-
英国概况
III.
Explain the following terms.
1.
the
Hardian’
s W
all:
It was one of the two great walls built
by the Romans to keep the Picts out of the area
they had conquered.
2.
Alfred the Great
Alfred was
a strong king of the wisemen. It was created by
the Anglo-
Saxons to adv
ise
the king. It’s the basis
of the Privy
Council which still ex
ists
today
.
3.
William the Conqueror
William was Duke of
Normandy
. He landed his army in Oct,
1066 and defeated King Harold. Then he was
crowned king of England on Christmas
Day the same y
ear
. He
established a strong Norman government and
the feudal sy
stem in
England.
4.
the
battle of Hastings
In 1066, King Edward
died with no heir, the Witan chose Harold as king.
William, Duke of Normandy
, invaded
England. On October 14, t
he
two armies met near Hasting. After a
day
’s battle, Harold was killed and his
army
completely defeated. So
this battle was very important on the way of the
Roman conquest.
5.
Domesday Book
Under William,
the feudal system was established. William sent
officials to compile a property record known as
Domesday Book, which completed in 1086.
It was the result of a general survey of England
made in 1085. It
stated the extent,
value, the population, state of cultivation, and
ownership of the land. It seemed to the English
like the Book of doom on Judgment
Day
.
6.
the Great Charter
King
John’s reign caused much discontent among the
barons. In 1215, he was forced to sign a document,
known as Mangna Cara, or the Great
Charter. It has 63 clauses. Though it has long
been regarded as the
foundation of
English liberties, its spirit was the limitation
of the king’s powers, keeping them within the
bounds
of the feudal law of the land.
7.
the Hundred
Y
ears’ W
ar
It referred to the intermittent war
between France and England that last from 1337 to
1453. The causes were
partly
territorial and partly economic. When Edward III
claimed the French Crown but the French refused to
recognize, the war broke out. At first
the English were successful, but in the end, they
were defeated and lost
almost all their
possessions in France. The expelling of the
English was a blessing for both countries.
- 1 -
8.
Joan of Arc
She
was a national heroine of France during the
Hundred Y
ears’ W
ar. She
successfully led the French to driv
e
the English out of France.
9.
the Black
Death
It was the deadly bubonic plague
who spread through Europe in the 14th
century
. It swept through England
without warning and any cure, and
sparing no v
ictims. It killed between
half and one-third of the population of
England.
Thus,
much
land
was
left
untended
and
labour
was
short.
It
caused
far-
reaching
economic
consequences.
10.
the W
ars of
Roses
They referred to the battles
between the House of Lancaster and the House of
Y
ork between 1455 and 1485.
The former was symboliz
ed by
the red rose, and the latter by the white one.
After the wars, feudalism receiv
ed
its death blow and the king’s power
became supreme. Tudor monarchs ruled England and
W
ales for ov
er two
hundred years.
11.
Bloody Mary
Henry VIII’s daughter and a
devou
t Catholic. When she became Queen,
she persecuted and burnt many
Protestants. So she was
giv
en the nickname ―Bloody Mary‖. Mary
is also remembered as the monarch who
lost the French port of Calais.
12.
Elizabeth I
One of the greatest monarchs in British
history
. She reigned England,
W
ales and Ireland for 45 years and
remained single. Her reign was a time
of confident English nationalism and of great
achievements in literature
and other
arts, in exploration and in battle.
13.
Oliver Cromwell
The leader during the Civil War who led
the New Model Army to defeat the king and
condemned him to death.
Then he
declared England a Commonwealth and made himself
Lord of Protector. He ruled England till the
restoration of Charles II in 1660.
14.
the Bill of
Rights
In 1689, William and Mary
accepted the Bill of Rights to be crowned
jointly
. The bill excluded any Roman
Catholic
from
the
succession,
confirmed
the
principle
of
parliamentary
supremacy
and
guaranteed
free
speech within both the
two Houses. Thus the age of constitutional
monarchy began.
15.
Whigs and Tories
It referred
to the two party names which originated with the
Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Whigs were
- 2 -
those who
opposed absolute monarchy and supported the right
to religious freedom for Nonconformists. The
T
ories
were
those
who
supported
hereditary
monarchy
and
were
reluctant
to
remove
kings.
The
Whigs
formed a coalition
with dissident T
ories and became the
Liberal Party
. The T
ories
were the forerunners of the
Conservativ
e
Party
.
16.
James Watt
The Scottish
inventor who produced an efficient steam engine
with rotary motion that could be applied to
textile and other machinery
.
17.
Winston
Churchill
Prime
Minister of
Britain
during
the Second
World
W
ar.
He
took over Chamberlain in
1940 and received
massive
popular support. He led his country to final
v
ictory in 1945. He was defeated in the
general election of
1945, but returned
to power in 1951.
18.
Agribusiness
It refers to
the new farming in Britain, because it’s equipped
and managed like an industrial
business
with a set
of inputs into the farm of
processes which occur on the farm, and outputs or
products which leav
e the farm.
The emphasis is upon
intensiv
e farming, designs to give the
max
imum output of crops and animals.
19.
the British
Constitution
There is no written
constitution in the United Kingdom. The British
Constitution is not set out in any single
document, but made up of statute law,
common law and conventions. The Judiciary
determines common law
and interprets
statues.
20.
Queen Elizabeth II
The
present Sovereign, born in 1926, came to the
throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. The Queen
is the
symbol of the whole nation, the
center of many national ceremonies and the leader
of society
.
21.
the Opposition
In
the
General
Election,
the
party
which
wins
the
second
largest
number
of
seats
becomes
the
official
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 gov
ernment proposals, to seek
amendments to government
bills, and to
put forward its own policies in order to win the
next general election.
22.
the Privy Council
Formerly
the chief source of executive power. It gave the
Sov
ereign private (―privy‖)
adv
ice on the government
of
the country
. T
oday its role
is mainly formal, advising the
Sov
ereign to approve certain government
decrees
and issuing royal proclamation.
Its membership is about 400.
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23.
Common law
A written law
gathered from numerous decisions of the courts and
other sources.
24.
the jury
A legal
sy
stem established in England since
king Henry II. The jury consists of
ordinary
, independent citizens
summoned by the court: 12 persons in
England, W
ales and Northern Ireland,
and 15 persons in Scotland. In
criminal
trials by jury
, the judge passes
sentence but the jury decide the issue of guilt or
innocence.
25.
the NHS
The National Health
Service was established in the UK in 1948 and
based first on Acts of Parliament. This
Serv
ice prov
ides
for ev
ery resident a full range of
medical serv
ices. It is based upon the
principle that there
should be full
range of publicly prov
ided
serv
ices designed to help the
individual stay healthy
. It is now a
largely
free service.
26.
comprehensive
schools
State secondary schools which
take pupils without reference to ability and
provide a wide-ranging
secondary
education
for
all
or
most of
the
children
in
a
district.
About
90
per
cent
of
the state
secondary school
population in GB attend comprehensive
school.
