必修五第二单元课文翻译

第二单元

Reading

大不列颠及北爱尔兰王国（英国全称）

PUZZLES IN GEOGRAPHY

People

may

wonder

why

different

words

are

used

to

describe

these

four

countries:

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can clarify this question if you study British

history.

First

there

was

England.

Wales

was

linked

to

it

in

the

thirteenth

century.

Now

when

people refer to England you find Wales included as well. Next England and Wales were joined to

Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to

was

accomplished

without

conflict

when

King

James

of

Scotland

became

King

of

England

and

Wales

as

well.

Finally

the

English

government

tried

in the

early

twentieth

century

to

form

the

United Kingdom by getting Ireland connected in the same peaceful way. However, the southern

part

of

Ireland

was

unwilling

and

broke

away

to

form

its

own

government.

So

only

Northern

Ireland

joined

with

England,

Wales

and

Scotland

to

become

the

United

Kingdom

and

this

was

shown to the world in a new flag called the Union Jack.

To their credit the four countries do work together in some areas (eg, the currency and

international

relations),

but

they

still

have

very

different

institutions.

For

example,

Northern

Ireland, England and Scotland have different educational and legal systems as well as different

football teams for competitions like the World Cup!

England is the largest of the four countries, and for convenience it is divided roughly

into three zones. The zone nearest France is called the South of England, the middle zone is called

the

Midlands

and

the

one

nearest

to

Scotland

is

known

as

the

North.

You

find

most

of

the

population settled in the south, but most of the industrial cities in the Midlands and the North of

England.

Although,

nationwide,

these

cities

are

not

as

large

as

those

in

China,

they

have

world- famous

football

teams

and

some

of

them

even have

two!

It

is

a

pity

that

the

industrial

cities built in the nineteenth century do not attract visitors. For historical architecture you have to

go to older but smaller towns built by the

Romans. There you will find out more about British

history and culture.

The

greatest

historical

treasure

of

all

is

London

with

its

museums,

art

collections,

theatres, parks and buildings. It is the centre of national government and its administration. It

has the oldest port built by the Romans in the first century AD, the oldest building begun by the

Anglo-Saxons

in

the

1060s

and

the

oldest

castle

constructed

by

later

Norman

rulers

in

1066.

There has been four sets of invaders of England. The first invaders, the Romans, left their towns

and roads.

The

second,

the

Anglo-Saxons,

left

their

language

and

their

government.

The

third,

the Vikings, influenced the vocabulary and place-names of the North of England, and the fourth,

the Normans, left castles and introduced new words for food.

If you look around the British countryside you will find evidence of all these invaders.

You

must

keep

your

eyes

open

if

you

are

going

to

make

your

trip

to

the

United

Kingdom

enjoyable and worthwhile.

人们也许觉得奇怪，

为什么用来描述 英格兰、

威尔士、

苏格兰和北爱尔兰这四个国家的

词语不太一样。但如果你学过英国历史，就能弄清楚这个问题。

首先是英格兰。威尔士于

13

世纪同英格兰联合了起来。如今只要有人提起英格兰，你

就会发现威尔 士总是包括在内的。接着，英格兰、威尔士同苏格兰于

17

世纪 联合了起来，

名字就改成了“大不列颠”

。令人庆幸的是，当苏 格兰的詹姆斯国王成为英格兰和威尔士的

国王时，这三个国家和平地实现了联合。最后， 英国政府打算于

20

世纪初把爱尔兰也同另

外三个国家和平联合起来以形成联合王国。

然而，

爱尔兰的 南部却不愿组建联合王国，

它分

离出去，并建立了自己的政府。 因此只有北爱尔兰同英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰联合起来，而

组成了联合王国，这一点从新 的联合王国国旗上就可以看得出来。

值得赞扬的是，

这四个国家的确在一些方面共同合作，

例如在 货币和国际关系方面；

但

是有些制度仍然区别很大。