大学英语综合教程学生用书 Surveys,Surveys and More Surveys
[00:00.00] Surveys,Surveys and More Surveys
[00:06.48]In the United States,
[00:10.55]there's a widespread belief that statistics don't lie.
[00:17.79]Perhaps that's why surveys are such an important part of American life.
[00:26.54]For many years,politicians,businesspeople,
[00:32.71]and scholars have used surveys to find out more about that mysterious
[00:41.35]and complicated creature,the human being.
[00:46.60]American newspapers and magazines have been taking
[00:53.05]public opinion polls since the 1800s.
[00:58.51]In the 1930s,poll experts such as Elmo Poper and George Gallup
[01:06.56]began using scientific methods
[01:11.52]to select and interview participants in political surveys.
[01:18.47]Since the 1940s,American businesspeople have been developing,
[01:25.92]naming,packaging,and promoting products with the help of surveys.
[01:33.78]And also since the 1940s,
[01:38.72]surveys have been a major research tool
[01:43.97]among scholars in the social sciences
[01:49.82]Psychologists and sociologists have asked people about everything
[01:57.58]from their religious beliefs to their sexual behavior.
[02:03.74]The mass media have frequently reported the results of these surveys,
[02:11.29]and the American public has always been quite interested in the responses.
[02:19.23]However,the most complete and most important survey
[02:25.29]for Americans is the national census.
[02:30.94]A census is official count of the number of people living in a city,
[02:39.09]state,or country.
[02:42.53]The idea of a census has existed for more than two thousand years.
[02:51.18]In ancient Rome,the government counted its citizens
[02:57.42]for purposes of taxation and military service.
[03:03.07]But the first modern census began here in the United States in 1790.
[03:11.90]In that year,the population of the new nation was 3 929 214.
[03:23.55]Since 1790,the American government has taken a census every ten years,
[03:32.11]and the population has been growing steadily every decade.
[03:38.57]The 1980 census reported a population of 226 504 825.
[03:51.11]In addition to statistics on the total population,
[03:57.06]the 1980 census has given us a great deal of information
[04:03.72]about recent changes in American life.
[04:09.36]One of the many important changes concerns where people live.
[04:16.42]American are still a mainly urban people with about 75 percent
[04:24.57]of the population living in or near large cities.
[04:31.33]But,sice 1970,the small communities have been gaining population
[04:38.39]at a faster rate than the cities or suburbs.
[04:44.73]Americans have been moving back to the small twons and the rural areas.
[04:52.49]This is a dramatic change from the trend in preceding decades.
[05:00.54]Americans have always done a great deal of moving
[05:06.18]from one part of the country to another,
[05:10.65]but,in recent years,the moves have been mostly to the Suth and West.
[05:18.09]States in the "Sun Belt"have been gaining population,
[05:24.44]and states in the Northeast and the Midwest have been losing population.
[05:32.49]Marriage and family life hav been changing,too.
[05:38.91]Americans have been marrying later,
[05:44.06]having fewer children,getting more divorces,
[05:49.41]and living more often as singles of as unmarried couples.
[05:56.15]The actual number of married couples has risen in recent years,
[06:04.12]but the percentage of married people has declined.
[06:10.57]Similarly,the number of actual births has gone up,
[06:17.21]but the size fo the average family has gone down.
[06:22.96]The average young wonam of today plants to have only two children.
[06:30.90]Along with many other surveys,the national census gives Americans
[06:38.73]a statistical picture of a changing society.
[06:45.37]It allows the government and the people to see
[06:51.22]what's happening and to adjust to the new picture.