27.
public schools
Fee-
pay
ing
secondary
schools
which
are
long-established
and
hav
e
gained
a
reputation
for
their
high
academic
standards, as
well as
their exclusiveness
and
snobbery
.
The
boys’ public
schools include
such
well-
known schools as
Eton and Harrow, and girls’ famous schools include
Roedean. Most of the members of
the British Establishment were educated
at a public school.
1. What do you know
about the Roman invasion of Britain?
——
In 55 BC and 54 BC,
Julius Caesar
, a
Roman
general, invaded Britain twice. In AD 43, the
Emperor Claudius invaded Britain
successfully
. For nearly
400 y
ears Britain was under
the Roman occupation, though it was never a total
occupation. British recorded
history
begins with the Roman invasion.
2. Why did the William the
Conqueror invade England after Edward
’s
death?
——
It was
said that king
Edward had promised the
English throne to William but the Witan chose
Harold as king. So William led his
army
to inv
ade England. In October 1066,
during the important battle of Hastings, William
defeated Harold
and
killed
him.
On
Christmas
Day
,
William
was
crowned
king
of
England,
thus
beginning
the
Norman
Conquest of England.
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-
3. What were the consequences of the
Norman Conquest?
——
The Norman Conquest of
1066 is one of
the best known events in
English history
. It brought about many
consequences. William confiscated almost all
the
land
and gave
it
to
his
Norman
followers.
He
replaced
the
weak
Sax
on
rule
with
a strong
Norman
gov
ernment. So the feudal
system was completely established in England.
Relations with the Continent were
opened,
and
civiliz
ation
and commerce
were
extended.
Norman-French culture,
language, manners,
and
architecture were been introduced. The
church was brought into closer connection with
Rome, and the church
courts were
separated from the civil courts.
4. What were the contents
and the significance of the Great
Charter?
——
The
Great Charter
, or the
Magna
Carta, was document signed in 1215 between the
barons and king John. It had altogether 63
clauses,
of which the most important
contents were these: (1) no tax should be made
without the approval of the Grand
Council; (2) no freeman should be
arrested, imprisoned, or depriv
ed of
his property except by the law of the
land; (3) the church should possess all
its rights and priv
ileges; (4) London
and other towns should retain their
ancient rights and
priv
ileges; (5) there should be the
same weights and measures throughout the
country
. The
Great Charter
was a statement of the feudal and legal
relationship between the Crown and the barons, a
guarantee of the freedom of the Church
and a limitation of the powers of the king. The
spirit of the Great
Charter was the
limitation of the powers of the king, but it has
long been regarded as the foundation of English
liberties.
5. What do you know about the English
Renaissance?
——
Renaissance was the rev
ival of
classical
literature and artistic
styles in European
history
.
It
began in
Italy
in
the early
14th
century
and spread
to
England in
the
late 15th century
.
The English
Renaissance
had 5 characteristics:
(1)
English
culture
was
rev
italized
not so much directly by the classics as by
contemporary Europeans under the influence of the
classics; (2) England as an insular
country followed a course of social and political
history which was to a great
extent
independent of the course of history else where in
Europe; (3) Owning to the great genius of the 14th
century
poet
chaucer,
the
nativ
e
literature
was
vigorous enough
and
ex
perienced
in
assimilating
foreign
influences without being subjected by
them; (4) English Renaissance literature is
chiefly artistic, rather than
philosophical
and scholarly;
(5)
the
Renaissance coincided
with
the
Reformation in England.
The English
Renaissance was
largely literary
, and achieved its
finest ex
pression in the so-called
Eliz
abethan drama. Its
finest exponents were Christopher
Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare.
- 5
-
6. Why did the Restoration take
place?
——
When
Oliv
er Cormwell died in 1658 and was
succeeded by
his son,
Richard, the regime began to collapse. One of
Cromwell’s generals
occupied London and
arranged
for new parliamentary
elections. The Parliament thus was elected in
1660, and to resolve the crisis, it asked
the late king’s son to return from his
ex
ile in France as king Charles II. It
was called the Restoration.
7. How d
id the
“Glorious Revolution” break out? What was the
significance of it?
——
In
1685 Charles
II died and was succeeded
by his brother James II. James, who was brought up
in ex
ile in Europe, was a
Catholic, He hoped to rule without
giv
ing up his personal religious views.
But England was no more tolerant of
a
Catholic king in
1688
than
40
years. So
the
English
politicians
rejected
James
II,
and
appealed
to
a
Protestant king, William of Orange, to
invade and take the English throne. William landed
in England in 1688.
The takeover was
relatively
smooth, with no bloodshed,
no any execution of the king. This was known as
the
Glorious
Rev
olution.
William
and
his
wife
Mary
were
both
Protestants
and
became
co-
monarchs.
They
accepted the
Bill of Rights. It’s the beginn
ing of
the age of constitutional monarchy
.
8. What is your
comment on land enclosures in England?
——
Agricultural enclosure
became frequent in
the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. It has good as well as bad
results: (1) Farms became bigger and bigger
units
as
the
great
bought
up
the
small;
(2)
more
vegetables,
more
milk
and
more
dairy
produce
were
consumed, and diet became more
v
aried; (3) enclosure was a disaster
for the tenants ev
icted from their
lands
by the enclosures. They were
forced to look for work in towns, which rapidly
became hopelessly over crowded.
It also
lead to mass emigration, particularly to the New
World; (4) a new class hostility was introduced
into rural
relationships. Concentration
of land in fewer hands increased the price of land
and dashed the labourers’
hopes of even owning his own land. Many
became wage labourers, earning low rates in spite
of agriculture’s
new
prosperity
.
9. How did the English Industrial
Revolution proceed?
——
The Industrial Revolution
began with the
textil
e
industry
. It’s characterized by a
series of inventions and improv
ements
of machines, such as John Ray
’s
flying
shuttle,
James
Hargreav
es’
spinning Jenny
,
Richard
Arkwright’s
water frame and Samuel
Cropton’s
mule.
The Scottish
inventor James
Watt produced a
v
ery efficient steam engine
in 1765,
which could be
applied
to
textile and other
machinery
.
The
most important element in
speeding industrialization
was
the
breakthrough in smelting iron with coke
instead of charcoal in 1709. Similar
dev
elopments occurred in the
forging side of the iron industry which
enabled iron to replace wool and stone in many
sectors of the economy
.
- 6 -
Improved
transportation ran parallel with production.
As a result of the industrial
revolution, Britain was by 1830
the
―workshop of the world‖; no other country could
compete with her in industrial production.
10. What do you
know about the Chartist Movement and the People’s
Charter? What’s your comment
on them?
——
The Chartist
Mov
ement was an industrial working
class mov
ement that happened in England
from 1836 to 1848. In 1836 a group of
skilled workers and small shopkeepers formed the
London Working
Men’s Association. They
drew up a charter of political demands (known as
the People’s Charter) in 1838,
which
had six points: (1) the v
ote for all
adult males, (2) v
oting by
secret ballot, (3) equal electoral districts, (4)
abolition of property qualifications
for members of Parliament, (5) payment of members
of Parliament, and (6)
annual
Parliament, with a General Election every June.
