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英语国家概况（
1
）
（
2
）问题
库答案
1.
history
has
been
a
history
of
invasion
Please
illustrate
this
point
with
the
examples from the text. How did each of
the invasions influence English culture ?
1. British history has been a history
of invasions. Before the first century AD Britain
was made up
of many tribal kingdoms of
Celtic people: a powerful culture originating in
central Europe. Then
in 43AD Britain
was invaded by the Roman empire, and England and
Wales (though not Scotland
or Ireland)
became a part of the Roman empire for nearly 400
more groups of invaders
were
to
come
after
the
English:
from
the
late
8th
century
on,
raiders
from
Scandinavia,
the
ferocious Vikings, threatened Britain's
shores….
2. What are some
general characteristics of Scotland ?
2. Scotland is the second largest of
the four nations, both in population and in
geographical area. It
is also the most
confident of its own identity because alone
amongst the non-English components
of
the UK it has previously spent a substantial
period of history as a unified state independent
of
the UK. Thus it is not a big leap
for the Scottish to imagine themselves independent
again.
Physically,
Scotland
is
the
most
rugged
part
of
the
UK,
with
areas
of
sparsely
populated
mountains
and
lakes
in
the
north
(The
Highlands),
and
in
the
south
(The
Southern
Uplands).
Three-quarters of
the population lives in the lowland zone which
spans the country between these
two
highland areas. The largest city is Glasgow, in
the west of this zone. Scotland's capital
city is
Edinburgh,
on
the
east
coast
forty
miles
away
from
Glasgow.
It
is
renowned
for
its
beauty,
and
dominated by its great castle on a high
rock in the centre of the city. Both cities have
ancient and
internationally respected
universities dating from the 15th
century
.
3. Describe Wales'
unification with Great Britain.
3.
Wales was
always
under
pressure
from
its
English
neighbours,
particularly
after
the
Norman
conquest, when
Norman
barons set
up castles
and
estates
in
Wales
under
the
authority
of
the
English Crown. Some brief campaigns are
the only times in history when Wales has existed
as a
unified independent
nation.
4. Are there any
differences between England and Wales in terms of
cultural tradition ?
4.Y
es,
there are. The close long-standing relationship
means that modern Wales lacks some of the
outward signs of difference which
Scotland possesses
—
its legal
system and its education system
are
exactly
the
same
as
in
England.
Often
official
statistics
are
given
for
and
Wales
However,
Wales
is
different,
and
one
of
the
key
markers
of
that
difference
is
the
Welsh
language
—
the old
British Celtic tongue which is still in daily use.
5. Why is Northern Ireland, according
to the author
, so significant in the
United Kingdom?
What is the political
problem there?
5. Until 1921 the full
name of the UK was
Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland
not
only
Ireland
because
the whole
island
of Ireland was
politically
integrated
with
Great
Britain,
and
had
been
since
1801,
while
Britain's
domination
of
the
Irish
dated
back
centuries even before that date. But
Irish desires for an independent Irish state were
never lost, and
one of the key issues
in late nineteenth century British politics was a
campaign in parliament for
what was
called
—
Irish
political
control
of
Irish
affairs.
The
Home
Rule
Bill
was
finally
passed in 1914, but the process was overtaken by
the First World War and was suspended
for the duration of the war.
6.
What
are
some
of
the
factors
in
Irish
and
English
history
that
affect
the
situation
in
Northern Ireland today?
6.
Along with the political campaign for home-rule
there were groups who followed a more direct
method of pursuing Irish independence,
engaging in guerilla or terrorist activities
against British
institutions and the
British military forces. During the First World
War and immediately after, this
activity increased, sometimes brutally
suppressed by British forces.
7.
Different
parties
and
groups
in
the
United
Kingdom
have
different
solutions
to
the
political
problem in Northern Ireland. Please sum up their
different attitudes.
7.
Margaret
Thatcher's
government
did
not
give
in
to
this
demand
for
political
status
and
11
prisoners starved
to
death.
