Hall (1753) is a famous national landmark:
both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed there. It was
the original home of the Liberty Bell, a symbol of independence and freedom within the
US. It was rung on July 8, 1776 to summon citizens for the reading of the Declaration of
Independence.
In the 18th century Philadelphia was a center of style and culture, and still today it is
famous for its science and art museums. The Philadelphia Museum of Arts is one of the
largest art museum in the US, while the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra is one of the
country’s top orchestras.
Niagara Falls is the most famous waterfall in the USA

4. 4. LISTENING TRACK 17
and a popular tourist attraction. It is formed by the
river Niagara between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, on
the Canadian border.
Listen to the recording about
Benjamin Franklin and check if
the sentences below are true (T)
or false (F).
1. T F He was a scientist.
2. T F He was a successful
businessman.
3. T F He belonged to a rich
Boston family.
4. T F He had ten brothers and
1. It is where the Puritans settled and founded the fi rst
colonies. Th e American Revolution began there. 2. Because sisters.
it was founded by English colonists and traded with foreign
5. T F He was probably the
countries. 3. Th ey were Puritans who left England to
escape persecution. 4. In New England. 5. Because it is the best educated man of
most industrialized area of the USA. 6. Because both the
Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were his time.
signed there. 7. One of the Founding Fathers. 8. He founded
a hospital, a fi re company, a library, an insurance company 6. T F He lived and worked in
and a university for his town. For his country he helped write
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and, Philadelphia.
as minister to France, he persuaded the French to support the
7. T F He founded a hospital.
colonists during the war against the British. He contributed
to the comfort and safety of everyday life inventing the
lightning rod, bifocal glasses, a heating stove, and some 8. T F He founded a university.
musical instruments. 9. District of Columbia. 10. Th e Capitol,
the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Pentagon. 9. T F He invented the bicycle.
10. T F He invented the
lightning rod.
11. T F He contributed to the
writing of the American
Constitution.
122
Washington D.C.
W ashington does not belong to any state. The initials D.C. stand for District of
Columbia. This is an area on the banks of the Potomac river which was chosen
in 1790 as the seat of the federal government. The whole city was then planned and built.
More than 60% of Washington’s population are African Americans. The city is famous for
its historical monuments and important buildings.
a.
5. READING
Read the captions and match each photo with the appropriate text.
1. The Capitol represents the heart of Washington D.C. It stands on Capitol Hill
overlooking the city and from it wide avenues radiate diagonally across the
city. The building is 288 feet tall and has a statue of freedom on its top. It has
a large white dome modelled on St Peter’s in Rome.
b.
This is where the Congress meets – the House of Representatives and the
Senate. It also houses the Library of Congress, which is the largest in the
world. Copies of all new books published in the US are sent to the Library
of Congress.
2. The White House is where the President works and lives. As the name
suggests, it is painted white. It was completed in 1800 by the Irish American
architect James Hoban.
3. The Washington Monument honors the much-loved first President of the US
after whom the city was named. It is, by law, the highest structure in the city.
4. T he Lincoln Memorial was built in 1922 in the West Potomac Park. It is c.
a marble imitation of the Parthenon in Athens. Inside is a large statue of
Lincoln sitting in a chair. It stands at one end of the Mall and it was the
meeting point of the Civil Rights and anti-war demonstrations during the
1960s.
5. The Pentagon is a low, five-sided building. It is the headquarters of the
US army and the American Ministry of Defense. On September 11, 2001
a terrorist attack to destroy it was launched at the same time as the Twin
Towers in New York were hit.
6. Just outside Washington there is Arlington National Cemetery, where more
than 290,000 Americans who died in wars are buried along with politicians
and other famous people. Among others, it also contains the graves of John d.
Fitzgerald Kennedy and of the Unknown Soldier.
6. SPEAKING
Exchange questions and answers with your class. Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures
1. What is New England? What is it famous for?
2. Why does Boston look like a European city?
3. Who were the Pilgrim Fathers? e.
4. Where did they land in America?
5. Why is the Mid-Atlantic region so densely populated?
6. Why was Philadelphia important in American history?
7. Who was Benjamin Franklin?
8. What did he do for his town? For his country? For all of us?
9. What do the initials D.C. stand for?
Datemi
10. What are Washington’s most famous i vostri stanchi, i vostri poveri, le vostre masse infreddolite desiderose di respirare liberi,
buildings?
i rifiuti miserabili delle vostre coste affollate. Mandatemi loro, i senzatetto, gli scossi dalle tempeste e io solleverò l
a mia fiaccola accanto alla porta dorata.» f.
123
1. Open. 2. No, it isn’t. Yes, it is. 3. Th e British. 4. No. Th e 1. East River and Hudson River. 2. Manhattan Bridge and
US capital is Washington, DC. No, Albany is the capital of Brooklyn Bridge. 3. Most streets in Manhattan (whose names
New York State. 5. From the nickname given to New York are ‘street’ and ‘avenue’) are characterized by an ordinal
by jazz musicians in the 1920s number. 4. Streets run east-west (horizontally on the map),
while avenues, which are wider, run north-south (vertically
New York City on the map). 5. Broadway. 6. Uptown is yellow, Midtown is

pink and Downtown is green. 7. Central Park. 8. Chinatown.
9. Little Italy. 10. Ellis Island and Liberty Island.
1. WARM UP!
The Big Apple
1. What is New York City famous
for? N ew York City is one of the largest and
most famous cities in the world. It is
famous for its outstanding monuments and
2. Is it the largest city in the
skyscrapers, some of the most beautiful and
world? In the USA?
recognizable buildings of the modern age
3. Who gave it its name? (see pp. 96-97), which show the power of
architecture to define a city. It is a major commercial, financial, and cultural center of both
4. Is it the capital of the USA?
the United States and the world and also home to the headquarters of the United Nations.
Of the State of New York?
Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to sight New York bay in 1524. Then in
5. Why is it called the ‘Big 1609 the British explorer Henry Hudson discovered New York Harbor and established the
Apple’? first trading posts there. Then the Dutch moved in and, in1626, they bought the land from
Ellie Island was where the passenger ships
docked from 1892 to 1954 when it finally Wappinger Indians for $24. They named the place New Amsterdam and developed it as a
closed. Nearly 12 million immigrants arrived port and trading center.
in the USA. They had to pass customs clearance
and health checks were made by doctors and law The British took the city in 1664 and changed its name into New York. They kept
enforcement. control of the city throughout the revolution of the American colonies and left only when
1. The Statue of Liberty.
the war ended (1783). The following year New York became the capital of New York State
and in 1789 the first capital of the United States. In 1790 the federal capital moved to
Philadelphia and in 1797 Albany became the capital of New York State. But New York kept
growing and became the largest city and the business center of the United States. By the
end of the 1800s it was the world’s largest city with 3 million people (Greater New York).
In the 1920s and 1930s New York was nicknamed the ‘Big Apple’, particularly by jazz
musicians, who considered the city as the world capital of jazz. The name became famous
when in 1971 publicists used it for a promotional campaign of the city.
Today New York City has a population of 8 million, but the metropolitan area around
it numbers more than 21 million. Like many American cities, it has a wide ethnic mix.
It shares with many large cities problems of traffic congestion, overcrowding, poverty
and crime. It used to be known as one of the most violent cities in the world, but there
has been dramatic improvement in recent years. With countless cultural attractions and
a large city parks system, the ‘City That Never Sleeps’ attracts and entertains about fifty
million foreign and American tourists every year.
The Statue of Liberty
W hen people arrive in New York harbor, one of the first things they see is the huge
statue that stands on Liberty Island. It is the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the
World, affectionately called ‘Miss Liberty’, which was given to the United States by France
in 1886 for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence.

It shows a woman, 46.5 metres high, holding a torch in her right hand. She is wearing
a crown with seven spikes, representing the seven continents of the world. In her left
hand she is holding a book. On this is written July 4, 1776 – the date of the Declaration of
Independence. For millions of immigrants arriving in America on ships it was a welcome
to the ‘New World’ where they hoped to find freedom and work. It became the symbol of
America as a land of hope and opportunity for all. These words are written on its base:
GiveDigita qui iltired,

me your testo your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
124 Datemi i vostri stanchi, i vostri poveri, le vostre masse infreddolite desiderose di respirare liberi, i rifiuti miserabili delle vostre coste affollate.
Mandatemi loro, i senzatetto, gli scossi dalle tempeste e io solleverò la mia fiaccola accanto alla porta dorata.»
HARLEM EAST
The HARLEM
Bronx
110th St.
Manhattan
Queens UPPER
96th St. EAST SIDE
UPPER
UPTOWN
Guggenheim
Brooklyn WEST SIDE Central Park Museum
Staten 86th St.

Island
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Atlantic Ocean 79th St.
New York City includes five boroughs: Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and
2.
Staten Island. Each borough has its own specific set of cultural and social attractions, as 72nd St.
well as its own history and conglomeration of diverse people, neighborhoods and events.
Manhattan
M anhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City. 59th St.
57th St.
It consists of Manhattan Island and several other small
islands at the mouth of the Hudson River. Its name comes from
MIDTOWN
EAST RIVER
the word Manna-hata, the name given to the area by the Native
WEST 50th St. MIDTOWN
Americans who lived there. Times Rockefeller EAST
It is the smallest in area of the five boroughs, but the third- Square Center United
Nations
largest in population. Actually it is the most densely populated 42nd St.THEATER
MIDTOWN
county in the United States, with a population of about 1,700,000. DISTRICT MURRAY
Empire HILL
And it is also one of the wealthiest.
Lexington Ave.
GARMENT
Madison Ave.
State
12th Ave.
Manhattan is an area of culture and commerce, with many 34th St. DISTRICT
Building
Park Ave.
2nd Ave.
architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles. It is
9th Ave.
8th Ave.
7th Ave.
6th Ave.
5th Ave.
3rd Ave.
1st Ave.
where most of New York famous sights and attractions are located.
11th Ave.
10th Ave.
Bro
adw
2. MAP READING 23rd St.

