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39. Geography of USA(ÃÀ¹úµØÀí¸Å¿ö)
¡¡¡¡1. The vast expanse of the United States of America stretches from the heavily industrialized, metropolitan Atlantic seaboard across the rich flat farms of the central plains, over the Rocky Mountains to the fertile west coast, then halfway across the Pacific to the balmy island-state of Hawaii. The American scene awes the viewer with both its variety and size. The continental United States (not counting outlying Alaska and Hawaii) measures, 4,500 kilometers from its Atlantic to Pacific coasts, 2,575 kilometers from Canada to Mexico. The entire nation (all 50 states) covers an area of 9 million square kilometers and has a population of 220 million people.
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¡¡¡¡2. The sparsely settled, far-northern state of Alaska is the largest of America's 50 states (in many countries they would be called provinces). It is more than two and a half times the size of Sichuan province, Texas, in the southern part of the country, is second in size. Texas is half the size of Alaska.
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¡¡¡¡3. A land of heavy forests (311 million hectares) and barren deserts, of high-peaked mountains (McKinley rises to 6,300 meters) and deep canyons, America also enjoys bountiful rivers and lakes. The broad Mississippi River system, famed in song and legend, meanders 6,400 kilometers from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico the world's third longest river after the Nile and Amazon. A canal in the north joins the Mississippi to the five Great Lakes¡ªthe world's largest inland water transportation route and the biggest body of fresh water in the world.
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¡¡¡¡4. America's early settlers were attracted by the fertile land and varied climates it offered for farming. Today, with 121 million hectares under cultivation, American farmers plant spring wheat on the cold western plain; they raise corn and fine beef cattle in the central plains, and rice in the damp heat of Louisiana. Florida and California are famous for their citrus fruits and tropical avocados; the cool rainy northeastern states for apples, pears, berries and vegetables.
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¡¡¡¡5. Underground, a wealth of minerals provides a solid base for American industry. History has glamorized the gold rushes to California and Alaska, and the silver finds in Nevada. Yet America's yearly production of gold ($140 million) and silver ($150 million) is now valued far less than the oil ($25,000 million), copper, iron, coal and other minerals it mines. Texas, a big oil-producer in the southwest, alone accounts for one-fifth the value of all U.S. mineral production.
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¡¡¡¡6. America has long been known as a "melting pot," for it is a nation of immigrants from all over the world. The first to arrive¡ªfrom Siberia, more than 10,000 years ago, it is believed¡ªwere the American Indians. Today they number nearly 850,000; half live on land set aside for them in 31 states; the rest have "melted" in with the rest of America's nearly 220 million population.
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¡¡¡¡7. Europe, the major source of immigration, began sending colonists to America in the early 17th century. Tens of millions flooded to America's shores from Europe between 1880 and the First World War. The next largest group of Americans trace their ancestry to Africa, black people now constitute over 11 percent of the population. The melting pot has also absorbed nearly 600,000 Japanese, half a million Chinese and 340,000 Filipinos. Many live in Hawaii, more than two-thirds of whose people boast on Asian or Polynesian heritage.
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¡¡¡¡8. Once a nation of farmers, the United States has become increasingly urban since the turn of the last century. Today three out of four Americans live in towns, cities or suburbs. Two-thirds of all families live in separate households, and 65 percent own their homes.
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¡¡¡¡9. Americans are always on the move. Each year, one in every five Americans leaves home and job to find new ones somewhere else. The population is shifting ever westward. California recently passed New York as the most populous state, although New York City (population: 8 million) and Chicago (3 million) are still larger than California's largest city, Los Angeles.
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¡¡¡¡10. The nation's capital, Washington, is ninth in size, with a population of over 700,000. Laid out by French architect Pierre L'Enfant in the late 18th century, it was the world's first city especially planned as a center of government.
                       From Facts & Figures USA by USICA
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