This
event
revitalised
the
political
campaign
of
Sinn
Fein,
the
legal
political
party which
supports
the
IRA's
right to fight. Its
leaders
spoke
of
a
twin campaign
for
union with Ireland, both
political and military, which they called the
policy of
Ballot Box
8. Has
the author offered a solution to the political
problem in Northern Ireland?
8.
The
problem
lay
in
the
to
peaceful
methods
aspect
of
the
possible
talks.
Province-wide
elections
are
planned
under
a
complex
formula
to
ensure
a
wide
range
of
representation on the body which will
carry out these talks, in an attempt to give them
legitimacy.
Without
the
participation
of Sinn
Fein
and
the
IRA
it
is
hard
to
see
them succeeding.
Northern
Ireland is poised
on the brink
—
a new peaceful
future, or a return to the violence that has
claimed
3150 lives so far.
9. What is the oldest institution of
government?
9. The oldest institution
of government is the Monarchy (rule by the king).
10.
What is the
name of the charter of liberty and political
rights granted by King John in
1215?
10.
It
was
a
gang
of
feudal
barons
and
the
Church
which
opposed
some
of
King
John's
(1199
—
1216)
policies.
This
opposition
was
so
powerful
that
the
king
finally
granted
them
a
charter
of
liberty
and
political
rights, still
known
by
its
medieval
Latin
name
of
Magna
Carta.
Magna
Carta
placed
some
limits
on
the
king's
ability
to
abuse
his
royal
power.
This
is
still
regarded as Britain's
key expression of the rights of citizens against
the Crown.
11.
Do
you
think
Elizabethan
Drama
occupies
a significant
position
in
British
literature?
Who
is
the
most
important
figure
in
Elizabethan
Drama?
What
are
some
of
his
major
works?
11. Shakespeare is
the most important figure at that time. He excels
in each kind. The tragedies
include
Romeo
and
Juliet,
Hamlet,
Othello,
King
Lear,
and
Macbeth.
Among
the comedies
are
The
Taming
of the
Shrew,
A
Midsummer
Night's
Dream,
Twelfth
Night,
and The Tempest.
His
history plays, based on
English history, include Richard III, Richard II,
Henry IV
, and Henry
V
.
Julius Caesar
and Antony and Cleopatra are tragedies on
classical themes.
12.
What do we call the group of important
Parliamentarians?
12. The House of
Commons.
13. Which party forms the
government and who becomes Prime Minister?
13. The party that wins most votes in
general election and the leader of this winning
party would
become Prime Minister.
16. Who can stand for election as an
MP?
16. Anyone who is
eligible vote to can stand as an MP
. It
is necessary only to make a deposit of
500 pounds (a quite easily obtainable
amount
in the UK) which is lost if the
candidate does not
receive at least 5%
of the vote.
17.
What
are the
three
major
parties?
Which
party
is
the
party
that spent
most
time
in
power?
17. There are three
major national parties: The Conservative party and
the Labour party are the
two biggest,
and any general election
is really
about which of those two is going to govern. But
there is a third important party, the
Liberal Democrats, who usually receive up to about
20% of the
votes: not enough to form a
government, but enough to have a big impact on
which of the other
two parties does so.
The Conservative Party spent most time in power
19. When was the British economy
dominant in the world?
19.
By
the
1880s
the
British
economy was
dominant
in
the
world,
producing
one
third
of
the
world's manufactured goods, half its
coal and iron, half its cotton.
20. By what time was the UK overtaken
by other countries, such as the US and Germany?
20.
But
even
by
1900
this was
no
longer
the
case,
the
UK
having
been
overtaken
by
both
the
United
States
and
Germany;
and
certainly
from
1945
until
the
present,
the
story
of
the
UK
economy is usually
thought of as one of decline.
21.
Which
country
does
it
refer
to
as
Jewel
in
the
Crown
When
did
it
gain
its
independence?
21.
India,
popularly
known
as
Jewel
in
the
Crown
of
the
British
Empire,
gained
its
independence in 1947.
22.
What are some of the positive and negative effects
of non-white immigrants on British
society according to the
author?
22.