CHELSEA
ay
Look at the plan of Manhattan and answer the GRAMERCY

questions below.
14th St.
HUDSON RIVER
1. What are the names of the “rivers” on the two sides of GREENWICH VILLAGE
the island? WEST 8th St. EAST
VILLAGE VILLAGE
2. Which two bridges connect Manhattan to Brooklyn?
3. What is peculiar about most street names in
Manhattan?
Ho
us
4. What is the difference between streets and avenues?

ton
SOHO LOWER
DOWTOWN
EAST SIDE
St.
5. Which avenue runs diagonally through Manhattan? LITTLE

TRIBECA ITALY
6. Manhattan is divided into three sections: Uptown, M
AN
Midtown and Downtown. What color are they on the CHINA HA
TOWN TT
map? AN
BR
ID
7. What is the largest park? BROO GE
KLYN
BRID
8. What is the area where most Chinese live? Ground GE
FINANCIAL
Zero
DISTRICT
9. In which area will you find many Italian shops?
Wall St.
10. What are the names of the two small islands?
125
ELLIS ISLAND
LIBERTY ISLAND
Manhattan Sights
Uptown
T he Upper East Side is famous for

its luxury boutiques and cultural
attractions. The stretch of Fifth Avenue
between 82nd and 105th Streets is known
as the ‘Museum Mile’, because it is lined
by nine museums, among which the
Whitney Museum of American Art,
the Guggenheim Museum and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is
the most important museum in the US.
Central Park lines Fifth Avenue
between 59th and 110th streets and
combines beautifully landscaped areas
with a variety of recreational facilities.
The Upper West Side is home to the
famous Lincoln Center for the Performing Upper West Side brownstones. These terraced houses
4.
clad in brown sandstone, which was popular before
Arts (the largest performing arts complex in 1900, line the quiet streets of the neighborhood.
the United States), the Metropolitan Opera
House (MET), the American Museum of
Natural History, and many more.
Further north are the world’s largest
Gothic Cathedral Church of St John
Central Park, the green oasis of New York City.
5.
the Divine (see p. 161) and Columbia
University.
North of 110th Street, Harlem is one
3. WRITING
3. The Guggenheim Museum is housed in a building of the city’s biggest neighborhoods and
especially designed by the famous American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright. It displays the works of modern
a historic center for African American Write four paragraphs following
and contemporary art masters. music, art and culture. the outlines below.
1. The landmarks that best
represent your country.
843 acres of green in the city center. It is not only a park, but also an open-air museum
and a concert hall and it also hosts a zoo of 6.5 acres.. It is possible to have a picnic here. 2. The Italian building/
monument you like best.
Unfortunately, after the terrorist attack in 2001, there is another important museum New Yorkers 3. The statue you would like to
and tourists sadly love: the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It is made of two 9m tall waterfalls where
the Twin Towers once stood. have in your town. (Why?)
4. A famous statue that you like
(What is it like? Who/What
does it represent? Why do you
like it?).
4. SPEAKING
In pairs, choose three places you
would like to visit in New York.
Tell your partner what and where
they are and why you want to see
them.
5. ESSAY WRITING
Using about 150-180 words
outline the main characteristics
of the Northeast.
126
Midtown
T he area between 14th Street up

to Central Park, is the busiest
commercial district in the nation, hosting
the majority of the city’s skyscrapers and
entertainment spots.
Broadway is the oldest north-south
main thoroughfare in the city, which
runs the full length of Manhattan. While
Manhattan streets and avenues are based
on a grid that parallels the Hudson River,
Broadway crosses Manhattan diagonally.
Its intersections with avenues are often
marked by famous squares and parks, such
as Times Square and Union Square. Times Square, the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue, gets its name from «The New York Times», which, until
6.
2007, had its offices there. At night it is brilliantly lit by spectacular illuminated signs. It is surrounded by playhouses,
The area where it crosses 7th Avenue cinemas and night clubs. This area of Manhattan is the home of many Broadway theaters housing an ever-changing
is known as Theater District, which is array of commercial, large-scale plays, particularly musicals.
famous for its many theaters and places of
entertainment.
The section of Fifth Avenue at 34th Street
and going north into Upper Street Side as
far as 60th Street, has an impressive variety
of luxury retail stores and is one of the most
expensive streets in the world.
Among Midtown attractions are the
world-famous Museum of Modern Art
(MOMA), which showcases the best in
contemporary art, the United Nation
Headquarters, Rockefeller Center, St
Patrick’s Cathedral and some of New
York’s most famous skyscrapers such as the
Empire State Building and the gleaming
Chrysler Building (see p. 97).
Manhattan Bridge (at the front) and Brooklyn Bridge (at the back). These two famous suspension bridges cross the
7.
East River and connect Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn on Long Island. Brooklyn Bridge (1,825 m) was one of the
8. The Empire State Building is a historic architectural
great engineering milestones of the 19th century, the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge. Since its opening in
icon. It is New York’s ‘Great Lady’, an 80-year-old lady
1883 it has become an iconic part of the New York skyline. Manhattan Bridge (2,089 m) was opened to traffic in 1909
carrying her years very well. The official inauguration
and has recently undergone a major rehabilitation project. It carries seven lanes of traffic and four subway tracks, plus
took place on 1st May 1931 and immediately the
pedestrian and bicycle paths.
building became a symbol of challenge and
enterprise. The building has 102 floors and is 381
metres tall, with a huge Art Deco pinnacle which
gives the building its unique profile. From its top
observatory, on a clear day, you can see for 80 miles 9. The United Nations Headquarters along the East
into five neighboring states and the view at night is River has been the seat of the United Nations since
spectacular. Its fluorescent lights-white, red, green, 1950. The 39-storey Secretariat Building, designed by
blue, orange and yellow, according to the day and the famous architects, such as Le Corbusier and Niemeyer,
celebration – are the great lighthouse of Manhattan. was the first glass curtain wall skyscraper in New York.
Downtown
T he lowest part of Manhattan includes