Support for these six demands was loudly voiced
all
over the country
. Other
working men formed Chartist groups throughout the
country to press Parliament to
accept
the 6 points. But Parliament rejected them for
three times. In the end, the Chartist Movement
failed. It
failed because
of
its
weak and divided
leadership,
and its
lack of
coordination
with
trade-unionism.
The
working
class
was
still
immature.
The
Chartist
Mov
ement,
however
,
the
first
nation
wide
working
class
movement and drew attention to serious
problems. The 6 points were achieved very
gradually over the period
of 1858-1918,
although the sixth has never been practical.
11. How did the
Labour Party come into being?
——
As the new working class
became established in the
industrial
towns in the late 18th century
,
they
became aware of the power which
they could possess if they
acted together instead of
separately
. So v
arious
working class organiz
ations were formed
which brought about
the formation of
the Labour Party
. The Labour Party had
its origins in the Independent Labour
Party
, which
was formed in
January
, 1893 and Led by Keir Hardie, a
Scottish miner. The foundation of an effective
party for
labour depended on the trade
unions. In 1900, representatives of trade unions,
the ILP, and a number of small
societies set up the Labour
Representation Committee (LRC). The LRC changed
its name to be Labour Party
in time for the general election which
was called for 1906. The Labour Party remains one
of the two major
parties in Britain
until today
.
12. What is a constitutional
monarchy?
When did it begin
in Britain?
——
A
constitutional monarchy is a
gov
ernmental system in which
the head of State is a king or a queen who reigns
but does not rule. The
country is
namely reigned by the Sovereign, but
v
irtually b
y His or Her
Majesty
’s Gov
ernment
——
a body of
Ministers who
are the leading members of whichever political
party the electorate has voted into office, and
- 7 -
who are
responsible to Parliament. The Constitutional
Monarchy in Britain began in 1689, when king
William
and Queen Mary jointly accepted
the Bill of Rights, which guaranteed free speech
within both the House of
Lords
and
the
House
of
Commons
and
constitutional
monarchy
,
of
a
monarchy
with
power
limited
by
Parliament began.
13. What is the role of the
Monarchy in the British government?
——
The sovereign is the
symbol of the
whole nation. In law,
he/she is head of the executive, an integral part
of the legislature, head of the
judiciary
,
the commander-in-
chief of all the armed forces of the crown and
th
e ―supreme governor‖ of the
established
church of England.
14. What are
the main functions of Parliament?
——
The main functions of
Parliament are: (1) to pass
laws; (2)
to provide the means of carrying on the work of
gov
ernment by voting for taxation; (3)
to examine
gov
ernment policy
and administration, including proposals for
expenditure; (4) to debate the major issues of
the day
.
15. Why do the criminal
convicts like to be tried first before the
magistrates’ courts?
——
A Magistrates’
court tries
summa
ry offences and ―either way‖
offences. It is open to the public and the media
and usually
consists of
three unpaid ―lay‖ magistrates. A magistrates’
court sits without a jury
. The criminal
law presumes
the innocence of the
accused until he has been proved guilty beyond
reasonable doubt; every possible step is
taken to deny to the prosecution any
advantage over the defense. No accused person has
to answer the
questions of the police
before trials; he is not compelled to give
evidence or to submit to cross-examination in
court.
16. What does the civil courts system
do?
——
The
civ
il courts system does the following
jurisdiction: (1)
actions founded upon
contract and tort; (2) trust and mortgages cases;
(3) actions for the recovery of land; (4)
cases inv
olving disputes
between landlords and tenants; (5) admiralty cases
and patent cases; and (7) divorce
cases
and other family matters.
17.
What
is
meant
by
the
term
“welfare
state”
in
Britain?
——
The
welfare
state
is
a
system
of
gov
ernment
by
which
the
state
provides
the
economic
and
social
security
of
its
citizens
through
its
organization of health services,
pensions and other facilities. The system is
funded out of national insurance
- 8 -
contributions
and
tax
ation.
In
Britain
the
term
applies
mainly
to
National
Health
Serv
ice
(NHS),
national
insurance and
social security
.
18. What is
the most important established Church in Britain?
How is it related to the Crown and
linked with the State?
——
The most important
established Church in Britain is the Church of
England. It is
uniquely related to the
Crown in that the Sovereign must be a member of
that church and, as ―Defender of the
Faith‖, must promise on his or her
accession to uphold it. Church of England
archbishops, bishops and deans
of
cathedrals are appointed by the Monarch on the
advice of the Prime Minister. The Church is also
linked with
the State through the House
of Lords, in which the two archbishops (of
Canterbury and Y
ork), the bishops of
London, Durham and Winchester, and 21
other senior bishops of London, Durham and
Winchester, and 21
other senior bishops
have seats
19.
What
distinguishes
the
Open
University
from
all
other
British
Universities?
——
The
Open
University is
non-
residential university which is
―open‖ to all to become students. It offers degree
and other
courses for adult
students of all ages in Britain and other member
countries of the EU. It was founded in 1969
and began its first courses in 1970. It
was a combination of specially produced printed
texts, correspondence
tuition,
telev
ision and radio broadcasts and
audio/v
ideo cassettes. For some
courses, there are residential
schools.
There is a network of study centers for contact
with part-time tutors and counselors, and with
fellow
students.
30. What are some of the
characteristics of American education?
——
(1) Formal education in
the United
States consists of
elementary
, secondary and higher
education. (2) Public educations is free and
compulsory
.
(3)
Diversity
is
considered
to
be
an
outstanding
characteristic
of
American
education.
(4)Education
is
a
function of the states, not the federal
gov
ernment.
What are geographic
features of Britain?
Britain is an
island country surrounded by the sea. It lies in
the North Atlantic Ocean off the north coast of
Europe. It’s separated from the rest of
Eu
rope by the English Channel in the
south and North Sea in the east.
The
north and west of Britain are mainly highlands,
and the east and south east are mostly lowlands.
What are the features of
British climate?
Britain has a maritime
climate. Winters are not too cold and summers are
not too hot. It has a steady reliable
- 9 -
rainfall throughout
the whole y
ear. The temperature varies
within a small range.
The
climate in Britain is mainly influenced by three
features.
1.
The surrounding
waters tend to balance the seasonal differences by
heating up the land in winter and
cooling off relatively and slowly they
bring warm air in winter and cool air in summer.
2.
The prev
ailing
winds blow ov
er the country all the
y
ear round, bringing warm and wet air
in winter and
keeping the temperature
moderate.
3.
The North
Atlantic Ocean Drift, which is a warm drift,
passes the western coast of the British Isles and
warms them.
What
measures did Henry
Ⅱ
take to centralize power?
1.
He forced foreign mercenaries to leave England.
2. He abolished the annual
land tax.
3. He took steps
to reform the law courts and div
ided
the country into six circuits to increase the
power of the
King’s Court.
4. He also planned to reform the church
courts, which had the exclusive right of justice
over the whole body of
the educated men
throughout the country
.
What contributions did
Elizabeth
Ⅰ
do to
Britain?