This
has
a
number
of
consequences
for
British
society,
mainly
positive,
though
with
some
indirect negative effects. On the
positive side such immigrant groups bring their
culture with them,
which increases the
variety and interest within British culture: for
example, the UK, which used to
have
a
bad
reputation
for
food,
now
has
a
cuisine
as
varied
as
any,
with
Indian
and
Chinese
restaurants
in
every community,
as well
as
many
other
varieties
in
bigger cities.
This
variety
in
restaurant
food
has
resulted
in
more
experimentation
at
home, so that
shops
now
carry
a
much
wider
variety
of
goods
to supply
the
demand,
and
there
are
many TV
programmes
and
books
devoted to all kinds
of different cooking. The negative side of things
lies largely in the attitude of
some of
their white neighbours.
23. What is the
general situation of racial relations in the
UK?
23. While there is a
growing ethnic minority middle-class, and many
individual success stories, by
most
measures
the
immigrant
population
is
worse-off
economically
speaking
than
the
white
population as a whole. Individuals from
ethnic minorities are more likely to be
unemployed; and
they are under-
represented in politics too, though there are now
a number of black and Asian MPs.
But
there are also a number of small political parties
in the UK with overtly racist policies.
24. Why is Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote
in Middle English, still read and studied today?
24. With the Norman Conquest in 1066
Britain
entered the Middle
Ages (1066
—
1485),
and the
language of the royal court
became French. So literature of that period was
written in French or
Latin. But one
work from these times often studied today by
middle school and college students is
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey
Chaucer (1343
—
1400). He was
the first court poet to write in
English.
25.
When was the term
25. The word
was
first
used
officially
in
1236
to
describe
the
gathering
of
feudal
barons
and
representatives
from
counties and towns which the king occasionally
summoned if he wanted to raise money.
26.
The
author
says
that
media
are
central
to
British
leisure
culture
why
does
the
author say so?
26. On an average day, 90 per cent of
Britons over the age of 15 read a national or
local paper.
And
in
the
evening,
most
Britons
settle
down
to
watch
some
television:
96
percent
of
the
population watch TV at
least once a week, making it Britain's most
popular leisure activity. The
third
most popular pastime, after watching telly and
reading newspapers, is listening to the
radio,
an activity in which 73 per cent
of the population engages in on a weekly basis. It
is obvious, then,
that the media are
central to British leisure culture.
27.
What
are some
of
the
characteristics
of
British
newspaper
culture? In
what
way
is
it
different from the United
States?
27. British newspaper culture
is unusual in the extent to which class and
educational differences
are
reflected
in
the
newspapers
people
read.
In
other
developed
countries
like
Japan
and
the
United States, newspaper
reading is a mainly middle-class habit, but in
Britain the
are also regular readers.
28.
Is
the
British
press
free
from
the
government
control
and
censorship?
What
is
the
relationship between the British press
and politics or business?
28. While officially speaking the
British press is
and can print what it
likes, there are limits to what will appear in the
daily paper.
29. How does the BBC
operate? How is it different from American
broadcasting systems?
29. The British
Broadcasting Corporation - more familiarly known
as the BBC or even
- is Britain's main
public service broadcaster The BBC is funded by
licence fees and viewers must
buy a
license each year for their TV set.
31.
What is Modernism? Can you illustrate your points
with specific books as examples?
31.
Modernism
in
literature
can
be
seen
as
a
reaction
against
the
nineteenth
century
forms
discussed above, which can be thought
of as assuming understanding between writer and
reader,
resulting
in
the
simple
communication
of
an
agreed
version
of
the
This
approach
to
writing
is
known
as
Instead,
Modernist
writers
express
the
difficulty
they
see
in
understanding
and
communicating
how
the
world
works.
Often,
therefore,
Modernist
writing
seems disorganized, hard to understand.
It often portrays the action from the viewpoint of
a single
confused individual, rather
than from the viewpoint of an all-knowing
impersonal narrator outside
the
a
ction….
32. What
is Postmodernism? Can you illustrate your points
with specific books as examples?
32.
Postmodernists can be thought of as abandoning
that search. Meaning does not exist outside of
the
human
head,
likewise
it
does
not
exist
inside
a
book, waiting
to
be
discovered,
instead
it
is
made in the process of reading a book,
or of making sense of the world….
