英美国家概况

英美国家概况英美国家概况 1 Commonwealth1 Commonwealth 英联邦英联邦 It is a free association of independent countries that were once colonies of Britain It has no special powers And the nations are united because of economic reasons Under the Commonwealth the nations develop 2 Eisteddfod2 Eisteddfod Eisteddfod is the Welsh word for sitting National Eidteddfod is the most famous festival of music and verse in Wales It takes place each August and lasts for about a week The highlight of the festival is competition for the best epic poem about Wales written and read in Welsh The winner is crowned Board considered the supreme honour in Wales In this way the Welsh people keep the Welsh language and culture alive 3 Alfred3 Alfred thethe GreatGreat 阿尔弗雷大帝阿尔弗雷大帝 He was king of Wessex one of the seven Anglo Saxon Kingdoms It was he who led the Anglo Saxon to flight against the invading Danes and maintained peace for a long time Alfred was not only a brave king at wartime but also a wise king at peacetime He encouraged education and introduced a legal system He is known as the father of the British navy 4 4 MagnaMagna CartaCarta 大宪章 大宪章 It was also called the barons Charter or the Great Charter in 1215 It has many clause but the important one was that only the Grand Council could decide to collect money or not And it has long been regarded as the foundation of English liberties but its spirit was to limit the king s power 5 Gunpowder5 Gunpowder PlotPlot 火药阴谋 It was a secret plan of the Roman Catholics to overthrow James 1 The Catholics planted barrels of gunpowder in the cellars of the House to kill James 1 but the plan failed Now it is celebrated as a national holiday 6 The6 The GloriousGlorious RevolutionRevolution It was a takeover or palace coup d etate with no blood shed in 1688 When James II hoped to rule as a Catholic the English politicians rejected James II and appealed to a Protestant king William of Orange to invade and take the English throne James II was forced to leave Britain William and Mary who were the relatives of James II took power as joint monarchy 7 7 Elizabeth I One of the greatest monarchs in British history She reigned England Wales a nd Ireland for 45 years and remained single Her reign was a time of confiden t English nationalism and of great achievements in literature and other arts in exploration and in battle 8 Thatcherism8 Thatcherism A theory by British Prime minister Thatcher in the 80s The main idea is to privatize and to control inflation It also turned out to be a failure in curing British diseases 9 The9 The GreatGreat lakeslakes The Great Lakes are the five lakes in the northeast They are Lake Superior which is the largest fresh water lake in the world Lake Michigan the only one entirely in theU S Lake Huron Lake Eire and Lake Ontario They are all located between Canada and the United States expect Lake Michigan 10 the Opposition In the General Election the party which wins the second largest number of se ats becomes the offcial Opposition with its own leader and shadow cabinet The aims of the Opposition are to contribute to the formulation of policy and legislation to oppose government proposals to seek amendments to government bills and to put forward its own policies in order to win the next general elec tion 11 public schools Fee paying secondary schools which are longestablished and have gained a rep utation for their high academic standards as well as their exclusiveness and sn obbery The boys public schools include such well known schools as Eton and Harrow and girls famous schools include Roedean Most of the members of t he British Establishment were educated at a public school 12 New England New England is made up of six states of the North East They are Maine Ne w Hampshire Vermont Massachusetts Rhode Island and Connecticut It is so metimes called the birthplace of America 13 the New Frontier It was the President Kennedy s program which promised civil rights for blacks federal aid to farmers and to education medical care for all and the abolition of poverty 14 eleven plus14 eleven plus an examination formerly used to select school pupils at about the age of 11 for an appropriate secondary education 一种考试对11岁孩子选择适当的中等教育 15 civil15 civil service service they are staffed by the government whose duty is carrying out the administration of laws passed by parliament changes of government do not involve changes in departmental staff who continue to carry out the duties whichever party in power civil servant are recruited mainly by competitive examination 16 house16 house ofof thethe lordslords The house of Lords consists of the Lords Spiritual who are the Archbishops and most prominent bishops of the church of England and the Lords Temporal which refers to those lords who either have inherited the seat from their forefathers or they have benn appointed The main fuction of it is to bring the wide experience of its members into the process of lawmaking 17 the Great Lakes The Great Lakes are the most important lakes in the United States They are Lake Superior which is the largest fresh water lake in the world Lake Michig an the only one entirely in the U S Lake Huron Lake Erie and L ake Ontario They are all located between Canada and the United States except Lake Michigan 18 Great18 Great CanyonCanyon The Great Canyon is an enormous gorge carved by the Colorado River in northwestern Arizona 19 The19 The BlackBlack ThursdayThursday The Black Thursday refers to Oct 24 1929 when the stock market crash happened Ten of millions of shares were dumped and billions of dolla rs of paper profits were wiped out wi