ReferenceforTeachingI．异域风情l.AmericanTeenagersTherearemorethan35millionAmeri-cansbetweentheagesof13and19．Theyarethenationsteenagers．Theyexpressthem-selveswiththeirownmusic．clothesandlan-guage．Theyhavetheemotionsofachildinthebodyofanadult．Theywanttobefreeandindependent，Yettheyalsowanttobetakencareof．Manyteenagersdisagreewiththeirparentsabouthowmuchfreedomtheyshouldhave．Somedisobeytheirparents．Theysaytheirparentsdonotunderstandthem．TheNEWYORKTIMESnewspapersays1956wastheyearoftheteenager．ThatwaswhentheworldTEENAGEwasfirstusedtoidentifythecultureofyoungAmeri-cans．Inthe1950s，teenagersbeganrebellingagainstadults．Teenagersdidnotwanttobeliketheirparents．Theywantedtolistentotheirownmusic，rock-and-roll．Theywantedtoweardifferentkindofclothes．Theywantedtousedifferentexpressionstocom-municatewitheachother．Manymoviesshowedthisrebellingbyteenagers．OneofthemostfamouswasREB—ELWITHOUTACAUSE．ItstaredJamesDeanasatroubleteenager．Onepopularplayshowedteenagersinafunnyway．ItwascalledBYEBYEBIRDlE．ThismusicwasproducedonBroadwayinNewYorkin1960．Lateritwasmadeintoamovie．BYEBYEBIRDlEtellswhathappenstoanAmericanfamilywhenafamousrock-and-rollsingervisitstheirtown．Thefatherofthefamilydoesnotunderstandteenagers．TodayAmericanteenagersspentalotofmoneybuyingrecords，clothesandelectronicdevices．Theyalsospendalotonentertain-ment．Lastyearteenagersspentalmost100thousandmilliondollars．TheNEWYORKTIMESsaysthatwasmorethantheirpar-entsspentonthosethings．WheredoAmeri-canteenagersgetallthismoney?Manyofthemhavepart-timejobs．Sometakecareofchildren．Othersworkatfastfoodrestau-rants．Theyearnabout4dollarsanhour．Manyteenagersdonothavejobs．Instead,theyreceivemoneyfromtheirparents．Theymightgetasmuchas20dollarsaweek．TheyarepermittedtospendthiSanywaytheychoose．ThelivesofmostAmericanteenagerstodayareorganizedaroundtheexperienceofhighschool．Studentsusuallybeginwithschoolattheageof13or14．Someleaveattheageof16．Butmostcompletethe4-yearhighschoolprogram．Theydonotgettheirfirstfull-timejoborbeginuniversitystudiesuntiltheyare17or18yearsold．Thehighschooldayisabout7hourslong．Thedayisdividedintoclassesofabout50minutes．Thestudentshaveamealinthemiddleoftheday．AmericanteenagersstudyEnglish，history，mathematics，science．artandlanguages．Somealsolearnjobskills．Theymightlearnhowtouseacomputerorhowtofixa1car．Otherstudentsmightlearnbyworkinginanoffice，ahospitalorotherplacesonedayaweek．2．TaxesinAmericaAmericansoftensaythatthereareonlytwothingsapersoncanbesureofinlife：deathandtaxes．ManypeoplefeelthattheUnitedStateshastheworsttaxesintheworld．Taxesarethemoneythatpeoplepaytosupporttheirgovernment．Therearegeneral-lythreelevelsofgovernmentinAmerica：fed-eral，stateandcity；therefore，therearethreetypesoftaxes．Salariedpeoplewhoearnmorethanfouroffivethousandperyearmustpayacertainpartoftheirsalariestothefederalgovern-ment．Thepercentagevariesfordifferentpeo-ple．Itdependsonthesalaries．Thefederalgovernmenthasatwo-levelincometax．Thatis，15or28percent．$17850isthecutoff．Thetaxrateis15percentbelow$17850and28percentabove．Thesecondtaxisforthestategovern-ment：NewYork，California，oranyoftheotherforty-eightstates．Somestateshaveanincometaxsimilartothatofthefederalgov-ernment．Ofcourse．thepercentageforthestatetaxislower．Otherstateshaveasalestax，whichisapercentagechargedonanyitemwhichpeoplebuyin...
