The United States is the perfect destination that countless young people aspire to. However, the reality may not be as beautiful as you imagine, especially for Chinese living in the United States. Let us take a look at the truth of modern life in America.
A study by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute for Literacy in April 2013 revealed that there are 3.2 million adults in the United States who are illiterate. This means that in any group of 20 people, about three Americans are illiterate. This figure has not changed much since the 1980s. This means you cannot read the danger warnings on pesticide bottles; you cannot use the internet and social media; you cannot understand street signs, and if you get lost, you cannot use a map. You will find yourself living in a society that operates on facts and data, yet you lack the ability to participate.
In the United States, most issues are directly related to the level of illiteracy. More than three-fifths of prison residents appearing in court and nearly nine-tenths of juveniles are illiterate. Interestingly, there are more public libraries in the United States than McDonald's. However, there are also more prisons than colleges that grant degrees. When it comes to literacy, 27% of U.S. military personnel cannot read training manuals written at a seventh-grade level.
The 21st century seems to have led the United States into an era of lost faith. Research from the University of California, Berkeley, and Duke University, along with a survey by the Pew Research Center, shows that more and more people are beginning to abandon religious beliefs. In 1972, about 5 out of every 100 people reported having no faith. By 1990, that number rose to 8 out of 100. Subsequently, the data skyrocketed, reaching 18 out of 100 in 2010 and 20 out of 100 in 2012. Surprisingly, half of those born into non-religious families converted to believers, even though only 4 out of 100 did so. More people are placing religion aside. Among the non-religious population, men tend to dominate, with three out of five non-religious individuals being male.
New England, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, was established by devout Puritans. Today, these states have some of the highest numbers of non-religious individuals in the United States.
Apple's assets are twice that of the U.S. government, and Microsoft is similarly wealthier than "Uncle Sam." This has led some large corporations in the United States to know how to exploit loopholes in "Uncle Sam's" laws— in 2010, General Electric made over $14 billion in profit without paying any taxes.
As for the ranking of the U.S. GDP, the United States was once firmly in first place in the world during the 1950s, but it has now dropped to 13th place. During the fiscal crisis in 2011, the U.S. trade deficit with China exceeded 49,000 times—worse than the situation in 1985!
An American consumes about 600 bottles of soda each year. However, between 1998 and 2013, the enthusiasm for soda decreased by nearly 25%. Yet, in 2013, the sales of mozzarella cheese skyrocketed to three times the sales of the 1970s.
Americans consume about 100 pounds of chocolate every second and require 100 acres of pizza daily. Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the United States, but only coffee produced on farms in Hawaii reaches commercial scale. Another astonishing discovery is that in Montana, the number of cows exceeds the population by a ratio of 3:1. Few would be surprised that 50 billion hamburgers are sold in the United States each year. As for chicken nuggets and chicken noodle soup? 8 billion chickens are killed each year for this purpose.
As early as 1900, the leading causes of death were pneumonia and influenza. After cancer, heart disease is now the leading killer. In the United States, one in five people dies from smoking, while medical errors are the sixth leading cause of death. Car accidents are also a major cause. In the United States, at least one person dies every hour from drunk driving. However, this number has decreased by 36% since 1991 and continues to decline.
As the number of suicides rises, suicide has become one of the top ten causes of death in the United States. In the United States, you are twice as likely to die by suicide than by homicide. In 2010 alone, 40,000 people chose to end their lives in this manner. This number exceeds the entire population of Liechtenstein. In 2012, the number of soldiers who died by suicide surpassed those who died in combat. Meanwhile, one in twenty-five American teenagers has attempted suicide.
Although Washington D.C. has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country, this does not prevent it from being one of the most culturally advanced cities in the United States. In 2011, Washington spent approximately $18,600 to upgrade the systems in all schools to serve every student. However, the results of such a large investment have been the worst. Since the 1970s, the reading scores on the SAT (commonly known as the American college entrance exam) have never been so low, with 4 out of 10 students unable to graduate.
On the other hand, Washington has been one of the most culturally rich cities in the United States for about ten years now. Its ranking is only surpassed by Minneapolis and Seattle. This means that residents of Washington are better able to utilize libraries. More people are reading online newspapers, leading to a relatively large bookstore available for public use. In fact, the most popular magazine in the entire United States comes from Washington.
5,000 hours is more than enough time to earn a college degree. In front of the television, it is estimated that Americans also spend a total of five years watching TV. So how does this reflect on American adults? It is as follows: American television programs outnumber those in the United Kingdom. More Americans die from being crushed by falling televisions than from terrorist attacks, even though people often discuss an exaggerated threat of terrorism rather than the threat of being killed by a vertically falling television.
7% of Americans claim they never bathe, which, according to 2014 population estimates, means that there are 2.2 million Americans who do not bathe. Additionally, medical reports indicate that the lifetime cancer incidence rate for adults is 40.4%; one-third of Americans are overweight. The number of people suffering from mental illness ranks the highest in the world; reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 1.9 million people are diagnosed with gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia each year. Finally, despite the high number of deaths caused by smoking, 4,000 teenagers attempt to smoke every day, and 1,000 become addicted.
In the United States, raising a child costs $245,000. Between 1940 and 2010, the number of people choosing to marry between the ages of 24 and 34 decreased by 26%, which may be related to this new dynamic in American marriage. In short, more and more people are choosing not to marry. Over the past 50 years, the number of people who have never married between the ages of 24 and 34 has increased by 28%.
In the United States, there are 45 large cities where the unmarried adult population exceeds 50%, and considering the high divorce rate of 100 couples divorcing every hour, this number is continuing to rise. More and more babies are born outside of marriage—about 40% of infants have unmarried mothers. The probability of teenage pregnancy in the United States is 22%, ranking first in the world. Currently, the situation of marrying due to pregnancy is also decreasing.