1.
Religion compromise. She carried out
the religious reform and broke religious ties.
2.
She successfully played
off against each other the two great Catholic
powers.
3.
She granted
charters to English merchants.
4.
In her reign, the Spanish
Armada was destroyed.
5.
She carried out a foreign policy to
prev
ent England from
involv
ing in major European conflicts.
It was to this period of time that the
English Empire owed its foundation.
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was the most
famous of the Catholic conspiracies.
On November 5, 1605, a
few
fanatical Catholics attempted to blow King James
and his
ministers up in the Houses of Parliament
where Guy Fawkes had planted barrels of
gunpowder in the cellars.
- 10 -
The
results of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605:
The immediate result was the execution
of Fawkes and his fellow-conspirators and the
imposition of severe
anti-Catholic
laws. The long-term result has been an annual
celebration on Nov
ember 5, when a
bonfire is lit
to burn a guy and a
firework display is arranged.
How did the Civil W
ar break
out?
It was very reluctantly
that the Parliament concluded that the only way it
could impress its v
iews on such a king
would be to defeat him in a battle, and
then impose legal conditions upon him before
allowing him to reign
again. This idea
was important until 1645. On August 22, 1642 in a
field near Nottingham King Charles raised
his standard beneath a glowering
sky
, and bade all his supporters to
join him. Thus the First Civ
il
W
ar began.
The Civil War
(also called Rev
olutionary
W
ar or the English Bourgeois
Revolution, or the Puritan Revolution)
broke out in 1642. The Left Wing of
Parliament was composed of free farmers,
tradesmen, and artisans of the
country
towns.
They made
up
the
most
rev
olutionary section and
were
generally
known
as
Roundheads
because their
hair was cut close to the skin. The English
Bourgeois Rev
olution in its upsurge was
also called
the Puritan Revolution. The
king's support mainly came from the West and the
North of England. The king's
supporters
were generally known as the Cavaliers or
Royalists.
Cromwell was a
country gentleman and Member of the Parliament. He
organized a compact army of well
disciplined
soldiers
which
became
known
as
the
New
Model
Army
.
These
soldiers
were
mostly
devout
Protestants.
★
King Charles ----Cromwell
★
T
he King’s men
were call
ed Cavaliers, and the
supporters of Parliament were called Roundheads
because
of their short haircuts.
The English Civil W
ar is
also called the Puritan Rev
olution,
because the King’s
opponents were
mainly
Puritan, and his
supporters chiefly Episcopalian and
Catholic.
Consequences of The Civil
Wars
Because of the absolute
rule of Charles, the confrontation between Charles
I and the parliament developed
into the
civ
il war. The war began in 1642 and
ended in 1651. Charles I was condemned to death.
The
English
Civ
il
War is also called
the Puritan
Revolution.
It
has been seen
as a
conflict
between
the
parliament and the King, and a conflict
between economic interests of the Crown. The
economic interests of
- 11
-
the
urban
middle
classed
coincided
with
their
religious
(Puritan)
ideology
while
the
Crown’s
traditional
economic
interests
correspondingly
allied
with
Anglican
religious
belief.
The
English
Civ
il
War
not
only
overthrew feudal system in England but
also shook the foundation of the feudal rule in
Europe. It is generally
regarded as the beginning of modern
world history
.
The Restoration
When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and
was succeeded by his son, Richard, the regime
began to collapse.
One of Cromwell's
generals occupied London and arranged for new
parliamentary elections. The Parliament
thus was elected in 1660
resolv
ed the crisis by asking the late
King's son to return from his ex
ile in
France as
King Charles II. It was
called the Restoration.
The
Glorious Revolution of 1688
In 1685 Charles II died and was
succeeded by his brother James II. James was
brought up in ex
ile in Europe,
was a Catholic. He hoped to rule
without giving up his personal religious
v
ies. But England was no more
tolerant
of a Catholic king
in
1688
than
40
years ago. So
the English
politicians
rejected James
II,
and
appealed
to a Protestant king, William of Orange, to invade
and take the English throne. William landed in
England in 1688. The
takeov
er was relatively smooth, with no
bloodshed, nor any execution of the king. This
was known as the Glorious Revolution.
How did the
----- When Charles II died
in 1685, he was succeeded by his
brother
, James II. James II was a
Catholic and
hoped to be able to rule
without giv
ing up his personal
religious v
iews. But English in 1688
could not tolerate a
Catholic
as
King.
The
English politicians
appealed
to
a Protestant king,
William of
Orange, James’
Dutch
nephew and the husband of
Mary
, James’ daughter
, to
invade and take th
e English throne.
William landed in
November 1688. On
their acceptance of the Bill of Rights (1689),
William and Mary were crowned jointly in
Westminster
Abbey
.
Thus
the
age
of
constitutional
monarchy
,
of
a
monarchy
with
powers
limited
by
Parliament, began.
Whigs and Tories
These two party names originated with
the Glorious Rev
olution (1688).
The Whigs were those who
opposed absolute monarchy and supported the right
to religious freedom for
-
12 -
Nonconformists. The Whigs were to
form a coalition with dissident T
ories
in the mid-19th century and become
the
Liberal Party
.
The T
ories were those who
supported hereditary monarchy and were reluctant
to remov
e kings. The T
ories
were the forerunners of the
Conservative Party
.
The Industrial
Revolution (1780-1830)
Britain was the first country to
industrialize because of the following factors:
(1) Favorable geographical location.
Britain was well placed geographically to
participate in European and
world
trade;
(2) Political
stability
. Britain had a peaceful
society
, which, after the 17th
century
, was increasingly interested in
overseas trade and colonies.
International trade brought wealth to merchants
and city bankers. They
and
those who had done well out of new
farming methods provided capital in large
quantities for industrialization.
(3) Good foundation in
economy
. The limited monarchy which
resulted from the Glorious Revolution of 1688
ensured that the powerful economic
interests in the community could exert their
influence ov
er Government
policy
.
(4) It was a country in which the main
towns were never too far from seaports, or from
rivers, which could
distribute their
products.
(5) Britain had many rivers,
which were useful for transport but also for water
and steam power.
Britain also had
useful mineral resources.
(6) British
engineers had sound training as craftsmen.
(7) The inventors w
ere
respected. They solved practical problems.
(8) Probably laissez faire and
“Protestant w
ork ethic”
helped.
。
(9)
England, Scotland, and Wales formed a customs
union after 1707 and this
included
Ireland after 1807.
So the national
market w
as not hindered by internal
customs barriers.
(10) The enclosures
and other improvements in agriculture made their
contributions by providing food for the
rising population, labor for the
factories, and some of the raw
materials needed by industry.
Consequences of the Industrial
Revolution
（
1
）
Britain was by 1830 the ―workshop of
the world‖;
（
2
）
T
owns grew rapidly and
bec
ame the source of the nation’s
wealth.
- 13 -
（
3
）
Mechaniz
ation destroyed the
livelihood of those who could not invest in it .
The working men worked
and liv
ed in an appalling
condition.