different neighborhoods, all with
their unique features and atmosphere,
such as Chelsea, with its art galleries and
nightclubs; Greenwich Village which was
the center of alternative culture and artistic
movements; Little Italy, Chinatown and
Lower East Side, originally formed by
immigrant communities.
Wall Street runs through the Financial
District and gives the name to the
surrounding neighborhood. It is known
all over the world because it is the home
of the New York Stock Exchange and the
heart of the American financial industry
(see p. 114).
127
Grant Wood’s, American Gothic (Art Institute of
Chicago) is one of the most famous in American art
and a key image of Regionalism. Th e title refers to the
cottage in Gothic Revival Style in the background. It
shows a farmer and his daughter in Iowa. Th e woman is
dressed in a colonial print apron and the man is holding
The Midwest a pitchfork which symbolizes hard labor. Th e painting
came to be seen as a depiction of steadfast American
pioneer spirit.
The Great Lakes region
T he Great Lakes are the world’s largest group of fresh water lakes. They are five lakes
(Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario) interconnected by natural and
artificial waterways. They cover a surface of about 100,000 square miles and make up the
most important inland waterway in North America. They are connected to the sea by the
St Lawrence River and by a series of canals. Only Lake Michigan lies entirely in the US,
while the other four are crossed by the border with Canada.
Great pine forests originally covered the land, but during the 1800s they were
completely destroyed in order to get the wood needed by the settlers in the prairies. New
trees were planted in the 1900s and now much of the area is covered by forests again.
loud Gate sculpture by Anish Kapoor, in Chicago’s
1. C Major industrial cities have grown along the shores of the Great Lakes, such as
Millennium Park. The sculpture has become Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit. Oil has recently been discovered under Lake Michigan.
affectionately known to Chicagoans as ‘the Bean’.
This is a heavily industrial area with serious problems of air and water pollution. From
the 1850s onwards, the American manufacturing industry developed rapidly, particularly
1. WARM UP! in this area, where there were raw materials such as iron and coal. A large number of iron
and steel works provided work for the growing population and supplied the steel needed
for the railways and bridges which were opening up the west of the country.
118-119 and write a list of the
Steel, car manufacturing and associated industries were at their peak between the
Midwestern states.
1950s and the 1970s. The area then began to decline, both because other countries had
entered the world market and because the iron deposits had been used up. Many factories
2. READING closed down, unemployment increased and many people moved to the south and west in
search of work and a better quality of life. The area became known as the ‘Rust Belt’.
During the 1980s and the 1990s a big recovery took place. Old factories were
modernized and new ones built. Many industries like the ‘Big Three’ US car companies re-
Midwest. Then make a card using
invested in the area. Increased productivity and the use of advanced computer technology
the model on page 120.
made industry competitive again. Unfortunately the financial crisis that broke out in 2008
and the severity of the recession that followed required companies to take additional steps
EXPANSION - Prohibition to restructure and to close many plants.
and gangsters in Chicago Detroit, Michigan, is the center of the US car industry. It is on the border with Canada
and began as a French trading post in 1701. Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company in
Lake Michigan, Illinois. It is one of the five Great Lakes of
2. 1903 and William Durant established the General Motors Corporation in 1908, which until
North America, and the only one located entirely within
the United States. It has a surface area of 22,400 square 2007 was the largest automaker in the world, manufacturing cars and trucks in 34 countries.
miles. The Chicago harbor lighthouse was built in 1893 Detroit is still the headquarters of the ‘Big Three’: Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors,
although was only moved to its present location in 1919.
It is still in use. but the three companies were hit hard by the global financial crisis in the auto industry
128
NEW HAMPSHIRE
WASHINGTON VERMONT
MASSACHUSETTS MAINE
MONTANA NORTH MINNESOTA CONNECTICUT
DAKOTA
OREGON
SOUTH WISCONSIN NEW
CO
IDAHO
DAKOTA MICHIGAN YORK
RN
WYOMING PENNSYLVANIA
EL RHODE
B
NEVADA
NEBRASKA IOWA T OHIO D.C.
ISLAND
ILLINOIS INDIANA WESTH NEW JERSEY
UTAH VIRGINIA
COLORADO KANSAS VIRGINIA DELAWARE
MISSOURI KENTUCKY
CALIFORNIA NORTH
CAROLINA MARYLAND
TENNESSEE
ARIZONA OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS SOUTH
NEW MEXICO CAROLINA Atlantic
ALABAMA GEORGIA
Ocean
Pacific
Ocean MISSISSIPPI
TEXAS LOUISIANA
FLORIDA
Gulf of Mexico
3. The ‘corn belt’ is located in the fertile Central Plains, where corn has traditionally been the predominant crop. The belt 5. Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930. This familiar painting
produces much of the US corn, but soybeans and wheat are also significant crops. represents a grim-faced colonial-style couple in the
traditional roles of man and woman. Some people saw
the painting as a satire of rural small-town life, others as a
that began in the later half of 2008. depiction of steadfast American pioneer spirit.
More than 80% of the city’s residents belong to the African-American community.
Their fathers came to the city from the south, worked in the automobile factories and
greatly helped the Civil Rights Movement with their money and support. 3. LISTENING TRACK 18
Chicago, Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan, is the third largest city in the US with Listen to the recording and
a population of 9.6 million. It is the business and industrial center of the Midwest and one find out:
of the world’s leading markets for grain, livestock and other farm products. It was also an
important center for meatpacking. Chicago was the birthplace of skyscrapers in the late 1. which rivers water the region
1880s and the Sears Tower is now the tallest building in the US (see p. 97). 2. what crop is the most
During the twenties, Chicago won a reputation for crime and violence thanks to Al important in the US
Capone and other gangsters who controlled the illegal alcohol traffic.
1. Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio. 2. Corn. 3. Illinois and 3. which states are the largest
Minnesota. 4. North and South Dakota, Nebraska and
Kansas. 5. A Native American tribe called Dakota/Lakota/ producers of corn
Sioux. 6. Because the four Presidents, whose head are
The heart of America carved in the rocks, founded US democracy. 7. From left 4. which states are the largest
to right: George Washington, Th omas Jeff erson, Th eodore
Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. producers of wheat
A bout one third of the people live on isolated farms close to the fields. There are few
large towns and even the state capitals are only middle-sized. The typical American
small town is mainly a place where the farm family travels to buy supplies, to attend
5. what North and South Dakota
took their name from
church, and to go for entertainment or business. As we often see in American films, it 6. why Mount Rushmore Memorial
usually has one main street lined with shops, a gas station, a supermarket and a restaurant. is called ‘the shrine of democracy’
South Dakota has a number of Indian reservations. 8.2% of the population are Native 7. who the people carved in the
Americans, the third highest proportion of Native Americans of any state (behind Alaska rock are.
and New Mexico).
Midwest people are generally open, friendly and straightforward people. They value 4. SPEAKING
family, religion and community life very highly. Apart from those living in the liberal cities
in the northeast, most of them are thought to be very conservative. They are representative Exchange questions and answers
of middle class Americans who are mostly traditional about politics and society and think with your class.
that Americans should not concern themselves with foreign wars and problems abroad. 1. How did the Great Lakes favor

the development of industry?
4. Mount Rushmore Memorial in the black hills of South Dakota.
2. What have the main problems
1. Between the 1930s and 1950s. 2. Scenery, fascinating of this region been?
characters and action. 3. Wild frontiers. 4. Tough, brave
outlaws and gunfi ghters. 5. Th ey don’t generally occupy 3. What is Chicago famous for?
important roles. Th ey are either hardworking pioneer
women or cheerful prostitutes. 6. As savages. 7. Open 4. Why did Detroit become the
answer. 8. Open answer. 9. Th ey were westerns produced
by Italian fi lm companies. 10. Open answer. center of the US car industry?
5. Why are there so many black
Americans living in Detroit?
6. Why is the Midwest called ‘the
nation’s breadbasket’?
7. What are Midwesterners like?
8. How do they represent middle
class Americans?
129
Famous people from the Midwest
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Henry Ford (1863-1947)
A braham Lincoln is regarded by many

people as the greatest American
President and his statues stand in cities
H enry Ford was the son
of an Irish immigrant.
In 1908 he was the first to
and towns throughout the United States. make ‘the motor car for the
multitudes’, as he said. It was
EXPANSION - Four great presidents a simple car called Model T.
of the USA
It was quite cheap and
many people could afford
to buy it. By 1927, when its
production ended,
15, 000, 000 Model T cars
had been sold. The car was 7. Ford Model T.
cheap because it was mass-produced and

standardized. Introducing the assembly
line into car production Ford was able to Aretha Franklin (1942)
use fewer workers and pay less money in
wages. The costs were further reduced by
making only one standard model. Asked
T he “Queen of Soul” is one of the
giants of soul music and of American
pop as a whole. She was born in Memphis
what colors were available in the Model T, (Tennessee), but grew up in Detroit. She
Ford famously replied, “You can have was the daughter of a Baptist Reverend
whatever color you like so long as it’s and began singing Gospel in her father’s
black”. As they became affordable to the church in Detroit. She recorded her first
masses, cars changed American life. Towns album at fourteen. The extraordinary
began to expand as people could live in the success of her albums in the late ’60s
suburbs and drive to work. Highways were
Grant Wood’s, American Gothic (Art Institute of
and early ’70s made her the first woman
builtChicago)
across the
is country
one of theand people
most could
famous inducted
in American art into the Rock and Roll House of
6. Abraham Lincoln. traveland
to a keyfar-away
new image of places.
Regionalism. Th e title refers to the
Fame.
cottage in Gothic Revival Style in the background. It
shows a farmer and his daughter in Iowa. Th e woman is
Mark Twain (1835-1910) dressed in a colonial print apron and the man is holding
a pitchfork which symbolizes hard labor. Th e painting
M ark Twain was the pen name of

Samuel Langhorne Clemens of
Missouri. His adventurous life and his
came to be seen as a depiction of steadfast American
Do something
pioneer spirit. every day
that you don’t want to do;
7. ESSAY WRITING
experiences as a river pilot on the Mississippi this is the golden rule for
formed the basis for some of his novels and acquiring the habit of doing
of the Midwest.
for the book Life on the Mississippi (1883). your duty without pain.
Mark Twain
His most famous novels The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and
the Pauper (1882), and The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn (1885) are among the
best known American books. The main
characters are all boys and for their stories
the writer largely drew on his boyhood life
and friends. Many schools in the US are
named after him.
5. WRITING
Do you agree or disagree with
Twain’s advice? Write a paragraph
explaining your opinion.
6. SPEAKING
Prepare ten questions about
these four famous people. Then
exchange questions and answers
around the class. 8. US singer Aretha Franklin performs at the Presidential
Inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama in
Washington, DC.
130
8. SPEAKING
The western movie
Try to answer the questions
below. Then read the texts
in this page and check your
T he ‘western’ is a type of movie which
started at the beginning of the
twentieth century, still in the silent era,
answers. became popular in the 1930s and reached
the peak of its popularity in the 1940s
1. When were western movies
and 1950s. The successful formula was
most popular?
a combination of breathtaking scenery,
2. What is typical of them? fascinating characters, and exciting
action. Main themes were the hardships
3. What kind of landscape do
of frontier life and the 30-year period that
they show?
followed the end of the American Civil
4. Who are usually the main War.
characters? The ‘heroes’ were tough, brave people.
Sometimes they were outlaws and
5. How are women represented?
gunfighters, but who supported a just
6. How are the Indians usually cause. Many ‘badmen’ such as Billy the
described? Kid, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy were
romanticized and became the leading
7. Have you seen any westerns
characters of many movies.
where the Indians were seen
The true ‘villains’ were the crooked
in a different way?
sheriffs, the cattle-thieves, the powerful
8. Can you point out some cattle-owners who wanted more grazing
differences? land at the expense of smaller farmers,
or those who betrayed their partners for
9. What are ‘spaghetti westerns’?
profit.
Can you mention some?
In most westerns the Indians were
10. What is your favourite western seen as wicked savages attacking the
movie? white settlers, while the US Cavalry
regularly came – at the last minute, of
course – to save them. Since the 1970s
some westerns have tried to explore the
J ohn Ford was the most famous

director of westerns. Over 40
years, between 1924 and 1964,
familiar themes from new angles and to
portray Indians’ life with more sympathy
and justice.
he directed more than 60, some
In the movies below the Indians have
of them the most popular of
been presented in an untraditional way.
all times. Stagecoach (1939) is
In Dances with Wolves, which won seven
considered the finest western
Oscars, they have leading roles for the
of them all and the one which
first time.
established a genre.
Dances with Wolves (1990, directed by Kevin Costner,

9.

