北外网院课程-国情与文化 UK-不列颠总览(翻译版).doc

English Speaking Countries Today 1- UKTutorial 1 - Land and Peoples核心课文-不列颠总览不列颠位于欧洲大陆西北海岸外。是由英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰四个不同的国度组成一个国家。其中央政府设在伦敦，而苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰有其各自独立的议会以处理各自内部事务。不列颠本土大部分为低地，土地肥沃； 在西部和北部地区有丘陵和山脉。虽然它仅有较小的陆地面积，它却拥有6千万的人口，使之成为世界上人口密度最高的国家之一。它有着温和的气候，很少高过30摄氏度或低于5摄氏度。整年的降雨都分配得相当均匀。虽然四个成员国组成了一个联合王国，但是将他们的历史分开来看是正常的事。最大和最有影响力的国度是英格兰，故有大部分的不列颠的历史，兴许有些不公平地被算作英格兰的历史。四国的人们起源于若干个发源地，从以下几点可以考证：l 令人印象深刻的史前文化纪念遗址：诸如圆形巨石阵和埃夫伯里l 原居住在西欧和中欧的古凯尔特人l 罗马人自从公元43年入侵后超过300年的占领l 盎格鲁人、撒克逊人和朱特人等日耳曼语系的人三世纪时开始洗劫和定居下来l 来自爱尔兰而后被称作苏格兰人的斯科特人和当地土族皮科特人合并形成了一个王国l 来自北欧斯堪的纳维亚的维京人从8世纪末开始对不列颠和爱尔兰地区的掠夺而后定居下来l 来自法国北部的诺曼人在1066年武力入侵英格兰所有的这些入侵都深刻地影响了那些变成不列颠的发展演变过程。罗马统治为不列颠留下了：大城镇和城市遗址诸如伦敦、切斯特等；一系列笔直的马路和在北部边境的防御城墙，如哈德安城墙。基督教最早是随着罗马人来到不列颠，但后来是在六七世纪时被重新正式引入到那些诸侯小国。在罗马人撤走时，这些小国出现盎格鲁人、撒克逊人和朱特人的定居点。在维京人入侵时期，除了威塞克斯国这些小国都受到侵扰。阿尔弗雷德王曾在871年到899年统治威赛克斯国，并成功地遏制住了维京人。威塞克斯王朝最终统治了整个国度，当今皇室家族可以追溯到有部分威塞克斯的血统。诺曼征服给盎格魯撒克遜人的英格兰带来了一个新的统治阶级，给接下来的300年文明一个新的语言-诺曼法语。现代英语有着不少的词汇和法语相同并不是偶然，尽管它的基本语法是日耳曼语系。诺曼贵族们和国王间的权力斗争也导致产生了大宪章的出台。大宪章的出台保障了封建利益和为英国议会的发展形成开了路。在13世纪末，大宪章正式通过了上下议院的基本形式。在1534年到1540年由亨利8世统治的都德王朝断绝了与罗马天教廷的关系，引发了宗教改革和英国教廷的创建。 也就在这个时期，联合法通过了英格兰和威尔士的合并，并且给予威尔士在国会的代表席位。17世纪，国会和皇族的敌对最终导致了查尔斯王的被处死、短暂的君主制废止和克伦威尔作为上议院保护者的统治。然而，英格兰的共和是短命的。接着查尔斯二世复辟了。在他死后，他的兄弟詹姆斯继承他的王位。然而因詹姆斯是个天主教徒所以他并不广受欢迎。随后而来的是另一场血腥的“革命”，这使得皇冠最终落到了他的荷兰人女婿威廉和他的女儿玛丽的头上。接下来的一年，权力法通过使至高无上的国会创建。古老的宿敌苏格兰在1707年和英格兰达成一致组建一个国会共同统治不列颠。此时，英国正在“新大陆”美洲，还有印度和非洲的进行相当大的海外扩张。通常是与法国相竞争，其他欧洲的竞争对手还有诸如荷兰人、西班牙人、葡萄牙人和俄人。尽管后来失去了最富饶的殖民地美国，英国在19世纪末还是成为了世界上最强大的大帝国。其影响巨大的扩张的部分原因是由于工业革命的需求所引发的。工业革命发生在英国的于1760年到1830年间。工业化的生产需要一个不断增长的城市劳力和一个不断扩大的海外市场来消费所生产出来的产品。这些需求导致了大英帝国的社会变化，同样的也导致了英国同世界其他国家的关系的变化。于此同时，其古老的保护国爱尔兰正式融入大英帝国。从而，英国成了一个由四个国度组成的联合王国。然而，并非所有的爱尔兰人都对此感到满意。问题日益恶化仍然遗留到今日。随着二十世纪而来的是两次灾难性的世界大战。其影响注定改变了欧洲的面貌和使英国内部的权力平衡发生了变化。 民主改革在19世纪时就开始了。但在第一次世界大战结束时，原本只有部分男性公民才有的投票权无法再保持部分了那些被要求去为国而战的男人们无法被拒绝持有投票权。最终，妇女们也是如此。在第二次世界大战末，英国无法再行帝国制-不管从道义上说还是经济上来看；它也不能忽视普通人的好的医疗、教育和适当的养老金计划。一个接着一个的旧殖民地被给予独立。与此同时，劳动党正在争取一个国家的社会福利系统来抵消阶级间的不平等。三个进步团体的开始导致了欧洲与其盟友美国一起重建它们的经济和政治体系的需要。一个是北大西洋公约组织： 负责监管西欧的安全防御。另一个是联合国：一个设法联合所有国家一起努力维护世界和平的机构。再一个是欧洲联盟：开始于上个世纪的50年代，最初有6个成员国而现在有15个成员国，英国于1973年加入欧盟。这些团体将被往后的单元介绍。General Introduction to Britain Britain lies off the north-west coast of mainland Europe. It comprises four different nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, United into one state. The central Government is in London, but Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own separate assemblies for internal affairs. ET1:Name of country Most of Britain is low-lying, fertile land, with hills and mountains in the West and North. Although it has a relatively small land area, it has a population of nearly 60 million people, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has a temperate climate, rarely exceeding 30C or falling below 5C, and rainfall is fairly well distributed throughout the year. ET2:Population & geography Although the four constituent nations form one United Kingdom, it is normal to consider their histories separately. The largest and most influential country is England, and much of the history of Britain is often subsumed, perhaps unfairly, under the history of England. Peoples in the four lands derive from a number of ancestral sources, notably:l the prehistoric cultures which produced such impressive monuments as the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge; l the ancient Celtic peoples who inhabited western and central Europe; l the Romans who occupied Britain for over 300 years from the invasion in AD 43;l The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes - Germanic peoples who began raiding and settling in the 3rd century; l Scots from Ireland, who began to settle in what became known as Scotland, merging with the indigenous Picts to form one kingdom; l Vikings from Scandinavia, who pillaged and settled areas of Britain and Ireland from the end of the 8th century; click for picture of Viking longboats l and the Normans from France, who invaded England in 1066.click for picture of the Bayeux tapestry All these invasions deeply affected the evolution of the countries that were to become Britain. Roman rule left a legacy of large town and city sites like London and Chester and a series of ruler-straight roads and defensive walls like Hadrians Wall on the northern borders. Christianity first came with the Romans, but was re-introduced later in the 6th and 7th centuries to the small kingdoms that had emerged with the settling of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes