美国人口变迁史

发布网友 发布时间：2023-01-23 21:49

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热心网友 时间：2024-10-22 17:37

People on the Move
1. The history of the American people is, in part, the history of the movement of the American people. They moved from the colonies of the East Coast to the open space of the West. They moved from the country and the farm to the city. More recently, Americans have been moving from the cities to the suburbs.
2. Pioneer Americans began moving from the East Coast to the West 250 years ago. They moved west for many reasons. One reason was that they could obtain unlimited open space and land for farming. Americans liked large open spaces, and they liked the freedom and independence to develop the land in their own way. Some of the land became farms. Important minerals were discovered in some areas, so some of the land became mines. Other large areas became cattle ranches. There seemed to be enough land for everybody. But it was a difficult life -- a life of endless work and hardship.
3. After 1860, the Instrial Revolution changed the United States. Americans learned how to manufacture steel. They began to proce petroleum. The automobile was invented. Factories of all kinds began to appear, and cities began to grow up around the factories. Farmers and other country people moved to the growing cities in order to find jobs and an easier life. In the early 1900s, the cities were busy, exciting places. However, there was also a lot of poverty and hardship.
4. The cities grew up -- the buildings got taller -- and the cities grew out -- they spread out from the center. Private houses with yards and porches disappeared. Apartment buildings, each one taller than the next, took their place. More and more people moved to cities, and the cities got bigger and bigger.
5. Some cities could not spread out because there was no room to do so. These cities, of which New York is the best example, became more and more crowded. More people meant more cars, trucks, and buses, more noise, more pollution, and more crime. Many cities became ugly and dirty. Some people and some businesses began to leave the cities and move to the suburbs outside the cities.
6. The move to the suburbs is still happening. Americans are looking for a small piece of land that they can call their own. They want a house with a yard. However, they do not want to give up the good jobs they have in the city. In many cases, companies in the suburbs give them jobs. In other cases, Americans need to commute to and from the cities where their jobs are. In recent years, more and more businesses are moving to the suburbs. They are attracting many people and the suburbs are becoming crowded.
7. Americans have watched their big cities fall slowly into disrepair and die. Many middle-class people leave the cities, and the very rich and the very poor stay behind.
8. Concerned Americans are trying to solve the problems of noise, dirt, crime, and pollution in the big cities. They are trying to rebuild bad sections of the cities. They are trying to attract and keep business people. They are trying to make their cities beautiful. Many Americans are ready to move back to the cities.
9. Other Americans are finding that even the suburbs have become too crowded. They are looking for unpolluted open spaces and for an independent way of life. They are ready to move from the suburbs to the country.
10. Perhaps Americans will always be on the move.