"Happy Birthdayto You"

The main problem indiscussing American popular culture is also one of its main characteristics:it

won't stayAmerican.No matter what it is,whether it is films,food and fashion,music,casualsports or slang, it's soon at home elsewhere in the world.There are severaltheories

why American popularculture has had

this appeal.

One theory is thatit has been"advertised"and marketed through American films,popularmusic,and more

recently,television.________(46)Theyare,after all,in competition with those produced by other countries. Anothertheory,probably a more common one,is that American

popular culture isinternationally associ-

ted with somethingcalled"the spirit of America"._______(47)

The final theory isless complex:American popular culture is popular because a lot of people in the

world like it.

Regardless of why itspreads,American popular culture is usually quite rapidly adopted and thenadapted in

many othercountries.________(48)"Happy Birthday to You",for instance,is such aneveryday song tha

its source,itsAmerican copyright,so to speak,is not remembered.Black leather jackets worn bymany heroe

in American moviescould be found,a generation later,on all those young men who wanted to makethis manly-

look their own.

Two areas where thiscontinuing process is most clearly seen are clothing and music.Some people can

still remember atime when T-shirts,jogging clothes,tennis shoes,denim jackets,and blue jeanswere not

common daily weareverywhere.Only twenty years ago,it was possible to spot an American in Paris by his or

her clothes.Nolonger so:Those bright colors,checkered jackets and trousers,hats and sockswhich were

once made fun of incartoons are back again in Parisas the latest fashion._____(49)

The situation withAmerican popular music is more complex because in the beginning,when it wasstill

clearly American,itwas often strongly resisted.Jazz was once thought to be a great danger to youthand their

morals,and wasactually outlawed in several countries.Today,while still showing its ratherAmerican roots,

has become so wellestablished.Rock 'n' roll and all its variations,country & westernmusic,all have moi

or less similarhistories.They were first resisted,often in America as well,asbeing"low-class",and then:

"a danger toour nation's youth".______(50)And then the music became accepted and wasextende

and developed,andexported back to the US.________（47）

A.As a result,itsAmerican origins and roots are often quickly forgotten.

B.But this theoryfails to explain why American films,music,and television programs are sopopular in then selves.

C.American inorigin,informal clothing has become the world's first truly universal style.

D.The BBC,forexample,banned rock and roll until 1962.

E.American food hasbecome popular around the world,too.