英语国家概况—英国

1、Part One: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandChapter 1 Land and PeopleChapter 2 The Origins of a Nation (500BCAD1066)Chapter 3 The Shape of the Nation (10661381)Chapter 4 Transition to the Modern Age (14551688)Chapter 5 The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (16881990)Chapter 6

2、 The EconomyChapter 7 Government and AdministrationChapter 8 Justice the LawChapter 9 Social AffairsChapter 10 Cultural AffairsChapter 1 Land, People and LanguageJ1 Different Names for Britain and its PartsThe official name of Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The

3、geographical names are the British Isles, Great Britain and England. People just say Britain, the United Kingdom or simply U.K.JPeopleEngland is the largest and most populous, almost a quarter of the people lives in Englands prosperous and fertile southeast, with over 7 million in the capital.The ma

4、jority of the population are descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people from Europe who went to England between the 5th and 7th centuries. These people settled in England and drove the native Celtic people to the mountainous areas of Wales and Scotland. Their language became the official lan

5、guage of the country. Most people in Wales and Scotland are descendants of the Celtic people who were the earliest known inhabitants of Britain. The Irish people were also of Celtic origin.About a hundred years ago, as a result of its imperialist expansion, Britain ruled an empire that had one fourt

6、h of the worlds people and a quarter of the worlds land area.JGeographical FeaturesThere are 3 political divisions on the island of Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. The island of Ireland is divided into 2 parts: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.Britain has, for centuries, been

7、 slowly tilting with the North-West slowly rising and the South-East slowly sinking. The north and west of Britain are mainly highlands; the east and south-east are mostly lowlands.There are 3 natural zones of Scotland: the Highlands in the north, the central Lowlands, and the southern Uplands.推荐精选T

8、he highest mountain in Britain is Ben Nevis (1,343m), located in Scotland.The longest river of Britain, the Severn River, which is 354kms long, originates in mid-Wales and flows through western England to the Bristol Channel.The largest lake in U.K, Lough Neagh, is located in Northern Ireland.JClima

9、teThe average temperature in January is around 0 degree and seldom falls below -10 degree, even in the northern Scotland.Factors which influence the climate in Britain are:J1 The surrounding waters tend to balance the seasonal differences by heating up the land in winter and cooling it off in summer

10、. J2 The prevailing south-west winds or the Westerlies blow over the country all the year round bringing warm and wet air in winter and keeping the temperatures moderate. J3 The North Atlantic Drift, which is warm current, passes the western coast of the British Isles and warms them.As a result of t

11、he rainfall distribution in Britain there is a water surplus in the north and west, and a water deficit in the south and the east.JLanguageEnglish is a member of the Indo-European family of language (印欧语系).Old English was strongly influenced by old Norse (挪威语) spoken by the Vikings（北欧海盗）and was clos

12、ely related to the German and Dutch language. The introduction of Christianity added the first wave of Latin and Greek words to the language. The Old English period ended with the Norman Conquest, when the language was influenced, to an even extent, by the French-speaking Normans. William the Conque

13、ror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066. In the early of this period, French, spoken by the Normans, replaced English as the official language in England, while English was only used by the low class. Numerous French words came into the English vocabular

14、y. This period was the Middle English.From the late 15th century onward, the English language changed further into what is now described as Modern English. The printing press was introduced to England in 1476 by William Caxton, who brought standardization to English. The dialect of London became the

15、 standard. Spelling and grammar became fixed. The first English dictionary was published in 1604. Samuel Johnsons dictionary, published in 1755, was influential in establishing a standard form of spelling.Standard English is based on the speech of the upper class of the southern England, adopted as

16、a broadcasting standard in the British media. It is also called Queens English or BBC English.At present, nearly a quarter of the worlds population use English. It has become a universal lingua franca（国际通用语）Today about a quarter of the Welsh population still speak Welsh as their first language and a

17、bout one percent speak only Welsh. Welsh is an ancient Celtic language. It was given equality with English for all official use in Wales in 1965.推荐精选Chapter 2 The Origins of a Nation (500BCAD1066)J The Early Settlers (5000BC-55BC) J1 The Iberians At about 3000BC during New Stone Age, Iberians came t

18、o Britain from Iberian Peninsula, now Spain.J2 The Beaker FolkJ3 The Celts J Roman Britain (55BC-AD410)British recorded history begins in the year 55BC, when Julius Caesar and his Roman troops invaded the island.In 410, Germanic barbarians attacked Rome, forcing all Roman troops to leave Britain in

19、order to defend their own nation, and thus ending the Roman occupation of the island.JThe Anglo-Saxons (446-871)Soon after the Roman left, groups of Germanic warriors, including the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes from what is today Denmark and Northern Germany, landed in Britain. They drove the Br

20、itons to the mountains, and those did not flee remained as slaves to the new invaders.In 579 St. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury; he was remarkably successful in converting the king and the nobility.Anglo-Saxons laid the foundation of the English state, divided the country into s

21、hires and devised the narrow-strip, three-field farming system, which continued until the agriculture revolution in the 18th century. And they created the Witan (council or meeting of the wise men), to advise the king, the basis of the Privy Council which still exists today.J The Viking and Danish I

22、nvasionsIn the 8th century, the Norwegian Vikings and the Danes from Denmark attacked the English coast. In the process of resisting the Vikings, the 7 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England gradually became united under Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871-899).Afred is known as “the father of the Britis