starring K. Costner and Mary McDonnell).
H igh Noon (directed by F. A Man Called Horse (1970, directed by Elliot

Silverstein, starring Richard Harris).
Zinnemann, USA, 1952), Soldier Blue (1970, directed by Ralph Nelson, starring
Peter Strauss and Candice Bergen).
starring Gary Cooper, focuses on the Little Big Man (1970, directed by Arthur Penn, starring
characters’ motives rather than their Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway).
actions and is considered the first
D
psychological western. odge City, Kansas, has
become famous for movies
and TV series such as the ‘Cowboy
I
Capital’. Around 1880 the town was
n the 1960s and 1970s some
the center of the cattle trade and
westerns were produced
was considered the ‘wickedest town
by Italian film companies that
in America’. There were so many
became known as ‘spaghetti
people killed in gunfights (with their
westerns’. The first, directed by
boots on) that its cemetery was
Sergio Leone, was A Fistful of
called ‘Boot Hill’.
Dollars (1964).
131
History
File
3
The Conquest of the West
Ceded
by Britain
Treaty with Britain
1818
1846
Louisiana Purchase
from France
aty with Britain
1803 Treaty with Britain
1783
Original 1783
Thirteen Mexican Cession Original
States 1848 Thirteen
Hawaii States
Annexation Hawaii
1898 Annexation
1898
Hawaii
Annexation
1898
Texas Annexation
1845
Florida Purchase Gadsden Purchase

from Spain Florida Purchase
from Mexico from Spain
1819 1854 1819
Alaska Purchase
from Russia Alaska Purchase
1867 from Russia
1867
Alaska Purchase
from Russia
1867
T he term ‘the West’ referred to different areas at different times

in the history of the US, because the frontier shifted as the
pioneers moved on towards the Pacific Ocean.
Westward expansion
W estward expansion began soon after the first
white settlements along the Atlantic coast were
established, and by the end of the 18th century the settlers
St Louis, Missouri, was considered ‘the gateway to the West’, as represented by its
1. had reached the Mississippi Valley. In 1803 the American
192-meter-high steel Gateway Arch. The city lies on the Mississippi River, at the point
where it meets the Missouri, and was the starting point of many westward journeys.
Government bought all the territory between the Mississippi
and the Rocky Mountains from France and the ‘Conquest of
the West’ began. Texas was annexed to the Union in 1845.
By the Oregon Treaty of 1846 the Union reached the Pacific
coast and in 1848 Mexico was compelled to give up all its
territory between Texas and the Pacific Ocean.

The serious difficulties of communication within such a
huge country were overcome thanks to the invention of the
telegraph and the completion of the first transcontinental
railroad in 1869.
The building of the railway is one of the great tales of
American history. In 1866 two big railroad companies
agreed to build a railroad all the way across America. The
Union Pacific started from the east and the Central Pacific
started from the west. Ten thousand men worked on both
sides. After three years the two sides met in Utah and the
first trains began to run from coast to coast.
132
2
The frontier
T he great experience of the
Frontier helped create the
myth of the self-made man.
Frontiersmen entered wild
unknown lands and settled there.
To their eyes they were a place of
great promise, where a new world
of freedom, peace and plenty
could be created. The land offered
opportunities to all. Anyone who
was enterprising, ambitious and
hard-working could build a new life
for themselves. The dream of a new
society based on freedom and equal
rights inspired the Declaration of
Independence and the Bills of Rights
and has always been the driving
force of American civilization.
2. Frederic Remington, Coming and going of the Pony Express (1889). The Pony Express was a US mail service, which operated
in 1860-61 between Missouri and California. It stopped when The Pacific Telegraph Line was established. Riders covered
more than 3,000 km in 10 days changing horses at stations along the way. Buffalo Bill was one of the riders.
MP3 Pioneers! O pioneers!

COME, my tan-faced children, The pioneers
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? Have you your sharp-edged axes? and the Indian wars 3
Pioneers! O pioneers!
For we cannot tarry here,
We must march, my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, I n the 1840s and 1850s large numbers of people moved
west. Some were farmers or religious groups looking for
new land to settle in. They were encouraged to do so by the
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers! American government. By the Homestead Act (1862) free
O you youths, Western youths, land was offered to any citizen who would agree to work
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, and live on it for a few years. Many people left their farms
Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the in the east in search of better and cheaper land and became
foremost, ‘homesteaders’.
Pioneers! O pioneers! American pioneers met enormous difficulties on their
westward march. They traveled in trains of covered wagons
Walt Whitman pulled by oxen. Life on the trails was very hard. They had
to cross deserts, dangerous rivers and high mountains. If
the wagons did not cross the mountains before winter, they

were sometimes trapped by the snow and died of cold and
starvation.
Some pioneers such as Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson and
Davy Crockett were romanticized in American fiction and
became sort of legendary figures.
When they reached the Great Plains beyond the
3. Walt Whitman Mississippi, the pioneers had to face the Indians who were
(1819-1892).
living and hunting there. The US Government had agreed
that this was Indian land, but, as the homesteaders began
to settle there, the Indians attacked the invaders and fought
bravely to keep their land and their traditional way of life.
The US army protected the homesteaders.
EXPANSION - The Indian wars
MP3 + EXPANSION - W. Whitman, O Captain! My Captain!
133
The South
1. WARM UP!
Southern states. 1. Mount Vernon, Virginia, was the plantation home of George Washington. The mansion, built of wood in neoclassical
Georgian style, is on the banks of the Potomac river.
2. READING
Read pages 134-139 and make The land and the people
notes on the states of the South.
Then make a card using the
model on page 120. A fter the Civil War, the South was devastated both socially and economically and
it took decades to recover. However, with the development of American industry,
many manufacturing industries were attracted by the wealth and cheap labor of the South
2. A Coca Cola advertisement of the 1950th. More than and opened new factories there. While at the beginning of the 20th century the South
a century after it was invented in Atlanta, Coca Cola is was more than 80% rural, by the 1950s the region had become industrialized. Today
now the largest company producing soft drinks.
agriculture is still basic to the economy of the South: cotton and tobacco are important
crops as well as peanuts, fruit and trees. But most of its income comes from industry,
mainly chemicals, textile and food processing. Oil and natural gas are produced from
Texas to Mississippi and are a very important resource for the country.
Large cities have developed, such as Atlanta (Georgia), New Orleans (Louisiana),
Memphis (Tennessee), and Miami (Florida).
The South has the highest population in the country. The people are mostly of English,
Irish or Scottish origin, except in Louisiana where many people have French ancestors, as
the French were the first settlers in the 1700s. The states of the South also have the largest
black population in the USA. After nearly a century of racial segregation, the relations
between blacks and whites now have improved and racial prejudice is slowly decreasing.
Some African Americans now have good jobs and Atlanta had its first black mayor in
1973.
The South is highly religious and often called the ‘Bible Belt’ of America (see p. 161).
It is also the birthplace of country music (see p. 167).
134
3. Epcot, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. 4. South Beach, Miami.
The sunshine state 3. LISTENING TRACK 19
Listen to the recording and find
F lorida is particularly well known for its oranges, grapefruits, and many types of out:
subtropical fruit. Tourism is one of Florida’s main industries. It attracts about 40 1. where the Mississippi river got
million visitors each year thanks both to its natural beauty and to large amusement parks its name from
such as Walt Disney World.
On the Atlantic coast east of Orlando people can visit Kennedy Space Center where 2. how Native Americans also
the space shuttles are built. The nearby Cape Canaveral is the famous NASA space base called it
where rockets, spacecraft and satellites have been launched since the 1950s. 3. why it was important to the
Because of its mild climate and beautiful sandy beaches, it has become a very popular people there
place for vacationers and retired people from all over the world.
4. the kind of music it is identified
with.
The Mississippi river 4. SPEAKING
P oets, novelists and musicians have taken inspiration

from this mighty river and its history. The people
living along the Mississippi looked at it with affection
Exchange questions and answers
with your class.
and respect and have come to regard the river almost as 1. What characterized the
a living thing. This famous song comes from the musical economy and life of the
Show Boat (1927). Southern States?
2. When did industry develop in
Ol’ Man River MP3 the South?
Ol’1 man river, that ol’ man river, 3. Where does Louisiana differ
He must know somethin’, but don’t2 say nothin’,
from the other states of the
He just keeps rollin’, keeps on rollin’ along. South?
He don’t plant ‘taters3, he don’t plant cotton
And them4 that plants them is soon forgotten. 4. What is Atlanta famous for?
But ol’ man river he just keeps rollin’ along. 5. Why do so many tourists visit
5. The showboat is a flat-bottomed Florida?
boat with a theatre travelling 1. ol’ = old
along rivers and stopping 2. don’t = doesn’t
at towns to present stage 3. ‘taters = potatoes 6. Where does the charm of the
4. productions. them = the man Mississippi come from?
New Orleans is the fifth largest US port. It is on the Mississippi river, near the Gulf 7. How is the river described in
of Mexico. It was established in 1718 as a French colony and sold to the US in 1803. It is the song above?
a very special city, with its own unique culture. The heart of the old town is the famous 8. Why is New Orleans a special
French Quarter, which has been preserved as it was in the 1700s and 1800s. city? Why is it called ‘the cradle
New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz, and jazz still plays an important part in the life of jazz’?
of the town. The most famous festival is Mardi Gras, when people come from inside and
outside the USA to see the parades, costumes, parties, and decorations.
EXPANSION - Walt Disney World
In 2005 the terrible hurricane Katrina destroyed the city.
135
Slavery in the southern states
A frican slaves were brought in chains