33. How has the Christian church
influenced British sports? Please pick up some
examples
from the text.
33. Tennis was invented in Britain and
it owes its origins, literally, to the
Church. Church records
indicate that by
the mid-fifteenth century
, people were
making a game of bouncing a ball off the
side of their local churches or
cathedrals, first using the hand, and later a
racquet. This was c
alled
Such
antics
sometimes
offended
the
clergy
who
complained
that
the
dignity
and
tranquility
of
the
church was
shattered
by such
games,
but
they
also
illustrate
how central
the
church was to community
life.
34. What is the origin
of football?
34. There
are
legends
that
suggest
that
games
like
football
and
rugby
actually
derived
from
the
.
There is a
similar grisly tale told about origins of
bowling
: it is said that in ancient
times, Scottish
warriors rolled the
skulls of their enemies along the grass for sport.
35. How is the violence of
35. Today, violence is still associated
with football.
sometimes
clash
before,
during
and
after
matches
and
occasionally
run
riot
through
the
town,
breaking
windows
and
beating
each
other
up.
Some
football
fans
paint
their
faces
and
sing
or
chant football songs and it is not too
difficult to imagine their warrior-ancestors.
36.
Why
is
cricket
very
English?
Why
does
the
author
believe
that
cricket
was
associated
with a set of
English moral values?
36. As
generations of public school boys grew up to
become the civil servants and rulers of the
UK and its colonies, cricket became
associated with a set of moral values, in
particular the idea of
the
1980s,
remembered
that
when
he
began
his
career
in
Whitehall,
one
day
his
government
minister was so
angry
that
he
threw
the
telephone
at
him.
Sir Ian said
he
knew
exactly
how
to
respond:
37.
Christmas is the biggest and best-loved British
holiday? How do the British celebrate this
holiday?
37.
Y
es. Nowadays, Christmas is celebrated
by most Britons by exchanging gifts and Christmas
cards,
preparing
holiday
foods,
and
decorating
homes
and
workplaces
with
coloured
lights,
Christmas trees and ornaments.
38. How do the British celebrate the
Queen's Birthday? What is the origin of this
holiday?
38.
One
of
Britain's
most
impressive
and
colourful
festivals
happens
on
the
second
Saturday
in
June
when
the
Queen's
Birthday
is
officially
celebrated
by
the
colour
around
Buckingham Palace in London.
39.
Bonfire
Night
is
one
truly
English
holiday.
How
and
why
do
the
English
celebrate
this
holiday?
39. The
English
do
not
celebrate
their
famous writers
or
battles
or
patron
saints,
although
they
have all these things. However, one
truly English holiday is Bonfire
Night
—
sometimes called Guy
Fawkes
Night
—
celebrated in the
early autumn.
40. How do the
Protestants and Catholics celebrate their own
holidays in Northern Ireland?
What
traditions are behind their celebrations?
40. Another festival which comes from
the 17th century battles between Catholics and
Protestants
is the Protestant
celebration of their victory at the Battle of the
Boyne (12 July) in 1690. Northern
Irish
Catholics celebrate the birthday of the patron
saint of Ireland, St Patrick, on March 17 each
year.
41.
How
is
Hogmanay
celebrated
in
Scotland?
What
other
festivals
are
celebrated
in
Scotland?
41.
While
most
British
people
welcome
the
coming
of the
New
Y
ear with
parties,
in
Scotland,
New
Y
ear's
Eve
called
Hogmanay
(31
December)
—
is
the
major
winter
celebration,
and
overshadows Christmas (called
Y
ule in Scotland) which is a
very quiet affair. How Hogmanay is
celebrated varies throughout Scotland,
but one widely practised custom is
a
superstitious belief that the first person to
cross the threshold of a household in the New
Y
ear can
bring luck and
prosperity: the appearance of a young, preferably
dark haired and handsome man,
is
considered particularly lucky. First footers often
bring a bottle of spirits, alcohol, a lump of coal
or a peat as a gift and are given a
42. Which are the two most important
and famous universities in Britain?
42.
Cambridge University and Oxford
University.
43. What is the
goal of education in the U.K.?
43. The
goal of British education is to socialize
children.