as the Romans(ET3) retreated. During the Viking invasions, these small kingdoms were all overrun, except for the kingdom of Wessex, where Alfred the Great reigned from 871 to 899 and successfully held them at bay. The Wessex dynasty came to rule the whole country, and the present Royal Family trace part of their descent from this line. The Norman Conquest(ET4) brought a new ruling class to Anglo-Saxon England and a new language to the culture for the next 300 years - Norman French. It is no accident that Modern English shares much of its lexicon with French, though its base grammar is Germanic. The power struggles of the Norman barons with their King also gave rise to the Magna Carta, which secured feudal rights and led the way to the development of the Parliament, which by the end of the 13th century had adopted its basic form of Lords and Commons. Between 1534 and 1540 King Henry VIII of the Tudor dynasty severed the ties with the Roman Catholic Church and brought about the English Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England. It was during this period, too, that Acts of Union were passed that integrated England and Wales(ET5), and gave Wales representation in Parliament. The 17th century saw hostility between the Parliament and the Crown that eventually led to the execution of King Charles, the temporary abolition of the monarchy, and the rule of Oliver Cromwell as the Lord Protector. Englands Republic was short-lived, however, and Charles II was restored to the throne. When he died, his brother James succeeded him, but he was unpopular because he was a Catholic and there followed another bloodless revolution in which the crown was offered to his Dutch son-in-law William and his daughter Mary. The following year the Bill of Rights was passed, establishing the supremacy of Parliament. Ancient opponents Scotland(ET6) and England agreed in 1707 to a single Parliament to govern Britain, and the country saw considerable overseas expansion in the New World of the Americas as well as India and Africa, usually in competition with France and other European competitors such as the Dutch, the Spanish, the Portuguese, and the Russians. Despite losing the richest of its colonies, the United States of America. Britain became the greatest Imperial power in the world by the end of the 19th century. This huge expansion of its influence was brought about partly by the needs of the Industrial Revolution, which happened first in Britain between about 1760 and 1830. The industrialisation of production demanded an increasingly urban workforce and an expanding overseas market for the goods produced. These demands led to a change in the society of Great Britain, as well as to a change in the way in which Britain related to the rest of the world. During this period, too, the old protectorate of Ireland(ET7) was formally United to Great Britain, so that Britain was now a United Kingdom of four nations. Not all Irishmen were happy with this, however, and a problem festered that has remained with the nation to this day. The twentieth century brought with it two disastrous World Wars, whose effects were to change the face of Europe and alter the balance of power inside Britain itself. Democratic reform had started in the 19th century, but at the end of the First World War the partial franchise of the male population could no longer remain partial - men who had been asked to fight for their country could not be refused a vote in its government. Nor in the end could women. At the end of the Second World War, Britain could no longer maintain an Empire (either morally or economically) and nor could it ignore the rights of ordinary people to the benefits of decent medical care, education, and proper pension rights. One by one the ex-colonies were granted Independence, and at the same time the Labour Party was fighting for a Social Welfare State System to even out the inequalities between the classes. Three further movements began as a result of the need for Europe and its ally, the USA, to rebuild its economic and political systems. One was the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which oversees the defence of Western Europe. Another was the United Nations (UN), which seeks to Unite all countries in the world in peaceful endeavour, and the other was the European Union (EU) which started in the 50s with 6 member states, and now numbers 15, including Britain who joined in 1973. These movements will be dealt with further in later Tutorials. Off the coast 在近海的； on the coast 在沿海地区 Comprise link-V. 由组成，包括这房子包括两间卧室、一间厨