23、h navy” as he founded a strong fleet which first beat the Danes at sea, then protected the coasts and encouraged trade; he translated into English Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People and he encouraged learning in others, established schools and formulated a legal system.J The Norman C

24、onquest (1066)推荐精选William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066.Chapter3 The Shaping of the Nation (1066-1381)J Norman Rule (1066-101381)JTo consolidated his powerUnder William, the feudal system in England was completely established. Accordi

25、ng to this system, the king owned all the land personally. William gave his barons large estates in England in return for a promise of military service and a proportion of the lands produce. One peculiar feature of the feudal system of England was that all the landowners took the oath宣誓 of allegianc

26、e效忠 for the land they held, not only to their immediate lord, but also to the king, in other words , this restrained(resisted) the growth of the power of the barons.William replaced Witan, the council of the Anglo-Saxon kings, with the Grand Council of his new tenants-in-chief. The Grand Council met

27、 3 times a year in the southern cities of Winchester.William sent his clerks to compile汇编 a property record known as Domesday Book, completed in 1086. Today it is kept in the Public Records Office in London.J Henry IIs ReformsHenry II was the first king of the House of Plantagenet. He abolished the

28、annual land tax based on hides (hide _ an Anglo-Saxon unit of land variously calculated as 24 to 48 hectares). He divided the county into six circuits and appointed itinerant justices to each of them.In Henrys time, a jury was composed of 12 men and the jurors function was to act as witnesses, not t

29、o hear evidences and give verdict.As parts of his legal reforms, Henry II insisted that all clerks charged with criminal offences should be tried in the kings courts instead of the Bishops courts.JHenry II VS Thomas BecketIn 1154, Thomas Becket became Henrys intimate friend. In 1162, Becket became A

30、rchbishop, and the next year, a clerk of Bedford was acquitted on a murder charge in the Bishop of Lincolns court. The king demanded that the man should come forward to answer the charge in a civil court, but Becket refused to allow this. This brought matters to a crisis.JThe Great Charter and the B

31、eginning of ParliamentJThe Great Charter (1215)King John was defeated in a war with France and lost Normandy in 1204. In order to avenge himself on France, he demanded more feudal taxes and army service. Dissatisfied with Johns leadership, the lords forced him to sign the Magna Carta, or the Great C

32、harter on June 15, 1215. The Magna Carta contained 63 clauses, the most important being the following: J1the king could not exact索取payment from the vassals诸侯without their consent; J2 no freeman should be arrested, imprisoned, or deprived剥夺of their property unless they are convicted by a jury;J3 merc

33、hants would be allowed to move about freely;推荐精选J4 there should be the same weights and measures throughout the country;J5 traditional rights and privileges优惠待遇should be given to the towns;J6 if the king attempted to free himself from the law, the vassals had the right to force him to obey the law b

34、y every means possible, even by means of a civil war.The spirit of Magna Carta was the limitation of the powers of the king, keeping them within the bounds范围of the feudal law of the land.The significance of the Magna Carta is regarded as the foundation of the British constitutionalism and it provide

35、s the basic principles for the protection of the individual rights in both Britain and the United States.JThe beginning of ParliamentHenry III waged a series of wars on France. Being unable to manage these with normal revenue财政收入, he exacted money from English people under all pretexts借口in violation

36、 of the spirit of the Magna Carta. The outraged nobles, led by Simon de Montfort, rebelled. Thus, it was through the efforts of Simon de Montfort that the modern idea of a representative parliament emerged出现. Later, by the mid-14th century, the Great Council developed later into the House of Commons

37、 and the House of Lords as a parliament.JHundred Years War with France (1337-1453)The Hundred Years War was a series of intermittent断断续续的 wars between France and England. The causes were territory, economy, security and the throne.At first, the war went in Englands favor. As time went on, the French

38、 peasants农民 rallied under Joan of Arc a national heroine, defeated the English and drove them out of France.JThe significance of the Hundred Years War It promoted the concept of English nationalism and promoted the development of the textile industry because it reduced the export of English wool. In

39、 addition, the war raised the social position of the bourgeois中产阶级. All these factors contributed to the decline of feudalism in English.JThe Black Death (1348-1349)The Black Death spread through Europe in the summer of 1348 without warning and, most importantly, without any cure.JThe consequences o

40、f the Black Death J1 It had reduced Englands population from 4 million to 2 million by the end of the 14th century. J2 As a result of the plague瘟疫, much land was left untended and there was a terrible shortage of labor.After the Black Death, the laboring and merchant classes grew in economic and soc

41、ial importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to French.JThe Peasant Uprising (1381)农民起义Although the Peasant Uprising of 1381 was brutally残酷suppressed, it had far-reaching significance in English history, paving the way for the development of capitalism.JChapter 4推荐精选J

42、Transition to the Modern Age (1455-1688)The name Wars of the Roses was coined创造by the great 19th century novelist Sir Walter Scott.The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) was a series of civil wars between two great noble families: the House of York, whose badge was a white rose, and the House of Lancaster, whose badge was a red rose.In the end, the House of Lancaster won and their leader Henry Tudor became King Henry VII (1485-1509) .The Tudor family ruled England from 1485 to 1603. Under the Tudor, England became a