4. Unit 1 A look at America
Pre – Reading Activity
Discuss these questions
1. Do you know the picture above ?
2. Is it in The USA ?
Predicting
Can you guess the meaning of these words ? Let’s find the meanings.
Liberty Enlightening Statue Copper figure reinforced steel facing Harbor
aloft torch tablet inscribed Designed memorialize alliance American
Revolution abiding friendship contributed Pedestal contains underpinnings
borne subscription accepted Monument World Heritage dedicated Museum
Immigration structural additions extinguished Relit mark centennial engraved
sonnet written tremendous
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5. Reading
The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (“Liberty Enlightening the World”) is a
225-ton, steel- reinforced copper female figure, 151 ft 1 in.
(46.05 m) in height, facing the ocean from Liberty Island1 in
New York Harbor. The right hand holds aloft a torch, and the
left hand carries a tablet upon which is inscribed: “July IV
MDCCLXXVI.” or 4 July 1776
The statue was designed by Fredéric Auguste Bartholdi of Alsace as a gift to the
United States from the people of France to memorialize the alliance of the two
countries in the American Revolution and their abiding friendship. The French
people contributed the $250,000 cost.
The 150-foot pedestal was designed by Richard M. Hunt and built The Statue of Liberty, the
most famous symbolic statue
by Gen. Charles P. Stone, both Americans. It contains steel of a woman, was modeled
after Marie Bartholdi, the
underpinnings designed by Alexander Eiffel of France to support sculptor's mother. The
the statue. The $270,000 cost was borne by popular subscription in Statue of Liberty is is four
tremendous! Her nose
this country. President Grover Cleveland accepted the statue for and a halfthree long,wide.her
mouth is
feet
feet
and
Her
the United States on Oct. 28, 1886. waist measures 35 feet
around.
The Statue of Liberty was designated a National Monument in
1924 and a World Heritage Site in 1984.
On Sept. 26, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon dedicated the American Museum of
Immigration, housed in structural additions to the base of the statue. In 1984
scaffolding went up for a major restoration and the torch was extinguished on July 4.
It was relit with much ceremony July 4, 1986, to mark its centennial .On a tablet
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6. inside the pedestal is engraved the following sonnet, written by Emma Lazarus
(1849–1887)
USA : State and Capital
The list of 50 states in The USA
Do you remember all states in The USA? ( Give you 5 minutes to tell these )
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7. The brief history of the states in the USA .
Alabama (1819)
Admitted in 1819 as the 22nd state, Alabama forms a roughly rectangular shape on
the map, elongated in a north-south direction. It is bordered by Tennessee to the
north, Georgia to the east, and Mississippi to the west. The Florida panhandle blocks
Alabama's access to the Gulf of Mexico except in Alabama's southwestern corner,
where Mobile Bay is located. Montgomery is the state capital
Alaska
Admitted to the union as the 49th state in 1959, Alaska lies at the extreme northwest
of the North American continent.The 50 states of the United States of America
appear below in alphabetical order, each with the year in which they ratified the
present U.S. Constitution.
California (1850)
California is bounded by the U.S. state of Oregon to the north, by the states of
Nevada and Arizona to the east, by the Mexican state of Baja California to the south,
and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It was admitted as the 31st state of the Union
on Sept. 9, 1850, and by the early 1960s it was the most populous U.S. state. The
fluid nature of the state's social, economic, and political life has for centuries made
California a laboratory for testing new modes of living.
District of Columbia
Washington, D.C., is the capital city of the United States, located between Virginia
and Maryland on the north bank of the Potomac River. The city is home to all three
branches of the federal government, as well as the White House, the Supreme Court
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8. and the Capitol Building. More than 500,000 people live in Washington, D.C. (More
District of Columbia History)
Florida (1845)
Admitted as the 27th state in 1845, Florida is the most populous of the Southern
states. The capital is Tallahassee, located in the northwestern panhandle. Geographic
location has been the key factor in Florida's long and colorful development, and it
helps explain the striking contemporary character of the state..
Hawaii (1959)
Hawaii (Hawaiian: Hawai‘i) became the 50th U.S. state on Aug. 21, 1959. Hawaii is
a group of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The islands lie 2,397 miles
(3,857 km) from San Francisco, Calif., to the east and 5,293 miles (8,516 km) from
Manila, in the Philippines, to the west. The capital is Honolulu, located on the island
of Oahu.
New York (1788)
A constituent state of the United States of America, New York is one of the 13
original colonies. It is bounded to the west and north by Lake Erie, the Canadian
province of Ontario, Lake Ontario, and the Canadian province of Quebec; to the east
by the New England states of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; to the
southeast by the Atlantic Ocean and New Jersey; and to the south by Pennsylvania.
The capital is Albany.
North Carolina (1789)
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9. One of the 13 original states, North Carolina lies on the Atlantic coast midway
between New York and Florida and is bounded to the north by Virginia, to the east
by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by South Carolina and Georgia, and to the west
by Tennessee. The terrain of North Carolina is among the wettest in the country,
with vast marshlands in the coastal tidewater area and numerous lakes in the
Piedmont and Appalachian regions. These three physical regions account for much
of the diversity in lifestyles and cultures within the state's boundaries. The capital is
Raleigh.
Texas (1845)
Texas became the 28th state of the Union in 1845. It occupies the south-central
segment of the country and is the largest state in area except for Alaska. The state
extends nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from north to south and about the same
distance from east to west.
Wyoming (1890)
Wyoming became the 44th state of the Union on July 10, 1890. It is the ninth largest
U.S. state. It shares boundaries with six other Great Plains and Mountain states:
Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east,
Colorado to the south, Utah to the southwest, and Idaho to the west. Cheyenne, the
capital, is located in the southeastern corner of the state.
