【正文】 lled onto the scene. How does five, ten dollars for each “A” sound? Or, how about no telephone if one doesn?t do good in school? Need I say more? By the time high school arrives, a student?s place in academic excellence or else their unlikelihood to even graduate has been established. Little can be done now to make life?s challenges seem interesting, especially where school es in. The slothful are rewarded with a nice job at a gas station, a pregnant girlfriend, and a fifteenyearold Ford. The diligent are rewarded with an SAT score of over 1100, acceptance into Yale University, and a ticket to life. By meeting the challenges of school, sticking it out, and pulling through, they are given their greatest reward: success. Passage 09 Building Bridges When you hear the phrase cultural heritage, what es to mind? Maybe you remember going to see ethnic folk dances with people wearing traditional costumes. Perhaps you were exposed to the music and arts of this culture. Most likely, however, what es to mind will be the food. It might begin with the recollection of your mother?s cooking, or visiting grandma?s house and receiving a special treat as a reward for good behavior. As you close your eyes, can you picture your favorite dish? Is it a salad with a special dressing, or a scrumptious dessert? Can you smell the aroma wafting through the house? Maybe you?re far away from home and eating your favorite soul food makes you feel closer to those you?re separated from. Many of us have missed spending a holiday or two with our loved ones, only to find ourselves calling to ask what they had for dinner. It doesn?t matter if it?s the same thing that is served year after year. There?s nothing like food to help us identify with our roots. These recipes, cherished family favorites, handed down from each generation to the next might undergo subtle changes, but there still remains a cable of unity. It is this unity which constructs the bridge between families and generations. Food can be described as the building blocks of this cultural bridge. Good food knows no boundaries. It bees the great equalizer between young and old. Here, in the kitchen the old master works hand in hand with younger family members and friends, passing on traditional skills used in the culinary arts. However, more is taking place than a mere transfer of information about ingredients and mixing instructions. Magic moments are created between child and elder. It bees an opportunity for a parent to teach family values while passing the sugar and beating the eggs. Confidences can be exchanged along with the natural flow of conversation. Passage 10 Struggling in America The United States of America is often seen as a nation in which the pursuit of happiness is not a dream but a reality. The sad truth is that although portrayed as an unusually easy life, life in America is as much of a struggle as in any other nation. For example, higher level education for Americans does not e easy. Although there are scholarships, grants and loans available, if the student fails to meet the criteria he is left with only personal resources to draw from. This takes him into a life with not only a school schedule to follow but perhaps, also, a work schedule and family life. These are often the difficulties that are not portrayed through the TV and movies. These are also the difficulties which many believe they will not encounter by attending an American college. In the second place, there is financial security. Many times what is portrayed of life in America is a life where “money is no object”. The fallacy in this is that, each person has their own personal struggle and money is an object for the majority of the people. In spite of the paratively higher wages available, the cost of living is also higher. Even though it may seem like one is making more money, just as much is spent in surviving. Thirdly is the belief that in the American way of life everyone has a good job. With the increasing advancements in technology, a wellpaying job for those currently in the work force is getting harder to find. Those who have not been exposed to puters and other new methods of munication are finding this to be true. As it stands now, the job market is requiring at least a twoyear degree from college, in order to make enough to live fortably. Even then wellpaid jobs are not easy to find, as it is sometimes believed because of the portrayal of life in America. Passage 11 Comments on the American Dream The phrase American dream generally refers to the hopes has for his own wellbeing in America. It is not necessarily a selfish notion, because achieving the dream is assumed to make America strong. Because the dream is held by individuals, there can be as many different dreams as there are people to have them. A new immigrant may dream of mastering the language, holding a steady job, and having his own apartment. A successful industrialist may dream of acquiring more panies. In the past, the most typical ponents of the American dream for ordinary are as follows. The first ponent is a piece of land where one can sustain himself and raise a family. Having the land has to go beyond mere subsistence. It must also provide for a profit and expansion. Most importantly, it must help to give your children better opportunities than you had. A final ponent is freedom of movement within your geographic area. In our agricultural age, freedom of movement came with horse and wagon. We remain emotionally tied to our agricultural past. We replace the working farm of the American dream with a suburban house and an urban job. The horse that took our ancestors to town once a month for supplies is replaced by a couple of cars that take us several places every day. The essence of the American dream seems to me to be geographic space and physical freed