1. New England 新英格兰

2. Midwest中西部地区

3. Rocky Mountain 落基山脉

4. Great Plains 大平原

5. Statue of Liberty自由女神像

6. Wall Street华尔街

7. Rust Belt 铁锈地带

8. Grand Canyon大峡谷

9. Golden Gate Bridge 金门大桥

10. Death Valley 死亡谷

11. Yellowstone National Park 黄石国家公园

12. Niagara Fall 尼亚加拉瀑布

13. Puritan清教徒

14. City upon the Hill 山巅之城

15. Exceptionalism 卓异论

16. potato famine 马铃薯大饥荒/土豆大饥荒

17. nativism 本土主义

18. xenophobia 仇外心理〔对外国人的强烈恐惧或憎恨〕

19. Catholicism 天主教

20. Protestantism 新教

21. individualism 个人主义

22. collectivism 集体主义

23. ethnic minority 少数民族/少数族裔

24. Asian Americans 亚裔美国人

25. Chinese Americans 华裔美国人

26. Gold Rush淘金热

27. Angel Island 天使岛

28. Chinese Exclusion Act 《排华法案》

1882 an exclusionary law against the Chinese

29. naturalization 归化/入籍

30. Uncle Sam 山姆大叔

31. quota配额

32. yellow peril 黄祸

33. Chinatown 中国城/唐人街

34. Indian Americans 印度裔美国人

35. Filipino Americans 菲律宾裔美国人

36. national 国民

37. alien 外国人

38. model minority 模范少数族裔

a minority group in certain countries achieve a higher degree if socioeconomic success than population average.

39. Hispanics 西班牙裔美国人

40. Latinos 拉丁裔/拉美裔美国人

41. Zero Tolerance 零容忍

42. birthright citizenship 出生公民权

43. anchor baby 锚定婴儿

44. federalism 联邦主义

A principle invented by the framer. Federalism refers to a dual form of government in which there is a functional and territorial division of authority. It refers to a political system in which there are local units of government, as well as a national government.

45. unitary system 单一制

The most common form of political grouping like that of the Great Britain. Such a government has no autonomous units: the ultimate government authority rests in a central government. In such a situation, policies can be applied uniformly to the whole country.

46. death penalty 死刑

47. grants-in-aid 财政补贴

48. Amendment to the Constitution 宪法修正案

49. Cabinet 内阁

50. vice president 副总统

51. presidential nomination 总统提名

52. legislative branch 立法部门

53. Congress 国会

A law-making body.

Made up of a House of Representatives of 435 members and a Senate of 100 members. Discuss &vote

54. House of Representatives 众议院

55. Senate 参议院

56. Judicial Branch/Judiciary 司法部门

Courts —— supreme court courts of appeal and district dourts

Justices appointed by president appointed for life

have the right to declare laws of the congress and the act of the executive branch void if they are judged to be in conflict with the Constitution

57. Supreme Court 最高法院

Highest court, the only national court that can review a state court decision

58. chief justice 首席大法官

59. judicial review司法审查

the right of the federal courts to determine whether or not a piece of law, whether state or national, is consonant with the U.S. Constitution.

60. court of appeals上诉法院

61. circuit court 巡回法院/巡回法庭

62. same-sex marriage 同性婚姻

63. separation of powers 三权分立

At the national level, power is not concentrated in one branch of government, but, instead, lodged in three branches — the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary. None of the three branches is fully dependent on any one of the others, and yet each one of them was some interdependence with the other too. Furthermore, to checks and balances, the personnel of each branch are chosen in different ways

64. checks and balances 制衡

65. pocket veto 搁置否决

within ten days before adjournment Congress passes a bill and the president merely ignore it, neither approving or disapproving it and the bill won’t be a law.

66. bill of rights 人权法案

In 1791, 10 amendments provide American citizens the freedom of belief, the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of assembly.

67. Democratic Party 民主党

68. Republican Party 共和党

69. primary election 预选

70. national convention 全国代表大会

71. undocumented immigrant 无证移民

72. ethnic and racial diversity 种族多样性

73. electoral college 选举团

74. popular vote大众选票

75. Winner Take All 赢者通吃

If the candidates of a party for electors in a given state receive a majority of the total vote, then the party is entitled to have all the electoral votes for the state, even though a presidential candidate receives only slightly more than electoral votes of the state. And this system is called the "winner-take-all” principle. 如果某一政党候选人在该州获得的票数高于对手，即可获得该州所有的选举人票.目前除了缅因州和内布拉斯加州，美国其余四十八州均采取「胜者全拿」（winner-take-all）的选举制度。美国的嬴者全嬴政策;赢家获得一切。

If a candidate wins a majority, he will take all of the states’ electoral votes.

76. racial segregation 种族隔离

the policy of keeping racial groups of people apart from another and treating them differently.

77. Affirmative Action 肯定性行动/平权法案

The U.S. federal government worked out in the early 1970s to facilitate the entry of women and minority groups into educational institutions.

On the primary and secondary levels of education, affirmative action programs first led to a redesigning of teaching programs and textbooks. Discriminatory references to women and minorities have been replaced with “positive role models”. Federal government has required educational institutions to provide equal employment opportunity to applicants from all racial, ethnic, and gender groups, more teachers from minority groups are hired at elementary and secondary schools, and more women professors have been appointed at colleges and universities.

Affirmative Action have not only made it possible for more women and minority groups to complete university degrees and pursue their careers in educational institutions, but also have provided opportunities for “disadvantaged” pupils to catch up with “normal” pupils.

78. reverse discrimination 反向歧视/逆向性歧视

People opposing the affirmative program called it “reverse discrimination” program, for it tends to give preferential treatment to women and minority groups at the expense of white people.

79. Brown v. the Board of Education 布朗诉教育委员会案 158

This was a famous case sued by Brown against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, for its segregation policy in public school education in the 1950s. As many other states had similar segregation policy in public school education, the case in fact incorporated cases from several states, In May 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” This ruling has been viewed by African Americans as a landmark victory in their struggle for civil rights in the U.S.

(Linda Brown, an African American girl was not allowed to enroll in the nearby white school, her family accused Board of Education of Topeka and send the law suit to the Supreme Court. Finally, the Supreme Court declared that the” separate but equal” facilities are unequal.)

80. quota 配额

Setting a number of students from racial minorities to be enrolled in university programs.

(Ethnic quota)

81. charter school 特许学校

in the US, a school that is paid for with public money but is organized by a private group for a special purpose and admits only students who meet its standards. （美国的）特许学校（出于某种特殊原因而建立，公共出资的独立学校，只接收符合条件的学生）

82. school voucher 择校券

In the US, a scholarship (= money to pay for studies) that allows a student to attend a private school rather than a state school.

83. primary school 小学

84. secondary school 中学

85. Common Core State Standards 共同核心州立标准

It’s a U.S. education program aims to establish consistent interstate standards for education, specifying what K-12 (kindergarten to grade 12) students should know about English literature and mathematics at the end of each grade. It also ensures that high school graduates are ready for two-year or four-year college education or direct employment.

一项美国教育规划，旨在州际建立起一致的教育标准，详细规定了K–12（从幼儿园到12年级的儿童教育）学生于各个年级结束之时，在英语文学和数学方面应该掌握的知识。并确保中学毕业生为实行学分制的两年、四年制的大学教育以及直接就业做好准备。

86. Ivy League 常春藤联盟

a group of eight universities in the northeastern part of the United States, that have high academic and social status.美国东北部最著名的八所大学

87. separation of church and state 政教分离

The separation of church and state is the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state.

美国社会与文化名词解释 英汉互译