德国的

　　TheFederalRepublicofGermany(German:BundesrepublikDeutschland(help·info)),orsimplyGermany(Deutschland),isoneoftheworld'sleadingindustrialisedcountries.LocatedinCentralEurope,itisborderedtothenorthbytheNorthSea,Denmark,andtheBalticSea,totheeastbyPolandandtheCzechRepublic,tothesouthbyAustriaandSwitzerland,andtothewestbyFrance,Luxembourg,BelgiumandtheNetherlands.

　　Germanyisademocraticparliamentaryfederalrepublic,madeupof16statescalledBundesländer,whichincertainspheresactindependentlyofthefederation.Historicallyconsistingofseveralsovereignnationswiththeirownhistory,cultureaswellasreligion,GermanywasunifiedasanationstateduringtheFranco-PrussianWarin1870/1871.

　　TheFederalRepublicofGermanyisamemberstateoftheUnitedNations,NATO,theG8andtheG4nations,andisafoundingmemberoftheEuropeanUnion.ItistheEuropeanUnion'smostpopulousandmosteconomicallypowerfulmemberstate.Germanyalsoplaysaroleasoneoftheworld'smajorpowers.

　　美国的

　　ThecultureoftheUnitedStatesisaWesternculture,andhasbeendevelopingsincelongbeforetheUnitedStatesbecameacountry.ItschiefearlyinfluencewasBritishculture,duetocolonialtieswiththeBritishthatspreadtheEnglishlanguage,legalsystemandotherculturalinheritances.OtherimportantinfluencescamefromotherpartsofEurope,especiallycountriesfromwhichlargenumbersimmigratedsuchasIreland,Germany,Poland,andItaly;theNativeAmericanpeoples;Africa,especiallythewesternpart,fromwhichcametheancestorsofmostAfricanAmericans;andyounggroupsofimmigrants.AmericanculturealsohassharedinfluenceontheculturesofitsneighborsintheNewWorld.

　　TheUnitedStateshastraditionallybeenknownasameltingpot,butrecentacademicopinionistendingtowardsculturaldiversity,pluralismandtheimageofasaladbowlratherthanameltingpotDuetotheextentofAmericanculturetherearemanyintegratedbutuniquesubcultureswithintheUnitedStates.ThestrongestinfluencesonAmericanculturecamefromnorthernEuropeancultures,mostprominentlyfromGermany,IrelandandEngland.

　　ThereisacloserelationshipbetweenAmerica'spoliticalandeconomictraditions.Itiswidelybelievedthattheindividualpursuitofself-interestleadstothebestresultbothfortheindividualandforsocietyasawhole.Ithasbeenasuccessfulformulaforbotheconomicsuccessandoptimalpoliticalfunctionformany.ThepreciseamountofindividualeconomicfreedomthatAmericansshouldhaveisoftendebated,withthe(usuallyrelativelyslight)differencesinopinionmarkingthemajordifferencesbetweenpoliticalparties.Theendresult,however,isthattheU.S.economyhasbecomethelargestonearth,withmostofitscitizensenjoyingcomparativelyhighlivingstandards.

　　ThefactthattheUnitedStatesisthelargestEnglish-speakingmarketplaceallowsfirmstocompeteacrossthecountryandtoenjoyeconomiesofscale(costreductionsthatarisefromthehugescaleofmanufacturing)thatreducepricesandbenefitconsumers.Therelativelyuniformcommercialculture—withmanylargestoresor"chains"operatingnationwide—producesacommercialatmospherethatisrelativelyhomogeneousthroughoutthecountry.ThepopulationoftheUnitedStatestendstobecenteredinl