from their original homelands to
North America by European slave traders.
A slave belonged to his master like an
animal or an object. He could be bought
or sold. If he disobeyed his master he was
They were sold at markets and mostly beaten or punished. Slaves had no rights:
bought by the rich landowners from the they could not have a home, they could
South who owned huge tobacco and cotton not learn to read and write, their families
plantations and needed a large labor force. were often broken up. Many of them
The whole economy of the South rebelled against their white masters, many
depended on slaves. They provided a tried to run away and many were caught
cheap and reliable source of agricultural and killed.
and household labor. All the rich families Antislavery northerners began helping
of planters had slaves and black servants, fugitive slaves escape from southern
including people like George Washington plantations to the North as early as the
and Thomas Jefferson. 1780s. Known as the Underground
By the middle of the nineteenth Railroad, the organization gained real
century there were about 4 million slaves momentum in the 1830s and eventually
and 8 million white people living in the helped about 100,000 slaves reach
southern states of the USA. freedom.
H arriet Beecher Stowe wrote
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852),
a book about the sufferings of
the black slaves on the southern
6. A poster advertising a slave sale.
plantations. The book was read
by millions of people all over the
world and had a strong impact
on the readers. However, Uncle
5. READING
Tom became the symbol of the
PAIRWORK. Read the texts in obsequious and servile black man
these two pages and prepare abjectly obedient to white people.
ten questions about the subject. This behavior was criticized by the
Then exchange questions and Black Movement of the 1960s (see
answers with your partner. It is not only a park
p.113).
7. Black slaves working in the

cotton fields.
1. It is where the Puritans settled and founded the fi rst

colonies. Th e American Revolution began there. 2. Because
it was founded by English colonists and traded with foreign
countries. 3. Th ey were Puritans who left England to
escape persecution. 4. In New England. 5. Because it is the
most industrialized area of the USA. 6. Because both the
Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were
signed there. 7. One of the Founding Fathers. 8. He founded
a hospital, a fi re company, a library, an insurance company
and a university for his town. For his country he helped write
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and,
as minister to France, he persuaded the French to support the
colonists during the war against the British. He contributed
to the comfort and safety of everyday life inventing the
lightning rod, bifocal glasses, a heating stove, and some
musical instruments. 9. District of Columbia. 10. Th e Capitol,
the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Pentagon.
136
Black music
W hen they were together, either in the cotton fields or at religious gatherings,
black slaves used to sing. Their work songs, called ‘blues’, expressed the
sadness of their lives, while ‘spirituals’ were religious songs, which referred to God
and the Gospel, as they promised people the end of their sufferings and a better life
in Heaven.
Black music, which was a mixture of African sounds and western tunes, has
become famous all over the world. Soul, jazz, and rock music originated from that.
I’m on My Way MP3
I’m on my way and I won’t turn back,

I’m on my way, great God, I’m on my way. S everal African American writers
wrote about the life of black
people in the South.
I’ll ask my brother, come, go with me,
I’ll ask my brother, come, go with me,
I’ll ask my brother, come, go with me, Black Boy (1945) by Richard Wright
I’m on my way, great God, I’m on my way. is a moving account of the writer’s
childhood and adolescence in the
If he won’t come, I’ll go alone etc.
South in the 1910s and 1920s.
I’ll ask my sister, come, go with me etc.
If she won’t come, I’ll go anyhow etc.
I’m on my way to the freedom land, etc. Alex Haley’s novel Roots: the Saga
of an American Family (1976),
(more verses can be added if you like)
based on his family’s history, was
one of the great books of African
American Literature. Starting
Born in Slavery with the story of his ancestor
Kunta Kinte, kidnapped in his
I n 1938 President Roosevelt ordered a survey on the former slaves who were still
alive. 2,300 people were found who were children in 1865 when the slaves were
set free. They agreed to be interviewed and to talk about their families and their
village in West Africa and taken
to the United States as a slave,
the writer covers seven American
life as slaves. In 2001 the Library of Congress put their narratives on the Internet for generations: from deportation,
anybody to read and learn. through slavery, to freedom and
life in modern society.
Toni Morrison’s book Beloved

(1987), is based on a real 1856
case, in which an escaped slave
mother killed her children rather
than allowing slave catchers

to take them back into slavery.
One main theme of the novel
is the impact of slavery and of
the emancipation of slaves on
individual black people, and the
impossibility to repress the painful
memories of their past.
8. Andy Warhol,
Mammy, 1981.
6. WWW 7. ESSAY WRITING

Go to www.memory.loc.gov/ammeml/ Using about 150-180 words
snhtml and find more about what the outline the main characteristics
former slaves had to say. of the South.
137
The Southwest
1. WARM UP!
Southwestern states.
2. READING
Southwest. Then make a card
using the model on page 120.
EXPANSION - The Colorado River
T he saguaro is the symbol of

Arizona. It is a giant cactus that
may reach 15 m in height and live
1. The Painted Desert is a fascinating place. Its multicolored landscape ranges from lavenders to shades of gray, with
occasional touches of red, orange and pink.
for 150 to 200 years. It grows very
slowly. It blooms for the first time
after 50 years: the white flower The Southwestern states
blooms after sunset and dies the
P
following day because of the arts of the Southwest once belonged to Mexico and the United States obtained this land
heat. The red fruits have always following the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. Forty per cent of the population are
been an important food for Native Latinos. The population in the region is growing rapidly. Arizona, for example, now rivals
Americans, who also use its wood the Southern states as a destination for retired Americans in search of a warm climate.
for many purposes.
Arizona and New Mexico
A rizona and New Mexico are fascinating lands of mountains, canyons and deserts.
Places like the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, the Painted Desert and the
Petrified Forest are some of the world’s most spectacular sights: towering cliffs sculpted by
wind and rain over the millennia, shades of red, orange and yellow which are reflected by
the smooth sandstone walls and change dramatically throughout the day.
The US government established a nuclear research center at Los Alamos in 1943. The
first atomic bomb was developed there and exploded in the desert in 1945. Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory still conducts research into atomic energy for the US Department of
Energy.
S un City near Phoenix, Arizona is a community for retired people. It was established
in 1960 and offers old people the opportunity to live with others of their own age
in a quiet place with a dry, warm climate. Families in Sun City must have one person
over the age of fifty and children under 18 are banned.
Sun City is a quiet town with churches, hospitals, a very good library and an orchestra.
Big or small, all the houses are easy for old people to live in. There are a lot of leisure
facilities suitable for old people such as sports centers and clubs, one of the largest
swimming pools in Arizona, eleven golf courses and two boating lakes. Can you guess
what is missing in Sun City that is found in most other towns?
140
Tour A tour of Arizona
The Grand Canyon, created by the erosion of the

Colorado river, is one of the ‘Seven Natural Wonders
in the World’.
Hoover Dam, on the border of Nevada and

Arizona, was created in the 1930s and, at that
time, was the largest dam in the world. It created Monument Valley is one of the best known sights
Lake Mead, a huge artificial lake which covers in the USA. It is a flat valley with red sandstone
640 square km. The dam is an amazing structure formations up to 300 metres high, which have been
and a marvel of engineering. It was designated carved by the wind and rain into fantastic shapes.
a National Historic Landmark. The view is fascinating and the atmosphere magic.
It is within the Navajo Reservation and parts of the
Lake valley are sacred to the Navajo people, who have
n
Mead n yo lived here since the 18th century.
2 Ca y Four
an
d 3 lle
Gr Va Corners
1 ent
m
nu 4
Mo Canyon
de Chelly
San Francisco
Flagstaff Peaks
Sedona 6 5
Petrified Forest
7
Painted Desert
Phoenix
Cathedral Rock, Sedona. Sedona is a tourist Tucson White House Ruins. Canyon de Chelly National
destination of great charm and beauty. Its Monument, within the boundaries of the Navajo
most distinctive feature is its stunning red rock Nation, shows ancient ruins of the Anasazi people,
formations, which were considered sacred by the who lived there until mid-1200s. Their culture is
early Native American inhabitants. perhaps best-known for the stone and adobe
dwellings built along cliff walls. The adobe houses
were built out of mud and dirt that they had
molded together.
At more than 2,000 m elevation on the Colorado The Petrified Forest National Park, is a historical
Plateau, near the largest Ponderosa Pine forest site next to the Painted Desert. It is home to one
in the USA, Flagstaff is a nice city, popular with of the largest concentration of petrified wood.
travellers and film-makers. North of the city, the San Stone logs and impressive fossils are evidence of
Francisco Peaks, a volcanic mountain range with the existence of magnificent forests and prehistoric
the highest peak in Arizona (3,850 m), is a popular creatures.
ski resort.
141
Texas and Oklahoma
T exas and Oklahoma are two of the great agricultural states of

