3. In California, where you begin your trip, the climate is usually mild all year. California is a Spanish word meaning "heat of the ovens." The influence of Spanish missionaries who settled the area can be found along the route still known as El Camino Real ("the main highroad"). The names of such cities as Santa Barbara, San Mateo, San Jose, and San Francisco are Spanish. Remains of old Spanish missions may be seen, and there is a Spanish influence in architecture. Slightly south of the route that your train follows is the famous fruit-raising area. California oranges, grapefruit, and lemons, as well as many other fruits and vege­tables, are shipped all over the United States and to other parts of the world.

4. Soon, however, you leave these moist, fertile plains and go up into the Sierra Nevada mountains, with their snow-capped peaks and clear mountain lakes. From these, the train comes out onto a high, arid plateau. This western plateau covers much of the area of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, and parts of Idaho and Colorado. The breezes of the Pacific lose their moisture as they hit the mountains, so there is little rainfall here and the vegetation is sparse. The scenery is often very strange. In some places occasional heavy rains have made deep cuts in the sand, exposing rocky walls of red, brown, or yellow. In other areas the winds have blown the sand into strange formations that have become baked and hardened by the sun. The days are hot and the nights cool. There is agriculture in irrigated valleys, but much of the area is so barren that it is difficult even to raise sheep on it. The region has gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc mines, however. Few people live in this region, but there are occasional bands of Navaho Indians. If you could take a side trip to the south, you would see the Pueblo Indians in Arizona and New Mexico living in houses made of clay baked by the sun. On this trip you might also pass the huge Hoover Dam irrigation project on the boundary between Nevada and Arizona and make a trip to the famous Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.

5. As your train proceeds further east, you cross the Salt Lake desert, formed by the evaporation of the Great Salt Lake. For miles and miles you will see nothing but sand and salt. Finally, you skirt the shore of Great Salt Lake itself and come to modern and prosperous Salt Lake City. From the state of Utah you enter Wyoming and cross the Rocky Mountains through a pass 8000 feet high. Here the scenery may remind you of Switzerland, with glacial lakes and peaks rising 12,000 to over 14,000 feet. The Rocky Mountain area of Wyoming, Colorado, and parts of Idaho and Montana is a paradise for tourists and vacationers. There are all sorts of places for them to stay, from beautiful hotels to camp grounds where one may set up his own tent. Of interest are ghost mining towns, deserted since the end of the gold rush days in the 1870's. Your train then crosses the flat plains of Wyoming, which stretch out for miles and miles, covered with short grass and sagebrush. This is mainly sheep and cattle country, the land of the cowboys. As you cross it, you may wonder where the people of America are. From time to time you may see a few cattle scattered over the plain, or the wagon of a sheep herder, but most of the country is empty. The property of one ranch may cover a vast territory. The ranch buildings are usually located near water, in a small grove of trees. The houses are sometimes large and spreading, often with modern con­veniences. Others are little square, weather-beaten shacks with the paint rubbed off by wind and sand. There are few towns, and they often look like "sets" for typical western movies, with their rows of grayish wooden structures set along treeless streets.

6. As your train crosses Nebraska, you gradually leave this empty country and enter the rich farming region of America. The land becomes fertile and well watered, and more trees appear. Nebraska has many golden wheat fields. In Iowa and Illinois, wheat and corn are important products, and much livestock is raised. The summers are warm and the winters are cold. Since farms of five hundred acres and larger are common, the population is still not dense, although cities become more frequent as you go further east. Their factories and packing houses employ many people. On a typical Iowa farm is a large white house made of wood. It is surrounded by a neat lawn. Behind it is a huge red or white barn which is usually larger than the house. The farmhouse usually has hot running water, electricity, central heating, and a television set. The farmer's wife, when she goes to town, may wear the same style of clothes as her sister in New York or Chicago. The farmer's children may go to the state university.

7. After two days, your streamlined, air-conditioned train arrives in Chicago, where you must change trains and probably stations. A bus quickly transports you and your luggage, and you have an opportunity to see a little of the city. The streets are usually crowded with traffic at whatever hour you arrive. Over your head thunders the local elevated train, which runs on a platform. If your route takes you near the shore of Lake Michigan, you will see a broad boulevard along the water front with eight lanes of fast-moving traffic. Beautiful, tall office buildings and hotels make a spectacular picture against the blue waters of the lake. If your route lay further back from the lake, you would see narrow, crowded streets lined with rows and rows of red brick houses. Vegetable sellers may be pushing little carts through the streets and calling out the names of things for sale in any one of a number of languages.

8. Chicago, with a population of more than three and a half million, is the second largest city in the United States. It is a center of industry for the middle part of the country. The stockyards and meat-packing plants are famous. Cattle from the western plains are shipped here and from these plants meat is distrib­uted all over the country.

9. After leaving Chicago, you cross Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to New York City. These are agricultural states also, but the number of large cities and the amount of industry increases as you go further east. In Penn­sylvania you cross the Appalachian Mountains, which are considerably lower than the Rockies. They are a center of the coal-mining industry. Here you see beautiful country homes in the rolling, wooded hills, and little mining towns with rows of wooden houses dirty with smoke.

10. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey may be found factories of nearly every type— textile and pottery, steel and chemical. This is the richest industrial region of the country, with more city dwellers and a larger foreign-born population than any­where else in the United States. Finally you arrive in the great city of New York, which, with a population of eight million, is one of the largest cities in the world.

11. This trip will not show you all of America, of course. You must also visit the South, which has characteristics of its own. The states of Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida make up the Old South. In some of the southernmost areas, the population is nearly 50 percent Negro. The weather is warmer here, and little snow ever falls. The South has been an agricultural region, raising most of the nation's cotton and tobacco. Now many factories are being built there.

 

12. This is a land of contrasts. Here you will find the large plantation house— a beautiful mansion preserved through many generations. The front porch is usually supported by white pillars, and the home is often surrounded by a beautiful garden. In the South also are the unpainted shacks of white sharecroppers and Negro farmers. These shacks have yards or little tobacco fields beside them. In the early spring, southern gardens are beautiful, with masses of flowering shrubs. In the far South, large live oak trees hung with long, grayish vines of Spanish moss sometimes give a weird appearance to the landscape. To the west is the famous huge state of Texas, with its cowboys and oil wells and great open spaces.

13. Other interesting trips might be taken to the forest areas of northern Min­nesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, or to the states of Washington and Oregon on the Pacific coast. In northern Minnesota you can drive for miles and miles down narrow roads which seem to tunnel through the tall pine trees. Many of these trees are original forest and rise 40 or 50 feet high. Through the trees you may see the blue waters of one of the ten thousand lakes that Minnesota boasts of. Sometimes you may pass an Indian camp, but often you can go all day without seeing another person except perhaps vacationers like yourself. The states of Washington and Oregon have mountains and sea in addition to the forests to attract tourists.

14. Each region of the United States has characteristics of its own. There are many large and modern cities, but a great proportion of the country consists of open land dotted with farmhouses and small towns. In some regions small com­munities are still provincial. In spite of this, however, and in spite of the size of the country, there are striking uniformities in the American scene that surprise foreign observers. There is an appearance of the country as a whole that might be said to be typically American. The usual town of average size, in any part of the United States, has its "main street" with the same types of stores selling the same products. Branches of big stores such as Montgomery Ward or Sears, Roebuck may be found in nearly every town. Every town has the same type of drugstore and supermarket. There is some variety of architecture, due to the differences in climate, locality, and national backgrounds of the people. Yet many American residential areas, especially new ones, tend to have a similar look. Houses of brick, stone, or wood are set apart from each other by a grass plot or "yard." Generally there is no fence or hedge to separate them. In many ways Cheyenne, Wyoming, will resemble Rochester, New York, or Montgomery, Alabama. The similarities result from the extreme mobility of the population and the free interchange of goods.

Exercise 10. Pay your special attention to the italicized words in the text. Сomplete the following statements.
1. One of the largest industries in Chicago mentioned in this essay is (1)___________.
2. The Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania are a center for the (2)_______________industry.
3. In New Jersey there are many(3)_________________________ factories.
4. There is a large foreign-born population in the states of (4)___________________________.
5. Two important agricultural crops of the South are (5)__________________and (6)___________________________.
6. The tourist attractions of the states of Washington and Oregon are (7)__________________and (8) ___________________________.
7. Texas is famous for (9)______________, (10) ___________and (11)__________________________.
8. The state of (12) _____________________is famous for its ten thousand lakes.
9. Some of the uniformities in American towns result from (13)_________________________ and (14) _______________________.

Exercise 11. As quickly as possible, find the number of the paragraph or paragraphs that discuss each of the following.
1. Forests in the northern part of the United States
2. Contrasts in the South
3. The industrial region of the United States
4. The city of Chicago
5. Reasons for similarities in the American scene

Exercise 12. Decide whether each of the following statements is true or false.
1. A very rich person usually lives in a mansion.
2. The business district of a large American city is the main residential area.
3. All of the small towns in the United States could be described as spectacular.
4. Spanish moss hangs from the trees in the South like long gray hair and makes the forests look weird or ghostlike.
5. Sometimes mountain people do not have a chance to travel and are therefore provincial.
6. In the country you usually find many boulevards.
7. Trains, planes, and cars contribute to the mobility of the American people.
8. The population of Chicago is greater than that of New York City.

