who are these people rushing by you on the street`? more than 200 million now call america "home," but most of them can trace their families back to other parts of the world. if you look at the names on shop windows,you will see that americans come from many different lands. the idea that these people, who once were strangers to the united states, have lost the customs and cultures of their original countries and have become "american" is not really true.
in fact. what exists in america is more often a kind of "side-by-side` living in which groups of people from other countries often have kept many of their customs and habits.they join the general american society only in certain areas of their lives such as in schools,businesses,and sports but they keep many of their own native customs and manners socially and at home. this living "side-by-side" has both advanrages and disadvantages. sometimes it may cause disagreements between groups whose ways of life are very different from one another. however, there are also great advantages that come from different kinds of cultures brought by settlers from other lands. there is great freedom of choice among ideas, dresses, food, and social customs in america. everyone can find some part of his or her familiar world in the united states.
移民之国
在街上匆忙与你擦肩而过的人是谁?现在超过两亿的人把美国称作他们的“家”，但他们中的大部分都能够将家族历史追溯到世界上的其他地方。如果你看看商店橱窗里的名字，你就会看到美国人来自于许多不同的国家。这些曾经对美国一无所知的人已经丢掉了自己国家的习俗和文化而变成了“美国人”，这种想法实际上并不正确。
事实上，现在美国存在的更是一种“并行的”生活方式，这种生活方式中，来自于其他国家的人群经常保留着许多他们自己的风俗和习惯。他们只是在生活的某些方面——例如学校、商业和运动——加入了一般美国社会，但在社会上家庭中他们还保留着许多自己国家的风俗和礼仪。这种“并行的”生活方式既有利也有弊。有时它可能导致生活方式相去甚远的群体之间产生分歧。但是从其他国家来的定居者带来不同种类的文化，这也有着巨大的优势。 美国在观点、服装、食物、社会习俗等问题上有着巨大的选择的自由。在美国每个人都可以在教堂、音乐、食物、国家组织或报纸中找到他或她所熟悉的那个世界的某个部分。