高二英语必修五第二单元课文详解

必修五第二单元课文详解

PUZZLES IN GEOGRAPHY

地理之谜

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.

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。

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

Britain

Happily

this

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.

首先是英格兰。

< br>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

< br>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。

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!

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。例如，北爱尔兰、英格兰和苏格兰在 教育体制和立法体制上都存在着

差异。在参加像世界杯之类的比赛时，它们有着各自的足 球队。

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.

在这四个国家中，英格兰是最大的。为了方便起见，它大致可以划分为三个地区。最靠近

法国的那个地区叫做英格兰南部，中部地区叫做英格兰中部，最靠近苏格兰的那个地区叫做英< /p>

格兰北部。你可以看到英国的大部分 人口聚居在南部，而多数大工业城市都位于中部和北部。

尽管，

英国任何一个城市都不像中国的城市那样大，

但是他们都有着自己的享有威名的足球队，

有的城市甚至还有两个队。很遗憾，这些建于

19

世纪的工业城市对游客并没有吸引力。要找历

史性建筑你得去更古老的、比较 小些的由古罗马人建造的城镇。在那儿你才可能找到更多的有

关英国历史和文化的东西。

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.

最具历史意义的宝地 是伦敦。那儿有博物馆，有艺术珍品、剧院、公园和各种建筑物。它

是全国的政治中心。

它有公元一世纪由罗马人建造的最古老的港口，

有由盎格鲁

——

撒克逊人始

建于

11

世纪

60

年代的最古老的建筑， 还有公元

1066

年由后来的诺曼人统治者建造的最古老的

城堡。曾经有四批侵略者到过英国。第一批入侵者是古罗马人，留下了他们的城镇和道路。接

着是盎格鲁

——

撒克逊人，

第三是斯堪的纳维亚人，

他们对词汇和北

部的地名造成了一定影响；第四是诺曼人，他们留下了城堡和食物名称 的新词语。

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.

如果你 到英国乡间去看看，

你就会找到所有这些入侵者的痕迹。

如果想 使你的英国之旅不

虚此行又有意义，你就必须留心观察。