44. Is the British
education system run by the state or the private
sector?
44. The British education
system run by the state.
45.
Where do British universities receive their funds
besides students tuition?
45. In the
UK, the amount of funding each university receives
is based on its size, the number of
students
it
teaches,
and
the
research
it
conducts.
So
far,
the
UK
has
only
one
privately
funded
university, the University of
Buckingham.
46. Why does the
author say that
are organized tells us
something about that society
46. For
individual members of any society the home they
live
in is of great importance in their
lives. The way the living arrangements
of a society as a whole are organized tells us
something
about
that
society
—
its
standard
of
living,
its
social
and
familial
structure,
the
distribution
of
wealth in a
society
—
both in terms of
geography and social
hierarchy
—
and even something
about
that society's values and dreams.
47. What are the four main types of
home in Britain? How do they reflect the cost and
status
of homes? What are some of the
major types of home in China?
47. There
are, broadly speaking, four main types of home.
The first kind are
of varying size,
often in modern multi-storey purpose-built
buildings, though sometimes made by
sub-dividing
big
old
houses.
Flats
are
often
publicly
owned.
The
second
kind
are
houses: that
is, individual two-storey houses built joining on
to each other at each side in a terrace
or row. The second kind are
on to each other at each side in a
terrace or row; the fourth one is
“detached.”
48. How are
people in the UK divided into different classes?
48. The British people are
divided into classes economically, culturally,
educationally and etc.
49. Is the class
system similar with the United States?
49.
What
is
distinctive
about
the
British
class-system,
and which
marks
it
as
different from
the
American or Chinese social structure,
is that it has also retained a hereditary
aristocracy
.
50. What and
how did the British empire end? How did the
British react to this reality?
50.
Two world
wars
had seriously
influenced
its
empire
position.
The
end
of
the
great
British
empire was
surprisingly rapid. In 1946,
Jordan, in the Middle East,
was granted independence.
The following
year, India and Pakistan followed suit. In 1948,
Burma and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
were
granted independence and left the Commonwealth as
well, refusing to recognise the British
monarch
as
the
head
of
their
new
states.
Throughout
the
next
few
decades,
the
process
of
decolonisation continued as other
territories and possessions received their
independence or were
returned to their
rightful rulers.
51. What
are the foundations of Britain's foreign policy?
51. The contemporary foreign
policy of the UK
is greatly
influenced by its imperial history and
also
by
its
geopolitical
traits.
Perhaps
the
most
important
single
factor which
influences
British
policy-makers is its
history.
52. How is Britain's foreign
policy made? Does the government's foreign policy
represent the
desires of British
citizens?
52. The Prime Minister and
Cabinet decide on the general direction of
Britain's foreign policy. The
main
government department involved is of course the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO),
but
many
other
government
ministries
also
play
a
part
in
formulating
and
executing
the
government's decisions.
53.
Why does the author say that the decision to join
the EC was and remains controversial
in
Britain?
53. The decision to join the
EEC was very controversial; and today, Britain's
participation in the
European Union, as
it is now called, remains controversial. At the
centre of the controversy is the
fact
that
it
is
not
clear what
the
European
Union(EU)
is
and
what
it
will
become. The
UK
has
always
been
very
interested
in
encouraging
free
trade
between
countries
and
is
therefore
very
supportive of the EU as
a free trade area.
However, the UK has always
been less enthusiastic about giving up its
national sovereignty (that
is, its
control over national decision-making) to a
European government.
54.
Why
does
the
author
think
that
Britain
has the
relationship
with the
United
States? Does this
relationship still exist?
54. Another
major factor which influences British foreign
policy is its relationship with the United
States. This was quite natural, as the
two were closely allied during World War II, and
continued to
work together closely in
the post war years because they shared many of the
same worries about
the
Soviet
Union.
Even
today,
in
many
respects
British
and
American
policy-makers
agree
generally
on,
for
example,
how
the
global
economy
should
be
managed,
how
a
warlike
state
should be dealt with, issues about arms
control and so on.
55. What are some of
the general characteristics of Australia in terms
of land, people and
culture?
55.
