2016年下半年英语六级口语练习美文背诵(4)

　　American Revolution

　　The American Revolution was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political andsocial framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were alreadyindependent nations. Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During theconflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them werenot seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communitiesscarcely knew that a war was on.

　　America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One wasCanada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from thethousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, whichbecame a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third newcomer-the United States-based itself squarely on republican principles.

　　Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose. In somestates, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule alreadyexisting. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.