專四晨讀美文：New York City Culture

ew York City Culture
New York City, in the state of New York,
is the largest city in the United States.
More than 8,000,000 people live there.
That is more than 2 times the number of people
in Los Angeles, California, America's second largest city.
New York City is the cultural capital of America.
It is an important center for art, architecture,
theater, music, dance and film.
New York is also known for its cultural diversity.
About 36 percent of the people were born in a foreign country.
If you asked those people where they are from,
they would probably say: The Dominican Republic,
China, Jamaica, Guyana, Mexico, Ecuador, Haiti,
Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia or Russia.
Most new immigrants come from those 10 countries.
However, about 170 languages are spoken
in America's largest city.
Many Europeans moved to New York about 100 years ago.
They came mostly from Italy, Ireland,
Germany, Russia and Poland.
Today, the New York City area
has the largest number of Jews outside of Israel.
It is also home to more African-Americans
than any other American city.
Except for Puerto Rico itself,
more Puerto Ricans live in New York City
than in any other place in the world.
Immigrants often live in communities
with other people from their countries.
These include communities of Italians, Russians,
Chinese, Koreans, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans.
About 44 percent of all New Yorkers are white.
A little over one-fourth are African-American.
About one-fourth are Hispanic or Latino.
Nearly 12 percent have Asian ancestors.
One thing that all New Yorkers have in common
is the density of their city.
Millions of people live in a small place.
New York City has 5 boroughs.
They are the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island,
Queens, and Manhattan.
The island of Manhattan
has almost 26,000 people per square kilometer of land.
The streets of Manhattan are very crowded
because so many people live and work in there.
Most people travel in buses, taxi cabs,
or underground in the subway instead of owning cars.
Most live in tall apartment buildings.
Manhattan is home to some of the wealthiest
as well as the poorest people in the city.