The United States of America, due to its immense size and diverse heritage, has one of the most complex cultural identities in the world. Millions of immigrants from all over the globe have journeyed to America (24) _______ the Europeans discovered and colonised the land back in the 17th and 18th centuries. The blending of cultural (25) _______ and ethnicities in America led to the country becoming known as a “melting pot.” As the third largest country in both area and population, America's size has enabled the formation of subcultures within the country. These subcultures are often geographical as a result of settlement (26) _______ by non-natives as well as regional weather and landscape differences. While there are countless ways to divide the U.S. into regions, here we have referenced the four regions that are West, Midwest, North East and South. People from (27) _______ region may have different lifestyles, cultural values, business practices and dialects. While there are qualities and values (28) _______ most Americans commonly share, it is important not to generalise or assume that all Americans think or act the same way.
For many American university students, the weeklong spring break holiday means an endless party on a sunny beach in Florida or Mexico. In Panama City Beach, Florida, a city with a permanent population of around 36,000, more than half a million university students arrive during the month of March to play and party, making it the number one spring break destination in the United States. A weeklong drinking binge is not for anyone, however, and a growing number of American university students have found a way to make spring break matter. For them, joining or leading a group of volunteers to travel locally or internationally and work to show problems such as poverty, homelessness. or environmental damage makes spring break a unique learning experience that university students can feel good about. Students who participate in alternative spring break projects find them very rewarding. While most university students have to get their degrees before they can start helping people, student volunteers are able to help people now. On the other hand, the accommodations are far from glamorous. Students often sleep on the floor of a school or spend the week camping in tents. But students only pay around $250 for meals and transportation, which is much less than some of their peers spend to travel to more traditional spring break hotspots. Alternative spring break trips appear to be growing in popularity at universities across the United States. Students cite a number of reasons for participating. Some appreciate the opportunity to socialize and meet new friends. Others want to exercise their beliefs about people’s obligation to serve humanity and make the world a better place. Whatever their reason, these students have discovered something that gives them rich rewards along with a break from school work.
All over the country young people are entering a world of homelessness and poverty, according to a recent report by the housing group, Shelter. Nearly 150,000 young people aged between sixteen and twenty-five will become homeless this year, says Shelter. Some of the young homeless may sleep out in the open in such places as 'cardboard city' in London, where people of all ages sleep in the open air in their only homes - cardboard boxes. Others may find accommodation in shelters run by voluntary organizations or get a place in a hostel, which gives them board for up to ten weeks.' But who are these people? Those who are seeking a roof over their heads are mostly not runaways but “throwaways” - people who have been thrown out of their homes or forced to leave because of parental divorce, an unsympathetic step-parent or one of many other reasons. Take the case of one sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, Alice. She did not come from a poor home and had just passed her exams with good results. The Shelter team met her in a hostel where she was doing her physics homework. It turned out that her parents had thrown her out of her home for no other reason that she wanted to do Science Advanced Level exams - which her parents refused her permission to do, saying that sciences were unladylike! Shelter says that the Government’s laws do nothing to help these youngsters. Rising rents, the shortage of cheap housing and a cut in benefits for young people under the age of twenty-five are causing a national problem, according to Shelter. The recent changes in the benefit laws mean that someone aged between sixteen and twenty-five gets less than older people and they can only claim state help if they prove that they left home for a good reason. Shelter believes that because of the major cuts in benefits to young people, more and more are being forced to sleep on the streets. Shelter also points out that if you are homeless, you can’t get a job because employers will not hire someone without a permanent address; and if you can’t get a job, you are homeless because you don’t have any money to pay for accommodation. It’s an impossible situation.
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