英美文化教程-下

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插图：2.Industry and ManufacturingFrom a historical perspective，the Industrial Revolution has brought about the birth ofmodem US industry；by 1 870s，the total value of industrial products in the United States had，forthe first time and ever since，surpassed that of its agricultural products；and the 20“。century hasseen the rise and decline of a succession of industries. Modem economists generally apply the term''the secondary sector of the economy''to referto industry in traditional sense.This sector takes the output of the primary sector（agriculture andfishing）and creates a finished，usable product：manufacturing and construction.Manufacturinghas always been the wealth-producing industry in the US economy,and the main and importantsectors are transportation，automobiles，aircrafts，munitions，iron and steel，coal mining，petroleum，natural gas，machinery,telecommunications，electronic and electric equipment，high-tech hardware，chemicals，textile and consumer goods. The US industrial and manufacturing heartland is the Northeast region，which lies to thenorth of the Ohio River and the Potomac River and to the east of the Mississippi River.With95％of the nation’s iron and steel and machine making industries，it is the oldest and keyindustrial region in the United States.Other main industries include ship building，coal mining，textile，and chemicals.Many industrial big cities such as New York，Philadelphia，Boston，Detroit，Pittsburgh，Baltimore and Chicago are located in the region.But other industrial regionshave grown in the Southwest（Califomia）and Northwest with high-tech industry,aircraftmanufacture and oil refinery concentrated heavily in big cities as Los Angeles and San Francisco.The West is at present the most rapidly growing section of the country.Though not the cradle，the United States can be regarded as the most profound and thoroughbeneficiary of the two Industrial Revolutions