Australia
is
the
world's
smallest
continent
and
largest
island,
a
relatively
young
nation
established in an
ancient land. Its development represents a triumph
over remoteness and a harsh
landscape…
56.
Discuss
the
climate
in
Australia.
What
are
some
of
the
major
differences
between
Australia and China in terms of the
climate?
56. Australia is the driest
inhabited continent and its rainfall varies
extremely geographically and
seasonally. Mean annual rainfall is
465mm. Rainfall varies from less than 150mm over
the centre
of the continent to more
than 2m in parts of the tropics and western
Tasmania. The average annual
surface
runoff,
about
440km3,
represents
12
per
cent
of
total
rainfall.
Evaporation
accounts for
most of the
rest.
57.
What
are
the
six
states
of
Australia?
What
are
some
of
the
major
similarities
or
differences in terms of population,
early settlement and economy in the six
states?
57. Australia has
six states: New South Wales (NSW),
V
ictoria, Queensland, South Australia
(SA),
Western Australia (WA) and
Tasmania. It also has three internal territories-
the Northern Territory
(NT),
the
Australian
Capital
Territory
(ACT)
and
the
Jervis
Bay
Territory-and
seven
external
territories.
58. Can you point out some main
differences between the Australian government
system and
the British government
system?
58.
Broadly,
the
Australian
federation
has
a
three-tier
system
of
government:
the
Australian
Parliament
(the
legislature)
and
Government, responsible
for
all
matters
of
national
interest;
six
state governments and their
legislatures, complementing the activities of the
national government
(plus the
Australian Capital territory and the Northern
Territory, which are similar to the states and
largely self-governing); and about 900
local government bodies at the city,
town, municipal and
shire level.
59.
Discuss the
Australian education system.
What
are
some
of
the
features
in the system
that are
specifically Australian?
59.
Each state
and
territory
of
Australia
has
its
own
primary
and
secondary
education
system.
Standards, however, are high and
reasonably uniform. Within each state and
territory system there
are
two
main
types
of school-government
and
nongovernment schools.
In
government
schools,
attended
by
about
two
thirds
of
children,
tuition
is
free.
About
three-quarters
of
the
non-government schools
are Catholic. Most non-government schools charge
fees.
60. What are some of the distinct
features of New Zealand's geography? Find out
similarities
and differences in terms
of geography between New Zealand and Australia.
60. Situated in the southwest Pacific
Ocean, New Zealand
is a large, long
group of islands, 1600
kilometres from
north to south. There are two main landmasses, the
North Island and the South
Island,
separated
by
Cook
Strait. The
third
largest
island,
Stewart
Island,
is south
of
the
South
Island,
and
there
are
many
smaller
islands,
including
uninhabited
isolated
islands
hundreds
of
kilometres offshore. Its
nearest large neighbour-
Australia
—
is almost 2 000 km
away.
61. What are some of the
similarities between New
Zealand and
Britain in the government
system?
61. New Zealand's
constitution is made up of parliamentary statutes
(laws), judicial rulings (court
decisions) and administrative
practices. New Zealand has no written
constitution. The Constitution
Act
1986
defines
the
relationship
between
the
legislative
(Parliament),
executive
(Government
departments and
agencies) and judicial (the courts) roles of
government.
New Zealand is an
independent state,
governed by a
democratically elected parliament. The Head
of
State
is
the
British
monarch
Queen
Elizabeth
II
in
her
capacity
as
Queen
of
New
Zealand,
represented by a
Governor-General. The Governor-General's agreement
is required for an Act of
Parliament to
become law.
62.
How
did
modern
development
in
Europe
influence
the settlement
of
North
American
colonies?
62.
With
the
fast
development
of
commerce
and
trade,
the
bourgeoisie
became
increasingly
powerful in
politics as well as in economy. They wanted to
share power with feudal lords and in
some countries such as England they
wanted to have more power from the king so that
they could
have free development. The
English Revolution was the result of this growth
of capitalism.
63. What was the unique
American phenomenon ? How did it come into being?
Do you think
it still exists in today's
American society?
63. He is an
American, who leaving behind him all his ancient
prejudices and manners, receives
new
ones from the new mode of life he has embraced,
the new government he obeys, and the new
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