the USA, producing corn, wheat, rye, and cotton. Farming is
highly mechanized and organized on a large scale. Huge ranches
With its large cities, east Texas is the most industrialized area.
Because of its conservative religious and political culture, Texas
is often considered part of the Deep South. The city of Dallas will
and cattle farms are scattered all over the country and large herds for ever be connected to the killing of President John Kennedy in
of livestock graze in the prairies. Thanks to irrigation fruit and 1963, an event which profoundly shocked most people in the US
vegetables are now successfully produced on a large scale in Texas. and the world.
These two states used to be the leading producers of oil and However Texas is not only that. In recent years it has become
natural gas. Texas produced about one-fourth of America’s oil. Oil the new frontier. More than 120,000 US citizens moved to
wells and big refineries were a typical sight both of the prairies Houston in 2006-2007. Young professionals and middle class
and of cities like Houston and Dallas in Texas, and Tulsa in families are moving there owing to its high rate of development,
Oklahoma. But now the wells are running dry, the horse heads employment opportunities, reasonable house prices, lower cost
have a spectral look about them and computers have taken the of living and competitive schools. Retired people move there
place of the oil industry. attracted by the mild climate of the Sun Belt that goes from
Texas is the second largest US state, about 700,000 square Atlanta (Georgia) to Phoenix (Arizona).
kilometers (two and a half times the size of Italy). Though the very Texas is the national leader in wind power. Most of Texas wind-
name of Texas evokes images of cowboys, longhorn cattle, oil wells energy production is in petroleum-producing West Texas, where
and rangeland, about 80% of the people live in or around cities. nearly 4,000 wind turbines tower over oil pump jacks.
2. Allied Bank Tower in Dallas was designed by architect I.M. Pei.
D uring the 1800s Oklahoma was a huge reservation

known as ‘Indian Territory’. The name of the state
comes from two Indian words: okla, meaning ‘people’, and
homa, meaning ‘red’. Between 1820 and 1846, whole tribes
from the Southeast such as the Cherokee, the Seminole
and the Creek, were forced to move there. About fifty
years later the Government opened the Indian Territory to
white settlement. The first land rush of homesteaders into
Oklahoma started in 1889. Today many Indian monuments
and memorials recall the cultural history of Native Americans.
3. Postcard of American
Indian territory in
Oklahoma.
4. The American
Indian Exposition in
Anadarko, Oklahoma.
Every year in August
hundreds of Native
American people from
all different tribes
come to the city for
this Exposition. The
purpose is to show off
Native American arts
and crafts and help
preserve their cultural
heritage.
142
5. Silhouette of a pumping jack.
3. SPEAKING
with your class.
1. Nearly half of the population
in the Southwestern states are
Hispanics. Why?
2. What is the saguaro? Which
state has chosen it as its
symbol?
3. Where is Los Alamos? What is it
famous for?
4. What created the Grand
Canyon?
5. What is Monument Valley?
Texas Will Spend Billions on Transmission of

Whose land is it?
6. Is Lake Mead a natural or
Wind Power artificial lake? Where is it?
power.
Texas, headquarters of the US oil industry, is about to stake a fortune on wind 7. What is the Painted Desert?
say is the biggest investm ent in the clean and renewab le
On what experts
plan to
energy in US history, utility officials have given preliminary approval to a 8. Why frost
(land) Permanent is Sun City
and a special
treeless town?
tundra; (climate) Arctic
wind-ge nerated electrici ty from West Texas in North and temperate in South; (major cities) Juneau
build new transmis sion lines to carry and Anchorage;
9. How (cities) Juneau and
is Oklahoma Anchorage; (economy)
connected
to urban areas such as Dallas. Farming cereal, vegetables, fi shing, cattle-raising, oil
with the history of Indian
production; (people) 15% are natives - Indian, Inuit and
“People think about oil wells and football in Texas, but in 10 years they’ll look Aleut; (transport) By water, air or locally by snowmobile
Americans?
t of
back and say this was a brilliant thing to do” said Patrick Woodson, vice Presiden
atts
E. on Climate and Renewables North America, which has about 1,200 megaw 10. What was the Alamo? What is it
of wind projects already in use or planned in Texas. a symbol of?
Adapted from «The Washington Post», July 18, 2008 11. What used to be Texas’ s main
industry? What’s changed now?
12. What shocking event took
place in Dallas in November
1963?
Texas and the Mexican War
T exas was annexed to the USA in 1845. It had belonged to Mexico since 1821,
when Mexico won its independence from Spain, but the Mexican population
was small. Most of the population were Americans from the southern states. In 1836
4. ESSAY WRITING
the Texans declared themselves an independent Republic and started a war against outline the main characteristics
the Mexicans. A famous episode in the epic of the west was the siege of the Alamo of the Southwest.
(a fort in what is now San Antonio) where 187 Texans were killed by the Mexican
army. Among the people killed was Davy Crockett, one of the legendary figures
of the American West. Since then the Alamo has been for the Texans a symbol of
heroic resistance in the cause of freedom. EXPANSION - A cowboy’s life
Cowboys
T he cowboy is a major figure of American folklore. Thanks to books and the

cinema cowboys have become famous around the world. Today they are called
cowhands or buckaroos and include women. Their work has not changed much since
the early days, but the use of machines has made their lives easier and given them
more leisure time. Cowhands must still be able to ride horses round the ranch and
handle cattle as well as drive pick-up trucks. Sometimes even planes and helicopters
are used to search for stray cattle! Often modern cowboys compete in rodeos where
they show their skills at riding buckin’ broncos and bulls and at roping calves.
6. Rodeos are a popular form of entertainment, often accompanied by folk music and huge barbecues.
143
The West
1. WARM UP!
Western states.
1. The twin peaks of Maroon Bells, near Aspen, are among the best landscapes in all of North America.
2. READING
Read these two pages and make
notes on the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains states
T
states. Then make a card using
he region is made of high mountains, forests and deserts. Colorado is the highest
the model on page 120.
state in the USA. Towns and cities lie in the valleys, but these states are scarsely
populated. The main activities are farming and cattle and sheep raising. The largest city of
the region is Denver, which has become an important center for energy research and for
high-tech industries.
The ‘Rockies’ provide some spectacular scenery and are a beautiful vacation area.
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, also extending into Montana and Idaho,
comprises lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges (see p. 94). The region is famous
as the Ski Country, because of its beautiful ski trails and excellent resorts, such as Aspen
(Colorado), Sun Valley (Idaho), and Salt Lake City (Utah), which attract skiers from
many countries.
Nevada is the driest state in the nation, mostly uninhabited desert. Death Valley, on
the California-Nevada border, is the lowest point in the USA (86 metres below sea level)
with temperatures up to 50°.
On the Sierra Nevada mountains (which gave the name to the state) the landscape is
quite different. Lake Tahoe is one of the world’s most beautiful alpine lakes, a breathtaking
stretch of water 39 km long between California and Nevada. An astonishing number of ski
resorts are clustered round the lake, both in Nevada and California.
2. Lake Tahoe.
144
3. Las Vegas. 4. The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City. 5. Arches National Park.
Nevada is one of the few states that