Exercise 13. Choose the sentence in which the italicized word is used in the same sense as it was used in this essay. Numbers in parentheses refer to paragraphs in the essay where the word or expression is found.
1. You see beautiful country homes in the rolling, wooded hills. (3)
a. The ball was rolling down the street. b. The rolling surface of the ocean was beautiful in the sunlight. c. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
2. After leaving Chicago, you cross Indiana. (9)
a. You must cross the street to get there. b. The teacher is very cross. c. Be sure to cross out the wrong answer.
3. These states make up the Old South. (5)
a. Kiss and make up. b. You will have to make up the examination. c. Students from ten countries make up the class.
4. To the west is the famous huge state of Texas, with its cowboys and oil wells and great open spaces. (6)
a. The open door lets in the cold. b. The matter is still open for discussion. c. After leaving the mountains, we came out into open country.
5. Often you can go all day without seeing another person. (7)
a. Some people cannot go for a long time without a cigarette. b. A camel can go without water for a long time. c. Don't go on your vacation without your raincoat.

American economy had to be built, as they say, from the ground up. What was achieved in the first hundred years following independence is amazing. By 1890, for example, the U.S. was producing more iron and steel than Great Britain and Germany combined. By 1900, according to several criteria, the U.S. had become the greatest industrial nation, and its citizens enjoyed the highest standard of living, in the world. By the post World War II era, the United States was producing 50 per cent of the "gross world product'. Today, the American economy no longer dominates the world as it clearly did then. America has not dropped behind other nations; its gross national product (GNP) has tripled since the end of the Second World War. Rather, the rest of the world has caught up, or closed the distance. While its industrial and technological skills are well known, what many people, including Americans, don't know is that the United States is also the world's leading agricultural nation. America is by far the biggest supplier of grains, growing about 20 percent of all the world's wheat, corn (maize) and oats. Similarly, Ameri­can farmers and ranchers are responsible for 14 percent of the world's dairy products, 17 percent of all its meats and 27 percent of its vegetable fats and oils. This is surprising, because America's share of the world's land that can be used for farming is less than 8 percent, and because only a tiny proportion of America's total population (less than 3 percent) is involved in agriculture. America not only feeds her own people - one of the few countries that does so - but a great many other people in the world as well. A problem facing American farmers is, in fact, that they produce much more food and agricultural products than ever before. The 1985 corn crop, for example, was the largest in history; and there are enormous excesses of wheat, rice, soybeans, and milk as well. This has lowered the price of agricultural products, and some farmers who bought more land or equipment when prices, were higher are now in difficulty. Many reasons have been offered to explain why the U.S. has been able to go from a small, struggling economy to the leading industrial and agricultural nation in such a short time. One reason, obviously, is its size and natural resources, but these alone do not account for its progress. Other countries share these, and some are superior in both. America's vitality, its so-called spirit of enter­prise and initiative, has certainly played an important role. The American system of government, too, has encouraged citizens to vigorously pursue their own economic interest. The rapid progress of American industry and agriculture may also be traced to a characteristic which has often been called typically American. This is the constant willingness to experiment, combined with the desire to find new solutions to old problems. Social and geographical mobility have also played a part. When the older industries in the Midwest had problems, people moved -and were willing to move - to areas where they could find jobs. They were also willing to be trained for new ones. California and Texas are now the leading manufacturing states in America (California is also the largest agricultural producer). Аmerican business and industry has also greatly benefited from the major universities, their basic research, and their willingness to support talent. Significant, too, has been the spirit of enterprise, in other words, taking a chance on both people and ideas. Despite their emphasis on the individual, Americans often work well together in small groups. They respect the person with practical experience as well as the expert with the Ph. D. after his name.

Exercise 14. Answer the following questions.
1. By what time had the US become the greatest industrial nation?
2. What facts prove that Americans are the world's leading agri­cultural nation?
3. Which states of the US are the leading manufacturing ones?

Exercise 15. Complete these sentences.
1. Today the American economy no longer...
2. While US industrial and technological skills are well known...
3. America's share of the world's land that can be used...
4. A problem facing American farmers is that
5. Many reasons have been offered to explain why...
6. The American system of government has encouraged...
7. California and Texas are now ...
8. Despite their emphasis on the individual, Americans...

Exercise 16. Make sure you can paraphrase or explain the meaning of the following word combinations.
1. to catch up (with)
2. to drop behind
3. to triple
4. ranchers
5. to account for
6. to pursue one's economic interest
7. to be traced to

Exercise 17. Put each of the following words in its correct place in the passage below.
market natural resources slump economy supply produce boom import production products industrialized

The health of a big, developed country's (1) _______________depends largely on its industry. Factories have to keep busy. They must (2) ___________and sell their (3) _____________in large quantities. A period of industrial success, when everything goes well and large profits are made, is called a (4) _____________ .On the other hand a period when there is not much industrial activity is called a (5) ________________. To maintain a high level of (6) ____________is not simple. For example Japan, a very successful (7) _________________country, has very few (8) _________________such as oil or coal, and has to (9) _______________them from other countries in order to keep its industries going, and thus to (10) __________________needs at home and also to export its goods to its overseas (11) _____________ .

Exercise 18. Put one of the following words in each space in the sentences below in/to/on/ of/for.
1. Profits depend largely........... production and sales.
2. The main export....... Iran is oil.
3. Thailand is self-sufficient.... rice.
4. Sweden exports wood............ the UK.
5. US agriculture is noted …………its efficiency and high productivity.