（
4
）
The industrial revolution created the
industrial working class, the proletariat,
and it later led to trade
unionism.
Queen Victoria and Her Time(1837-1901)
Victoria, who reigned over
the British Empire for more than half a
century
, was another well-known Queen
in
English history
. She
mounted the throne in 1837, one year after the
memorable 1836 when the dissatisfied
English workers started their Chartist
Movement and Charles Darwin returned from his
travel.
Victoria's time
was full of tremendous changes in almost
ev
ery field. The industrial
rev
olution continued to
dev
elop in spite of the
social problems that accompanied it. The invention
of the locomotive threw Britain into a
frenzy of railway construction.
Agriculture was further mechanized. Trade and
commerce grew apace, driv
ing
more peasants, hand spinners and
weavers into factories. England was
arriv
ing at the age of
machinery
.
Development
of
productiv
ity
broadened
men's
field
of
v
ision
and
increased
their
interest
in
scientific
knowledge.
In
1859,
Darwin
published
his
Origin
of
Species.
His
theory
greatly
shocked
clergymen
because it
contained the suggestion that man descended from
monkey
s.
Rapid social changes and people's eagerness to
gain useful knowledge made it possible for a group
of
famous writers to appear because a
growing number of
people were fond of books.
Thackeray
, Bronte,
Dickens,
and George Eliot were
among the most famous.
Victoria was of high reputation for her
contribution to Britain as well as her
personality
. She set a very severe
home discipline for her children who
were usually beaten up for dishonesty
,
mischief and negligence of duty
.
She was very careful about her behavior
in public. In addition, she maintained a
harmonious relation
with
her husband and almost
set a standard for domestic virtues. Victoria's
achievements were so
popular in
Britain and her personality
was so widely esteemed and imitated by the middle
class that the epithet Victorian
was
later applied to any person or time with the
characteristics of decency and
morality
, self-satisfaction based
on wealth, conscious rectitude,
unquestioning acceptance of authority and
orthodoxy
, and great industrial and
scientific development.
Her time was called ―the polite
society‖ in English history
.
Mrs. Thatcher
Thatcherism
撒切尔主义
ref
erred
to
the policies put
forward by
Margaret
Thatcher, the
first
woman prime
- 14
-
minister in England in 1979. The main
contents of her policies included the return to
priv
ate ownership of
state-
owned industries
国有工业私
有化
, the use of monetarist policies
货币主义政策
to
control
inflation
通货膨
胀
,
the weakening of trade unions, the strengthening
of the role of market forces in the
economy
, and an
emphasis on
law and order
强调法律和秩序
.
T
o some extent her program was
successful and she led one of
the most
remarkable periods in the British
economy
.
Why is
Tudor Monarchy the new monarchy?
1.
The
position
of
the
Tudor
Monarchy
was
greatly
strengthened
and
the
influence
of
the
newly-born
bourgeoisie increased.
2.
The change in the balance of strength prepared the
base for a centralized gov
ernment.
3. The monarchy did its best protect
and promote the development of trade and
industry
.
4. The monarchy
built a strong navy to protect its foreign trade
and expansion.
5.
It
was also during
the
Tudor Monarchy
that America
was discovered and
the
Renaissance spread
to
England.
6. The Tudor
Monarchy thus serv
ed as the
transitional stage from feudalism to capitalism in
English history
.
Roman Britain
(55BC-410AD)
h
recorded
history begins
with
the
Roman
invasion.
In
55BC and
54BC, Julius Caesar, a
Roman
general, invaded Britain twice. In AD
43, the Emperor Claudius invaded Britain
successfully
. For nearly 400
years, Britain was under the Roman
occupation, though it was nev
er a total
occupation.
2. Roman’s influence on
Britain.
The Roman built
many towns, road, baths, temples and
b
uildings. They
make good
use of Britain’s natural
resources.
They also brought the new religion,
Christianity
, to Britain.
3.
Reasons for limited Roman influence on Britain.
First, the Romans alway
s
treated the Britons as a subject people of
slav
e class. Second, nev
er
during the 4
centuries did the Romans
and Britons intermarry
. Third, the
Romans had no impact on the language or culture
of ordinary Britons.
King Alfred (849-899) and his
contributions
Alfred was a
king of Wessex. He defeated the Danes and reached
a friendly agreement with them in 879. The
- 15 -
Danes
gained control of the north and east, while he
ruled the rest. He also converted some leading
Danes
into Christians.
He
founded a strong fleet and is known as ―the father
of the British navy‖. He reor
ganized
the Saxon army
,
making it
more efficient. He translated a Latin book into
English. He also established schools and
formulated a
legal system.
All this earns him the title ―Alfred
the Great.‖
3. What were the consequences of the
Norman Conquest?
The Norman Conquest of
1066 is perhaps the best-known event in English
history
. William the Conqueror
confiscated almost all the land and
gav
e it to his Norman followers. He
replaced the weak Saxon rule with a
strong Norman
gov
ernment.
1. The feudal system was completely
established in England.
2
.There was a much stronger control ov
er
the country by the Roman-backed Catholic Church..
3. French
gradually became
the official
language,
with
coex
istence
of 3
languages:
Latin, old English
&
French.
4. There were
numerous contacts between England and France.
Contents and the significance of the
Great Charter
Great Charter
was signed by King
John in
1215
under
the
press of
the barons.
It consists
of sixty-three
clauses. Its important
prov
isions are as follows: (1) no tax
should be made without the approv
al of
the Grand
Council; (2) no freemen
should be arrested, imprisoned or deprived of
their property; (3) the Church should
possess
all its
rights,
together
with
freedom of elections;
(4) London
and
other
towns
should
retain
their
traditional
rights
and
priv
ileges, and (5)
there
should be
the same
weights and
measures
throughout
the
country
.
Although The Great Charter
has long been popularly regarded as the foundation
of English liberties, it was a
statement of
the
feudal
and
legal
relationships
between
the Crown
and
the
barons, a
guarantee
of
the
freedom of
the Church and a limitation of the powers of the
king. The spirit of the Great Charter was the
limitation of the powers of the king,
keeping them within the bounds of the feudal law
of the land.
The origins of the English
Parliament
The Great Council
is known to be the prototy
pe of the
current British Parliament. In 1265, Simon de
Montfort
summoned the Great Council,
together with two knights from each county and two
citizens from each town. It
- 16 -
later developed into
the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Its
main role was to offer adv
ice. There
were no elections or parties.
And the most important part of
Parliament was the House of Lords.
The Hundred
Y
ear
s’ W
ar and
its consequences.
The
Hundred Y
ears’ War refers to the war
between England and France that lasted
intermittently from 1337 to
1453. The
causes of the war were partly territorial and
partly economic. The territorial causes were
related with
the possession by the
English kings of the large duchy in France, while
the French kings cov
eted this large
slice.
The economic causes
were connected
with cloth
manufacturing
towns in
Flanders,
which
were
the
importer of English
wool, but they were loyal to the
French
king politically
. Besides, England’s
desire to stop
France from
giv
ing aid to Scots and a growing sense
of nationalism were the other causes.
