1.America Is A Democracy

美国是一个民主制国家

In the current age, America and democracy are synonymous. Little do most Americans know they don't actually live in a democracy. America was actually founded as a Constitutional Republic, as stated in the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance. In an Economist ranking of the world's democratic countries in 2006, America didn't even crack the top 10.

在不少人心里觉得美国就是民主的代名词。其实大部分美国人都不知道其实美国不是民主制国家。在美国宪法和效忠誓言中规定，美国其实是宪政共和国。在2006年全球民主国家排名中，美国都排不进前10.

2.George Washington And The Cherry Tree

乔治·华盛顿和樱桃树

According to UVA scholars, Washington chopping down his Cherry Tree is pure myth.The moral of the Cherry Tree story was Washington's humility and honesty, a fable attributed to the leader's refusal to continue serving, thus contradicting the grab for power and tyranny from which the nation had just escaped.

根据美国弗吉尼亚大学学者研究表明，华盛顿和砍倒樱桃树的故事纯属虚构，这个故事是为了表现华盛顿的谦逊与诚实，

3.The Native Americans were Savages

美洲原住民都很凶残

Hollywood has certainly popularized the image of brutes dressed in feathers and buffaloleather, aiming to harm a good-ole tobacco spitting cowboy, but the truth of the matter is a bit more complex.

好莱坞大片已经把美洲原住民形象定义为穿着兽皮，和牛仔打得死去活来的野蛮形象。而实际情况可没这么简单。

In the book "A People's History of the United States," author Howard Zinn quotes Christopher Columbus's first impressions of the Indians, saying "They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

Howard Zinn在《美国人民史》描述了克里斯托弗·哥伦布和印第安人的第一次碰面，他在书中写到“他们没有携带武器，也不知道武器是什么，我把刀拿给他们看，他们居然还不小心被锋利的刀口割伤了。他们没有任何铁质物品。他们的矛是用藤条做的...他们肯定会是不错的仆人...我们用50个人就能征服他们所有人，并让他们服从我们的命令。”

Christopher Columbus Discovered America

4.美洲是克里斯托弗·哥伦布发现的

The "Columbus discovered America" myth doesn't seem to be dying off. For starters, Native Americans occupied the territory for centuries before his arrival. But the Scandinavians were also here previously: their Vikings were known to have landed 500 years before Columbus did.

“美洲是哥伦布发现的”这个说法似乎从未消散。美洲原住民在几百年前来到这里时就已经在这里生繁衍后代了。斯堪的纳维亚人也限于哥伦布发现这块大陆：维京人比哥伦布来到这块大陆早500年。