legally allow gambling. The casinos of
Reno and Las Vegas are world famous.
T he state of Utah is the main
center of the Mormon Church
(the Church of Jesus Christ of
3. SPEAKING
In these two places it is very easy to get with your class.
Latter-day Saints). More than half of
married or divorced, therefore many
the adult population are Mormons. 1. Which is the highest state in the
American couples decide to give it a go.
When the first group of Mormons USA?
Las Vegas is Nevada’s largest city. It
settled in the valley of the Great Salt
has grown in the middle of the desert 2. Why do the Rockies attract so
Lake (the largest salty lake in North
and has become the gambling capital of many tourists?
America) in 1847, the area was a
the world. It is famous for its luxurious
desert. They introduced irrigation 3. What is Yellowstone? Where is it?
casinos and hotels and for its 60,000 slot
and good farming practices and
machines! 4. Who founded the state of Utah?
were able to transform the desert
In the south and southeast of Utah Why?
into productive land. Then many
rainfall is very low and vast areas are
more groups of Mormon settlers 5. What is Las Vegas?
desert, as in Arizona. The state is famous
came from other US areas and from
for its beautiful landscapes including 6. Who are the Mormons? How did
Northern Europe to live in the Utah
Lake Powell and several National Parks they change the Utah valleys?
valleys. Every community worked
such as Arches, Zion and Bryce Canyon
to support itself and was originally 7. How is south Utah similar to
(see p. 95), where wind and rain have
founded on the communion of Arizona?
carved the rocks into a variety of natural
resources and on polygamy.
bridges and canyons.
4. ESSAY WRITING
6. Spectacular Lake Powell, on the border between
Utah and Arizona, was created in the mid1960s by Using about 150-180 words
flooding the Glen Canyon. It is 300 km long and
one of the largest artificial lakes on the earth. The outline the main characteristics
striking contrast between the deep blue of the water of the Rocky Mountain states.
and the red of the canyon rocks makes the scenery
outstandingly beautiful.
145
5. SPEAKING
The Pacific Coast states
Answer the questions below.
1. Which US states lie along the Pacific Ocean?
2. Which is the largest of Western states?
T he three states of Washington, Oregon and California lie
along the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific coast is the US door to
the Orient. Seattle, Portland and San Francisco are important
ports for trade with Asia and the South Pacific area. This is
now the most fashionable part of the USA and the center of the
6. READING
industries of the future, such as biotechnology and electronics.
Read pages 146-149 and make notes on the Pacific Coast Oregon and Washington were acquired from Britain (together
states. Then make a card using the model on page 120. with Idaho) in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty. Fur traders had been
the first white men to build some trading posts there in the
early 1800s. It is a region of outstanding natural beauty. High
mountains, magnificent coasts, huge forests of redwoods, sequojas
and pines attract large numbers of tourists. The climate is cool,
damp and often misty, with a lot of rain. Traditional economic
activities concern the production of lumber and forest products,
fish, fruit and vegetables, but the main industry is now high tech
manufacturing.
Seattle, the ‘emerald city’ is surrounded by sea and green
woods. It is one of the most comfortable cities to live in and
has a very high living standard. It is home to two of the world’s
largest companies: Boeing (aircraft) and Microsoft (computer
software). It is also an important center of bio-engineering and
environmental research.
It was founded in 1851 by a group of settlers and was given
its name after the Indian chief Sealth. In 1889 it was destroyed
by a great fire. Eight years later, when gold was discovered in the
7. EMP (Experience Music Project), Seattle, by architect Frank Gehry (1995-2000) and Klondike (Alaska), people came to Seattle on their way to the gold
paid for by Paul Allen, the creator of Microsoft (with Bill Gates) and one of the world’s
richest men. A lover of rock music, he devoted this museum to his idol Jimi Hendrix. It
fields. The new ‘gold rush’ turned the town into a business center
cost him 240 million dollars. as had happened with San Francisco 50 years earlier.
8. The rocky coast of Northern California.
146
9. Redwood trees are very tall and may be as old as 2,000 years.
7. READING
Read the text on the left and complete it in your
exercise book with the words below.
Attracted • began • damaged • descendants • fashions •
hippies • history • immigrants • population • quality • railway •
Revolution • settled • threat • war.
8. SPEAKING
Exchange questions and answers with your class.
1. What are the main cities in the Pacific Coast States?
2. Where is Microsoft based?
3. Who paid for the most famous modern building in
Seattle and why?
4. When did California become a state?
5. When was the first transcontinental railway completed?
6. Who first planted vineyards in California?
The golden state 7. Why is California so highly populated?
A mericans have long regarded the West as the last frontier. Yet
California has a (1) ... of European settlement older than that
of some other states. Spanish priests founded missions along the
8. Why is Spanish the second language of the state?
9. What happened in San Francisco in 1906?
California coast a few years before the outbreak of the American (2) 10. Why did California become known in most countries in
... . California became a US state in 1850, two years after the US had the 1960s and 1970s?
won the Mexican (3) ... and gold had been discovered in the region.
The cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles expanded
incredibly fast, particularly when the first transcontinental (4) ...
linking California with the east was completed in 1869. After the
‘gold rush’, people kept coming to California (5) ... by the new
jobs offered by agriculture and, over the years, by the booming
T he Spaniards were the early settlers in the region. In
the 1700s they established missions there and planted
vineyards. They founded a chain of 21 missions each about
industries of oil, the movies, aerospace and computers.
a day’s walk from the next, from San Diego to Sonoma.
California has the largest (6) ... of the US states. This is due
When the Mexicans took over California in 1825, they began
partly to the migration from the rest of the USA of people looking
selling the missions to private citizens. Many buildings were
for work and a better (7) ... of life, and partly to immigration
left to decay, but several have been preserved and show
from other countries. About one quarter of the population are
beautiful sculptures and architecture.
Latinos. Some of them are the (8) ... of old Mexican families who
lived in California before 1850. Others are (9) ... from Mexico and
countries of Central and South America. Since the 1980s large
numbers of Asians have also (10) ... in California which has now
the largest and most diverse Asian Pacific population.
Perhaps because so many westerners have moved there from
other regions to make a new start, western cities are known for
their tolerance and a very strong “live-and-let-live” attitude. Many
trends, (11) ... and new ideas come from California. During the
1960s and 1970s the Beat Generation, the (12) ... , the student
protest, the women’s and New Age movements all (13) ... in
California.
Earthquakes are an ever-present (14) ... in California. In
1906, a huge earthquake demolished San Francisco. In 1994 Los
Angeles and a part of the San Fernando valley were shaken and
badly (15) ... .
EXPANSION - California’s economy
147
9. READING The Gold Rush
Read the texts on this page and
find out: I n 1848 gold was discovered in
California and gold fever spread
like wildfire. In the next year about
1. why San Francisco football
100,000 people from the US and all
team is called ‘the forty-niners’
over the world traveled to California.
2. who invented blue jeans and This was ‘the Gold Rush’ and the
when people who took part in it became
known as ‘the forty-niners’. San
3. how the Gold Rush changed
Francisco grew from a small town to
California
a city of 25,000 in the space of just
4. what Route 66 is and why it is one year.
considered a cultural heritage The people who joined in the Gold
site. Rush had hoped to make a fortune
in the gold fields. Some succeeded, Route 66
but about 10,000 died along the
way or in the mining camps from
hunger, cold or disease. The gold
fields were soon crowded and only
C rossing eight states and three
time zones, ‘Mother Road’,
as John Steinbeck called it in his
the first to arrive there were able to novel The Grapes of Wrath, linked
make large fortunes. Most miners Chicago (Illinois) to Los Angeles
only found a harsh reality: work (California). John Steinbeck’s novel,
on the gold fields was very hard, and the 1940 film version, served
the little mining towns that had to immortalize Route 66 in the
sprung up overnight were violent American consciousness.
places, living conditions were poor, An estimated 210,000 people
and the supply of gold was rapidly migrated to California to escape the
diminishing. despair of the Dust Bowl. Along its
Many people left mining and 2,248 miles travelled the hopes of
became businessmen providing a generation of poor farmers who
the miners with goods and services, regarded this road as the road to
such as food, clothing, equipment, the ‘American Dream’. The highway
transport, and banking. Others went was started in the 1920s, when road
down into the Great Valley where traffic was growing. It was completed
they became farmers and ranchers. in 1938. It entered a period of slow
decline in the 1970s and was finally
replaced by the Interstate road in
Blue jeans 1984. In about ten years a whole
B lue jeans were created during landscape disappeared. Along its

the Gold Rush by a man called surviving parts you can see the
Levi Strauss. Their name seems to remains of a whole age: rusty old
come from the name of the strong cars, faded signs, useless machines,
fabric, which was originally used and abandoned motels, shops and
to make the miners’ tents. It was gas stations.
called ‘blue of Genes’, because it
was imported from Genoa (Gênes 10. Old gas station in a ghost town along Route 66
in French, which was pronounced at the border of the desert.
‘jeans’ in English). Levi Strauss

realized that gold diggers needed
sturdy trousers with big pockets for
the gold nuggets, so he began to
make some and fixed the pockets
with metal rivets. For a long time
jeans were worn only for work, but
in the 1960s young people made
them the symbol of a new attitude
towards social rules of behaviour.
Since then they have been popular
all over the world. EXPANSION - Dust Bowl and Route 66
148
Tour A Tour of Southern California
(land) Permanent frost and treeless tundra; (climate) Arctic
in North and temperate in South; (major cities) Juneau
and Anchorage; (cities) Juneau and Anchorage; (economy)
Farming cereal, vegetables, fi shing, cattle-raising, oil
Aleut; (transport) By water, air or locally by snowmobile
Hollywood is a famous suburb of Los Angeles where the American movie Los Angeles (usually referred to as LA) is the second largest city in the
industry is based. US, with about 9 million people. It takes hours to drive from one side
of the city to the other. And the population is still growing, as people
from inside and outside the US continue to move in, attracted by the
warm climate and many job opportunities.
2
Hollywood 1
Los Angeles
4 Anaheim
Long Beach Disneyland
Santa Ana
3
Laguna
Beach
San Diego 5
Laguna Beach, Orange County. Orange

County is famous both for its attractions, such
as Disneyland at Anaheim, and for its beaches
along more than 40 miles of coastline.
Disneyland, Anaheim, is an American theme park. It opened in 1955

and was the first major theme park in the USA. People from all over
the world visit the park to meet the famous characters from Walt
Disney’s movies and to explore its magic worlds of fantasy.
San Diego is one of the wealthiest cities in the USA. A mild, mostly dry climate
and a variety of attractions, including a world-renowned zoo spreading over 100
spectacular acres of canyons and mesas, make the city very attractive. 70 miles
of coastline, beautiful beaches and an ideal climate strongly influence people’s
EXPANSION - Los Angeles and Hollywood lifestyles based on year-round outdoor recreation: surfing, swimming, diving,
snorkelling and sailing are all popular.
149
San Francisco
1. READING
1. San Francisco at sunset.
Read the text on the right and
complete it in your exercise book
with the words below.
The ‘City by the Bay’
Bridges • cradle • discovered • ethnic •
fascinating • grown • missionaries •
peninsula • reputation • symbol •
T he city of San Francisco was founded by Spanish (1) ... in 1776. They called the place
Yerba Buena. The US took it in 1846 and gave it its present name. It was just a village
when gold was (2) ... in the deserts of California and the Gold Rush started. By the end of
thousands • violently. 1849 it had (3) ... to 35,000 people.
The city is set on some forty hills at the tip of a narrow (4) ... between the Pacific Ocean
and a large bay. Two (5) ... cross from the city to the mainland: the Bay Bridge and the
2. Sea Lions at Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf.
Golden Gate Bridge. The latter, which was the world’s greatest suspension bridge when it
was opened in 1937, has become the (6) ... of San Francisco. It is through this ‘gate’ that
the ships with (7) ... of gold hunters entered the ‘golden’ country.
San Francisco is rather small (47 square miles) but one of the most (8) ... cities in the
world, visited by millions of tourists every year. Besides its mild climate and its location
on a beautiful bay, the city is known for its (9) ... and cultural diversity which gives its
different parts their unique character.
San Francisco has a (10) ... as a sophisticated, tolerant and liberal city. It has one of
America’s largest gay communities and it is where AIDS struck most (11) ... in the 1980s.
It was the (12) ... of the Beatnicks in the 1950s, of the Students’ Protest Movement and the
Flower Children in the 1960s, of the Gay Rights Movement in the 1970s and of the New
Economy in the 1980s and the1990s. From beatnicks to dot.comers!
150
O n 18th April 1906 for nearly 90
seconds the city suffered one
of the most terrible earthquakes
A lcatraz (the Spanish word for
‘pelican’) is a small island in San
Francisco Bay. Pelicans and other
ever recorded. The fires that birds were the only inhabitants until
followed lasted for three days and the 1850s when it was turned into a
destroyed two-thirds of the city. military fortification. In 1934 Alcatraz
700 people were killed and became the famous high-security
500,000 were made homeless. prison for dangerous criminals and it
However, San Franciscans quickly remained a federal penitentiary until
rebuilt the city, which continued to 1963. Although the island is only
grow. Now all the new buildings are one mile from shore, no prisoner has
‘earthquake-proof’. successfully escaped across the bay.
3. Cable cars. In the background the island of