The English’s being driv
en
out of France is
regarded as a blessing
for
both countries.
If the English
had
remained in France,
the
superior size and
wealth
of
France
would
hav
e
hindered the
dev
elopment
of a
separate English national
identity
, while France was hindered so
long as a foreign power occupied so much
French territory
.
The Black Death
The Black Death is the modern name
given to the deadly epidemic disease spread by rat
fleas across Europe
in the 14th
century
. It swept through England in
the summer of 1348. It reduced England’s
population from four
million to two
million by the end of the 14th century
.
The economic consequences of the Black
Death were far-reaching. As a result of the
plague, much land was
left untended and
there was a terrible shortage of labor. The
surv
iving peasants had better
bargaining power
and were in a position
to change their serfdom into paid
labor
. Some landlords, unable or
unwilling to pay
higher wages, tried to
force peasants back into serfdom. In 1351 the
government issued a Statute of Laborers
which made it a crime for peasants to
ask for more wages or for their employers to pay
more than the rates
laid down by the
Justices of the Peace.
The
Wars of Roses
They referred to the
battles between the House of Lancaster and the
House of Y
ork between 1455 and 1485.
The former was symboliz
ed by
the red rose, and the latter by the white one.
After the wars, feudalism receiv
ed
its death blow and the king’s power
became supreme. Tudor monarchs ruled England and
W
ales for ov
er two
hundred years.
-
17 -
The Peasant Uprising
of 1381 and its significance
Armed
villagers and townsmen of Kent and Essex, led by
Watt Tyler and Jack Straw, mov
ed on
London in
June, 1381. The king was
forced to accept their demands. Most of the rebels
dispersed and went home, while
Tyler
and other leaders stayed on for more rights. Tyler
was killed at a meeting with the king.
The uprising was brutally suppressed,
but it had far-reaching significance in English
history
. First, it directed
against the rich clergy
,
lawyers and the landowners. Second, it dealt a
telling blow to v
illeinage, and third,
a
new class of y
eomen
farmers emerged, pav
ing the way to the
development of capitalism.
The English Reformation
Henry VIII was above all responsible
for the religious reform of the church. There were
three main causes: a
desire for change
and reform in the church had been growing for many
years and now, encouraged by the
success of Martin Luther
,
many people believ
ed its time had come;
the privilege and wealth of the clergy were
resented; and Henry needed
money
.
The
reform began as a struggle for a divorce and ended
in freedom from the Papacy
. Henry VIII
wanted to
divorce Catherine of Aragon
but the Pope refused. Henry
’s reforms
was to get rid of the English Church’s
connection with the Pope, and to make
an independent Church of England. He made this
break with Rome
gradually
bet
ween 1529 and 1534. He dissolved all
of England’s monasteries and nunneries because
they
were more
loy
al to the Pope than to their English
kings. The laws such as the Act of succession of
1534 and
the Act of Supremacy of 1535
made his reform possible. He established the
church of England as the national
church of the country
, and
he made himself the supreme head of the church of
England.
Henry VIII’s
reform stressed the power of the monarch and
certainly strengthened Henry
’s
position; Parliament
had
nev
er done such a long and important
piece of work before, its importance grew as a
result. His attack on
the Pope’s power
encouraged many critics of abuses of the Catholic
Church. England was mov
ing away form
Catholicism towards Protestantism.
What did the British
Disease refer to?
British
Disease referred to the slow growth of
productiv
ity
, soaring
inflation and large unemployment in Britain
in
the
1970s.
Britain’s
rate
of
economic
growth
was
low
in
comparison
with
that
of
other
industrialized
-
18 -
countries.
What measures did
Henry
Ⅱ
take to
centralize power?
1. He forced foreign
mercenaries to leave England.
2. He abolished the annual land tax.
3. He took steps to reform
the law courts and div
ided the country
into six circuits to increase the power of the
King’
s Court.
4. He also planned to reform the church
courts, which had the exclusive right of justice
over the whole body of
the educated men
throughout the country
.
What do you know about the English
Renaissance?
Renaissance was
the rev
ival of classical literature and
artistic styles in European history
. It
began in Italy in the
early 14th
century and spread to England in the late 15th
century
.
The
English Renaissance had 5 characteristics: (1)
English culture was revitaliz
ed not so
much directly by the
classics as by
contemporary Europeans under the influence of the
classics; (2) England as an insular country
followed a course of social and
political history which was to a great extent
independent of the course of
history
else where in Europe; (3) Owning to the great
genius of the 14th century poet Chaucer, the
native
literature was
v
igorous enough and experienced in
assimilating foreign influences without being
subjected by
them;
(4)
English
Renaissance
literature is
chiefly
artistic,
rather
than
philosophical
and scholarly;
(5)
the
Renaissance coincided with the
Reformation in England. The English Renaissance
was largely literary
, and
achieved its
finest
expression in
the
so-called Elizabethan
drama.
Its
finest exponents
were Christopher
Marlowe,
Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare.
What are the main functions
of Parliament?
The main functions of Parliament are:
(1) to pass laws; (2) to prov
ide the
means of carry
ing on the work of
gov
ernment by voting for
taxation; (3) to examine government policy and
administration, including proposals
for
expenditure; (4) to debate the major issues of the
day
.
The Bill of Rights
In 1689,
William and Mary accepted the Bill of Rights to be
crowned jointly
. The bill excluded any
Roman
Catholic
from
the
succession,
confirmed
the
principle
of
parliamentary
supremacy
and
guaranteed
free
- 19 -
speech within both the two Houses. Thus
the age of constitutional monarchy began.
The Economy
I.
The Evolution of the British Economy since the War
The evolution of the
British economy since WWII falls into three
periods
(1) Steady
development in the 50s and 60s: The British
economy in this period is characterized by slow
but
steady growth, low unemployment and
great material prosperity with rising standards of
consumption.
(2) Economic
recession
经济滞胀
in
the 70s: In the 1970s among the developed
countries, Britain maintained
the
lowest growth rate
最低经济增长率
and the highest inflation
rate
最高的通货膨
胀率
, and
the high record of
trade deficits
最高的贸易赤
字纪录
.
(3) Economic
recovery
经济复苏
in
the 80s: An outstanding feature of the economic
recov
ery in the 80s was
its
length, lasting seven years. Another was the
improved financial position of the government
政府金融
地位最
高
,
with stronger current account of the balance of
payments
国际收支大大盈余
.
★
Measures taken
by Mrs. Thatcher's gov
ernment to
improve the economy
Mrs. Thatcher's
government took numerous measures to improve the
efficiency of the economy during the
past decade, using both macroeconomic
and microeconomic policies.
(1) Macroeconomic measures
were directed towards bringing down the rate of
inflation and achieving
price
stability
.
(2)
Microeconomic
policies
were
aimed
at
working
with
the
grain
of
market
forces
by
encouraging
enterprise, efficiency and
flex
ibility
.
Reasons for the British
coal mining is called a “sick” industry
today.
T
oday the coal industry in
Britain is on the
decline
，
the number of
miners, collieries and the total output
have been falling.
