【正确答案】正确答案：The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States. The idea is rooted in the Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. " Historically the Dream originated in the mystique regarding frontier life. As the Royal Governor of Virginia noted in 1774, the Americans "for ever imagine the Lands further off are still better than those upon which they are already settled". The ethos today implies an opportunity for Americans to achieve prosperity through hard work. James Adams said in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. In American literature, the American Dream was present in writings about the Puritanism immigrations craving for free belief and free creation ranging from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to Mark Twain"s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Willa Cather"s My Antonia, F. Scott Fitzgerald"s The Great Gatsby.