Alcatraz.
Coit
Tower S an Francisco is famous for its
steep streets and its cable cars.
In 1873 a Scottish engineer invented
Fisherman’s Wharf
the cable cars after he saw a horse
injured when it slipped on a steep
hill as it pulled a tram. Cable cars
are trains pulled by an underground
cable, which carry people up and
City Hall
Victorian Houses down the steep streets. People are
often seen hanging off the sides
of the cable cars, ready to jump off
at their destination. When they are
Japanese Tea Garden,
Golden Gate Park climbing up slopes you can also see
Mission
Dolores skateboarders and roller-bladers
Union
Square
1 clinging to them.
1
2. LISTENING TRACKS 20-21

Transamerica
Pyramid Listen to the guides describing
two tours of San Francisco and
number the pictures in the
Chinatown order in which the places are
mentioned.
Museum of
Modern Art The small boxes in white mark tour
1, the orange ones mark tour 2.
Both tours start in Union Square.
Then listen again and make notes Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures
on the special features of each
San
City Sights place.
Francisco
4. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is a
manufacturer and marketer of premium chocolate
products. Incorporated in 1852 and in continuous
operation since then, the company was formed by an
Italian immigrant from Rapallo (Genova).
Exploring San Francisco Neighborhoods

Welcome to San Francisco! Our city offers a remarkable number
of cultural attractions and world famous landmarks set against a
background of extraordinary natural beauty. San Francisco is a reflection
of the diverse communities that make the city what it is!
So plan your days in a number of fascinating locations and get an idea
of why so many people have left their hearts in San Francisco.
151
(land) Permanent frost and treeless tundra; (climate) Arctic
Alaska and Hawaii are the outlying States in North and temperate in South; (major cities) Juneau
and Anchorage; (cities) Juneau and Anchorage; (economy)
Lands of Contrast
Farming cereal, vegetables, fi shing, cattle-raising, oil
Aleut; (transport) By water, air or locally by snowmobile
1. A team of dogs during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the most famous sled dogs solo competition in the world. It takes place on the first Saturday in March between Anchorage
and Nome (1,678 km) and the winner gets 50,000 dollars. It started in 1973 in memory of 20 men who, in 1925, volunteered to deliver the anti-diphtheria vaccine to Nome.
Giant vegetables!
Alaska, the last frontier it is separated from Russia by the Bering Strait
A laska holds seven world records

for giant vegetables.
Just to the north-east of the city
A laska is the largest state in the US and it is connected to the other US states by the
Alaskan Highway through Canada. Alaska became a state in 1959 and is called ‘the
Last Frontier’ because it still has vast regions that have not been fully explored or settled.
of Anchorage lies the fertile Mat- Mount McKinley (6,194 m), in Denali National Park, is the tallest mountain in
Su valley, where vegetables such America and the symbol of Alaska. It is called Denali (Big) in the Athapaskan language and
as cabbages, pumpkins, swedes, is one of the coldest and hardest mountains to climb in the world. In Alaska there are ten
tomatoes and watermelons grow National Parks (see also p. 95) and wildlife abounds throughout the country. Besides polar
to an unearthly size. The merit is of bears in the north, brown and grizzly bears, caribou, moose, wolves and mountain goats
its fertile volcanic soil, added to the live on land, while whales, sea-lions, seals and sea-otters can be easily seen near the coast.
fact that in summer the hours of
sunlight run almost round the clock.
A
All the vegetables have to be 1. LISTENING TRACK 22 t North
harvested by the end of August, Pole,
when giant ones are assessed at the After reading the text above, a small
great Alaskan State Fair. The state’s listen to the recording and place near
cabbages sometimes weigh nearly complete the card below. Fairbanks,

50 kilos! there is
ALASKA Santa Claus
land House, the
climate biggest theme shop in Alaska.
At Christmas time letters from
major cities children from all over the world
cities are received and replied to (e-mail
address: santanp@alaska.net).
economy
people
transport EXPANSION - Living with bears in Alaska
152
2. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Hawaii: the Aloha state 3. A Hawaii poster, 1948.
H awaii became the 50th state in 1959. It includes the eight largest islands of the
Hawaiian group, a string of hundreds of beautiful islands that stretch over 200 km
from east to west just south of the Tropic of Cancer. The islands are in fact the top of a
2. READING
Read about Hawaii and take
series of volcanoes that rise up from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. notes on its:
The first European to ‘discover’ the islands was James Cook in 1778. The native people
1. date of discovery
had come from Polynesia about 1,500 years earlier. In the 1800s it was a monarchy, the
Kingdom of Hawaii. Around the middle of the century, foreign people, mainly Americans, 2. date of union with the USA
started sugar cane plantations on the islands and, as a lot of labor was required, workers
3. climate
came from many countries, particularly from China, Japan and the Philippines.
The Americans overthrew the monarchy in 1893. In 1900 Hawaii was annexed to the 4. main economic resources
USA and became a US military base in the Pacific. In December 1941 the Japanese attacked
5. main attractions
the American naval base of Pearl Harbor and this brought the USA into World War II.
People live on seven of the eight islands. About 80% of the people live on the island of 6. first inhabitants
Oahu, where Honolulu, the capital city of Hawaii, is also located. Hawaii is the main island
7. present inhabitants
at the southeastern end of the Hawaiian group. The two active volcanoes on the islands
are to be found here: Kilauea and Mauna Loa. The latter is the largest volcano on our
planet. It is 4,170 m above sea level, but its long submarine flanks descend to the sea floor 3. ESSAY WRITING
an additional 5 km. This makes the volcano the highest mountain in the world (more than
9,000 m)!
The population is an ethnic mix. Caucasians (Whites) constitute about 34%; Japanese-
of the West.
American about 32%; Filipino-American about 16% and Chinese-American about 5%.
It is very difficult to determine racial identification as most of the population has some
mixture of ethnicities.
Only about one-fourth of the land can be farmed, but it is very fertile. Sugar cane and
pineapple plantations provide the islands’ largest income after tourism. With its beautiful
scenery, blue sea, sandy beaches, warm climate, tropical plants and flowers that bloom all year
round, Hawaii attracts millions of tourists from around the world, mainly from the USA.
4. Chinaman's Hat, Oahu, Hawaii.
1. 1778; 2. 1955; 3. Tropical; 4. Sugar cane and pineapples;

5. Blue sea, sandy beaches, warm climate, tropical plants
and fl owers; 6. Polynesians; 7. Caucasians, Japanese- 153
Americans, Filipino-Americans and Chinese-Americans

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Different Regions,

O wing to the diversity of the land and the historical

T he Southwest is a region of wide open spaces, amazing

T he Midwest is the heartland of America and the

T he South is a beautiful land of gentle hills and river

Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures

1. The Pilgrim Fathers celebrating Thanksgiving.

1. religious; 2. sailed; 3. ship; 4. land; 5. founded; 6. poorly;

New England The Pilgrim Fathers

N ew England has played a very

C ranberries are one of the

The House of the Seven Gables,

B oston is the capital of

Philadelphia 3. Philadelphia, historic Independence Hall.

Niagara Falls is the most famous waterfall in the USA

New York City on the map). 5. Broadway. 6. Uptown is yellow, Midtown is

The Statue of Liberty

in 1886 for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence.

GiveDigita qui iltired,

Staten 86th St.

Atlantic Ocean 79th St.

2. MAP READING 23rd St.

Look at the plan of Manhattan and answer the GRAMERCY

4. What is the difference between streets and avenues?

5. Which avenue runs diagonally through Manhattan? LITTLE

T he Upper East Side is famous for

T he area between 14th Street up

T he lowest part of Manhattan includes

The Great Lakes region

Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures

A braham Lincoln is regarded by many

cheap because it was mass-produced and

M ark Twain was the pen name of

J ohn Ford was the most famous

Dances with Wolves (1990, directed by Kevin Costner,

Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures

H igh Noon (directed by F. A Man Called Horse (1970, directed by Elliot

Florida Purchase Gadsden Purchase

T he term ‘the West’ referred to different areas at different times

territory between Texas and the Pacific Ocean.

MP3 Pioneers! O pioneers!

Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures

EXPANSION - The Indian wars

MP3 + EXPANSION - W. Whitman, O Captain! My Captain!

The sunshine state 3. LISTENING TRACK 19

Listen to the recording and find

The Mississippi river 4. SPEAKING

P oets, novelists and musicians have taken inspiration

A frican slaves were brought in chains

7. Black slaves working in the

1. It is where the Puritans settled and founded the fi rst

I’m on My Way MP3

I’m on my way and I won’t turn back,

Toni Morrison’s book Beloved

Chapter 2 - Different Regions, Different Cultures

6. WWW 7. ESSAY WRITING

EXPANSION - The Colorado River

Philadelphia 3. Philadelphia, historic Independence Hall.

4. What is the difference between streets and avenues?

5. Which avenue runs diagonally through Manhattan? LITTLE

7. Black slaves working in the

8. The rocky coast of Northern California.

3. Cable cars. In the background the island of