The reasons for the decline are as
follows: exhaustion of old mines, costly
operations of extraction, poor
old
equipment, little investment, fall in demand due
to imports of cleaner
, cheaper and more
efficient fuels,
etc.
- 20 -
Britain’s
oil and natural gas
Natural
gas
was
discovered in
1965 and oil
in
1970
under
the
North
Sea.
T
oday Britain is
not
only
self-
sufficient in oil but also has a surplus for
ex
port. The transport and domestic
heating sy
stems mostly
depend on oil. So does the food
supply
, because most agriculture is
highly mechanized. Modern farming
requires things which are all oil-
based.
British
iron and steel industry is declining for the
following reasons:
1. Local
supplies of iron ore have become exhausted;
2. Old fashioned furnaces
for making coke cannot recover valuable by-
products;
3. Blast
furnaces
高炉
,
steelworks
钢铁厂
, and rolling
mills
轧钢厂
are
often separated from each other and
thus cannot perform as well as more
compact operation;
4. Many
steelworks hav
e to be closed down,
causing major unemployment in an area.
The main textile producing
regions of Britain are the East Midlands,
Y
orkshire
约克郡
, Hum
berside
汉伯
塞
德郡
, and Northern Ireland.
New Industries
New industries include
microprocessors and
computers, biotechnology and
other
high-tech industries.
There are three areas in Britain which
have seen some high-tech industrial growth: (1).
the area between
London and South
Wales, (2). the Cambridge area of East Anglia and
(3). the area between Glasgow and
Edinburgh in Scotland. The third area
is the most spectacular of the three and is now of
ten referred to as
the ―Silicon Glen‖.
By the end of 1985 half
of
Britain’s microchip output was estimated to have
come from
Scotland.
The reasons behind the
decline of Britain's textile industry are:
(1) Exports of textiles
have not competed well with those of other foreign
producers who hav
e managed to
produce cheaper goods.
(2)
There has been a rise in cheaper imports of
textiles to Britain from foreign producers.
(3) Poor and
outdated management decisions have caused problem.
(4) Substitutions of human-made fibers
have been made for natural fibers.
- 21 -
(5)
An
improvement of output per worker has been
achieved, due to mechanization.
Colonial
Expansion
1. The growth of
dominions
English colonial expansion
began with the colonization of Newfoundland in
1583. Encouraged by Britain’s
control
of the seas, especially by the rising tide of
emigration, British colonialists stepped up their
ex
pansion to
Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand, in the late 18th and
the early 19th centuries. By 1900, Britain had
built
up a big empire, ―on which the
sun never set‖. It consis
ted of a vast
number of protectorates, Crown colonies,
spheres of influence, and
self-
gov
erning dominions. It
included 25% of the world’s population and area.
Canada was ceded to Britain
by the 1763 Treaty of Paris. French rights were
guaranteed by the Quebec Act
of 1774.
The Canada Act of 1791 div
ided Canada
into Upper Canada where the British had settled,
and
Lower Canada populated by the
French. The British North America Act of 1867
established Canada as a
dominion.
English began to transport
conv
icts to Australia in 1788. Free
settlement began in 1816, and no
conv
icts were
sent to
Australia after 1840. The gold rushes (1851-1892)
brought more people to Australia, and in 1901 the
six self-governing were united in one
dominion-the independent Commonwealth of
Australia.
New Zealand
became a separate colony of Britain in 1841,
achieved self-government in 1857, became a
dominion under the British crown in
1907 and was made completely independent in 1931.
1. The Conquest of India
The British East India Company
established in 1600. By 1819 the British conquest
of most India was almost
complete.
After the muting of Bengal army in
1857, the control of India passed to the British
Crown and Queen
Victoria became Empress
of India in 1877.
2. The Scramble for
Africa
At the beginning of
the 19th century British possessions were confined
to forts and slave trading posts on the
west coast. Over the 19th century the
interior of Africa was gradually
discov
ered and coloniz
ed by
Europeans.
Britain led the way in the
race. Apart from the colonies in the South and
West, Britain was also involved in the
North East in Egypt and the Sudan.
3.
Aggression against China
In 1840, the Opium W
ar broke
out between Britain and China. Since then, Britain
gradually invaded many
coastal areas
and imposed a series of unequal treaties upon
China.
- 22 -
What are the effects of the World
W
ar
Ⅰ
have on Britain ?
The ~~ had
great effects in Britain society
.
Britain lost over a million people. The war caused
serious disruption
of the economy and
Britain became a debtor nation after the war
London was replaced by New Y
ork as the
world’s most important financial
centers. The unemployment caused many strikes and
hunger marches after
the
war.
Traditional
English
v
alue
that
stressed
temperance
and
reserv
ation
was
confronted
with
new
challenges.
What are the effects of the
World W
ar
Ⅱ
have on
Britain?
After~~,
the
Labor
Government
laid
the
foundation of
the
welfare state and
nationaliz
ed a
number of big
business. The
ending of ~~~ hastened the end of the independence
mov
ement of the colonies. The British
Empire came to an end and gave way to
the British Commonwealth.
美国概况
1 The following were the
founding fathers of the
American
Republic except _____.
A
George W
ashington B Thomas Jefferson
C William Penn
D Benjamin Franklin
2 The
New Deal was started by _____.
A Franklin Roosevelt B J.K. Kennedy
C George Washington D
Thomas Jefferson
3 The
United States was rated _____ in the world in
terms of land areas.
A
second B third C fourth D fifth
4 The ex
penditure in
American public schools is guided or decided by
_____.
A
T
eachers B students C headmaster D
boards of education
5 The
Bill of Rights consists of _____.
A 10 very short paragraphs in an
amendment
B 10 amendments
adopted in 1787
- 23 -
C 10 amendments added
to the Constitution in 1791
D the amendments concerning the freedom
of speech, the freedom of the press and the
freedom of religion
6 The
United States produces as much as much as half of
the world’s _____.
A wheat
and rice B cotton C tobacco D soybeans and corn
7 Which invention marked
the beginning of ―The
Age of Visual
Information‖?
A Newspaper B
T
elegraph C Laundry machine D
T
elev
ision
8 The theory of
American
politics and the
American Revolution
originated mainly from _____.
A George W
ashington B Thomas
Jefferson
C
John
Adams D John Locke
9 The District of Manhattan is in the
city if _____.
A
W
ashington D.C. B San Francisco C New
Y
ork D Chicago
10 The seats in the Senate are
allocated to different states_____.
A according to their population
B according to their size
C according to their tax
paid to federal government
D equally
练习题答案及题
解
1 C,
华盛顿、杰弗逊和弗
兰克林都是
美国创建时的
元老功勋、
而
William Penn
是美国宾州的
创始人。
2
A,
新政是罗斯
福为了应对
美国经济大萧
条而提出的
< br>。
3 C,
就面积而言，
美国是世界
第四大国。
4 D,
对此有决定权的是教
育委员会。
5 C,
人权法案是于
1791
年增补到宪法
法案上来的前
十条修正案
。
6 D,
美国出产占世界一半
的是大豆和
玉米。
7 D,
开创人类视觉信息革<
/p>
命的重大发
明是电视机。
8 D,
美国的许多政治观念
都是来
源于
英国著名哲学
家约翰?洛克。
9 C,
曼哈顿是纽约市的著
名经济
和商
业区，
也是纽约的
中心地带。
10 D,
美国每一个州
在参议院中
均有两位议
员作为代表
，与各州人
口无关和众
议院不同
）
。
美国概况练习
(
转
)
1 Ernest Hemingway is _____.
A Englishman B
American C
Dutch D Denmark
2 John Fitzgerald
Kennedy is _____ president.
- 24 -
A 35th B 34th C 33rd
D 32nd
3 In 1837, the first
college-level institution for women , Mount
Holy
oke Female Seminary , opened in
_____ to
serve the ― Muslim
sex‖.
A New England B
Virginia C Massachusetts D New Y
ork
4 The capital of Massachusetts is
_____.
A Providence B Boston C
Montpelier D
Augusta
5 _____
is the dividing line between the South and North.
A The Hudson Riv
er B The
Potomac River
C The Ohio
River D The Missouri River
6 _____ is
W
ashington’s largest
city
.
A Boise B
Denver C T
acoma D Seattle
7
W
ashington D.C., the capital of U.S. is
situated on the _____River banks.
A St.
Lawrence B Hudson C Potomac D Missouri
8 When did the
American
Civ
il W
ar break out?
A 1775 B 1812 C 1861 D 1863
9 Who prepared the draft of the
Declaration of Independence?
A John
Adams B Thomas Jefferson C Benjamin
Franklin D John Hancock
10 In which day
is Halloween celebrated?
A 5 November B
31 October C 17 March D 25 December
练习题答案及题
解
:
1
B,
文坛巨匠海明威是
美国人。
2
A,
肯尼迪是美国的
第
35
任总统。
3 C,
美国的第一所女
子学院开设<
/p>
于马萨诸塞
州。
4
B,
麻省的首府是波士
顿。
5 D,
美国南北的分界
线是密苏里<
/p>
河，东西的
分界线是密西
西比河。
6 D,
华盛顿州的最大
< br>城市是西雅
图。
7 C,
华盛顿特区位于
波托马克河
上。
8 C,
美国内战爆发
于
1861
年，结束于
1865
年。
9 B,
为美
国起草独立宣
言的是托马
斯?杰弗逊。
10 B,
万圣节前夕是
10
月的最
后一天即
10
月
31
号。
美国概况
5(
转
)
- 25 -
1 The world-famous Harvard University
is in _____.
A
Massachusetts B New Y
ork C
W
ashington D.C. D Maine
2 Which of the following statements
about
American education is wrong?
A Elementary and secondary
education in
America is free and
compulsory
B
Priv
ate schools are financially
supported by religious or nonreligious private
organiz
ations or
indiv
iduals.
C
There are more public colleges and universities
than the priv
ate ones
D Credits
taken at community
colleges are
normally
applicable to requirement
for a
four-
year
bachelor’s
degree.
3 _____ is a symbol of
American theatre and world-class
entertainment.
A Broadway B
W
all Street C The Fifth
Avenue D Times Square
4 ____ is not a tourist attraction in
the United States.
A
Y
ellowstone National Park B Grand
Canyon
C St.
Patrick’s Cathedral D Stonehenge
5 ____ was an actor before
he became the President.
A
Ronald Reagan B
Abraham Lincoln C
Herbert Hoov
er D Jimmy Carter
6 New Englanders were
originally known as _____, which come to stand for
all
Americans.
A
Hippies B Y
ankees C Uncle Sam D Brother
Jonathan
7
On
the
30th
of
April
1789,
George
W
ashington
took
the
oath
of
office
in
_____,
which
housed
the
gov
ernment then.
A New Y
ork B
W
ashington D.C. C Philadelphia D Boston
8 Which of the following
people was not an
American President?
A John Hancock B John
Adams C John Q.
Adams D
Jimmy Carter
9 Henry Fond
was the first man to _____.
A design a plane B fly an aeroplane C
mass-production D design and make a car
10 ―That government of the
people, by the people, for the people, … ‖were the
words by _____.
A Thomas
Jefferson B
Abraham Lincoln C
Andrew Johnson D Theodore Roosevelt
练习题答案及题
解
:
1
A,
哈佛大学位
于马萨诸塞
州的剑桥
(Ca
mbridge)
镇。
2 C,
在美国，
私立高等教育机
构要多于公
立的。象麻省
理工，
耶鲁大学
，
哈佛大学都是
私立的。
3
A,
百老汇是一条由
南向北贯穿曼
哈顿全岛的
大道，
< br>
其中心地
带是在第
42
借“时代广
场”附近，
周
围云集
了几十家剧院，
上演
被称为现代歌
舞剧的剧目
。
- 26 -
4 D, Stonehenge
在英国，
是古代城
池的遗迹。
5
A,
里根从政前
曾经在好莱
坞闯荡
20
多年，
参与演出
了
50
多部电影。
6 B,
Y
ankees
一词具有丰富的含义
。
现在用于代表
美国人，俗
称美国佬。
在美国
南部，
Y
ankee
是指美国北
部各州的居民，
即北
方佬；而对多
数美
国人来
说，
Y
ankee
意味着新英格兰人
。
7
A,
1789
年
George
W
ashington
在纽约宣誓就职，
1790
年首都迁往费城。
1800
年以后定都华盛
顿。
< br>
8
A, John Ha
ncock
，因其当时在《独立
宣言》上的
签名很大，
他的名字在
美语里变成
了签名的代名
词。
9 C, Henry Ford
早期是一名技师，
虽然没
有发明汽车
，
但他是第
一位
批量生产汽
车的人。
10 B,
这是
Abraham
Lincoln
于
1863
年
11
月
19
日在葛<
/p>
底斯堡阵亡
将士墓举行落
成仪式上发
表的著名
的《葛
底斯堡演说》的
片语。
美国概况练习
(
转
)
1 The Rocky
Mountains is located in _____.
A Great Britain B
Australia
C South
Africa D North
America
2
Hollywood, the centre of American mov
ie
industry
, is closest to which city?
A Los
Angles B
Chicago C New Y
ork D
W
ashington
3
Which of the following is an
American
newspaper?
A The Guardian B
Newsweek
C The
International Herald Tribune D The Daily
T
elegraph
4 The
U.S. is called a ―melting pot‖ because _____.
A its steel industry is
highly dev
eloped
B it has great influence on the world
C it is an important
economic center of the world
D people from different races
liv
e there together
5 The first Puritans came to
America on the ship _____.
A Codpeed B Susan Constant C May Flower
D Discov
ery
6
Americans celebrate Memorial Day on the
last Monday in May to honor those who
hav
e _____.
A
given their lives for their country
B made great scientific discoveries
C won
American
great reputation in sports
D donated large amounts of money to the
country
7 ―Trick or Treat‖
is a phrase that children often use when they
celebrated _____.
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